Urgan Shows Up, Does the Thing

[Urgan]

6/26/2019

Rollin' Now

 

武士道   (ぶしどう)

Justice/Rectitude 

Within: Samurai Don't Complain (in fitness or in the meeting room)

Nailed it.

 

Without: Giri

Mop floor

Back up laptop HD

Schedule eye exam

Clean shower

Clean kitchen table

Clean toilet

Clean tub

Clean sinks

 

Courage

Within: Crying in the Dojo

Technique Review - 14/16

Buki Waza Review - 4/4

 

Without: Keep heizen and carry on

Call Computer Shop

Audit Power Bill - $116, $108, $116

 

Benevolence

Within and Without: Love

Dad Training - 2/4

9:00 Dinner - 7/8

Cat grooming - 3/4

 

Politeness

Within: Rēsetsu

Curse Count - 1

Silence is Golden - 11/19

 

Without: Do 道

Drawing Japanese Characters - 5/8

 

Honesty

Within: Shinjitsu for Me

- 

 

Without: Matomo for Thee

Say (Only) What You Mean - 20/28

 

Honor

Within: Sotsugyu Already

Update resume (again)

Meditate on Proportional Response

- An ISO Documentation training meeting is coming early in July. I fear for all our souls. Noted that the guy likely to give the training isn't thrilled with it.

 

Without: Battle With Meiyo and Humanity

Clean grandfather's books

Clean the office desk

Take down posts of eBay sellables

Gather all donations in one place

Remove non-office things from the office

Protect the surface of the desk

Clean the floor

 

- I hit a morning PR of 205lbs on squat. And rack pulls didn't suffer for it at 235lbs, unfortunately time was not my friend. Maybe that will help me not fry myself for the weekend. At the dojo we concluded with the first two mae giri techniques and I reviewed them all when I got home, along with buki waza.

 

I'm well on track to finish The Light of Burning Shadows Thursday night, which is neat. I'll have the house to myself for most if not all of the night since husband is going out to a concert with his brother--it's way out in the middle of nowhere on a Thursday, no thanks. Gonna finish that book, box up the books that need to get gone (there are a lot of them.....), and start work on the next book for my Friday blitz. The aim is to take these books to get sold Friday evening, but that presupposes they are in a box and in the trunk of my car which, now that I think about it, has the papers to be shredded sitting in it. This is going to be interesting.....

[Urgan]

6/27/2019 - 6/30/2019

Here a Wrap, There a Wrap...

 

武士道   (ぶしどう)

Justice/Rectitude 

Within: Samurai Don't Complain (in fitness or in the meeting room)

I could probably have done better, LBR.

 

Without: Giri

Mop floor

Back up laptop HD

Schedule eye exam

Clean shower

Clean kitchen table

Clean toilet

Clean tub

Clean sinks

 

Meh. I need to continue to prioritize this, it's so easy to move onto shinier forms of domesticity, but this is kind of non-optional?

 

Courage

Within: Crying in the Dojo

Technique Review - 15/16

Buki Waza Review - 4/4

 

I say I did pretty well here, as far as stated goals go. I dropped off practicing iaido things the last week because #reading

 

Without: Keep heizen and carry on

Call Computer Shop

Audit Power Bill - $116, $108, $116

 

Nailed it??

 

Benevolence

Within and Without: Love

Dad Training - 2/4

9:00 Dinner - 8/8

Cat grooming - 4/4

 

I did the thing.

 

Politeness

Within: Rēsetsu

Curse Count - 1

Silence is Golden - 12/19

 

Need to improve on chatter, but complaining is down at least.

 

Without: Do 道

Drawing Japanese Characters - 5/8

 

This was unrealistic the moment books hit the scene. I still like doing it and need to maintain "room" in my schedule to do a few characters here and there.

 

Honesty

Within: Shinjitsu for Me

- 

 

Without: Matomo for Thee

Say (Only) What You Mean - 24/28

 

The balance of saying precisely what's on my mind and going along to avoid turbulence is a fine one, but I have had a few brilliant moments this month. 

 

Honor

Within: Sotsugyu Already

Update resume (again)

Meditate on Proportional Response

- An ISO Documentation training meeting is coming early in July. I fear for all our souls. Noted that the guy likely to give the training isn't thrilled with it.

 

These two goals are momentarily at odds with one another. I still need to consider updating my resume, however given the lack of postings from places that are not likely fishing for resumes...this is not pressing. 

 

Without: Battle With Meiyo and Humanity

Clean grandfather's books

Clean the office desk

Take down posts of eBay sellables

Gather all donations in one place

Remove non-office things from the office

Protect the surface of the desk

Clean the floor

 

And with the removal of decor and towels back to their home underneath the guest sink (husband had to sand and repaint it first...), we herald the completion of this category of goals right at the buzzer.

 

- Wheeeeee so long, June. Let's make some notes on stuff that fell outside the above goals, shall we?

 

 

On the book front:

Finished The Light of Burning Shadows on Thursday, Stealing Fire (Jo Graham) on Friday, read half of The Two Towers (Tolkien, 'natch) on Saturday and the other half Sunday, skimmed a useful paraphrase book of the minor Prophets rescued from my grandparents' place, and started The Return of the King. Found a small handful of books destined for another home, on Friday sold 4 boxes (for size, think the boxes a pair of Tidy Cats litter tubs come in...) of books, or rather 3 boxes were offered up and one went straight to charity because 2nd and Charles doesn't take players guides, it turns out. I have been able to move my unread books up 3 shelves, allowing read books to occupy the overwhelming majority of 3 bookcases. 

 

Also I have this thing about "taking breaks" from sequels/series of [books, games, manga, smoke signals...] and by the time I regain interest it's been oh, 10 years or whatever. I am tackling not one, not two, but THREE trilogies one after the other. I'm on the last book of each, starting with Return of the King. Gonna smash the crap out of this bad habit. It's a psychological issue of being afraid of the emotional shoe-drop of finishing off a series and you know, who all might die and whatnot. Also a suspension of the anticipation of completing a series that, once completed, is well...done and there's no more of that character's story to be had. Really stupid. Either it's a Good Thing and should be read or it's not and I should junk it and move on. Sheesh.

