Urgan Shows Up, Does the Thing

[Mistr]

Yay for surviving February and resolving stress with your coworker and taxes!

 

Which boken techniques are you working on?

[Urgan]

5 minutes ago, Mistr said:

Yay for surviving February and resolving stress with your coworker and taxes!

 

Which boken techniques are you working on?

 

Yokomenchi suburi sequence (suburi 1 -4 beginning with step forward, cross step forward, step back, and cross step back respectively), kirikaeshi kata, and tai sabaki funtiems. The latter decomposes into 2 munetsukis, 4 shomenuchis, and 6 yokomenuchis. No idea how much of this is standardized or not.

[Mistr]

So far as I've been able to tell, the only standardized weapons kata is the 31-count jo kata. Apparently all of O-Sensei's students learned that one.

 

Many of the uchi deshi studied Kendo with other teachers in addition to studying with O-Sensei. It seems like each one of them had their own favorite katas that they taught to their students. Some are basic enough to be common and others not so much.

[Urgan]

4 minutes ago, Mistr said:

So far as I've been able to tell, the only standardized weapons kata is the 31-count jo kata. Apparently all of O-Sensei's students learned that one.

 

Many of the uchi deshi studied Kendo with other teachers in addition to studying with O-Sensei. It seems like each one of them had their own favorite katas that they taught to their students. Some are basic enough to be common and others not so much.

 

I see. Well, maybe at some point I'll film myself and upload some of them to the Insta. It's hard to just express in words what they all are lol.

[Urgan]

3/2/2018 - 3/4/2018

Dodging emotional entanglement like

 

Food

Lunch-time: 15/20

Miso meal: 1/1

Calories: 2599 / 2454, 2662, 2846

Protein: 118 / 117, 141, 115

Fiber:  35 / 57, 22, 25

 

Self-Care

Mobility: 8/8

 

Friday

OHP

45         3

50         3

55         3

60         3

69         3x3

66         3

 

Bench

45         3

65         3

75         3

80         3

92         3

78         3x6

 

Saturday

Squat

45           3

120         3

135         3

155         3

180         3x3

 

Deadlift

135         3

155         3

175         3

202         3x3

185         3

 

Doing volume on very recent 3RMs for OHP and Squat, and with the additional win of deadlifts cooperating sorta. See, I had planned to only do a triple at 202, but it felt too easy to resort to backoffs for volume so I just kept the weight on the bar and did the other two sets. What is with me changing my programming and my body being like oh okay, it's time to do the thing now? I am really digging not being massively sore after lower body day over the weekend. My glute issue appears to have resolved itself. 

 

Friday was a cavalcade of special with slacker-arse analyst going AWOL, fire drills I could and couldn't help very much with, slacker-arse QA rep trying to get out of doing their job on multiple fronts, and generally engaging in a combination of grief counseling and therapy with another coworker about the insanity that is contained within this building. AKA, just another day in paradise. Oh and some really bizarre not-quite-encounters with trouble guy that involved him ignoring my boss to avoid being in the same room as me and then a stiff business-only email about the stories which slacker-arse QA was trying to get out of (a mutual "friend" of ours...in the sense that he is nothing but problems for everyone who shares his role, broadly speaking) that read like a cross between a full-body flinch and u mad, bro? vs how he typically communicates. My failure to beat his metaphorical face in seems to have loosened up his word choice a bit to normal human levels. WE'RE ALMOST THERE, FAM. 

 

I count it a second victory that trouble guy's emails were basically an effort to impart the stress/panic of another department onto me by way of increasing sense of urgency for a ticket I had no data for, the person who did (AWOL guy) is the source of this intel, he cannot be made to give a single solitary fuck until he is good and ready, and I am not going to give myself high blood pressure or a headache getting upset over this state of affairs when all the sound and fury in the world will result in jack nothing changing. I totally dodged acceptance of that panic with skill and grace. Facts are facts and this issue wasn't being addressed at this level in the two weeks they had until 2 days prior to their little deadline. Yeah. He said he'd talk to the guy himself. Good luck, buddy.

