SkiBlue - Daily Battle Log

[tourennatrix]

 REALLY COOL ARTICLE BY JONATHAN MEAD

 

Girl you're creeping me out. So I was reading your post and thought "oh hey I'll check out this article after I'm done commenting" and also "that name sounds familiar" and then when i go to click on it, GIRL THIS WAS ONE OF THE THINGS I WAS READING LAST WEEKEND WHEN I WAS TOO SICK TO MOVE. And it's not like we both recently saw an article that linked to this blog or something, because I found it when I was trying to weed out my bookmarks.

 

UNIVERSE WHAT ARE YOU DOING.

 

[SkiBlue]

That's kindof the gist of it. However, he had just been to a two day massage therapy workshop (a continuing education thing for him), so he had done a lot of body work. Apparently his body wanted a rest day and he didn't listen

 

Whoa whoa whoa. You mean to tell me that someone who's learning to become a massage therapist DIDN'T listen to his body? I think he needs to go back to 101 training.

 

Girl you're creeping me out. So I was reading your post and thought "oh hey I'll check out this article after I'm done commenting" and also "that name sounds familiar" and then when i go to click on it, GIRL THIS WAS ONE OF THE THINGS I WAS READING LAST WEEKEND WHEN I WAS TOO SICK TO MOVE. And it's not like we both recently saw an article that linked to this blog or something, because I found it when I was trying to weed out my bookmarks.

 

UNIVERSE WHAT ARE YOU DOING.

 

 

MWAHAHAHAHAHA! Our twin training continues. XD

[tourennatrix]

Whoa whoa whoa. You mean to tell me that someone who's learning to become a massage therapist DIDN'T listen to his body? I think he needs to go back to 101 training.

 

Naw, not learning to become a massage therapist... He's been a massage therapist for YEARS. I'm pretty sure he taught massage some years back when the therapy center I go to was also a school. Hell, he might have been teaching at this workshop, he wasn't real clear on the details I imagine it was more like he felt GREAT, but jumping right back into some pretty intense practice was a bit jarring!

 

And well, he does like to say things like "it's not capoeira if you don't take things too far"... but that's usually joking about our group occasionally having some rather off-color conversations XD

[SkiBlue]

Naw, not learning to become a massage therapist... He's been a massage therapist for YEARS. I'm pretty sure he taught massage some years back when the therapy center I go to was also a school. Hell, he might have been teaching at this workshop, he wasn't real clear on the details I imagine it was more like he felt GREAT, but jumping right back into some pretty intense practice was a bit jarring!

 

And well, he does like to say things like "it's not capoeira if you don't take things too far"... but that's usually joking about our group occasionally having some rather off-color conversations XD

 

Ahh, okay. Though I wouldn't be surprised. Contra Mestre Zumbi literally "LIVED" at his capoeira school in Brazil since he was 13. >.< Kinda wish I could do that.

[tourennatrix]

Hey Ski, look what I found!

 

That makes 3 guilds

[SkiBlue]

Hey Ski, look what I found!

 

That makes 3 guilds

 

We shall flood his thread. And take over the Rebellion! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! (I may need to go home from work now...)

[SkiBlue]

Let’s see if I can remember what happened this weekend…

Took off work on Friday. I’d planned on doing some sort of movement, but it wasn’t ironed out. The husband asked me if I’d workout with him while he did deadlifts. Since I had no plan, I decided that was a good idea, but when I got in the gymarage, I realized that all I wanted was to get better at Capoeira and bodyweight movements. So, instead of doing any heavy lifting, I opted for lunges and push-ups, but only after the husband got frustrated and quit his deadlifts. I pumped out over 30 knee push-ups, btw. Personal best so far!