 

On the decluttering front:

I did the hard thing on Saturday and threw out a whole bunch of nail polish I find I cannot even use due to topical allergic reactions. Yes indeed, in spite of them physically harming me I only just now, oh 5 years later, threw out allergenic nail polish for entirely stupid reasons of it was shiny and sparkly. This freed up a lot of space under my bathroom sink, and allowed me to get rid of an unnecessary plastic container to boot. What did I use that container for? Why to pack up some of the junk sitting on a bookcase that needed to be donated, of course. Throw in some shoe boxes that were destined for a dumpster anyhow, and you have the perfect elimination of excuse to not be able to donate the action figures with whom I'd fallen out of love. Minus one piece of miscellaneous decor, and there you have it. 

 

On the gym front:

A strong Wednesday forecast a strong Saturday, and I hit a 5.5lb squat PR of 217lbs. Deadlifts didn't suffer too badly for it, I did 235lb singles there. Friday was solid enough with 80lb presses. As of writing this I have a new bench 2RM of 105lbs. We rollin'.

 

So now I just have to rebalance my load to maintain allllll of the habits, hobbies, and responsibilities. And add new ones. As you do.

[Mistr]

Great job on meeting your goals for June!

 

I am especially impressed with the sorting and donating activity. That takes much more effort that cleaning the shower. Hopefully it was also more satisfying.

 

Did you make changes in your weight training program, or did it just start paying off?

[Urgan]

July 2019 Goals

Or Why Life Doesn't Come with Instructions

 

Well, June was weird. I decided I read books again and boy howdy going from 160~ unread books to 113 unread books in a month is a thing. Now I got rid of many of those, but still. A dozen or so were read in 4 weeks' time, and that's nothing to sneeze at after 4 years of precious little interaction with print media. It poured over into a brutal culling of clutter that I didn't even consider clutter before now. 7 trash bags, 8 boxes of books, and a basket later....here we are. We had our annual reviews at work over with and I got a little tiny raise. Still enjoying kanji life. All the reading has me solving all the problems I didn't know I had with my outline--as if I have time to write all down, ha! Pity most of my work ran outside of the goals I'd made for myself due to hard screeching departure from forecasted interests. Still managing to lift in spite of the horrifying amount of hours of sleep I'm getting lately (hint: 3.5 - 6 hours per night on weeknights....).

 

So. What does this mean for July? It means I repeat June only better. 

 

武士道   (ぶしどう)

Bushido.

 

Justice/Rectitude 

To recap, this is "morally correct behavior or thinking; righteousness." 

A backstop of morally correct behavior is Giri--you do the thing because it is the right thing to do, not because you feel like it that day.

 

Within: Samurai Don't Complain (in fitness or in the meeting room)

You know the drill. Productive kvetching in meetings only, otherwise none of that nonsense.

 

Without: Giri

Confirmed we still have money and my car radio is behaving itself, so I guess that beats where we were last month this time. Eye appointment is tomorrow, wherein the follow-up is about $300 for a year's contact lenses, then multiple all that by 2 because husband needs his done, too. Unlike prior years, we are somewhat prepared for that. Oh and some things are just not optional.

 

Mop floor

Clean shower

Clean kitchen table

Clean kitchen counters

Clean fridge

Clean toilet

Clean tub

Clean sinks

 

Courage

A generally agreed-upon definition of courage is "knowing what's right and doing it." Samurai define it as intelligent risk-taking, or "the betweenness of cowardice and rashness" as I saw posted online and rather liked because it really concisely sums my understanding of the Bushido virtue. Not using risk as an excuse to not act or just acting blindly.

 

Within: Crying in the Dojo

Hey look, maybe I should review iaido with the 2 month span between classes due to holidays? I need to adjust down my expectations a bit to juggle this weapons work.

 

Technique Review - 0/10

Iaido Review - 0/5

Buki Waza Review - 0/5

 

Without: Keep heizen and carry on

These are distinguished from Giri in that they are not simple to-do tasks, require significant monetary expense, and/or are at the least intimidating. I need to step beyond the intimidation and investigate the below.

 

Laptop is going in for repair tomorrow. I have two bags of shreddables in the trunk of my car. That isn't its home.

 

Locate Document Shredding Company

Shop for better Shredder

Get Rid of Old Tiny Shredder

 

Benevolence

Samurai, on the basis of strict adherence to a moral code that is built on doing what is right, must consider the well-being of others as a top priority. After all, the purpose of being ready and willing to die is in service of others, both the lord and the layman. Life and limb aren't the only aspects that encompass "well-being," of course.  Mundane day-to-day things matter as well, especially among friends and family. Traditionally, poetry and music were "gentler" pastimes samurai used to help foster love toward others while living in a role that requires the willingness and ability to do violence on demand. Now I'm not into poetry (writing, on the other hand...) and my instruments are in a rather...sad state after 16-ish years languishing in a closet.

 

Within and Without: Love

Copy-pasta FTW.

 

Dad Training - 0/5

9:00 Dinner - 0/10

Cat grooming - 0/5

 

Politeness

The samurai idea of politeness or decorum consists of two interconnected parts: manners and a sense that there is a proper way to do essentially anything. Manners is an extension of benevolence in that one genuinely cares about others well-being while at the same time not hiding behind it as a coward's shield from calling a spade a spade when warranted. Propriety dictates that there is order in everything, even the peaceful pastimes. Whatever you do, do it well. There's joy in simplicity and single-focus in the moment without distractions. 

 

Within: Rēsetsu

Keeping up with the cursing because why not. I'm not really feeling like they're required to express my feelings most of the time. Let's see how many times I curse out loud anywhere ever.

 

Too Many Curses - 0

 

Without: Do 道

Moar kanji plz....but not too much kanji. Just the right amount would be good.

