Mistr Bulletproofs her Attitude

[Mistr]

Challenge 15

 

My goal this challenge is to have a positive attitude, no matter what. I expect there to be quite a bit of WHAT! and *&%$@#%^&^!!!! this challenge.

 

Today started off with proof I am right. I am making smoothies for breakfast on days my partner and I both work early. (I always work 8-5, he is not a morning person). This time I went to use the frozen strawberries to make space in the freezer and save time not cutting up fresh berries. 

 

Bad move. The strawberries went from mostly stuck together to one big lump when I added liquid. The blender made bad noises and stopped moving. Poking with a spatula did not help.

 

Rather than getting upset, I considered how I could turn a lumpy mess of frozen fruit, yogurt, milk and protein powder into something edible. I did not have time to let it sit and thaw. So I transferred it to a fridge container to deal with tomorrow. I put together a new smoothie with fresh fruit. The blender still did not work [damn! It belonged to my grandmother and is probably more than 50 years old! How dare it break down!]. So I transferred the mix to my Cuisinart. After all, the spatula was already full of smoothie.  That worked.

 

So I got to work having had my breakfast in the car. Good thing I was fortified because my early start person told me that one of the team had called in with a sick kid. We are already desperately short this week with three open positions, one person on maternity leave, one in training and two on vacation today. With one more out we are at less than half staff.

 

At this point we are already in over our heads. All we can do is swim faster. So I redid the schedule and gave the two senior people an extra hour each. I already had an extra hour. I also plan to stay late to help my late shift person from 5:00-5:30.

 

I was busy helping a customer until 20 minutes into my lunch hour. I decided that I would be better off taking the rest of the hour to take a quick walk and eat lunch rather than try to do half my scheduled workout. I am planning on going to aikido this evening. Better to work harder over lunch than to get behind and miss practice again.

 

Observations

(what I learned in my previous challenges)

Food:

• I eat treats when I am feeling stressed.
• Eating too many treats makes me gain weight
• I have been stalled at my current weight for the last year.
• The only way I am going to lose the next 5 lbs is to put all my skills to use:
  • Get enough sleep
  • Cook healthy food ahead of time
  • Make good choices on how I spend my time
  • Meditation helps me let go of stress and see more options
  • Tell myself positive stories about coping with difficult things (it is only stress if I make it stress)

 

Exercise:

• My knees are vastly happier when I do PT exercises on a weekly basis
• Taking fish oil also seems to help
• Doing aikido makes me a much happier person
• I could use more cardio and endurance training, but that can wait.

Life goals:

Give myself credit for getting things done and not beat myself up for the things I decide not to make fit. Take full responsibility for my choices. Fun time is important. Probably more important than checking off items on my to-do list.

 

I can survive my work being busier than it has been in years and come out of the next six weeks healthier and happier.

[sarakingdom]

• Tell myself positive stories about coping with difficult things (it is only stress if I make it stress)

 

Ooh, I wanna hear how that one goes.

 

Treatwise, I recommend investing in a lot of fruit.  Oranges in every drawer.  Bananas on every counter.

 

I expect there to be quite a bit of WHAT! and *&%$@#%^&^!!!! this challenge.

[Kishi]

Looks like you're being thrown to the chaos for this challenge too. You got a lot on you.

 

It seems that the last challenges have all been about learning things. Now is the time to apply those things, and to make them work for you. As well as fine-tuning the details of what you've learned and seeing how they hold up under duress.

 

Good luck.

[Lou_be_Lou]

Cheering you on as you face the chaos.  Well worth working through some of lunch if it means you can get to aikido.

Keep on breathing.........

[Mistr]

 

Ooh, I wanna hear how that one goes.

 

Treatwise, I recommend investing in a lot of fruit.  Oranges in every drawer.  Bananas on every counter.