Anyway, despite being frustrated with his own lift, I knew he was upset that I hadn’t lifted. We had a long talk about these things. Now that my passion is shifting to Capoeira (which he completely understands, as he LOVED his martial arts at Apex), I’m kind of struggling with the Rangerbrain, trying to figure out the best ways to train to get better. I love heavy lifting still, but I know I need to do more bodyweight exercises, I need to stretch more and increase my flexibility, and I’m OBSESSED with GMB (I swear, their stuff is the GOLDEN JACKPOT for supplemental Capoeira training; if I hadn’t signed up for sessions with Coach Prime, I’d have signed up for Elements already, which that spot in the budget has been renamed “Coaching†so I can start saving for their programs because yeah…). Trying to balance all this with adequate recovery and still have a life has my Rangerbrain quite overwhelmed.

TANGENTS! Really. Gonna try to paraphrase what we talked about: how we can improve our communication, how to better support each others’ goals, and how I can better juggle and manage mine. To me, it was kind of needed, as I sorely missed being involved in each others’ process, all because I stopped lifting consistently. I think this shift in my goals has started a shift in opinions between us on how to achieve them. Or I’m just over-analyzing. Probably; I do that too often. I dunno, that’s just the sense I’m getting.

Saturday, I spent the day visiting my family. It was really nice to hang out with my parents and my brothers, even if my mother was feeling pretty sick. She’s been having some serious gut problems and can’t eat without getting sick, so she went to the doctor’s on Monday to figure out what the issue is. I’m gonna call her later to find out.

Sunday, I returned to heavy lifting and did some deadlifts.

Deadlifts
 1x5 @ 115lb
 2x4 @ 130lb
 2x3 @ 145lb
 1x3 @ 160lb
 4x3 @ 165lb
American Deadlift
 3x8 @ 85lb
Bench Hip Thrusts
 2x30
Knee Push-ups
 1x12
Hanging Knee Raises
 2x6
Lunges
 1x40
Sit-ups
 1x20

I’ve gone insane. In between deadlift sets, I would hold myself in low parallel for about 20 seconds at a time. The thing Zumbi almost kills us with I find myself doing at home. WTF?! I wanted to do more push-ups, but after deadlifts, my wrist was like F*CK THIS SH*T. So I pumped out lunges to somewhat failure; I could’ve done more, but I was tired and didn’t wanna push too hard after deadlifts.

Cooked the chicken and broccoli casserole for lunch, but missed making the curry. I’m afraid to, because every time I make curry at home, it tastes like nothingness. Went to bed super late, which was a bad idea.

Apparently, you need adequate sleep after deadlifting. I was exhausted at work and passed out on the couch when I got home yesterday. Missed class, but the rest was kind of needed (though I cried on the inside; I HATE missing class). The husband consoled me with the reminder that Acrobatics class is today, so I can do that (and I’ll bring cash this time to make Zumbi’s life easier). However, I should’ve just gone to bed after that, because I struggled SO HARD with sleeping last night. I was in bed for eight hours, but it doesn’t feel like it. *sigh* Spring break sleep schedule has done screwed up everything GRRR!!

Speaking of GRRR, GRRRL clothing is on a super sale because of International Women’s Day, but I have no spare monies!! Whaaaaaaa. I want my BA clothes now…



Sewing is about to happen a lot more often soon. My bag’s seams are coming undone at the top near the straps, so that needs fixing. And Spandex World re-stocked the Cotton Lyrca fabric I’d originally wanted for my Mando flightsuit. SO I bought it, but I need to work on the husband’s clothes before I start working on it, since he’s been waiting for those clothes for a while now. Cleaning the sewing room up is gonna be a task for this week, so I can get that ball rolling. Oh I’ve missed creating. Be prepared for creative images SPAM!

[SkiBlue]

Work was boring, with nothing much to do, so I won’t bore you with those details. However, I took that opportunity to DEVOUR GMB articles (my poor Rangerbrain) and MOVE. I did a “Wide Ginga†session in the lab; you know, the thing that Zumbi killed us with. I did three sets of ten gingas from a deep, wide parallel stance, held the parallel in between sets for ten seconds, then proceeded to do ten ginga into esquiva baxia from the parallel stance. Ow. Why I picked that to be part of my goals for WonderShello’s PVP, I have no idea. Maybe Zumbi gave me some of his crazy. Yeah, that’s probably it. Or he activated my own… I DON’T KNOW. All I know is that after going to class so often, when I’m training on my own, I feel the muscle burn and think, “I can ignore this,†and keep going. What.

