mightstone2k answers the call of the wild

[The Most Loathed]

No help on the Magic front. By the time I got into gaming, Magic nerds were their own subculture and I never got into it. 

 

I wrestled for a lot of years with feeling bad about leaving work on time. For me, I had to come to terms with walking out while others were working. First, I show up before everyone else, second, I'm a less effective worker the longer I stay, third, I value you my workouts and relationships more than my employer could ever value me. I'm not saying it'll be the same for you but that's at least some of the math you have to work out on your own.

[mightstone2k]

No help on the Magic front. By the time I got into gaming, Magic nerds were their own subculture and I never got into it. 

 

I wrestled for a lot of years with feeling bad about leaving work on time. For me, I had to come to terms with walking out while others were working. First, I show up before everyone else, second, I'm a less effective worker the longer I stay, third, I value you my workouts and relationships more than my employer could ever value me. I'm not saying it'll be the same for you but that's at least some of the math you have to work out on your own.

Heh. I actually agree with you on all three points. I'm usually there between 0700 and 0730, and the next earliest is fifteen minutes or so behind me. The deputy is trying to get me Friday off to somewhat make up for the four-day weekend I just worked 56 hours of. Boss's response was apparently that I could take the day off "if the work is done." She's big on us setting our own schedules, as long as we accomplish the mission. Problem is, the work is never done. I could conceivably come in every weekend to get work done. So I think I'm just going to push the issue and request a day of leave for Friday.

[mightstone2k]

 

A couple things happened today. First, I decided to test my boss and asked if I could take a day of leave on Friday. I'm worn down - as you may have gathered, poor reader - and just need to be out of the office. She said no, because of the site assistance visit on Tuesday. But she made a counteroffer. She said I could be off starting Wednesday or Thursday, after the SAV, and she'd make it a pass instead of me having to blow leave. I'll take that deal.

 

 

She said she wanted to give me a pass as soon as the trials were over, but the SAV took precedence. That's a fair position, I suppose. I'm still a little bitter about the amount of personal time I gave up to work these cases, and also that I had to push the point by asking to take my earned vacation time to compensate for working 56 hours on a four-day weekend. And I felt somewhat bad asking in front of my deputy. He's been pushing for me to get comp time, but hadn't gotten a straight answer about it. He is an awesome guy and he tries really hard to look after his captains. Going over his head like that felt like a dick move. But I wanted to make it clear to the boss that I needed time out of the office. Personal time, not the two weeks of courses I'm going on at the end of the month. So I asked anyway.

 

 

On a related note, I need to put some effort into my relationships now. Cassie I've mentioned; she's having an incredibly hard time with residency right now and I've not been good at looking outside my problems to help her. That's a work in progress. My mother, on the other hand, is irritated that I didn't even send a quick message on Valentine's Day. She's big on even the small holidays as an opportunity to connect. I was in court and stressed out of my mind about the court the next week. We had a short text message fight about how "stress is always going to be there" (followed shortly by "you don't have a clue what's going on, leave me alone and I'll talk to you after the courts when I feel human again"; I can be a real ass). And life went on. I still haven't called her. I've been sleeping a lot when I'm not at work or the gym. She tried to call on Sunday, but I was at lunch with a friend. I emailed her today to say I'd call my Saturday morning. I'm expecting something passive-aggressive in response or on the phone about how much she misses me or how much it hurts to have me go incommunicado for a month. Maybe this makes me a real dick, but of the two women in my life (mother and girlfriend/intended), I'm going to prioritize the younger, unrelated one whom I have a romantic interest in when the battle rhythm ramps up to 11 and my life becomes subsumed by the mission.

 

 

I'm still a little bitter about that. And I don't need family getting on my case about how I'm being a bad son from fourteen time zones away when that happens. I volunteered to do the whole military thing, and that means I'm not always working a 9-to-5 job that lets me call once every week or two. Sometimes I'm just going to have to work for fourteen hours, go to the gym for one, and pass out from sheer exhaustion the other nine (if I'm lucky). With the time difference, my free time is not necessarily going to coincide with time that she is awake. And she's just going to have to deal with that and get the f*** off my case about it.