 

 

One of my big lessons from aikido was on dealing with fear. In my old dojo a person could start attending advanced class on Sundays once they passed the 5th kyu test. Sunday class always finished with randori. I watched for several weeks and was terrified. Sensei clearly wanted me to volunteer, but was not going to call on me - yet. I was sure I was going to die.

 

I convinced myself to get up and do randori (three attackers) by telling myself it was a good day to die. I would get out of all sorts of tedious chores. I survived and it got easier.

 

I did something similar before I defended my dissertation. I went to advanced class and did line practice with the biggest black belts in the class. With boken. I figured that if I could face five big guys with swords, my committee would be less scary. It helped.

 

 

The stories matter. I am strong and brave. I can deal with all this calmly and cheerfully. I am fully capable of killing things and cutting them apart. I train aikido so that I have more peaceful options.

 

Yes, having lots of fruit helps. I discovered cacao nibs a couple months ago. I have a jar of them in my desk. That is what is saving me from all the bad chocolate. All the theobromine without the sugar and fat. And crunchy!

[RisenPhoenix]

I'm here to leech off your positive attitude and hope it rubs off a bit on me.  I apparently need it these days.

 

I did something similar before I defended my dissertation. I went to advanced class and did line practice with the biggest black belts in the class. With boken. I figured that if I could face five big guys with swords, my committee would be less scary. It helped.

 

 

This is absolutely amazing. 

 

(On a related note, there are only two events I can recall where I got up, did something, sat down, and immediately forgot EVERYTHING that happened during the event.  The first was my thesis presentation in grad school.  The second was my 5th kyu exam.)

[Lou_be_Lou]

Mistr, Awesome attitude!

 

My phd supervisor managed to blow my mind the day before my viva - "you're allowed to enjoy it" - I looked really blank, so he elucidated  - "its almost the only time that you'll have a captive audience who've read your work".  Amazing how spinning your approach to something makes it easier.  It can't make it easy easy, but makes the world of difference to how doing it feels.

[Teirin]

 

I convinced myself to get up and do randori (three attackers) by telling myself it was a good day to die. I would get out of all sorts of tedious chores. I survived and it got easier.

 

I did something similar before I defended my dissertation. I went to advanced class and did line practice with the biggest black belts in the class. With boken. I figured that if I could face five big guys with swords, my committee would be less scary. It helped.

 

Perspective

 

Love your whole challenge.  It's very Aikido.  Turn all of the adversity into good stories.  And smoothies.  Do you theme your smoothies for what kind of day you anticipate?

[Mistr]

Perspective

 

Love your whole challenge.  It's very Aikido.  Turn all of the adversity into good stories.  And smoothies.  Do you theme your smoothies for what kind of day you anticipate?

 

Hmmm, you are right. I did not see that until you pointed it out. One of the satisfying things about aikido is that the harder someone tries to hit you, the harder they fall.

 

The smoothies are themed by what is starting to turn mushy in the fridge.

 

So far we are doing plain fruit smoothies with yogurt, milk and protein powder. None of this fancy stuff with vegetables and supplements.

 

Week 1 so far

 

Attitude - good

 

Workload - OH MY GHODS!

• Monday I stayed 45 minutes late then went to aikido
• Tuesday I stayed at work until 9 and still was not done
• Wednesday I was happy that I made progress on the backlog, even though I was not caught up. I left on time so that I could stop by home and eat dinner before going to teach aikido
• Thursday I worked through lunch again, and stayed 50 minutes late. I was more behind when I left than when I got to work. I am glad that I had a commitment to have supper with my family as a reason to leave. I stopped at the farmer's market and got fresh sweet corn. They had the water going and the rest of supper cooking when I got home. They are great guys.
• Friday I got in half an hour early to finish up a time critical project that should have been done Thursday. Now I am taking a quick break before attacking the backlog.

Snacks - pretty good. I have been resisting the candy. This morning I had a coffee-chocolate chip frozen yogurt treat. I have been eating some sweets, but not as bad as usual. My slacks seem to be looser.