 

Drawing Japanese Characters - 0/5

 

Honesty

It's the best policy. The counterbalance to Politeness has arrived. Not only is this virtue meant to work in tandem with Courage to be sure we aren't staying silent in the face of badness for fear of ruffling feathers, it also is the currency or "credit" of one's word in the case of a shadow of a doubt. You know your girl doesn't really have trouble speaking her mind, it might be a bit too much of this virtue is applied (hence the Shut Up goal previously mentioned).

 

Within: Shinjitsu for Me

I can't be lying to myself. The most obvious honesty vis a vis NF is understanding that I know how much I am signing myself up for and whether I can keep commitments. In a word, how good am I at setting targets for myself each month? How many things am I dropping and why? When I say I can't do something, is it because it was truly out-classed in importance or am I just avoiding it? Am I just making eyes at shiny new hobbies (dusty old ones...) that I have no way to actually making part of my life without it coming at the expense of something else?

 

Here I am repeating this month because I realize that things just got away from me last month--in a good way since I was killing it elsewhere--but still, the month was a fail in terms of directing priorities. Japanese practice, martial arts, kanji, gym, and reading are all competing for the same oxygen. I have every confidence that I need to work smarter, not harder, to make these things fit. An easy swap is I'm not watching as much Youtube because ain't got no time for that because Books. This is a good and right and actually useful for my life since on Tuesday the laptop goes bye-bye for a while and while my phone can play Youtube videos just as well if not better than the computer...it just is too small and doesn't prop itself up. I know. But that's why I default to watching videos passively, right? It plays itself and I just lie there and pass out. 

 

Without: Matomo for Thee

I can't be lying to other people, either. I suppose a good way to touch on this goal without feeding the Too Much of a Good Thing beast is to evaluate each day to see how often I say things I don't mean. Mostly hyperbole and suggesting I will do things I have no intention of doing, as is common. Maybe avoiding conflict with my husband by not saying what I really think because Tired. That happens a lot, too. 

 

Say (Only) What You Mean - 0/35

 

Honor

Honor is a two-edged sword. It can propel us through the densest of obstacles and the darkest of times for the sake of your immortal reputation, to the benefit of yourself and others. It can also propel you to take terribly erroneous action (or inaction) because on the other side of this coin is pride. And we know what comes after pride....

It's a balancing act to make sure you are acting for the right reasons. This obviously ties back to prior virtues.

 

Within: Sotsugyu Already

I'm not seeing jobs (that aren't headhunters fishing for heads) in the pool to which I feel good about applying. I also need to sharpen my automated testing skills. It won't do to hold onto the bile from May. Bad things can, do, and will happen. I will keep looking at the job market to see what is available against the chance that a really good opportunity shows up and/or something egregious occurs.

 

My way of meditating on proportional response will be simply keeping an eye open to see if any good opportunities make themselves known. Until then I'm not going to freak out unless something really bad happens.

Also, dat resume tho. Seriously.

 

Update resume (again)

 

Without: Battle With Meiyo and Humanity

I absolutely completely obliterated this goal last month. This month we stamp out the straggling remnants of chaos. 

 

Clean out office closet

Clean out under-bed clothing storage 

Double-check the hanging clothes for things that can be put up/given away

Make sure donations are actually donated

 

Debriefs: 

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

[Urgan]

34 minutes ago, Mistr said:

Great job on meeting your goals for June!

 

I am especially impressed with the sorting and donating activity. That takes much more effort that cleaning the shower. Hopefully it was also more satisfying.

 

Yeah I got pretty darn close considering there was a shadow list I was also marking down on in parallel. I feel I was pretty fair with myself on this front, because it was so dynamic-like, things just came to me like a slap upside the head that needed to be addressed and I just did it without making this big thing of writing them down to mark them off, you know??

 

36 minutes ago, Mistr said:

Did you make changes in your weight training program, or did it just start paying off?

 

All that happened was I stopped being a moron doing moron things with rack pulls on Wednesday that was burning me out for Saturday, which wrecked all the squats and most of the deadlifts. Took like 4 months to recover from it, NBD * rolls eyes * .  So just because you can do sets of deadlift RMs for rackpulls doesn't mean you should. Now I think things are back on track and maybe I'll be able to move some more weight soon.

[Urgan]

7/1/2019 + 7/2/2019

Getting By

 

武士道   (ぶしどう)

Justice/Rectitude 

Within: Samurai Don't Complain (in fitness or in the meeting room)

So far, so okay.

 

Without: Giri

Mop floor

Clean shower

Clean kitchen table

Clean kitchen counters

Clean fridge

Clean toilet

Clean tub

Clean sinks

 

Courage

Within: Crying in the Dojo

Technique Review - 1/10

Iaido Review - 0/5

Buki Waza Review - 1/5

 

Without: Keep heizen and carry on

Locate Document Shredding Company

Shop for better Shredder

Get Rid of Old Tiny Shredder

 

Benevolence

Within and Without: Love

Dad Training - 0/5

9:00 Dinner - 1/10

Cat grooming - 1/5

 

Politeness

Within: Rēsetsu

Too Many Curses - 1

 

Without: Do 道

Drawing Japanese Characters - 0/5

 

Honesty

Within: Shinjitsu for Me

-

Without: Matomo for Thee

Say (Only) What You Mean - 2/35

 

Honor

Within: Sotsugyu Already

Update resume (again)

 

Without: Battle With Meiyo and Humanity

Clean out office closet

Clean out under-bed clothing storage 

Double-check the hanging clothes for things that can be put up/given away

Make sure donations are actually donated

 

A solid start to the month. Monday was utterly unremarkable Tuesday was nuts. I worked a half day from home, then went off and deposited some $$$ mom gave me a while back into savings, did the hard thing and dropped off my laptop at the computer shop, and hit the eye doctor's office. Sadly they didn't even have a trial pair of lenses for me so I have to wait for them to come in, but on the positive side my vision apparently improved by a hair. Mmkay, first time for everything. Computer guy said it would take about 30 minutes to diagnose, so I ended up getting a call back while stalling for time in B&N (SECOND bookstore trip in a row, still no book buying...it's sadly easier than expected, selection was a Sad), so I did what any reasonable person would do with about 30 minutes to kill--I sat in the bookstore parking lot and read on The Return of the King, of course (it was so hot that I was sweating in the car with the A/C running on fan speed 2...). That allowed me to pick my machine up the same day I dropped it off. It's a Christmas-in-July miracle. And it also runs cooler now. Also the price was right, a far, far cry from a new machine purchase. Score.