 

 

Wow. My fuse really is a lot shorter right now. Positive things. I scheduled my annual dental appointment, I threw another $500 at my loan (February budgetary surplus), I'm tracking down the unit fitness monitor so I can schedule my PFT for before the Spartan, and I booked a cheap hotel near Haneda for Saturday night so I don't have to wake up at zero dark thirty to pick up Cassie Sunday morning. $25 to turn an hour and a half drive into a ten minute drive? Money well spent.

 

 

 

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[The Most Loathed]

Your parentage sounds a lot like mine on the comms front. For what it's worth, I think you're doing it right.

[Kishi]

I think you're making the right call too. When my brother was stationed in Japan, he made it clear, there was no way we were going to be able to all talk together. To the best of my knowledge, that's not something that my folks ever forced on him. It would have been awful to have that expectation on him, I think.

[Elastigirl]

Your girlfriend should be your priority over your mom. (hopefully I'll remember this advice when my son has a serious girlfriend) I hope you are having a terrific time right now with her, and getting some relaxation in.

[mightstone2k]

Your girlfriend should be your priority over your mom. (hopefully I'll remember this advice when my son has a serious girlfriend:redface-new:) I hope you are having a terrific time right now with her, and getting some relaxation in.

Haha I will quote this post back at you when that day comes [emoji1]

 

I actually would quite like to justify my nickname as the "murder captain" right now. The Air Force hasn't quite grasped that I want ONE WEEK working an 8-5 job after two months of hell. Cassie is waiting on me because I need to be present at an interview that should have started ten minutes ago. It's 17:10. We had plans to see Logan at 18:00. My boss should not be surprised when the post-interview debrief is filled with fury and rage.

 

 

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[mightstone2k]

Aside from work sucking, the week thus far has been good. Thanks for the positive vibes.

 

 

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[Elastigirl]

Sorry about the work hell. Remember if you kill anyone, that will just detain you longer. Hope the interview is quick and you can have a proper time off.

[mightstone2k]

Sorry about the work hell. Remember if you kill anyone, that will just detain you longer. Hope the interview is quick and you can have a proper time off.

Only if they catch me.

 

Today I started my swings, and immediately lost track of what I was doing. So the first set was 10 swings instead of the 8 I had programmed. I decided to just keep pressing on. Net result: swung 5x10/arm for the first time with 32 kg.

[The Most Loathed]

On 3/8/2017 at 10:40 AM, Elastigirl said:

Sorry about the work hell. Remember if you kill anyone, that will just detain you longer. Hope the interview is quick and you can have a proper time off.

I'm pretty sure that if he kills anyone they'll make him run both sides of the trial which means a double long work week.

[mightstone2k]

I'm pretty sure that if he kills anyone they'll make him run both sides of the trial which means a double long work week.

They can't. I'm not certified, so I can't be defense counsel. But even if they did, I'd for damn sure not work double hours. The prosecution case would just have to go on the back burner [emoji1]

 

 

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[mightstone2k]

I have not properly updated in a while. Here goes.

 

Training: still swinging 32 kg for 5x10/arm, so that was not a fluke. I've also added on push-ups GTG-style during the day, per@Machete. My PFT is coming up in May/June, and I'm getting started on preparing. Right now I'm at sets of 15, planning to increase every week or two. My tested amount was 30, which is a failing score. I'm saying that as a fact, and trying not to attach emotions to it. This is why I started two months out, because I know how I feel about this test. Tested sit-ups today and got 40, which is also a failure. But it's only two shy of the minimum, and I let myself rest twice because I thought I had more time. My core was fine. My hip flexors and quads fatigued first, and I just thought I had time to rest and still pass. Not a big deal; I would have passed if I pushed it. I'll keep testing that every week or two. Sure made S&S harder as a follow-on session. Run test on Saturday.

 

Food: solid. Ate two Samoas this morning. No regrets. Also had a wicked good almond butter-banana smoothie for dinner. I should do that more often.

 

Home life: almost nonexistent. I'm dealing with neglected stuff from this past week and trying to clear my plate at work before leaving this weekend. Not fussed about it.