 

Exercise - As good as possible under the circumstances. I missed two days of working out at lunch. I hope to do PT today but I'm not holding my breath. I did aikido on Monday, weapons practice before work Wednesday and I plan to go to aikido tonight.

 

Sleep - Okay but not great. I stayed up too late Wednesday to play sudoku before bed. Then I drank too much caffeine Thursday and had trouble sleeping last night. I know better on both counts.

 

Meditation - hahahahahahahahaha no.

 

Meals - Good. All that cooking last weekend is paying off.

 

I miss you guys and am looking forward to reading about your challenges this weekend.

 

Next week should be a little lighter at work. Our new person will start taking some of the load and the maternity leave person comes back. We hired two new people and are interviewing to fill the last open position. Things are looking up.

[Mistr]

Stopping in to say I'm not dead yet. Work is still eating my life.

 

+ side: 

• Did meditation a couple times the last few days.
• Exercised a couple times, taught aikido
• Got enough sleep last night

 

- side

• Work is still way too busy. I was starting into the backlog earlier this week. Today I left further behind than when I started.
• I signed up to make ice cream for the dance social this Sunday before things got busy. Then I got assigned to help lead the social. Bad move.
• I made a batch of ice cream (vegan: melon with coconut milk) and now have to put together a dance program. Which should have gone out last weekend.
• I wanted to read NF for fun tonight and that is getting put off again.

Hope to catch up with all of you this weekend.

[Kishi]

I know what you mean, regarding wanting to read for fun. I'm with you there. Between friends and work it's been crazy getting back here.

 

You do you. We're not going anywhere. We'll still be here when you get back.

[RisenPhoenix]

Stopping in to say I'm not dead yet. Work is still eating my life.

 

+ side: 

• Did meditation a couple times the last few days.
• Exercised a couple times, taught aikido
• Got enough sleep last night

 

- side

• Work is still way too busy. I was starting into the backlog earlier this week. Today I left further behind than when I started.
• I signed up to make ice cream for the dance social this Sunday before things got busy. Then I got assigned to help lead the social. Bad move.
• I made a batch of ice cream (vegan: melon with coconut milk) and now have to put together a dance program. Which should have gone out last weekend.
• I wanted to read NF for fun tonight and that is getting put off again.

Hope to catch up with all of you this weekend.

 

I was wondering if work had eaten you.  Hope you can get all the help going soon.  But at least if you're not here you're still managing to squeeze in meditating, aikido, and decent sleep.  That's all wins.

 

We'll be around when you can get to us.

[Teirin]

Agreed with all of the above plus *hugs*  Glad you're prioritizing self care in the form of sleep, Aikido, and meditation.

 

I hope you aren't making ALL of the ice cream this time?  The one you did makes sounds delicious as always!

[Mistr]

Agreed with all of the above plus *hugs*  Glad you're prioritizing self care in the form of sleep, Aikido, and meditation.

 

I hope you aren't making ALL of the ice cream this time?  The one you did makes sounds delicious as always!

 

My plan was indeed to make all the ice cream. That got revised this morning when one of the tubs was not cold enough after 24 hours in the freezer. I hoped to make one batch this morning (chocolate) and another tomorrow (coffee Heath bar crunch). My ice cream maker has two 1-quart tubs. One seems to have better coolant than the other. I managed to get 2/3 of a 2-tub batch of chocolate ice cream frozen. I put the rest in the fridge to freeze later. Or maybe make into super rich chocolate milk. It is chocolate custard with 20% butterfat.

 

If the ice cream tub didn't work properly this morning I can bet it won't tomorrow morning either. I'll pick up some vanilla and maybe an interesting flavor at the store tomorrow when I get ice. My flavors are:

• cantalope coconut milk sorbet
• pina colada sorbet
• melon sorbet (no alcohol, with coconut milk)
• chocolate ice cream

I have cream in the fridge that needs to get used so I will make more ice cream next week. I'm just not going to worry about making it for the social tomorrow. This time will be mostly fruit-coconut milk ice cream. If they don't like it, awwww, darn. I like coconut milk ice cream even better than the kind with heavy cream. I just hope people show up and eat it. I'm running out of freezer space. Other people are bringing toppings. Those will make the vanilla more interesting.