I did more than that though. I did some APT reversal moves and a full wrist flexibility and strength session (also something that needs to be done for PVP). How someone didn’t walk into my office while I did those is beyond my comprehension. Of course, now that I said that, it’s going to happen today. Grr.

GRRR. The clothes that I want from the GRRRL website aren’t available in my size! WHAAAAA!!!

Got to go to Acrobatics class! There were ten people there tonight. We started with some rolling, which I surprised myself with. On the second lap, Zumbi told us to switch up our rolls. The first version is the standard, second is the straight leg roll, and the third is the jump and dive into the roll. OF ALL THE THINGS TO NOT BE AFRAID OF, I had NO PROBLEM doing the jump roll version. I get that the floor is blue and all, but IT IS NOT WATER. Still did it anyway, with glee. WTF. Though I’m quite proud of the fact that I could actually get up onto my feet out of the roll STRAIGHT without tucking my legs under. FINALLY got the hang of backward rolling, though I couldn’t do it straight. I would fall over toward my right shoulder (and at one point, didn’t roll slow enough and just smacked the back of my head on the ground, that hurt, even with the padded floor).

Aús! So much aú training. Started with regular, then switched to landing with both feet on floor and hands over head. Then some aú sem mão, which was more horizontal for most of us. Then some parafuso. Then combo; parafuso into aú sem mão. Are you dizzy yet? Because then we moved onto aú de frente and aú de costa/macaco em pé. I need to work on that one (along with frente); mine is more I do the backward falling motion while twisting into a regular aú, so I can get the motion down).

We then had about fifteen minutes of free practice, in which I tried to concentrate on my aú de frente. I’d like to get the hang of having my torso face the proper direction BEFORE I land, but so far I can only twist my facing after the first leg has landed. I’m going to be adding some GMB frogger training sessions to my at-home training, so I can get the hang of controlling my body in the vertical plane better. I still rely too heavily on momentum. Reba and Mark were practicing their handsprings and somersaults. MAN I so want to be able to do that.

I’m gonna be milking the Acrobatics class as much as possible. After class, I discovered that the gymnastics gym closes for the summer, so they start training in the park, on the grass, which is nowhere near as forgiving as that springy blue floor. Though, I’m thinking I need to get the trampoline from my parents.

Didn’t get to bed on time, because we needed printer ink. The husband was trying to print out his resume for a job interview (today), but it wasn’t turning out right. Both color and black were very low, so nothing was showing up good. Despite him trying to avoid it at all costs, there was no getting around needing a new one, so I ran to the Walmart down the road to pick up a pack (and remembered that my debit card was in my purse and not my wallet, grr).

Still need more sleep.

[tourennatrix]

Your acrobatics class makes me so jealous Sure we have Au and the like, but most of our florieos are a lot more of the controlled strength tricks like bananeira, headstands, queda de rins and moenda. I'm totally loving working towards these feats of course, but there's just something special about acrobatics

[SkiBlue]

Your acrobatics class makes me so jealous Sure we have Au and the like, but most of our florieos are a lot more of the controlled strength tricks like bananeira, headstands, queda de rins and moenda. I'm totally loving working towards these feats of course, but there's just something special about acrobatics

 

We do a lot of those strength tricks during regular classes, but Zumbi's been on a conditioning kick here for the past two weeks, so we haven't seen much, other than the "hold crow then push into a handstand" business. I think that's what makes the Acrobatics special, because you're learning the more aerial skill side of the art. But I'm finding them hand-balancing and strength skills to be much harder to accomplish.

[SkiBlue]

So, eating before class is super important. Just saying. I wasn’t hungry when getting home before class, and was even feeling a bit nauseous, so I opted not to eat. This was a mistake. But more on that later.