 

Work-life: a thought I had this weekend is that I want to be three things: a good husband/father when the time comes, a Renaissance man (a gentleman-barbarian of sorts), and a good JAG. Balancing all three is going to be hard as f***. I'm not sure how that balance will work in the future. For now, I'm going to start reading more work-related stuff. I have an international law textbook and Air Force Operations & the Law that I plan to read through once I finish the Civil War trilogy (or concurrently with, after I read the 5 Love Languages). And based on new issues that cropped up at work, I've twigged to a different law review topic that has a military nexus. Not sure on the details yet, but something about the Feres doctrine. I can sink my teeth into that, and it's relevant to my intermediate career goals. Not international law (my real interest), but interesting: medical law.

 

I should read more professional stuff, both on the legal and military front. But I have a mental block about not wanting to be one-dimensional, focused entirely on work. My past practice was to get tunnel vision and focus only on one thing, which was always school. But by avoiding reading about professional topics, I think I'm hurting myself. I need to dive into my interests if I want to publish (which will help get me into the LL.M program), if I want to get good at something, and if I want to be a better officer and attorney. I need to trust that I can strike an appropriate balance, and not be afraid of reading on law, leadership, current affairs, and military science. If I want to be good at my professions, I need to embrace them rather than fear being consumed by them.

 

 

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[The Most Loathed]

2 hours ago, mightstone2k said:

... a thought I had this weekend is that I want to be three things...Balancing all three is going to be hard as f***.

Yep. Being a good spouse is mostly about being available and distracted, being a good JAG is mostly about being obsessive and never doing anything else, being a Renaissance Man is mostly about having mental and physical bandwidth to spare on random things along with the self discipline to stay focused long enough to learn what you need but wisdom to not stay focused longer than necessary. 

[mightstone2k]

Yep. Being a good spouse is mostly about being available and distracted, being a good JAG is mostly about being obsessive and never doing anything else, being a Renaissance Man is mostly about having mental and physical bandwidth to spare on random things along with the self discipline to stay focused long enough to learn what you need but wisdom to not stay focused longer than necessary. 

Well, I'm taking a step in a different direction over the next two weeks. I'm traveling again, and decided to leave extracurricular reading material at home. So I have (1) AF Ops & the Law; (2) 5 Love Languages; (3) access to Lexis Advance to dig into Feres-related material; and (4) my daily digest of news posts. That will be extent of my allowable reading material this week. Aside from reading, I'm allowed to write letters to people (and do my best to avoid optimizing an Abzan Birthing Pod/Oversold Cemetery deck; tweaking my preexisting list as part of my letter to my brother is acceptable, but going down the rabbit hole to optimizing is not).

 

Odds are I will read 5LL and AFO&tL more than jumping into Lexis. But I will try to spend two nights on Lexis over these two weeks. Training-wise, I will be in Florida and Virginia. Florida's gym is unknown to me. Hopefully it has a 32 kg kettlebell. Virginia is a known factor. I will be greasing push-ups and doing Original Strength in my hotel room there.

 

I'm unnaturally excited to eat out of American grocery stores - or even American commissaries - for two weeks. Premixed salads and Fage Greek yogurt for the win! And different kinds of soup! Our commissary has a limited selection. It suffices, but sometimes makes me sad.

 

Waiting on a link to a new challenge from@Kishi to amuse me during my travels [emoji12]

 

 

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[mightstone2k]

Oh yes, and I opted to throw money from my emergency/intermediate savings onto my loan and pay that sucker off. The interest works out better that way, and I had enough of a cushion to do it. So that albatross is gone now.

 

 

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[Elastigirl]

Woohoo for paying off the loan!

[Kishi]

16 hours ago, mightstone2k said:

Waiting on a link to a new challenge from@Kishi to amuse me during my travels

 

It's in the works. You'll know when it's time.

[mightstone2k]

The good news is that the gym here has 32 kg kettlebells.  I couldn't make their acquaintance properly last night because we had a social for the class, but I plan to tonight.  The bad news is that they are a two-mile walk away from my lodging.  Otherwise, I would maximize my waking hours (which currently begin at 0400).  Fingers crossed that I'm not totally wiped out by 1700 and not feeling up to the task of swinging heavy cannonballs ><

 

Edit to add:  to any mod who reads this (@Kishi @RisenPhoenix), can you abuse your power to change my title to something - anything - other than "Rookie"?  I've been on here for over four years now...

