There was only one mission to complete today: collecting my race package at the Remai Centre for the River Run Classic 2013. I ended up registering for the 10 km race. My initial plan was to do the half marathon, but being that I'm nine weeks behind in this year's training, and considering that I trained better last year for that half marathon, and still ended up getting injured from that race (sciatic injury), it prompted me to think and act a little more prudently this time around. I'll keep training more after this, and continue seasoning myself up for the half-marathon race of the Mogathon in late September. I'm coming close to tallying up 4000 kilometers of recorded running distance since I started keeping track. My ambition is to reach that by this month's end. I'm undecided as to what my reward will be when I complete that, or what it will be after this upcoming race.
It rained throughout the better part of this day, from early morning until just an hour ago. It is late afternoon now, and the sun is just beginning now to struggle to poke some rays through the clouds. There is nothing much I could do with the day, or can do with the remainder of it. I'm tapering, so I didn't run. I'm trying to follow some new training advice given to me about staying off my feet the day before the race, and doing less unnecessary walking/movement, and trying to rest up as best as possible. I don't think I was too successful at this, even with being penned up much of the time inside due to the downpour. I'll have to wake up around 6:00 AM on Sunday morning, so it's pointless to begin an evening of heavy dining and drinking, or anything else really epic, if I want to have any chance of performing well tomorrow. I'm feeling stiffness in my upper torso now that I don't know how I acquired. I hope it clears itself away overnight.
It was the kind of day where all I was pretty much left to do was withdraw and dwell within my familiar little introverted mindscape: multilingual reading, programming lessons, doing a bit of armchair traveling, surfing the net, and viewing You Tube and Netflix was all I did. It's becoming a bit stale and boring.
I may leave town after tomorrow's race and make some stops to surprise some people. We will see.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Friday, July 12, 2013
Vacation Day 2: An Iron Chef Challenge
Challenge: To find some weird and bizarre ingredient that I never cooked or ate before, and prepare it to a gourmet standard.
Decision: Frog legs! More than one person I talked to has raved about how surprisingly wonderful these things are. I rationalized that if I can eat and enjoy the flesh of mollusks such as clams, oysters, and mussels: things that at first glance look like they could have dropped out of a warthog's snout, I should be open-minded enough to sample some protein of those vertebrates higher up on the evolutionary scale found somewhere between the fish and poultry.
Ingredient Acquisition: Around Saskatoon, your best bet to find them would probably be at the Asian food stores, but I managed to find my supply at Charlie's Seafood Market. It could also be called Charlie's Swamp Food Market, because they also sell such exotic stuff like alligator meat*, catfish fillets, and crayfish. Crayfish also fit the challenge criteria, but they were also quite expensive. So I chose the frog legs; they're relatively inexpensive for an exotic food. Thus, it would be a cheaper loss if I flubbed it all up.
Good Musical Pairing while Cooking: Kiss That Frog, by Peter Gabriel, Album: Us.
Recipe: Garlic Frog Legs, from Food.com.
Result: Well . . . it wasn't utterly disgusting. The aromatics from the lemon and garlic, and the buttery texture did lots to mask anything unpleasant. There was no swampy or weedy algae aftertaste to it like I was expecting, as I noted from eating alligator meat. The freakiest part of this experience was when I accidently starting to chomp on a fragment of chopped frog pelvis bone when I peeled away a larger hunk of meat. After that happened, it automatically brought to mind that classic skit from Monty Python's Flying Circus.
My Other Learning Challenge: Making a decent loaf of sourdough rye bread.
Why? Because homemade bread is my favourite way to eat carbs (to prepare for Sunday's race). Sourdough is much healthier because it has no added sugar, and it contains lacto-bacillus bacteria culture, which aids digestion. Fresh homemade bread always tastes better than the preservative-laden crap that has been on a store's shelf for God knows how long. Bakery fresh is the next best thing, but more expensive. I trouble myself to learn how to make this because for me it is a simple luxury, and at least some part of one's vacation should be about taking time in indulging in some luxuries.