 

Tomorrow is yudansha class in the morning, then dance demo practice followed by the social. I need to come up with a demo program tomorrow.

 

Today I managed to get my checkbook updated and balanced and do laundry. Plus make ice cream. Marginally acceptable on adult tasks. Too much reading Facebook and not enough actual fun. I need to treat Facebook like Teirin is treating Reddit. The worthwhile info to time taken ratio is just too low.

[Teirin]

That would be the most delicious chocolate milk ever.   Hope you had a great time today :-)

 

The Reddit diet is freeing up a lot of time.

[Kishi]

Honestly. Social media is overrated. He said as he posted on a forum.

[Mistr]

Yudansha class yesterday was awesome. Which is not a surprise with a 6th dan instructor. We worked on timing at the request of one of the students who is preparing for his shodan exam. I've been working on timing for the last several years and often can get it right. At least at the moderate pace we were using.

 

Then we worked on randori at my request. Not full-out five people trying to hit you randori. Just three people trying not terribly hard to grab you randori. I had several interesting observations.

• I need to practice this more (which is why I requested it)
• Some of my friends, both senior and junior, are really good at this. I took mental notes
• I was not scared. At all. Even though I know I have a long way to go to be competent at it. Randori used to terrify me.
• Doing meditation has helped. I was able to maintain a sense of detached focus.

I am making a special effort to go to the intermediate class on Tuesday. Sensei will be teaching that class this week. My usual Wednesday morning weapons training partner is on vacation this week. That makes it easier to practice on Tuesday. After my busy day Sunday, I can use Monday evening to catch up at home.

[Mistr]

Week two review

 

Work stress: Still very high. I stayed late on Tuesday and Friday to stay mostly caught up. I did a reasonable job of prioritizing. Some things just did not get done. This week looks to be similar.

 

Attitude: Okay but not great. Better at work than afterwards.

 

Sleep: Not enough. Two days at ~8 hours, two days < 7 hours.

 

Food: So-so. Pretty good on protein and fruit. Not enough veggies. Too much candy and snacks at work. Not enough time for cooking better food.

 

Exercise: Spotty. Missed Monday, Tuesday and Friday because of work. No exercise Saturday because I was tired and not wanting to do anything responsible after being an adult at work all week. Dancing on Sunday.

 

Aikido: weapons katas and teaching Wednesday, class on Sunday.

 

Meditation: Yes. 12' Monday, 13' Tuesday, 19' Thursday.

 

Fun things: not nearly enough. I had lunch with my partner and a pleasant evening with the guys on Friday. Some piano playing, some spinning. Dancing on Sunday was fun. Aikido was fun.

 

Plans for week 3

 

Last week I used all my cooking time to make ice cream for the social. while people were appreciative, they did not eat nearly enough of it. Partly that was because I put salt in the ice to keep the ice cream colder and the sorbets were too solid to scoop easily. The only tub that got finished was the chocolate. This means I have a freezer full of ice cream and no healthy meals. I need to figure out ways to buy more easy-to-fix veggies. Maybe I will get some shredded cabbage and make salad. I plan to make calico beans which is tasty but hardly healthy. After that I will probably rely on take-out.

 

Yoga - I am doing the flexibility challenge this week. Hopefully this will help with the creakiness I've been feeling. Steve's article today really hit home. I have never in my life been able to touch my toes. All the stretching at aikido in warm-ups several times a week for years has not helped. If this yoga program works, I will be a convert.

 

Aikido - class Tuesday, teach Wednesday, seminar Friday through Sunday. I am very much looking forward to this seminar. The instructor is from Shingu, Japan, and is amazing. Plus he speaks enough English to give understandable advice.