 

The parallel email chain of said department trying to figure out if slacker could block the ticket and being overruled by his boss, a decision that was then counter-argued by another boss (slacker QA doesn't have the intellectual horsepower to make his own case beyond what someone else had already come up with for him) was all the lols. It was popcorn material and I was delighted to be a CC fly on the wall.

 

Normally when I am in this state of mind, I hate my job and have begun (the attempt) to detach myself from my work emotionally. In this case, I still like my work and my team and I am just shielded enough by having a really different workflow to enjoy the slower, more methodical pace that comes from being in this particular department. My policy is simple: I will jump through flaming hoops for you, but you have to give me what I need in order to complete the job. Otherwise, oh wells. This runs counter to the workflow of other departments, which is as follows:

1. OMFG PANIC

2. TRY TO MAKE EVERYONE/ANYONE CARE ABOUT YOUR TICKET

3. FAIL

4. CRY, KVETCH, MOAN--preferably in a department meeting where you might as well shout into the depths of space for all the good it will do

5. WAIT FOR SOMEONE TO GET BACK TO YOUR EMAILS, CALLS, SMOKE SIGNALS, ETC (the fewer questions answered, the better)

6. DEBATE WHO IS SUPPOSED TO PROCESS THE DATA AND CAN IT BE DONE IN THE TEST SYSTEM

7. OH LOOK, THE TEST SYSTEM ISN'T SET UP RIGHT. AGAIN

8. FINALLY COMMENCE QA 

 

More or less. Friday was fun. Very cleansing.

 

Saturday and Sunday I lifted then moved as little as possible, respectively. Was so drained on Sunday--I didn't feel BAD per say, just sluggish. If I have done my math correctly--aka can I count to 4?--next week (beginning the 12th) might be Shark Week. Who knows? Not I.

 

Trouble guy came around this morning to see if slacker guy is in the office in order to attempt to goose him into action. He's not. Ostensibly working from home, a decision made after the start of the day.

 

See?

 

SEE?

[shaar]

10 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

Normally when I am in this state of mind, I hate my job and have begun (the attempt) to detach myself from my work emotionally.

 

I can highly, highly recommend this train of thought.  It's REALLY FRICKIN' HARD  and I think at points you risk turning into an emotionless robot but sometimes that isn't the worst option in the world, especially when work bullshit is involved.

[Urgan]

5 minutes ago, shaar said:

 

I can highly, highly recommend this train of thought.  It's REALLY FRICKIN' HARD  and I think at points you risk turning into an emotionless robot but sometimes that isn't the worst option in the world, especially when work bullshit is involved.

 

It is hard, I am so easily swept up in the narrative others set about the nature of our work. I.e., that it is something we by default freak out about constantly until it is put to bed. No way to live. Especially when the person has stated his belief that management wants us all in a constant state of mild stress on the belief that this is the way to get the most out of employees. Did I mention we are shedding talent like 

[shaar]

2 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

It is hard, I am so easily swept up in the narrative others set about the nature of our work. I.e., that it is something we by default freak out about constantly until it is put to bed. No way to live. Especially when the person has stated his belief that management wants us all in a constant state of mild stress on the belief that this is the way to get the most out of employees. Did I mention we are shedding talent like 

 

This bit and gif accurately describes my current work life like whaaaaat.

 

The sooner you can learn to mitigate the default freak out thing, I think, the better.  Like my boss is a therapist for frick's sake and her default mode is always WIG OUT CRANKED UP TO 11.  It exhausts me to not only work hard to rebuff her anxiety, but to remain low-key when she realizes I'm not raising my reactions to her level because I think on some level, people feel better when you're having a spaz right along with them.  (Something something validation??)

 

PHEW WORK YES WE LOVE IT

[Urgan]

6 minutes ago, shaar said:

This bit and gif accurately describes my current work life like whaaaaat.

 

The sooner you can learn to mitigate the default freak out thing, I think, the better.  Like my boss is a therapist for frick's sake and her default mode is always WIG OUT CRANKED UP TO 11.  It exhausts me to not only work hard to rebuff her anxiety, but to remain low-key when she realizes I'm not raising my reactions to her level because I think on some level, people feel better when you're having a spaz right along with them.  (Something something validation??)