Result: I can't remember which proportions and ratios I exactly used, because I was adding gradually to produce a right texture and consistency to the dough. My sourdough dough starter (a.k.a. poolish), was about 2 parts lukewarm water, 1 part rye flour, 1 part all-purpose flour (all by volume) and about half a teaspoon of yeast was added. It was mixed to an even consistency, and then covered with a towel and left at room temperature for eight hours. I then added it to a sifted blend of 2:1 parts rye flour to all-purpose, a couple teaspoons of cocoa powder, and tablespoon of onion salt, two teaspoons of caraway seeds, a couple tablespoons of liquid honey, and some canola oil. The rest of the dough making process is lost to me for explanation. It yielded two medium sized loaves. It lacked that rick darkness that I like from the Russian style rye bread, but it was delicious all the same.
Special thanks and acknowledgements: for tips on the art and craft of bread-making - Tenzo Edward E. Brown**; for spurring on the spirit of gastronomically curious amateurs and adventuresome wannabee foodies - Tim Ferriss (author of The 4-Hour Chef); and for some wild new culinary science tricks and techniques - Nathan Myrhvold and Maxine Bilet (the authors of Modernist Cuisine at Home). Thanks for being my muses and mentors.
*- I did tried alligator once. Considering the resulting flavour by how much it cost, I remember not liking it enough to ever want to try it again. Same deal with catfish.
** - Tenzo is not a name, it's a title: for the head cook of a Zen monastery, a very venerable position. Since most of a monastery's food is acquired through donations (largely of second rate stuff) it is the imperative of the tenzo to be frugal, resourceful, and creative enough to take whatever is lacking in terms of quality and quantity, and making the most or best of it for the sake of maintaining a harmonious sanga. . It's something I can respect and relate to, since I'm often relegated to do the same thing whenever I'm fussing around in the kitchen . . . at home, or at work. Watching Tenzo Brown manage his kitchen has been very insightful for me in re-thinking the preparation of food, and to be mindful about the waste of it. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the master chefs of the original Iron Chef TV series sought the advice from the tenzos in Japan.
 |
| I don't know what wine to serve with this meal, but I think I found the perfect beer for it at The Saskatchewan Liquor Board Store. |
Ingredient Acquisition: Around Saskatoon, your best bet to find them would probably be at the Asian food stores, but I managed to find my supply at Charlie's Seafood Market. It could also be called Charlie's Swamp Food Market, because they also sell such exotic stuff like alligator meat*, catfish fillets, and crayfish. Crayfish also fit the challenge criteria, but they were also quite expensive. So I chose the frog legs; they're relatively inexpensive for an exotic food. Thus, it would be a cheaper loss if I flubbed it all up.
Good Musical Pairing while Cooking: Kiss That Frog, by Peter Gabriel, Album: Us.
Recipe: Garlic Frog Legs, from Food.com.
 |
| My four little biology lab specimens on their new cucumber adorned lily pad. I figured if I tried decorating it a bit I would be less likely to start gagging. |
My Other Learning Challenge: Making a decent loaf of sourdough rye bread.
Why? Because homemade bread is my favourite way to eat carbs (to prepare for Sunday's race). Sourdough is much healthier because it has no added sugar, and it contains lacto-bacillus bacteria culture, which aids digestion. Fresh homemade bread always tastes better than the preservative-laden crap that has been on a store's shelf for God knows how long. Bakery fresh is the next best thing, but more expensive. I trouble myself to learn how to make this because for me it is a simple luxury, and at least some part of one's vacation should be about taking time in indulging in some luxuries.
Result: I can't remember which proportions and ratios I exactly used, because I was adding gradually to produce a right texture and consistency to the dough. My sourdough dough starter (a.k.a. poolish), was about 2 parts lukewarm water, 1 part rye flour, 1 part all-purpose flour (all by volume) and about half a teaspoon of yeast was added. It was mixed to an even consistency, and then covered with a towel and left at room temperature for eight hours. I then added it to a sifted blend of 2:1 parts rye flour to all-purpose, a couple teaspoons of cocoa powder, and tablespoon of onion salt, two teaspoons of caraway seeds, a couple tablespoons of liquid honey, and some canola oil. The rest of the dough making process is lost to me for explanation. It yielded two medium sized loaves. It lacked that rick darkness that I like from the Russian style rye bread, but it was delicious all the same.