 

Finished The Return of the King, had all sorts of feels. 

 

Made dinner.

 

Ashes of a Black Frost came in the mail Monday, so I immediately gained 112 pages on that to cure the post-LotR feels. I can tell there's going to be fallout of a similar nature from the conclusion of this trilogy, by which time Hand of Isis will probably arrive LOL SHOOT ME PLZ. Seriously if it comes in the mail today or Friday, that will be 3 trilogies (nearly?) in a row I will have read. Weird. 

 

Fun fact: June I read 13 books, almost a book every two days. Given I didn't exactly start this mission of backlog annihilation on June 1st, it's almost a book a day? Possible given a few days when more than one small book was read. This will not be sustainable, since I tend to bias toward the shortest books in my queue, naturally we're going to run out of 300-page books in a month or so at this rate.

 

Oh and before my chore run on Tuesday I dusted ceiling fan blades, went through under bed clothes storage (+1 trash bag....), and reburied a plastic box under a bed that now has easy room for it. Whee...

[Urgan]

7/3/2019 + 7/4/2019

Sending for help

 

武士道   (ぶしどう)

Justice/Rectitude 

Within: Samurai Don't Complain (in fitness or in the meeting room)

Seems legit. Holiday week is easy week.

 

Without: Giri

Mop floor

Clean shower

Clean kitchen table

Clean kitchen counters

Clean fridge

Clean toilet

Clean tub

Clean sinks

 

Courage

Within: Crying in the Dojo

Technique Review - 2/10

Iaido Review - 1/5

Buki Waza Review - 1/5

 

Without: Keep heizen and carry on

Locate Document Shredding Company

Shop for better Shredder

Get Rid of Old Tiny Shredder

 

Benevolence

Within and Without: Love

Dad Training - 0/5

9:00 Dinner - 2/10

Cat grooming - 1/5

 

Politeness

Within: Rēsetsu

Too Many Curses - 2

 

Without: Do 道

Drawing Japanese Characters - 0/5

 

Honesty

Within: Shinjitsu for Me

-

Without: Matomo for Thee

Say (Only) What You Mean - 4/35

 

Honor

Within: Sotsugyu Already

Update resume (again)

 

Without: Battle With Meiyo and Humanity

Clean out office closet

Clean out under-bed clothing storage 

Double-check the hanging clothes for things that can be put up/given away

Make sure donations are actually donated

 

Continuing the trend of the book-a-dayathon I finished Ashes of a Black Frost (Konowa Swift Dragon may be my favorite character ever. If an elf from LotR were raised by a US Marine and with about as much sense of self-preservation.....the only reason he never froze to death was because he was made of salt, I swear) on Wednesday and Blonde Bombshell (Tom Holt) on July 4th because LOL. Did bare minimum Japanese stuff, martial arts review. Oh and Wednesday night my engine ran hot for just under a minute on the way back home from my parents' place. Guess what husband spent all of July 4th doing? At least it's running cool again at a cool $200 repair point vs an estimated $1000 were it done in shop, COULD it have been done in shop as the thing was not safe to drive. On the plus side, my car radio display is working now?? What a world.

[Mistr]

I am impressed with all the books you are reading. I have two library books in my pile so what did I do yesterday? I picked up Doorways in the Sand because it was sitting on the kitchen table and reread it. I'm glad to say it still holds up well. The only wonky bit is that it was written as near-future SF with space travel and aliens. But no cell phones. Because it was published in 1976. We live in the future, just not the future they imagined back then.

 

Thank goodness your husband was willing and able to spend the holiday fixing your car.

[Urgan]

25 minutes ago, Mistr said:

I am impressed with all the books you are reading. I have two library books in my pile so what did I do yesterday? I picked up Doorways in the Sand because it was sitting on the kitchen table and reread it. I'm glad to say it still holds up well. The only wonky bit is that it was written as near-future SF with space travel and aliens. But no cell phones. Because it was published in 1976. We live in the future, just not the future they imagined back then.

 

It is taking a toll elsewhere, but I'm rolling with it because I have 106 unread book (down from 160 <2 months ago....), 22 of which are in the 300-page range. I wanted to go full bore until I either cleared sub-100 unread books but then it seems like reading the 300 pagers is a more ambitious yet entirely reachable goal. Considering up to yesterday I'm still doing more intensive sampling of the beginnings of books (up about 50 pages) reveals some not-so-great books. I had a thing for really old fantasy, steampunk centering around Whitechapel in England (wtf?), and urban fantasy set in Whitechapel. No idea about this odd fixation until hit 20-50 pages of every single suspicious title you come across on the shelf. Anyway I'm mostly cured of the Whitechapel/steampunk part, because spoiler alert they actually tend to suck. Old fantasy is 50/50. Technically Tolkien qualifies by that sketch of a definition, and I have a terminal case of the Tolkiens. No, in this case I mean battered old fantasy books I bought at a used book store on premise alone written by people who did not spend very much time concerned with details like making the writing interesting to read. I can handle some old writing--if it's a compelling subject--but tiny font in a dry "voice" using waaaay too many words to get to the point really makes me break out in OHLOOKANOTHERBOOKitis.

 

Or old sci-fi that was cool until the part where you realize when they mean emotionally unstable/crazy people get turned into amphibians to man a sea trench power pumping station, they mean in one case a pedo. After you were introduced to a girl who was molested by her father and has recently become a thrill-seeking amphibian sea trench power pumping station technician who has a preferred "type" of abuser. THIS CAN ONLY GO UPHILL FROM HERE, FOLKS. THERE IS  A ZERO PERCENT CHANCE THAT THESE TWO CHARACTERS WILL EVER MEET OR THAT ANYTHING REALLY REALLY MESSED UP HAPPENS. Honestly I'm not sure what I was expecting, though. 