 

PHEW WORK YES WE LOVE IT

 

#usefulcollegecoursetopics

 

I find it incredibly ironic that a therapist doesn't have a handle on this stuff. And yet totally believable at the same time somehow? Humans.

[shaar]

8 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

#usefulcollegecoursetopics

 

I find it incredibly ironic that a therapist doesn't have a handle on this stuff. And yet totally believable at the same time somehow? Humans.

 

Fun fact - many therapists go into the biz 'cause of their own issues. :DDDDD  #BehindTheScenes  Humans indeeeeeeeed.

[Urgan]

1 minute ago, shaar said:

 

Fun fact - many therapists go into the biz 'cause of their own issues. :DDDDD  #BehindTheScenes  Humans indeeeeeeeed.

 

#freehelp

#selfimprovement

#findingyourself

[Mistr]

At least you successfully avoided getting pulled into the drama. Popcorn and watching from a safe distance is the place to be.

[Urgan]

For the purposes of record-keeping, here are shots of my stats ending this Sunday

 

I gave an attempt at demacating where yogurt daily started, yogurt every other day, and where all yogurt consumption stopped. Calories go up over time, but not enough to be a precise match in the on-and-off yogurt phase. I do think the more pronounced change was definitely in the bathroom, though. 

 

Yesterday and today's weigh-ins were 116.8 and 115.8lbs. Calories were 2846 and 2807, so. Not exactly a cut.

[Urgan]

March 2018 Goals

When you one thread away from snapping but trying to play on

 

February was....interesting. I kinda fell off birth control with just fantastic chaos resulting. As a special bonus, it kicked off some interpersonal drama that had apparently been building for some time under the surface and I just wasn't aware of it. On the flip side, I'm making some progress on digestive health. I was right in that my water habit actually stuck, because I didn't have any trouble getting in two bottles per work day and it has been a Good Thing. Still have had headaches and such because getting off birth control is fun and there is a lull in the work load, which means lots of poor posture. The sad thing is, posture mindfulness is a hard thing to goal-ify. Rolling is a band-aid for when headache status is already in effect--it helps, but is equivalent to using hands to massage my own neck. An as-needed thing. AKA, I passed the rolling goal by rolling when already aching, for better or worse.

Food

I have done rather well at hitting both water and lunchtime In Time. I can definitely feel a headache coming on if I do not start eating lunch by around 1PM, almost on the nose. I had thought to tighten up my calories, but I am not sure I want to yet for a few reasons:

1. It might make getting fiber harder

2. It might compromise my performance which is just now picking up for squats and deads

3. If I can eat >2500~ calories for 3 consecutive days and be DOWN a pound from the start of the weekend, well then I'm not exactly bulking ATM now am I?

 

SO I'll just track some more. You guys love that, right?? My fiber "plan" ended up rearranged a little as far as timing went, but otherwise I stuck to it and I think it worked pretty well. I shall continue with the idea of keeping it varied--dried fruits, various dried chip-like things, etc. 

 

Calories: 0

Protein: 0

Fiber: 0

 

Aikido

The belt test I put off is back with a vengeance. March 14th. Guess when Shark Week is probably at its worst? I have NEVER hoped for an irregular schedule like I am now.

Banzai and all that. 

After this test, presuming I pass, I graduate to the advanced class time, which changes the game immensely. This class happens directly after the beginner class, which pushes me out an hour on Monday and Wednesday. So this means I have to:

1. Prepare for the test

2. Attend advanced class for the first time

3. Decide whether I move my work schedule up a half hour to help compensate for the later nights

 

Practice: 0/4

Move Work Schedule: Y/N

 

To-Do

So I have things I need to remember to do. Here they are.

 

Update W4 to avoid big tax clusterfarkle

Schedule spark plug replacement I've been putting off because $$$$

Job hunt: 0/20

 

Weekly Debriefs:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

[Urgan]

3/5/2018

Test Week is Soon

 

Food

Calories: 2807  / 2807 

Protein: 105 / 105

Fiber: 20 / 20

 

Aikido

Practice: 0/4

Move Work Schedule: Y/N

 

To-Do

Update W4 to avoid big tax clusterfarkle

Schedule spark plug replacement I've been putting off because $$$$

Job hunt: 0/20

 

Bench

45         5

60         5

70         5

80         5

96         2

87.5      3x5--5RM PR +.5!!