Special thanks and acknowledgements: for tips on the art and craft of bread-making - Tenzo Edward E. Brown**; for spurring on the spirit of gastronomically curious amateurs and adventuresome wannabee foodies - Tim Ferriss (author of The 4-Hour Chef); and for some wild new culinary science tricks and techniques - Nathan Myrhvold and Maxine Bilet (the authors of Modernist Cuisine at Home). Thanks for being my muses and mentors.*- I did tried alligator once. Considering the resulting flavour by how much it cost, I remember not liking it enough to ever want to try it again. Same deal with catfish.
** - Tenzo is not a name, it's a title: for the head cook of a Zen monastery, a very venerable position. Since most of a monastery's food is acquired through donations (largely of second rate stuff) it is the imperative of the tenzo to be frugal, resourceful, and creative enough to take whatever is lacking in terms of quality and quantity, and making the most or best of it for the sake of maintaining a harmonious sanga. . It's something I can respect and relate to, since I'm often relegated to do the same thing whenever I'm fussing around in the kitchen . . . at home, or at work. Watching Tenzo Brown manage his kitchen has been very insightful for me in re-thinking the preparation of food, and to be mindful about the waste of it. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the master chefs of the original Iron Chef TV series sought the advice from the tenzos in Japan.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Vacation Day 1: Power Coma
Yesterday evening I was winding down from a day that was more physical than I realized: I used the gym after work for 45 minutes of strength training, I cycled about 30 kilometers in total during the blazing afternoon, and topped it all off with a 5.8 kilometer run in the early evening, when it was still 29 Celsius. Afterward, I shopped for some essential groceries I lacked, had a late supper, and then continued with learning programming languages. It started off as a part of a exercise to learn how to manage loops and other repetitive tasks in JavaScript.
I was directed to create five of my own statements to insert and play around with in the lines of code to use in the exercise. Since I was anticipating my first full vacation day, which started the next morning, I made some statements about what I had in store for me. I had no plan really, so I wrote these five lines centred on the theme of "Tomorrow, I have. . .", which stated:
I don't think I've ever slept for that long before at any time in my life: not even at times when I was really sick, a victim of heatstroke, jetlagged, impaired by medication, or even after some bouts of inebriation back in a more foolish past. Seeing those five lines was liberating, and perhaps shut down my mind long enough to allow my body to show me just how exhausted I've become. I probably would have slept longer too had the dog not woke me up, either because of a desperate need to relieve herself outside, or just because she was so concerned that I was in bed for that long.
So for today: the tomorrow that I was writing about yesterday, I still have no plan, I'm actually still sleepy. It will start with waking up by going out for coffee someplace, someplace new for me, and see what happens from there on in . . .
I was directed to create five of my own statements to insert and play around with in the lines of code to use in the exercise. Since I was anticipating my first full vacation day, which started the next morning, I made some statements about what I had in store for me. I had no plan really, so I wrote these five lines centred on the theme of "Tomorrow, I have. . .", which stated:
- console.log("no one else's problems or issues to deal with")
- console.log("nothing pressing or urgent to attend to")
- console.log("no agenda to satisfy, or role to play; only to seek out leisure")
- console.log("the freedom to use my energy as I see fit")
- console.log("the freedom to use that time to devote to re-inventing myself, and to become someone better, in some way")
I don't think I've ever slept for that long before at any time in my life: not even at times when I was really sick, a victim of heatstroke, jetlagged, impaired by medication, or even after some bouts of inebriation back in a more foolish past. Seeing those five lines was liberating, and perhaps shut down my mind long enough to allow my body to show me just how exhausted I've become. I probably would have slept longer too had the dog not woke me up, either because of a desperate need to relieve herself outside, or just because she was so concerned that I was in bed for that long.