Class was interesting. Troy and I were the only ones on hand to help play instruments for the beginner’s class roda. I felt a bit deflated, as there is a new person who’s moving so much better than I am, yet I’ve already gotten my green belt and don’t look nearly as good moving as she does. It makes me feel bad, because I feel ashamed to interact with her, and I hate not being able to be nice. Dumb brain. I also couldn’t get a handle on the new, easy song (that I can’t find right now, will update later if I find it), but at least I got the chance to play the pandeiro again. I keep missing open gym nights for practice.

I also discovered just how ABUSED my body felt after Acrobatics. My neck and upper shoulders are sore and achy, my left wrist obviously wasn’t up to full power, though I made it a point to do a full warm-up for them, and OMG my knees.

Anyway. I always try to go last around during warm-up, because I’m slow and short. Never works. I ended up in the middle, and half-way through, I heard Troy encourage me to close the gap. He’s a FOOT TALLER than me! >.< My bad. I also got some more Capoeira instructor love during the stretches. Finally getting in last, I was next to Zumbi for the circle stretches. We were doing the lunge stretch, and he was close enough to my foot to untie my shoe. I can’t stop laughing about it now. I’m never freaggin’ leaving that place.

We drilled a switch martelo. From ginga, you step forward, hop onto that foot that’s moving forward and kick martelo with the other. Though, we drilled without the actual kick, just the position for it. Then we drilled a resistência/queda de tres kinda dodge. You squat back onto one hand while blocking your face with the other, kinda like this:



Honestly, I couldn’t find the official move or name anywhere. But anyway, that’s when I discovered the pain in my knees. When we were drilling it, I could not get all the way down because of them. Not entirely sure what to do about it, but I’m hoping to spend some time researching. This is also where I discovered dizzy spells due to lack of food. Not fun.

Of course, this made is a bit difficult for me when we split into pairs to combine the two into a sequence. We are obviously dodging the martelo with that esquiva, though you’re supposed to be in the middle of turning for an armada when it comes. This took quite a few times at slow speed to get. After two attempts with different partners, we added a compasso at the end for the person dodging the martelo. MAN I need to get my hips in proper form so I can get better at that kick. But my third partner didn’t get the switch-martelo part, so we were doing the dodge facing the wrong direction… or that might’ve just been me using the wrong arm. Though I’m sure we were doing it wrong, because she wasn’t switching the leg she was kicking martelo with… Eh, it’s over, so bleh.

Then more CrossFit craziness. We drilled more crow into bananeira (which all I did was test out my frogger hops). And then he gave us five minutes to do 100 crunches and 10 push-ups… THREE TIMES before holding a 10 second ponte. The roda started while us stragglers were finishing up. While my reactions and reading opponents still need improvement, my movement itself in the roda is definitely improving. I can finally remember to MOVE AROUND and do stuff.

I debated with myself for the entire drive home what to do about food. I NEEDED something, and I was torn between Big Fast Food and using the bananas and new protein powder at home. I switched lanes a dozen times, but then decided shake would be best. When I got home, the husband cooked up one of his emergency meals for me to eat anyway, since only half the shake was worth drinking (the foam that was created was awful).

[SkiBlue]

I ran into Girafa after my therapy session (a possible occurrence that still amuses me so much) and asked him what he did to hurt his neck earlier this week. His response: parafuso.

I forgot to mention that I think I understand this now after my second Acrobatics class. I felt so abused in my knees, shoulders, and neck on Wednesday and into Thursday.

[SkiBlue]

Hello Battle Log. Sorry I've forgotten you these past few days.

 

Went to class on Monday and Wednesday. Skipped Acrobatics to give my wrist some time to heal up. Finally talked to Zumbi about my wrist issues; he's not surprised. It's a common complaint amongst new students. He brought to light another reason why wrists take a beating on newer students; it's not just a strength issue, but a flexibility issue. When they try to go into a handstand, because they lack the right amount of flexibility, their wrists aren't at a 90 degree angle when they go up, which also causes pain problems. He told me to keep working on flexibility and strength, so using the GMB resources every day should help. I did a full session before class on Wednesday, and add the wrist straps, and I was set to do some handstands, and didn't have much pain during and afterwards. So there's that.