[mightstone2k]

Today was my second day using the kettlebells here. And on my last set of swings with the right hand, I tore a dime-size piece of skin off my palm. It's pretty much dead center, right on the crease. My guess is that it's because the handle was somewhat rougher than usual (and doing more damage to my hands than usual), and I made the mistake of gripping it in the crease of my palm. Not a big deal; I got some New Skin and HOLY GODS IT BURNED LIKE FIRE when I applied it. And it still burns when I flex and open my hand. Cassie thinks I'm a sissy (true) about it, but has offered to hop me up on drugs just to shut me up. Ah, the joys of dating an anesthesiologist.

 

So I'm not touching kettlebells again for the rest of this week, and have no access to them next week. Well, I might, but it would be at a commercial gym, which means I'd be paying for them and they probably wouldn't go any heavier than 50 pounds. Lame. Translation: I'm greasing push-ups and doing longer Original Strength workouts for the next week and a half. Maybe add some planks at night for fun.

 

TML, I read your last. Need to reread it a few times to digest it and do the homework, but it's on my radar. Danke schön.

 

 

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[Elastigirl]

44 minutes ago, mightstone2k said:

Today was my second day using the kettlebells here. And on my last set of swings with the right hand, I tore a dime-size piece of skin off my palm. It's pretty much dead center, right on the crease. My guess is that it's because the handle was somewhat rougher than usual (and doing more damage to my hands than usual), and I made the mistake of gripping it in the crease of my palm. Not a big deal; I got some New Skin and HOLY GODS IT BURNED LIKE FIRE when I applied it. And it still burns when I flex and open my hand. Cassie thinks I'm a sissy (true) about it, but has offered to hop me up on drugs just to shut me up. Ah, the joys of dating an anesthesiologist.

 

So I'm not touching kettlebells again for the rest of this week, and have no access to them next week. Well, I might, but it would be at a commercial gym, which means I'd be paying for them and they probably wouldn't go any heavier than 50 pounds. Lame. Translation: I'm greasing push-ups and doing longer Original Strength workouts for the next week and a half. Maybe add some planks at night for fun.

 

TML, I read your last. Need to reread it a few times to digest it and do the homework, but it's on my radar. Danke schön.

 

 

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Ow! maybe you can work on the leopard crawl with OS.

[mightstone2k]

Ow! maybe you can work on the leopard crawl with OS.

That was my exact plan. Warm up with the other resets, then leopard crawl for ten minutes and see how I feel. Perhaps I'll build up time over the next week and a half. And not feel like I'm turning into a fat kid.

 

 

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[mightstone2k]

No workout, due to my hand hating me. No sense I'm aggravating it like I did yesterday by trying to grease push-ups still. So total rest for the hand until Monday. Meeting my mom in Virginia for the weekend helps enforce rest. Frustrated, but grudgingly accepting it (as long as I can get back to push-ups Monday). If I can do those, I can leopard crawl.

 

F***ing lack of KBs irritates me. Unnecessarily. I could have audibled to Naked Warrior, but didn't. Granted, I didn't want to grease one-arm push-ups and PFT push-ups, but... I'm just largely frustrated. I'm going to my seventh training course, and I have used almost none of that knowledge so far. None. This week I met second-assignment guys who are setting precedent in an evolving practice area. And I have no confidence that my SJA will help move me toward that position. She wants me to do more military justice. Do the traditional second-assignment crap. But now I've seen behind the curtain, and I know that it's possible to do the real, meaningful work on your second spin. And I don't want to settle for less than that.

 

 

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[mightstone2k]

Leopard crawls are tough.  I gave them a shot this afternoon, and they worked the heck out of my shoulders and core.  I made it five minutes.  I can see why crawling is set aside as a separate workout in Original Strength.  Those + push-ups are my workout regimen this week.  Hand regenerating.

[Elastigirl]

Five minutes is a long time. I can only do it for a minute, tops.

I hope you get some work that is meaningful