So for today: the tomorrow that I was writing about yesterday, I still have no plan, I'm actually still sleepy. It will start with waking up by going out for coffee someplace, someplace new for me, and see what happens from there on in . . .
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Amusements in Logic
Starting Monday, I have about 11 hours left of short shifts to do this week before I do some holiday time. In a way that's good. I do three or four hours within three days, and I'll hopefully have enough energy and momentum to clear stuff away at home for the remainder of those days before I dive into time that's to be devoted to mostly leisure. Perhaps weaning myself away from work gradually like this is the way to go, rather than having a more radical transition.
I'm doing some more advanced programming exercises now. Messing around with the process of trial and error in correcting some missing details and other silly mistakes, is making me think that there was a time in the past when I would have been so much better able to retain the knowledge, hone my skills, and have a peak performance at doing such tasks.* Right now though, I feel as though my brain has to have a lot of rust, dust, and cobwebs brushed and knocked out of it before I can deal with anything that's purely logical.
There was a time in my life, when I had less busy days and was better able to focus, when I was becoming a real enthusiast for doing the rather esoteric hobby of solving logic puzzles. The British ones were (still are) the best. It was a way to sort of play detective. I was correctly completing ones ranked five stars in difficulty; even the ones without a logic grid, on a regular basis. I became so interested in them that I wondered if I could even create any of my own that would ever be acceptable enough for publication in any one of the puzzle magazines one finds them in. I did start a small portfolio of some that I drafted up, working at composing and editing them piecemeal. I don't remember when it started happening, but I'd guess that it was something I did as an effort to endure the coldest, darkest, loneliest days of winters past.
I'm doing some more advanced programming exercises now. Messing around with the process of trial and error in correcting some missing details and other silly mistakes, is making me think that there was a time in the past when I would have been so much better able to retain the knowledge, hone my skills, and have a peak performance at doing such tasks.* Right now though, I feel as though my brain has to have a lot of rust, dust, and cobwebs brushed and knocked out of it before I can deal with anything that's purely logical.
There was a time in my life, when I had less busy days and was better able to focus, when I was becoming a real enthusiast for doing the rather esoteric hobby of solving logic puzzles. The British ones were (still are) the best. It was a way to sort of play detective. I was correctly completing ones ranked five stars in difficulty; even the ones without a logic grid, on a regular basis. I became so interested in them that I wondered if I could even create any of my own that would ever be acceptable enough for publication in any one of the puzzle magazines one finds them in. I did start a small portfolio of some that I drafted up, working at composing and editing them piecemeal. I don't remember when it started happening, but I'd guess that it was something I did as an effort to endure the coldest, darkest, loneliest days of winters past.
I doubt if dreaming up and writing these things is something one could ever get rich at, or allow me to just quit my day job. Logic puzzles, at least non-digital ones, are a dying amusement these days, like most of the other pencil and paper puzzles; thus their creation is becoming a dying art as well. The
jest and appeal of it for me though is that I’d be creating something that
like-minded people want to approach for a bit of diversion and positive mental stimulation. Also, the thought of making even a little money from watching an idea grow and come to fruition, even if it's just a small and trivial one, is now becoming a hell of a lot more thrilling to me than that of earning comparatively more money from doing stuff that wears you down with boring routine, and constantly muddling through and dealing with others' ignorance and stupidity in the act (guise) of service.
Back when I taught English for my brief time overseas; being sent frequently without a prepared lesson plan, into a classroom full of kids often too incorrigible or indifferent to learning anything, making and presenting a logic problem was often my salvation. If the kids were disinterested in learning language directly, they were more often than not more willing to be involved with a game or puzzle based on a formula, which they had to force themselves to express in English. I wasn't any good at enforcing classroom management with structure and discipline, but I did alright with at least capturing the attention of those few students who enjoyed the challenge of doing more critical thinking.