 

Zumbi also admitted after class on Wednesday that the 300+ crunches, 30+ push-ups, and bridge holds in 5 minutes are going to be a regular thing to help us out. I might groan when he mentions it, but I'm kind of glad and thankful for it. While I'm trying to put less emotional emphasis on measurements changing to break away from body image issues, I still want to make aesthetic goal progress. I don't think I'm quite ready to start tracking that again, as I want to build the positive focus on other things (like improving my Capoeira skills, increasing strength and flexibility, and figuring out the best way for me to eat), but it's still kind of in the back of my mind. I stepped on the scale this past Sunday and the Sunday before to just check where I'm at, and I'm holding steady. Haven't lost, but also haven't gained. This has kind of settled my fear on my attempt at moderation aka. 70/30 compliance rating. Speaking of food and habits, coaching starts on the 28th. I'm kind of excited, since I'm in a much better place with my headspace.

 

This weekend was a bit on the lazy side. I hardly cooked anything for this week (I still have some Thai curry chicken that needs to be consumed, and plenty of salad supplies), but I did do some cleaning, and the Husband and I got to spend a good deal of quality time together. Oh, and he worked on my car; new starter (which works and seems to have solved my starting issues), wiper blade fluid tubes repaired (though the sprayers are at the wrong angle), and the oil got changed. I also started up my sewing projects again. I hope the husband likes the vest pattern that I'm using. The one vest he does have (that no longer fits) doesn't have a collar piece, but this pattern does, and we both LOVE the fabric that I'm using. I don't wanna waste it on a vest that he might not like, but he did pick out the pattern himself so... *crosses fingers*

[tourennatrix]

Geeze, I don't think I can even count to 300. Girafa tells me to do "5 more kicks on each side" and I lose track at about kick number 3.  

 

I'm really glad all the things seem to be coming together for you. I hope our twin powers hold up and start rubbing off on me again soon  (I'm currently hanging out in that realm of "I think things are starting to go better, which means I should be able to start holding myself more accountable for things and knuckling down again, but if I'm wrong or move in too fast I might sabotage all my hard work. Again." Kinda lame, but at least I'm aware of the thought process  )

 

 

Looking forward to hear how this coaching thing goes for you!

[SkiBlue]

18 hours ago, tourennatrix said:

Geeze, I don't think I can even count to 300. Girafa tells me to do "5 more kicks on each side" and I lose track at about kick number 3.  

 

I'm really glad all the things seem to be coming together for you. I hope our twin powers hold up and start rubbing off on me again soon  (I'm currently hanging out in that realm of "I think things are starting to go better, which means I should be able to start holding myself more accountable for things and knuckling down again, but if I'm wrong or move in too fast I might sabotage all my hard work. Again." Kinda lame, but at least I'm aware of the thought process  )

 

 

Looking forward to hear how this coaching thing goes for you!

 

Slow and steady, right? Small improvements over time beat doing all the things at once and failing. But then again, failing isn't the fall, it's staying down. I think I missed that really important message way back when, that if you don't change your mindset first, anything else you do is futile. We're on the right track. 

 

I never count to 300. Zumbi makes us to 100 crunches+10 push-ups+100 crunches+10 push-ups+100 crunches+10-push-ups+50 crunches+10 push-ups+10 second ponte within 5 minutes. I have to stop every 20 to 15 to 10 crunches to let the burn mellow out enough that I can keep going. I usually average around 50 solid crunches before moving on to push-ups. He'd prefer us to do it that way, with good, solid reps, than to blast through them just to make the time mark. I'm building up slowly. But if you put that together with the wide ginga-parallel holds that he made us do two+ weeks ago, I'm starting to push myself closer to failure when I'm training at home. I'd like to say that he passed on his crazy, but I can't lie...

 

[SkiBlue]

Why is picking out a pandeiro online so hard? And WHY ARE THEY ALL SO EXPENSIVE?! Damn taxes has me cut short on funds until May. *weeps*

 

So Monday. Ate well and discovered that hot chocolate is now too sweet for my tastes... what? Umm, can I get that condition on EVERYTHING sweet, please? No? Damn... But that also means that coffee is growing on me. Huh. Who knew?