 

OHP

45         2x5

55         5

60         5

66         2

59         3x5

 

Still PRing on the upper body lifts. Only .5lb because technically no increase was planned this week but I couldn't have that. Felt pretty good about this session.

 

Work had a Drama moment and it involved many of the players from last Friday, but it was around a work item and most of it was me trying to figure out what they are up to--still no resolution there, but if they try to push QA of their change onto my ticket in order to make their metrics look better, there will be blood. I will probably have to regression test, but that's normal. At this time, I'm waiting to see what happens. Informed my boss of the suspected monkey shines, that's all I can do for now. 

 

Left an hour "early"--worked through lunch--and it was Glorious. So much time to shower and eat before class, it was amazing. And of course when I rolled up to the dojo early there was a police cruiser giving somebody a ticket so I had to drive around the neighborhood and come in the back entrance and I get the feeling I was the only person inconvenienced by this based on Timing. SIGH. My life in an anecdote. We ran down almost all of the techniques and I have need to practice yoko sokumen iriminage (tenkan) and ushirotekubitori kotegaeshi (tenkan), with a bias on the left side because my Lord those were garbage. That said, the guy I was partnered with I have the hardest time working with--anybody who thinks uke are too compliant needs to watch this person. They're testing this month too, so 100% guaranteed to not be my uke. Unless God forbid we do the shotgun approach of being uke for one another (barf). It's hard to run through each technique in rapid fire this way without the additional pressure of being on display. I have seen it done for black belt testing, likely because of just how long that test takes. 

[shaar]

10 minutes ago, Urgan said:

clusterfarkle

 

Hoo boy~

 

11 minutes ago, Urgan said:

And of course when I rolled up to the dojo early there was a police cruiser giving somebody a ticket so I had to drive around the neighborhood and come in the back entrance and I get the feeling I was the only person inconvenienced by this based on Timing. SIGH. My life in an anecdote. 

 

Best laid plans blah blah blah.  I guess at least you had some extra time before everything and that was a good??

[Urgan]

1 minute ago, shaar said:

13 minutes ago, Urgan said:

clusterfarkle

 

Hoo boy~

 

My favorite PG-ification to date.

 

1 minute ago, shaar said:

Best laid plans blah blah blah.  I guess at least you had some extra time before everything and that was a good??

 

Yeah it was fine in the end. This morning had the very same thing happen. I got ready for work and got out the door early on time and oh look, triple commute time to my favorite gas station on the only way to work. Turned my happy ass around and waited it out. 

[Mistr]

Congrats on the PR!

 

Good that you have figured out the rough spots that need work for your test. Hopefully you will have a good uke.

 

Kyu tests are entirely at the discretion of the chief instructor (or regional organization). My sensei wants to see both ukemi and nagewaza for the first few tests. She will start the candidates with each other, taking turns attacking and doing techniques. After a few rounds of that she splits them up and asks for volunteers to take ukemi for each of them. Standard practice for all levels in our tests is to switch ukes after several techniques. That way the uke is always fresh and the candidate has to work with a variety of body types. In my first dojo there was just one uke for the whole test. It was both an honor and a serious commitment to be asked to take ukemi for a test. As an older uke, I now have a strong preference for switching ukes frequently.  

 

Good goals for March.

[Urgan]

3/6/2018

Anytime you're ready, Tuesday

 

Food

Calories: 2892  / 2977

Protein: 118 / 130

Fiber: 37 / 54

 

Aikido

Practice: 0/4

Move Work Schedule: Y/N

 

To-Do

Update W4 to avoid big tax clusterfarkle

Schedule spark plug replacement I've been putting off because $$$$

Job hunt: 1/20

 

Tuesday was a bunch of nothing right up until the end, at which point it was still a bunch of nothing. The rising issue (others foisting work on me on the sly) I was worried about appears to have dissolved. I was, however, obscenely tired for no adequately explainable reason. It sure isn't food, as far as sleep goes I am getting to bed at the same ol' times, maybe aikido just beat the crap out of me. I dunno. Be that as it may, we both took an evening nap to get the energy to do the rest of the evening things. Aikido test app needed to be filled out, next day prep happened, testing the VPN on my work laptop did NOT happen, and then winding down. 