The one thing I miss most is getting to be engaged with more people who regularly deploy logic and common sense; so that's the kind of company I should be seeking out during my holiday time. I suppose then that one of my ambitions during this vacation time will be to start probing through and editing these past works of mine, and find publishers to submit them to. If they get rejected, I'll post them here to share with other interested parties. Perhaps my followers who are logic puzzle enthusiasts, especially those from the UK** who read my blog, could help me with this project.
*- I'm referring to a time when the computer languages and technology I'm messing around with now did not yet exist.
**- The stats from my reader numbers by nation indicate that readers from the UK are only 7th in the standings. As it is currently, the rankings of my numbers of followers before that placement, by nation, rank as such: 1. Canada, 2. Russia, 3. Latvia, 4. United States of America, 5. Germany, 6. Ukraine.
Back when I taught English for my brief time overseas; being sent frequently without a prepared lesson plan, into a classroom full of kids often too incorrigible or indifferent to learning anything, making and presenting a logic problem was often my salvation. If the kids were disinterested in learning language directly, they were more often than not more willing to be involved with a game or puzzle based on a formula, which they had to force themselves to express in English. I wasn't any good at enforcing classroom management with structure and discipline, but I did alright with at least capturing the attention of those few students who enjoyed the challenge of doing more critical thinking.
The one thing I miss most is getting to be engaged with more people who regularly deploy logic and common sense; so that's the kind of company I should be seeking out during my holiday time. I suppose then that one of my ambitions during this vacation time will be to start probing through and editing these past works of mine, and find publishers to submit them to. If they get rejected, I'll post them here to share with other interested parties. Perhaps my followers who are logic puzzle enthusiasts, especially those from the UK** who read my blog, could help me with this project.
*- I'm referring to a time when the computer languages and technology I'm messing around with now did not yet exist.
**- The stats from my reader numbers by nation indicate that readers from the UK are only 7th in the standings. As it is currently, the rankings of my numbers of followers before that placement, by nation, rank as such: 1. Canada, 2. Russia, 3. Latvia, 4. United States of America, 5. Germany, 6. Ukraine.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Canada Day 2013
There's nothing monumental happening for me on today's national holiday. There is no going to the parks, no beer gardens, no barbeques, no checking out bandstands, no ogling bikini clad women. Even though I live right next to the fireworks show that will kick off tonight, I won't be spectating: the trees bordering the park obscure the view from my place, I'll just get all the noise. Instead, I'll be holed up here, avoiding the extra crowds and road traffic, and trying to comfort my dog who will be terrified once the blasting starts. I still go to work today, and I then take on some extra chores of doing some house/pet-sitting for other vacationers beginning tonight.
I started writing a reeling daily entry covering the weekend. That posting failed to upload completely and was somehow corrupted: either because it got too long, or because I got hacked, or because it was becoming so laden with negativity about the vocational and social scene around here that for all I know, I might have been outright censored. It's just as well that I voluntarily trashed it. Reflecting on, and expressing such bitterness and contempt is not the way I want to close the first half of the year. The rain has finally subsided over the weekend, and we are getting some hot days ahead. Summer has finally arrived, and I need not dwell on depressing stuff throughout it all.
The only good development I did mention was that I think I overcame some struggles with my running. I finally broke through the teens (I reached 13 kilometers on Saturday). My lungs are finally starting to function properly. I believe my troubles may have been stemming from a seasonal allergy to some kind of pollen. I hope I keep improving to get fit enough for the River Run Classic half-marathon coming up in a few days.
My actual summer holidays are coming up in about ten days from now. Other than training for this upcoming race, and getting some work lined up for fixing some stuff in my suite, I haven't the foggiest idea about what I'll be doing, or where I'll go for my leisure. I know fishing in the rivers is out of the question. The water is still high and fast, and they're still a murky mess from all the flooding from the previous weeks.
Last weekend, I made a spontaneous purchase of some disks for playing Frisbee golf: since there is a course so close to me for it in Diefenbacher Park I thought I'd capitalize. Frisbee golf is probably the equivalent of lawn bowling for hipsters. I'll find out soon enough.