 

Class was fun. O'Brian was back for warm-up. I think I know why I struggle with it so much still; I'm a short person, so it takes me extra work and effort to keep up with the people who have legs twice as long as I do. Ugh. Otherwise, my tolerance is slowly increasing. Maybe. We did esquiva drills; armada feint 10x, esquiva lateral 10x, esquiva baxia 10x, then cocorinha into a negativa variation that we did with Instructora Lelê, where you push out the foot opposite of the side you lean toward the floor with 10x, then regular negativa 10x. This is where the maybe comes in. I can do the moves (mostly, need to step up my low game owowowow), but I can't keep up with the speed of the rest of the class, so I'm always a few reps short. I could hardly do more than two reps each of the cocorinha-negativa drills though.

 

Then we moved on to partner practice of the vingativa (after partner does armada), with an emphasis on less thinking and pausing and more doing. >.< We did that for a while, then moved onto free-standing handstand push-up negatives. Like, you started in a handstand, then slowly lowered your head to the floor and pushed back up. Yeah, that didn't happen. I just did overhead push-ups with my leg in the way on the floor. Roda was fun, as always. Learned a new song (which took a while, as we got "lectured" that we should be trying to learn and practicing instruments). Then we had a bit of announcements at the end, so no crunches yesterday. Kinda sad, kinda not.

 

And I'm totally going to Acrobatics class tonight. I think my wrist can take it. It's too much fun.

[tourennatrix]

6 hours ago, SkiBlue said:

Why is picking out a pandeiro online so hard? And WHY ARE THEY ALL SO EXPENSIVE?! Damn taxes has me cut short on funds until May. *weeps*

 

 

This is the one I got. Comparatively inexpensive. Synthetic head means you can play it in the rain, good sound, and other such praises from Girafa. It's also the one he uses  

 

I need more videos to show off your regional lingo

(*ahem*, says the girl who can't get the last stuff filmed for the 6 month video and is getting close to 7 months.)

[SkiBlue]

10 hours ago, tourennatrix said:

 

This is the one I got. Comparatively inexpensive. Synthetic head means you can play it in the rain, good sound, and other such praises from Girafa. It's also the one he uses  

 

I need more videos to show off your regional lingo

(*ahem*, says the girl who can't get the last stuff filmed for the 6 month video and is getting close to 7 months.)

 

OH CRAP. I forgot recording progress videos were supposed to be a thing. Gonna have to do that this weekend. *scrambles to find piece of paper for writing down moves to do* >.<

 

Thanks for sharing that link. I SHOULD be going to Open Gym on Fridays to learn and practice the instruments better, as Zumbi said trying it during other classes is a ear-sore during his "lecture." But it's hard to get out that night, because it's the day the Husband has to work late (usually until about 9pm, when he started working at 9pm, and can't charge overtime...). I find I'm much more compelled to stay home and try to make his life easier by making him food and helping him chill than going to practice instruments, even though I want to and I know I should. Hopefully, he gets this new job and those long Fridays can freaggin' stop. But after careful consideration, I think investing in a pandeiro is a good idea; I can practice at home and even bring it in to Open Gym Fridays to learn with. I hate getting paid once a month...

[SkiBlue]

I've been a sub-par capoeirista/rebel this week. I missed Acrobatics class on Tuesday, since the Husband wanted to go out and enjoy the nice weather (and I didn't have any money). I missed regular class on Wednesday because sleep. I've completely forgotten to do any training outside of class, and I haven't done anything for my wrists and hips since Monday. No video, either. Oops.

 

But I'm doing great otherwise! This past challenge was EXACTLY what I needed. The format and grading worked beautifully. And I've got a week to take a break and iron out the details of the next challenge (though the format and grading are not changing).