[Mistr]

Yeesh, I'm glad I missed that one. I agree that some of the older F&SF had serious problems. Ever heard of the Gor series by John Norman? It was bad enough to be considered problematic in the 70's.

 

I have no idea how many unread books I have. I'm not counting the books that Dumbledore buys that we both might read. I bought a lot of non-fiction history when I was in grad school. It was light and fluffy compared to my reading for school. That was 15 years ago and I still have not read most of those books. I'm still interested in the topics, just not enough to sit down and read them. I have a couple zen books that I use for middle-of-the-night reading. Who knows, I may someday have lots of reading time.

 

My goal is to get rid of the books that no one in the house wants to read. That requires considerably more coordination. There are four boxes of books on the living room floor that have been there for months. I don't remember any more if they are on their way in, out or waiting to be sorted.

[Urgan]

1 hour ago, Mistr said:

Yeesh, I'm glad I missed that one. I agree that some of the older F&SF had serious problems. Ever heard of the Gor series by John Norman? It was bad enough to be considered problematic in the 70's.

 

Usually their biggest problem boils down to that they're boring and printed in tiny font that positively dares you to continue putting forth the effort to squint. I never heard of Norman, but looking it up I'm not surprised it was a problem both then and now for multiple reasons. Yay glorifying immoral treatment of others charging right into criminal activity, no brakes. 

 

1 hour ago, Mistr said:

I have no idea how many unread books I have. I'm not counting the books that Dumbledore buys that we both might read. I bought a lot of non-fiction history when I was in grad school. It was light and fluffy compared to my reading for school. That was 15 years ago and I still have not read most of those books. I'm still interested in the topics, just not enough to sit down and read them. I have a couple zen books that I use for middle-of-the-night reading. Who knows, I may someday have lots of reading time.

 

My goal is to get rid of the books that no one in the house wants to read. That requires considerably more coordination. There are four boxes of books on the living room floor that have been there for months. I don't remember any more if they are on their way in, out or waiting to be sorted.

 

I can only speak for my own experience with my own junk. 90% of the junk lying around for years is mine, which is what comes for being the one living independently prior to marriage, so it really is an easier case where it's just a few things that are husband's responsibility. It would be a different ball game if I had to roust him into action. My tactic then is to either play the Elevation game or put the offending item(s) in the garage because either a - that's where the item belongs in the first place or b - it's trash. These two strategies solve 100% of all problems.

 

Getting started kind of requires a kick in the pants, but once you get moving it does get easier. All you have to do is open a box and before you know it you suddenly have a whole bunch more room in your life. Stuff has a way of multiplying unseen, and when you actually set about looking around it never ceases to amaze me what turns up.

 

I wrestled with a few items and decided it was actually really easy to deal with if I let it be. I had held onto things that I really, really wanted to do something with, but put them in a donation bag because deep down I knew I'd never actually execute. The worse I felt about a thing, the more I felt I should do something above and beyond my already full plate, the more it needed to go. Things that had little sentimental value (and that's saying something because I get attached to the way my books are arranged....) and serve no purpose--as they had been just sitting around for years, don't ask why there are no answers--are auto-donates. There's a power in being the master over your stuff and knowing that years accumulated is not a boat anchor tying them to my brain.

[Urgan]

7/5/2019 - 7/7/2019

The Unsafety Dance

 

武士道   (ぶしどう)

Justice/Rectitude 

Within: Samurai Don't Complain (in fitness or in the meeting room)

There was whining and chatter to another gym goer on Saturday. I did gain an interesting perspective of others' view on the Morning Gym People, which was at least a bit of a tradeoff.

 

Without: Giri

Mop floor

Clean shower

Clean kitchen table

Clean kitchen counters

Clean fridge

Clean toilet

Clean tub

Clean sinks

 

Courage

Within: Crying in the Dojo

Technique Review - 2/10

Iaido Review - 1/5

Buki Waza Review - 1/5

 

Without: Keep heizen and carry on

Locate Document Shredding Company

Shop for better Shredder

Get Rid of Old Tiny Shredder

 

Benevolence

Within and Without: Love

Dad Training - 0/5

9:00 Dinner - 2/10

Cat grooming - 2/5

 

Politeness

Within: Rēsetsu

Too Many Curses - 4

 

Without: Do 道

Drawing Japanese Characters - 1/5

 

Honesty

Within: Shinjitsu for Me

-

Without: Matomo for Thee

Say (Only) What You Mean - 7/35

 

Honor

Within: Sotsugyu Already

Update resume (again)

 

Without: Battle With Meiyo and Humanity

Clean out office closet

Clean out under-bed clothing storage 

Double-check the hanging clothes for things that can be put up/given away

Make sure donations are actually donated

 

What a crazy week it's been, huh? The highlights of the weekend were boooooooks. Specifically hitting <100 unread books by way of finishing The Silmarillion on Friday and Raising Steam (Pratchett) on Saturday, The Middle Ages (Morris Bishop) on Sunday, aaaand a bunch of books I put in the sell/donate pile. We're down to 98 unread, with 10 of those being 300-page range. I believe I cut the number in half over the course of the week. I recognize the difference between 398-399 and 400 is small, so within about 5 of those it's going to get hard to maintain this pace. At which point I will have to slow down. This will probably be for the best re:sleep. Maybe.

 

Hang-up clothes were gone through, got several to donate an several more to try on. I realized I should pull a few more things off their hangers for now because they aren't used, but oh well good enough. I'm keeping up my Japanese practice (barely) and did a kanji.

 

No other extra chores were done. I thought I'd clean the fridge out, but that amounted to throwing out one spoiled meal. Woo.

 

I did not even ask Dad about training, as he is doing Bathroom Remodel Life. Tub, vanity, mirrors, walls. Possibly floors later, for all I know. Training probably isn't happening regardless.

[Urgan]

7/8/2019

Today is brought to you by....

 

武士道   (ぶしどう)

Justice/Rectitude 

Within: Samurai Don't Complain (in fitness or in the meeting room)

PFM went after me twice during gym time and it was quite frustrating, however I didn't dwell on it the entire session, at least.