 

Free time will be on Monday and Thursday evenings. Thursday is reserved for my partner because we are both busy all weekend. I think he is going out of town. I'll be sleeping in my own bed but out of town for the seminar during the days. Plus dancing on Sunday evening. I may do some beating back of the jungle in my yard (specifically the wild grape vine) tonight, and grocery shopping. Any other adult tasks are going to count as bonus points.

[Lou_be_Lou]

well done for keeping on going despite all the bonkers busy-ness!

[Kishi]

Yoga can be very powerful medicine, but be careful not to push it too hard. It's a more direct path to messing with your tendons and ligaments, and if you mess those up in your enthusiasm you will not like what follows.

 

While it's definitely a great way to attack flexibility, it's best approached with a meditative sort of mindset - a willingness to be in the present with your body and to attune yourself to the feedback you get from it. Some days you'll be nice and loose. Other days, not so much. This isn't something you can attack with sets and reps - it's a lot closer to the flowing work that you do in aikido, honestly, or so I've been led to believe from what you and the other aikidoka in this place say.

 

If you think the ice cream would survive the trip, I'd be more than happy to help you with that.

[Teirin]

Any chance of taking some excess ice cream to the seminar?

[sarakingdom]

I was not scared. At all. Even though I know I have a long way to go to be competent at it. Randori used to terrify me. 

 

That's the really great thing about walking on the mat, eventually.  You just figure, what's the worst that could happen?  I could fall dramatically?  Well, welcome to every training session.

 

(I'm not a very brave person off the mat.  But on the mat?  Come at me, bro.  If I don't leave with bruises, it's a wasted class.  Ah, the beauty of a controlled training environmnent.)

 

I need to meditate more.  Both longer, and more often.  We should set up a virtual aikido meditation dojo.

[Mistr]

That's the really great thing about walking on the mat, eventually.  You just figure, what's the worst that could happen?  I could fall dramatically?  Well, welcome to every training session.

 

(I'm not a very brave person off the mat.  But on the mat?  Come at me, bro.  If I don't leave with bruises, it's a wasted class.  Ah, the beauty of a controlled training environmnent.)

 

I need to meditate more.  Both longer, and more often.  We should set up a virtual aikido meditation dojo.

 

Good point and great idea!

 

Short update

 

Monday night I did indeed beat back the jungle in the back yard. That wild grape vine is like something out of a movie. If only it had tasty grapes.

 

After that win on adult tasks I totally failed. I just learned about No Need for Bushido and thought I'd reward myself with reading a few before I took on the next thing on my list. Famous last words. I stayed up waaaay too late. I think I am going to have to institute a hard rule of no screen time after 9:00pm.

 

Tuesday was amazingly productive for having had 6.5 hours sleep. I mostly treaded water at work.

 

I did my bodyweight set (pushups, dips, leg lifts, incline pull-ups) that I last did in June. My arms are feeling it today. I think I scaled back just about right so that I know I worked hard but not so sore I wouldn't do it again tomorrow.

 

After work I did an hour of aikido (sensei was sick, unfortunately) and did grocery shopping. By the time I got the groceries put away I was out of steam. I went to bed early instead of getting into something else. Is that wisdom or what?

 

Today I made the calico beans before work. No time to work out at lunch because of another candidate interview. I might get in a walk before aikido. My weapons partner is on vacation this week so I got to sleep in until 6:00am.

[RES]

 

We should set up a virtual aikido meditation dojo.

Love the idea

 

Finally figured out why I could not find you...the link in your signature is your old challenge

But I am here now...

[Mistr]

Finally figured out why I could not find you...the link in your signature is your old challenge

But I am here now...

 

Oops. Fixed that.

 

I still have not done a wrap-up from my last challenge. I usually update everything at once. It is still on my list but I'm not making any promises when I'll get it done.