 

This morning I elected to camp my bed instead of the gym. Guilt did not keep me from sleeping, which means I probably needed it. I just flat felt dead. And when I did get up for real, I felt a lot better/less dead. I then spent the "extra" time I had from getting up right at 6:30 on the nose checking the VPN connection (still a nope) and rolling my shoulders. Guys I am having flickering headaches on the daily, it seems. I think it is from a combination of hard training and nothing going on at work ATM, so my posture slouches in the general direction of my phone. I'm trying my best to counteract it, but it's almost impossible until things pick up again. I may do gym things tomorrow, I may not. It depends on whether I feel it will make things better or worse.

 

Every flowering tree, every plant, every wild animal is saying WTF over this weather right now. It has been low to mid-50s every morning for the last several weeks, and today it was 37 this morning. It came out of nowhere, too. Like, I check the forecasts regularly just so I can prepare clothes that might possibly stand a chance of keeping me comfortable, and I swear from last night to 6AM it totally dropped 20 degrees. Sudden change of plans ahoy. 
 

On 3/6/2018 at 4:29 PM, Mistr said:

Good that you have figured out the rough spots that need work for your test. Hopefully you will have a good uke.

 

Kyu tests are entirely at the discretion of the chief instructor (or regional organization). My sensei wants to see both ukemi and nagewaza for the first few tests. She will start the candidates with each other, taking turns attacking and doing techniques. After a few rounds of that she splits them up and asks for volunteers to take ukemi for each of them. Standard practice for all levels in our tests is to switch ukes after several techniques. That way the uke is always fresh and the candidate has to work with a variety of body types. In my first dojo there was just one uke for the whole test. It was both an honor and a serious commitment to be asked to take ukemi for a test. As an older uke, I now have a strong preference for switching ukes frequently.

 

Yeah, sometimes we uke all the way through for a tester, sometimes we get swapped around. My one pride and joy is surviving as uke for a same-belt-level test (we were both green belts) when I had a very, very tenuous grasp of tai sabaki, to speak nothing of the rest of the techniques. That was the first time I have been nervous to be uke--I felt like I was the one being tested! Gah. Makes me sweat just remembering it lol. 

[Kishi]

Yeah, this weather is crap. We had a week of nicer weather and then it just dropped back down. The gauges say 40, but the wind makes it something else. XD

[Urgan]

19 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Yeah, this weather is crap. We had a week of nicer weather and then it just dropped back down. The gauges say 40, but the wind makes it something else. XD

 

 

[Urgan]

3/7/2018

Getting Up for Work: Expectation

Reality

 

Food

Calories: 2697  / 2308

Protein: 113 / 103

Fiber: 32 / 23

The joys of rolling the dice and letting someone else pick dinner. 

 

Aikido

Practice: 1/4

Move Work Schedule: Y/N

 

To-Do

Update W4 to avoid big tax clusterfarkle

Schedule spark plug replacement I've been putting off because $$$$

Job hunt: 2/20

 

So as mentioned earlier, I elected to not gym this day due to feeling like I'd been run over. Seems to have been an okay choice.

Work was work. I have had the epiphany that I need to get up and move around constantly if I am not locked down with work, because otherwise I just end up hurting. Good news is I held pain just barely at bay by bringing my lacrosse ball to the office and hiding in the conference room to do my Baloo impression. 

I realized that we do not have enough food for Thursday lunch, so I decided today will be Waitr app testing day. We are located in the heart of dishevelment and ruin where most restaurants will no longer deliver, limiting our catering options to Gastro-Intestinal Nightmare Deli, Dry Chewy Sirloin Central, and Mediocre BBQ R Us. So this app will be great in that I can get some choices without having to spend my entire lunch break just driving to and from the food place (Location Location Location). Will be reporting my findings for your amusement.