I started writing a reeling daily entry covering the weekend. That posting failed to upload completely and was somehow corrupted: either because it got too long, or because I got hacked, or because it was becoming so laden with negativity about the vocational and social scene around here that for all I know, I might have been outright censored. It's just as well that I voluntarily trashed it. Reflecting on, and expressing such bitterness and contempt is not the way I want to close the first half of the year. The rain has finally subsided over the weekend, and we are getting some hot days ahead. Summer has finally arrived, and I need not dwell on depressing stuff throughout it all.
The only good development I did mention was that I think I overcame some struggles with my running. I finally broke through the teens (I reached 13 kilometers on Saturday). My lungs are finally starting to function properly. I believe my troubles may have been stemming from a seasonal allergy to some kind of pollen. I hope I keep improving to get fit enough for the River Run Classic half-marathon coming up in a few days.
 |
| My new set of "clubs" |
Last weekend, I made a spontaneous purchase of some disks for playing Frisbee golf: since there is a course so close to me for it in Diefenbacher Park I thought I'd capitalize. Frisbee golf is probably the equivalent of lawn bowling for hipsters. I'll find out soon enough.
Friday, June 21, 2013
The 14th of 14 days
I just arrived home from work tonight, sitting outside on my deck and watching the supermoon in all its fullness, at least for a little while before it becomes enshrouded with the approaching inky black clouds. I'm thankful for the bit of a break from the cloudiness and rain that stuck itself here for the past few days. The thought of heading out for a nightcap somewhere came, but it quickly passed. The truth is that I'm frustrated and tired; so far away from being my ideal self to even think of wandering into some pub, or attempting to be social. I'm all "peopled out"; yet I need some safe way to vent. So, I chose this route.
Between my regular job and union business, I've had a fourteen day workweek. Today was the last day of it all, and the two days off coming up will be less than ideal weather-wise. I always used to look forward to this day: the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. But now, I'm less than enthused. I'm so bankrupt energy-wise. I only feel darkening days coming ahead, both figuratively and literally. Nothing but cloudy skies and rain is in the forecast, and a possible oncoming surge of swelling river due to the havoc happening in Alberta right now. There have been power outages, and probably more to come with the predicted thunderstorms. I doubt if it will be enjoyable, or long enough to refresh me, knowing that this coming Monday I'll just be stepping into a scene of negotiations that's going to make me want to go ballistic and tear my own hair out.
One thing that has been draining me is brooding with a lot of anger. As good as it was to attend my local's convention this past Wednesday and Thursday, gaining such an overload of information and sobering picture of the facts in the report card of what these graft-fed provincial and federal governments are doing to our Crown businesses, public sectors, healthcare sectors, and the stupid amendments of our labour laws, that impact not just unionized labour, but all workers in this province, has left me completely disillusioned with right wing politics. I've given up hope in thinking that anything political will ever serve as salvation a long time ago. We live under a regime that wants to control us by enslaving us with debt, poverty, and corporate influence, and they threaten us more with messing with the terms of hours worked effecting overtime pay, and stripping us of our right to take strike action.
I hope there is someone around next time to slap some sense into me before I allow myself to take on another string days like this again. I'll close this now before I get even more enraged as I start elaborating on the topic. The best thing I can do for myself for the next couple days is to do anything else than be a miserable bastard. I just don't know what or where in my private home life that I should pick up on out of the numerous things around here that seem to have been neglected in the past two weeks.
Between my regular job and union business, I've had a fourteen day workweek. Today was the last day of it all, and the two days off coming up will be less than ideal weather-wise. I always used to look forward to this day: the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. But now, I'm less than enthused. I'm so bankrupt energy-wise. I only feel darkening days coming ahead, both figuratively and literally. Nothing but cloudy skies and rain is in the forecast, and a possible oncoming surge of swelling river due to the havoc happening in Alberta right now. There have been power outages, and probably more to come with the predicted thunderstorms. I doubt if it will be enjoyable, or long enough to refresh me, knowing that this coming Monday I'll just be stepping into a scene of negotiations that's going to make me want to go ballistic and tear my own hair out.