 

Without: Giri

Mop floor

Clean shower

Clean kitchen table

Clean kitchen counters

Clean fridge

Clean toilet

Clean tub

Clean sinks

 

Courage

Within: Crying in the Dojo

Technique Review - 3/10

Iaido Review - 1/5

Buki Waza Review - 1/5

 

Without: Keep heizen and carry on

Locate Document Shredding Company

Shop for better Shredder

Get Rid of Old Tiny Shredder

 

Benevolence

Within and Without: Love

Dad Training - 0/5

9:00 Dinner - 2/10

Cat grooming - 2/5

 

Politeness

Within: Rēsetsu

Too Many Curses - 5

 

Without: Do 道

Drawing Japanese Characters - 1/5

 

Honesty

Within: Shinjitsu for Me

-

Without: Matomo for Thee

Say (Only) What You Mean - 7/35

 

Honor

Within: Sotsugyu Already

Update resume (again)

 

Without: Battle With Meiyo and Humanity

Clean out office closet

Clean out under-bed clothing storage 

Double-check the hanging clothes for things that can be put up/given away

Make sure donations are actually donated

 

Well this was a day that happened. PFM didn't take the hint, the guy who demands to know my lunches showed his face multiple times because bad luck was with me. Cursed under my breath when I realized I'd forgotten a meeting was scheduled right through my usual break time (1PM) and I wasn't hungry enough to eat before then, so I was afraid I'd be all jacked up for the rest of the day. Fortunately the meeting did not fill the time reserved, so that worked out. 

 

On the upside, I moved 103lbs for triples on bench and got more than halfway through Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages (Tom Holt). This was a pleasant surprise given I was not reading 1 page/minute in the book on Sunday. Must have been tired or something. Anyway, that book isn't long for this world. Dojo time was decent, if anything done on the knees can be considered decent. (That's your mind in the gutter over there, might want to pick it up.) Went home, reviewed that, made sure my Japanese practice was nailed down, and went to town on reading. Shoveled food in face, turned out the light at a less than decent hour. 

[Kishi]

2 hours ago, Urgan said:

Dojo time was decent, if anything done on the knees can be considered decent. (That's your mind in the gutter over there, might want to pick it up.)

 

(dammit, I don't know how it keeps ending up there. It should know better).

 

All seriousness, I totally went to the martial arts as a source of knee problems place with you. I've seen/heard the same thing with the grappling I do, and when I went off some of my joint support supplements due to budget issues last month I could definitely tell. It's tough. :-\

[Urgan]

1 hour ago, Kishi said:

 

(dammit, I don't know how it keeps ending up there. It should know better).

 

All seriousness, I totally went to the martial arts as a source of knee problems place with you. I've seen/heard the same thing with the grappling I do, and when I went off some of my joint support supplements due to budget issues last month I could definitely tell. It's tough. :-\

 

The "knee break" is totally a thing we have to do after a couple turns. Pump the legs. Stand up, hop. Find a ceiling vent and bask. And then Sensei uses you for demo uke and just slams one of your knees into the mat like it owed him money. 

[Urgan]

7/9/2019

Score

 

武士道   (ぶしどう)

Justice/Rectitude 

Within: Samurai Don't Complain (in fitness or in the meeting room)

Did gud.

 

Without: Giri

Mop floor

Clean shower

Clean kitchen table

Clean kitchen counters

Clean fridge

Clean toilet

Clean tub

Clean sinks

 

Courage

Within: Crying in the Dojo

Technique Review - 3/10

Iaido Review - 1/5

Buki Waza Review - 1/5

 

Without: Keep heizen and carry on

Locate Document Shredding Company

Shop for better Shredder

Get Rid of Old Tiny Shredder

 

Benevolence

Within and Without: Love

Dad Training - 0/5

9:00 Dinner - 3/10

Cat grooming - 2/5

 

Politeness

Within: Rēsetsu

Too Many Curses - 6

 

Without: Do 道

Drawing Japanese Characters - 1/5

 

Honesty

Within: Shinjitsu for Me

-

Without: Matomo for Thee

Say (Only) What You Mean - 8/35

 

Honor

Within: Sotsugyu Already

Update resume (again)

 

Without: Battle With Meiyo and Humanity

Clean out office closet

Clean out under-bed clothing storage 

Double-check the hanging clothes for things that can be put up/given away

 

Let's just say there was a moment where husband misunderstood which was the chicken he was supposed to grill, panicked, and did something really weird in an effort to try to get it on the grill in time (dark clouds and thunder were heralding the daily rain storm...). Totally grossed me out and I noped out of agreeing to eat said chicken. Also it was old and freezerburned anyway. I have figured out that food waste/ruining dinner is a bigger concern than man pride of being told what he's doing is wrong, which is kind of hilarious. I can appreciate this hierarchy of offense. See he was all defensive about it until I explained he had the wrong birds and they were beyond all hope in the first place--then it was more or less past the point of argument. I did not let myself alter my reaction/word choice due to guilt at his reaction to my not wanting to eat the grossness (literally a whole lot of "no"...), which was a massive win. 

 

Okay rewind the clock a bit. I forgot to mention on Monday that my gym bag gave up the ghost when I got home and attempted to pick it up by the straps as one would normally do. The bag ripped from edge to edge. Whee. My "gym bag" is in fact a large reusable grocery bag from Publix, so the size is right but the durability...not so much. Now I own the most ironic of bags, emblazoned with a bitten chocolate chip cookie and the following demand "Fill this bag with cookies and no one gets hurt." It was the only one that did not have flowers or pastel colors. The road out of the store was backed up and several cars turned off the main road to try to cut the corner of the traffic light. One of life's small pleasures is to observe them lined up waiting to turn right onto the highway. They were ahead of me and would have stayed that way had they waited 2 more minutes. 

 

My parents are making a shred run this week, so my hoard of trash will disappear and give me a chance to obtain a proper shredder without having to deal with the backlog. Mom and I had shredder talk on Monday evening, so I do have a jump on criteria for a good replacement. No stooping, no caring about credit cards/paper clips plz and thx.