 

Aikido went well. I convinced an orange belt (Sensei's mother, no less--black belt in karate, so she's Invested^3) to test. It didn't take much. I was like, "You testing?" and she was like, "I dunno..." on Monday. This session she was like yeah I'm testing, so I'm like mmkay then we'll just beat on each other then. So we did. We were one Sensei short, so I was the blond-rooted leading the sight-impaired reminding her how her techniques start for a few. A couple pointers here and there, but she did really well and should be able to have a strong test. It was a balancing act to help her double-up on practice since she did not take advantage of Monday's class to Prepare. We hit all of hers and most of mine--the ones I struggled on Monday had priority and I felt better for having done them. 

 

VPN Connection test was successful in the evening and I committed to gymming (spoiler: I did the thing).

[Mistr]

Not going to the gym as a zombie is a smart move. Zombies lose limbs when they pick up heavy things.

 

Yay for convincing your Sensei's mother to test. Extra practice is good.

 

I hope you can find decent food. I got lucky the last two days and had leftovers from another team's meetings. Wednesday was pizza and today was a turkey sandwich. Not Paleo, but free and ready to eat. That means I still have a good home-cooked lunch for tomorrow without needing to cook tonight.  

[Kishi]

Awesome that you were able to build up another aikidoka for testing. Hope she does well. Hope you do well when the time comes.

 

Also, don't worry about hiding your mobility work from people. It may not be normal, but normal is broken with bad posture and poor feeling. So eff normal. Be weird. It's awesome.

[Urgan]

3/8/2018

Adulting Award Recipient right here

 

Food

Calories: 2632  / 2436

Protein: 114 / 118

Fiber: 31 / 25

 

Aikido

Practice: 1/4

Move Work Schedule: Y/N

 

To-Do

Update W4 to avoid big tax clusterfarkle

Schedule spark plug replacement I've been putting off because $$$$

Job hunt: 3/20

 

Squat

45           5

120         5

155         5

160         2

 

Deadlift

135         5

145         5

165         5

185         2

164         3x5

 

I did the thing. Did not die. I FELT like dying (riiight up until the backoff deadlifts), but I did not. Managed to avoid being in pain 98% of the day. Hit by Truck levels of fatigue resurfaced. I'm not sure if it's hormones, barely sublethal levels of boredom, or what. If it happens again in four-ish weeks, I'll have my answer. Otherwise if it doesn't reappear, who cares? BLAH BLAH BLAH ding dong Thursday's dead.

 

Oh. Hattie B's is what I went with. It's a Nashville restaurant with an offshoot that popped up vaguely in the Downtown area. Its reason to exist is fried chicken of varying degrees of pain heat. I got the baby edition of chicken tender + collards + fries. It was pretty good and did not destroy me on either end, so I will call that a win. The runner up was a fusion restaurant that had a Puerto Rican meat + veg option that looked good. I didn't want to experiment with the food delivery mechanism AND the food, so I went safe for now.

 

17 hours ago, Mistr said:

Not going to the gym as a zombie is a smart move. Zombies lose limbs when they pick up heavy things.

 

Yay for convincing your Sensei's mother to test. Extra practice is good.

 

I hope you can find decent food. I got lucky the last two days and had leftovers from another team's meetings. Wednesday was pizza and today was a turkey sandwich. Not Paleo, but free and ready to eat. That means I still have a good home-cooked lunch for tomorrow without needing to cook tonight.  

 

I deserve a gold medal for not killing myself.

 

I really hope it will be enough. It's so funny to partner with the mother-in-law (I misspoke yesterday in that head Sensei is son-in-law, but the daughter/wife is ALSO a black belt former Aikidoka, so it's all academic) of the person watching you perform technique on their relative. Luckily we're all friends here. I act REALLY goofy to compensate for the nerves. It sorta almost hides it.

 

Success was had--a little salty for my blood, but almost anything I didn't prepare is lol. Any occasion where you are spared cooking is a good occasion so long as you like the food on offer lol.

 

10 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Awesome that you were able to build up another aikidoka for testing. Hope she does well. Hope you do well when the time comes.

 

Also, don't worry about hiding your mobility work from people. It may not be normal, but normal is broken with bad posture and poor feeling. So eff normal. Be weird. It's awesome.

 

Again, I really hope it will be enough practice. We only have one more class before Go Time. 

 

It's partly reflexive avoidance of conflict because F if I don't have enough of that action lately, partly lack of sturdy free wall space! Cube world + covered up walls = sadness.