One thing that has been draining me is brooding with a lot of anger. As good as it was to attend my local's convention this past Wednesday and Thursday, gaining such an overload of information and sobering picture of the facts in the report card of what these graft-fed provincial and federal governments are doing to our Crown businesses, public sectors, healthcare sectors, and the stupid amendments of our labour laws, that impact not just unionized labour, but all workers in this province, has left me completely disillusioned with right wing politics. I've given up hope in thinking that anything political will ever serve as salvation a long time ago. We live under a regime that wants to control us by enslaving us with debt, poverty, and corporate influence, and they threaten us more with messing with the terms of hours worked effecting overtime pay, and stripping us of our right to take strike action.
I hope there is someone around next time to slap some sense into me before I allow myself to take on another string days like this again. I'll close this now before I get even more enraged as I start elaborating on the topic. The best thing I can do for myself for the next couple days is to do anything else than be a miserable bastard. I just don't know what or where in my private home life that I should pick up on out of the numerous things around here that seem to have been neglected in the past two weeks.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
That Kind of Day
Today is a long dreary rainy day. It's coming down in sheets now. It's hard to believe that the summer solstice is only a week away. It's the kind of day where one feels obligated to settle down and relax. What it could be is:
The list I produced is the stuff that I feel like I only have enough energy for. Running usually is a remedy, but for some reason, it has become a greater challenge than usual. I'm trying it today, despite the heavy rain. Lately, on even short distances, I feel like I'm slowly being smothered, with my breathing becoming badly arrested. I'm hoping it's not some kind of seasonal pollen allergy or something. I hope the heavy rain will settle it down if it is, but I'm not optimistic. If it occurs again next time, I think I'll need to see a doctor. The only sort of social leisure I have lined up ahead is a supper after a convention I'm attending next week, but I honestly don't think I'll be up for it if I'm even more drained than I am feeling now.
I found an app to try to deal with this failure in my resilience. It's called SuperBetter. However, I've been slacking in using some time to commit to interface with it. The concept of it is really quite interesting. It will make more sense after watching the TED talk by its developer, Jane McGonigal.
I touched on www.codeacademy.com for a bit. The format of the site is great for anyone wanting to learn some programming. I think I found my substitute for TV, now that I discontinued my cable service.
- a homemade soup and bread making while listening to tunes kind of day
- a blog some crazy ideas kind of day
- a browse the bookstore kind of day
- a start reading a new novel kind of day
- a pencil and puzzle book/sketch pad day
- a blow the dust off the Wii console and play video games day
- a cheesy sci-fi/cult comedy movie from Netflix watching afternoon kind of day
- a read Make, and other such magazines, and dream up of a project kind of day
- a rewire my sound/home entertainment system kind of day
- a watch TED talks kind of day
- a reorganize my playlists and iTunes library kind of day
- a nap with the dog on the chesterfield kind of day
- a get my ass to the gym and do some back/core/strength training kind of day
- a cocktail experimentation/formulation kind of day
- an embracing one's inner nerd kind of day
- a learn some more programming kind of day
The list I produced is the stuff that I feel like I only have enough energy for. Running usually is a remedy, but for some reason, it has become a greater challenge than usual. I'm trying it today, despite the heavy rain. Lately, on even short distances, I feel like I'm slowly being smothered, with my breathing becoming badly arrested. I'm hoping it's not some kind of seasonal pollen allergy or something. I hope the heavy rain will settle it down if it is, but I'm not optimistic. If it occurs again next time, I think I'll need to see a doctor. The only sort of social leisure I have lined up ahead is a supper after a convention I'm attending next week, but I honestly don't think I'll be up for it if I'm even more drained than I am feeling now.
I found an app to try to deal with this failure in my resilience. It's called SuperBetter. However, I've been slacking in using some time to commit to interface with it. The concept of it is really quite interesting. It will make more sense after watching the TED talk by its developer, Jane McGonigal.
I touched on www.codeacademy.com for a bit. The format of the site is great for anyone wanting to learn some programming. I think I found my substitute for TV, now that I discontinued my cable service.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)