 

Finished Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages. Finished it very late. Reviewed and determined one of the books in my short list is the first of a trilogy and was a good candidate for the everyone/my favorite character dies. So, away it's probably going to go. 

[Kishi]

34 minutes ago, Urgan said:

I have figured out that food waste/ruining dinner is a bigger concern than man pride of being told what he's doing is wrong, which is kind of hilarious. I can appreciate this hierarchy of offense. See he was all defensive about it until I explained he had the wrong birds and they were beyond all hope in the first place--then it was more or less past the point of argument. I did not let myself alter my reaction/word choice due to guilt at his reaction to my not wanting to eat the grossness (literally a whole lot of "no"...), which was a massive win. 

 

Can confirm. Being told I was wrong is one thing, but throwing away a perfectly passably good chicken? Oh girl, it's on then.

[Urgan]

5 minutes ago, Kishi said:

 

Can confirm. Being told I was wrong is one thing, but throwing away a perfectly passably good chicken? Oh girl, it's on then.

 

We react to the same disappoint very differently. Luckily for him it was years-old freezer-burned garbage-in-denial. Sorta almost did me a favor in a way.

[Urgan]

7/10/2019

...and I all got was this lousy t-shirt.

 

武士道   (ぶしどう)

Justice/Rectitude 

Within: Samurai Don't Complain (in fitness or in the meeting room)

The gud rolls on.

 

Without: Giri

Mop floor

Clean shower

Clean kitchen table

Clean kitchen counters

Clean fridge

Clean toilet

Clean tub

Clean sinks

 

Courage

Within: Crying in the Dojo

Technique Review - 3/10

Iaido Review - 1/5

Buki Waza Review - 1/5

 

Without: Keep heizen and carry on

Locate Document Shredding Company

Shop for better Shredder

Get Rid of Old Tiny Shredder

 

Benevolence

Within and Without: Love

Dad Training - 0/5

9:00 Dinner - 3/10

Cat grooming - 2/5

 

Politeness

Within: Rēsetsu

Too Many Curses - 6

 

Without: Do 道

Drawing Japanese Characters - 1/5

 

Honesty

Within: Shinjitsu for Me

-

Without: Matomo for Thee

Say (Only) What You Mean - 9/35

 

Honor

Within: Sotsugyu Already

Update resume (again)

 

Without: Battle With Meiyo and Humanity

Clean out office closet

Clean out under-bed clothing storage 

Double-check the hanging clothes for things that can be put up/given away

 

PFM left me alone, but booooooy howdy can he talk. Almost felt the need to rescue someone else from him, but who knows maybe she likes spending 5-10 minutes locked in riveting convo in the gym weight area. 

 

Lunch loser was at it again. I told him, and I quote, "Can you please go somewhere else?" in a tone as if he were a dog turd on my shoe. He relented with "Alright, fine," as if I were the biggest jerk for....not talking about my lunch with him? Not thinking the 3rd round of "Is that food?" in mockery of my non-response to his demand for an identification of lunches past hilarious? I don't understand. Anyway, next time it happens I'm escalating it because telling him to go away should be unambiguous enough even for the biggest imbecile.

 

Went to the dojo. Sensei was out, farting around with henka waza was in. I'll be skipping next class just in case that one is Pt 2. Did not do any technique review, instead I got to about 60-70 pages of A Dirty Job (Christopher Moore), gave up. I can't list all the ways this book depresses me, but the use of "beta male" and "f*ck" on what feels like every page threw me screaming over the edge and into the volcano. Somebody plz scan the book and tell me if it in any way accurately captures the feel of living in San Fran....actually better yet, don't. 

 

Oh and I got a headache by day's end that I couldn't shake.

 

You might say this day was snake-eyes all around. 

[Kishi]

Yesterday sounds like a thing you got through. As happens from time to time. Way to survive!

[Urgan]

2 hours ago, Kishi said:

Yesterday sounds like a thing you got through. As happens from time to time. Way to survive!

 

[Mistr]

On 7/5/2019 at 2:24 PM, Urgan said:

I wrestled with a few items and decided it was actually really easy to deal with if I let it be. I had held onto things that I really, really wanted to do something with, but put them in a donation bag because deep down I knew I'd never actually execute. The worse I felt about a thing, the more I felt I should do something above and beyond my already full plate, the more it needed to go. Things that had little sentimental value (and that's saying something because I get attached to the way my books are arranged....) and serve no purpose--as they had been just sitting around for years, don't ask why there are no answers--are auto-donates. There's a power in being the master over your stuff and knowing that years accumulated is not a boat anchor tying them to my brain.

 

I LOVE this. I can use this to get rid of old craft stuff and those boxes of grade school stuff my mom sent because she couldn't stand to throw them out. I know the charity store takes craft supplies. The unfinished projects can just go in the trash. Dumbledore committed to going through a box from the garage today. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can make progress.

 

On 7/10/2019 at 10:37 AM, Urgan said:

We react to the same disappoint very differently. Luckily for him it was years-old freezer-burned garbage-in-denial. Sorta almost did me a favor in a way.

 

Yeah, I hear you. Dumbledore was the one who insisted on going through the freezer and dealing with the old stuff. He is also willing to go through the fridge and get rid of the dodgy left overs. We do have some aging items, but not a lot.

[Urgan]

7/11/2019

The heart of the matter

 

武士道   (ぶしどう)

Justice/Rectitude 

Within: Samurai Don't Complain (in fitness or in the meeting room)

There was a goodly bit of complaining in the meeting today. On an unrelated note, I had a headache off and on that meds just didn't do anything for.