 

I'm only halfway through cleaning the house. I only finished the bathrooms yesterday; they needed a good deal of work and the Husband was working on the cars and had me stop halfway through to "help" with that. There's still a good deal left to do, but I'm already feeling much better, just having the bathrooms done so damn well. Also, squatting and doing frogger/monkey moves makes cleaning the floor a lot easier and more fun.

[SkiBlue]

House is clean. Huzzah! Kitchen (and small appliances) were cleaned on Sunday, and the rest of the bottom level was done yesterday. I told the Husband that he's in charge of upstairs, since that's where he spends most of his time. We'll see how that goes.

 

I missed class yesterday, since we didn't get to go to the grocery store until Monday evening. It's a good thing that happened during Week Zero, because I haven't gotten the chance to prep cook anything. *sigh* Oh well. Moving on.

 

I did a thing: the Husband purchased my copy of Guild Wars 2 when it was first released. We've been sitting and debating whether or not to get Heart of Thorns. I figured it would be nice of me to return the kindness and buy the Husband's copy. So I did. And my own. On the credit card. YNAB be helping me keep a level head, at least. I'm hoping that I can pay off those purchases after I get paid this week, but we'll see. Still learning to adhere to the budget. Hopefully, my life doesn't end outside the game though... I hate doing that.

[tourennatrix]

I've been having a hard time adhering to my ynab stuff (like everything these days) but when you keep at it and you trust it, it freaking works. I have faith In you

[SkiBlue]

On 3/29/2016 at 0:46 PM, tourennatrix said:

I've been having a hard time adhering to my ynab stuff (like everything these days) but when you keep at it and you trust it, it freaking works. I have faith In you

 

I'm just too liberal with "Roll with the Punches" rule. Moving money into a category BEFORE I need it so I can use it probably doesn't count. But I find adhering to necessities budget categories is easy; moving true expenses into fun categories is where I struggle. It's actually been helping a ton despite that though; the gaming stuff was the first time I used my credit cards since I started using YNAB. I have NOT needed to use them for necessary purchases, which is a win in my book. 

 

And because of it, I was able to finally file my taxes this morning and have enough money to cover the ~$900 I owed this year (for getting myself a full time job with insurance, ugh).

[SkiBlue]

Last week was Spring Break for the schools in the area. 

 

I must've mentally checked out along with all the kids, because I did NOTHING. Ugh. Even went to bed on Saturday evening (technically Sunday morning) at 3am. WTF GUILD WARS?! 

 

Still managed to be quite productive yesterday to prep for Challenge Week One. Laundry and prep cooking, which turned out to be a LOT easier than I expected. Pot roast & potatoes in pressure cooker; sweet potatoes & chicken in oven; done in about two hours. Even succeeded in making gravy out of the broth-juice from the pressure cooker. Broccoli salad was made as well (with homemade mayo), but I didn't have the time to cook the bacon for it. >.<

 

I am going to class this week. No excuses; got paid on Thursday.

 

Also kinda being weighed down with a bit of guilt. A friend from high school (and college roommate) has recently moved into a new apartment (with a one year old). She keeps calling to hang out and stuff, but I literally have no time. I work drone hours (8-5, Mon-Fri), Capoeira class Mon & Wed at 8pm, Acrobatics on Tues at 8pm, Open Gym on Fri (if I ever remember), and Pathfinder on Thurs evenings. Weekends are usually spent making up quality time with the Husband and doing chores. I feel like a horrible friend for not having/making time, but that's just the way my schedule is. Doing too much, maybe? Or just bad timing (since she works 3rd shift and I don't).

[SkiBlue]

Went to class! Didn't die! Huzzah!

 

Got there early enough to check out the pandeiro; I want something of comparable size. I think it's a 12in diameter one. Gonna need to save up for it though. Of course, since I was the one investigating the pandeiro, I got to play it for the beginners' class roda. It was good practice, especially for not having been there in like a week and a half. I finally got into the groove of singing and playing near the ten minute mark.