 

Without: Giri

Mop floor

Clean shower

Clean kitchen table

Clean kitchen counters

Clean fridge

Clean toilet

Clean tub

Clean sinks

 

Courage

Within: Crying in the Dojo

Technique Review - 4/10

Iaido Review - 1/5

Buki Waza Review - 1/5

 

Without: Keep heizen and carry on

Locate Document Shredding Company

Shop for better Shredder

Get Rid of Old Tiny Shredder

 

Benevolence

Within and Without: Love

Dad Training - 0/5

9:00 Dinner - 4/10

Cat grooming - 2/5

 

Politeness

Within: Rēsetsu

Too Many Curses - 6

 

Without: Do 道

Drawing Japanese Characters - 1/5

 

Honesty

Within: Shinjitsu for Me

-

Without: Matomo for Thee

Say (Only) What You Mean - 10/35

 

Honor

Within: Sotsugyu Already

Update resume (again)

 

Without: Battle With Meiyo and Humanity

Clean out office closet

Clean out under-bed clothing storage 

Double-check the hanging clothes for things that can be put up/given away

 

Ever get 70 pages into a book, realize it's the first book of a series authored by 3 different people (you read that right--they're connected by C.J. Cherryh, who apparently did plan the story but for whatever reason did not write it herself?) and the internet assure you that the following books not only are not as good as the first and that Bad Things indeed happen that you'd rather not go through potentially with little/no payoff? Yeah. That was what Thursday was like. No, really, that was the highlight of the day, along with breezing through reviewing a few books that LBR I only heretofore kept on the shelf out of a sense of obligation. The lowlight was it got so bad in the brainpain and boredom matrix that I was kinda hoping someone would just run by on a horse and cut my head off. Headaches will do that for you.

 

On the note of Obligation Books, sequels of books I liked but they get even darker and I'm not really interested? Iron Angel. I mean, on the one hand they're likely very well-written and I do like the characters, but on the other hand at what point does something become torture porn?

 

15 hours ago, Mistr said:

I LOVE this. I can use this to get rid of old craft stuff and those boxes of grade school stuff my mom sent because she couldn't stand to throw them out. I know the charity store takes craft supplies. The unfinished projects can just go in the trash. Dumbledore committed to going through a box from the garage today. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can make progress.

 

It has been observed that most people have trouble parting with something for purely emotional reasons. This is fine up until the point that said something is essentially a house full of generations of people's literal emotional baggage. It's a bad look, fam. If you recognize that someone is passing something on to you as a donation-by-proxy, you are doing the world a favor by immediately passing it on. Now I have been known to keep things purely because I like the looks of them and that's still a thing that's allowed, but you'd be amazed at how many things we keep for Reasons that don't even involve directly liking the thing in question? Why. 

 

It's serendipity that fate and page numbers dictated I address Iron Angel last night, because talk about a textbook case of a book I'd look at and get this crawly feeling like I should read it, the first book was good, but the description of the book makes me think voluntarily cracking it open would be equivalent to volunteering to have my emotions' fingernails yanked off, you know? One would think this would be an obvious turn-off that would make deciding to part with the book easy and one would be wrong, because I only just acknowledged this last night after about a decade of owning this book that it just was never going to happen. Why does this cling-on occur, you might ask? It feels like cheating to just toss a book. Except it isn't, that's my sanity I'm saving. The first book I don't regret reading, if only for having in my possession a book with such a cool cover. Also Dill was and will always be cute (in that book at least...). But that doesn't mean the second book is entitled to anything. It's a hard mentality to shake, but I'm determined. 

 

If I may suggest an anthem for an activity:

 

 

[Mistr]

I have gotten a lot better at putting down books that don't hold my interest. There are piles of books in my house. I am not stuck on a desert island with just this book to keep me entertained. The book actually has to meet a reasonably high bar to stay in my reading list. There are a few things I read because I know the author and want to be able to talk intelligently about their work. Scanning FB has helped me implement critical choice in reading. Just because my friends link something does not mean I should use my valuable time to watch or read it. Maybe 5% of what comes across my feed makes the cut to check out at all, and a good chunk of that turns out not to be worth it.

 

I finished reading Pyramids last weekend. I agree that the bits with the camels were well done. Overall I felt like Pratchett had some good ideas but he had not hit his stride yet. The characterization of the main characters was poor. I had more sympathy for the minor characters. I especially felt that Ptraci, the only female character, needed more agency. 

[Urgan]

4 minutes ago, Mistr said:

I have gotten a lot better at putting down books that don't hold my interest. There are piles of books in my house. I am not stuck on a desert island with just this book to keep me entertained. The book actually has to meet a reasonably high bar to stay in my reading list. There are a few things I read because I know the author and want to be able to talk intelligently about their work. Scanning FB has helped me implement critical choice in reading. Just because my friends link something does not mean I should use my valuable time to watch or read it. Maybe 5% of what comes across my feed makes the cut to check out at all, and a good chunk of that turns out not to be worth it.

 

Even with the knowledge that 90% of anything is crap, the "standard" was: did it make it onto my shelf? Which would not be the worst plan had I cracked the book open in the store (there were barely any previews on Amazon at that point, if it had existed at all for when I bought some of them.....) before purchase! Anyway, getting better at that, as the numbers attest. Just five 300-pagers left, and they're basically 400-pagers - 1 at this point. I didn't check how many unreads I have left, but it's less than 100 and that is a Good Thing.

 

Oh if I had to sift through FB to find suggestions you could just stick a fork in me and call the authorities. Maybe 1/2 of one person sometimes on every other Monday nailed my tastes and we don't even talk anymore because marriage is the death of friendship lol. Think the Highlander, only not anything like the romance book covers advertise, which were on the shelf opposite the sci-fi/fantasy section. On an almost-unrelated note, do you miss the sensation that brick-and-mortars actually had a selection? Because I get that feel so hard. It's like watching a loved one linger on life support now. 

 

5 minutes ago, Mistr said:

I finished reading Pyramids last weekend. I agree that the bits with the camels were well done. Overall I felt like Pratchett had some good ideas but he had not hit his stride yet. The characterization of the main characters was poor. I had more sympathy for the minor characters. I especially felt that Ptraci, the only female character, needed more agency. 

 

I don't remember a great deal about the book other than reading it in the university cafeteria and trying not to just. completely. lose. it over reading about Youbastard. The bits written from his perspective were pure gold. I think perhaps the rest of the story was just window dressing for that camel, honestly.