 

We worked on relatively simple moves. I was glad; O'Brian's warm-up included 20 reps of 4 different types of lunges. I have NEVER felt my hamstrings/glutes get that close to ultimate failure before. But I was glad for it; they need the love. Well, now that I think about it, the kicking combo was simple. Meia lua de frente into armada. Partner does esquiva lateral, then moves forward while the other is landing the armada kick to execute a vingativa. Cool. 2x10 aú without your hands leaving the ground. Difficult, but I put a focus on the angle of my wrists instead of trying to get my legs up straight. Helped tons. Continue same partner sequence, but add negativa into LOW rolê after the vingativa. Oookay, that took a few tries to get right. My muscle memory for the negativa-rolê isn't up to snuff. Need to practice that more. More aú reps. Then the complete sequence; person A does meia lua de frente, armada, meia lua de compasso while person B did esquiva lateral into an ATTEMPT at vingativa, then went down into the LOW negativa-rolê during A's compasso. With that added pressure to dodge the compasso, I continuously forgot to go into negativa properly, my hands not in the right places. It really sucked. Zumbi made it look so easy and pretty too. >.<

 

For some strange reason, hardly anyone wants to be first in the roda. And here I thought I was shy. I ended up in the second round for my first two games. Both partners I had tried the new combo we learned, and I screwed it all up. Ugh. I also stuttered a lot; I don't move fluidly through my movements, so my esquivas take too long to get into, going offensive from defensive is a struggle (so much so that I spun on the wrong leg for compasso, so no kick), and I still struggle to watch and read my partner while at the same time remember what I can do, so we're not just doing ginga all the time. My second round of games felt a little better, but only SLIGHTLY, and I ended up with three partners in a row. I very nearly collapsed afterward; combine my lack of movement and training with eating terribly (and probably being more carb dependent as a result) and all those lunges, and I was amazed that my muscles lasted all class. I could literally FEEL the lack of fuel for them. It was ridiculous. We ended with the 5 minute, 400 crunches, 10 push-up, last 50 crunches were supermans session. I'm getting better at these; I managed my first 25 without getting much burn failure. But I still have a long way to go (still haven't reached the required number within the time frame). 

 

I almost couldn't get out of the car after I got home, my hammies and glutes were so exhausted. I made myself a protein shake to help refuel and passed out after a bath and such. I still feel really crappy about my sub-par performance at class, but everyone was still super nice and even tried to help me get the movements right while we were doing partner work. One of the more advanced students still gets excited about me being there almost every evening class (since it would take me an hour drive to get there for the noon classes on Tues & Thurs, which is a relief, I've heard they are BRUTAL). I'm sure part of the reason was my lack of any sort of training for the past week and a half, but now I know I need a more defined training plan (with regular practice). Time for brainstorming and scheduling! And I really need to stay off my butt for long periods of time. I will be abusing the crap outta my Pomodoros app, especially during gaming and sewing sessions.

 

I'm having mild anxiety about that friend of mine. I want to have so much more done with my Mando kit's soft parts (flightsuit and vest) before the armor party on the 17th. Having the flightsuit and vest done will make forming the armor plate templates easier, because we'll know how they fit and sit on them. But I haven't started on any of it yet, and I still have some clothing pieces for the Husband to finish, and the only real time I'll have to work on them is the weekend. I feel bad for being so busy that I can't see her, but I'm trying to actually do the things that I've always wanted to do (capoeira and costuming). I think the Husband's clothing pieces will have to wait until after the armor party is over, so I can get SOMETHING done in time for it. I mean, his stuff didn't take me very long at all. BTW, he got a shirt and tie to go with the vest I finished; it looks super awesome.

 

Coaching hasn't started yet. Apparently, she's having some tough technology issues, but she's offered me two free one-on-one coaching sessions (which she didn't really have to, I feel kinda bad about that). I know I'm on the right path for my mindset, but I'm sure I could still use the professional coaching.

[tourennatrix]

Y'no, despite being in pain and sluggish and any other "non optimal" status you were experiencing in class, it sounds like you did awesomely.  I know I feel a little off even after missing just one class (happens when they're mostly just mon/weds- you miss one and it's like a whole week without practice) but we keep going back and pushing through the burn for the beauty of the game