Endurance

Today I "ran" the length of the 5k. I use quotation marks because I did more walking than running, honestly. I was feeling bad about this, because I am running short (pun intended) on time before the race, and there's a real possibility I will not be an official finisher.

Then I decided that instead of feeling ashamed or worried, I would be proud; I don't think I've ever run 3 miles before!

Mild success

I finished week 2 of the Couch to 5K plan! I am feeling pretty good about it, and I've noticed my energy level has gone up.

Freaking Goldfish crackers

I think there is a reason they call goldfish CRACKers that. I bought a big box for a project at school, and I can't stop shoving them into my mouth all day.

Also, there was a potluck at school... also... there was a failed field trip... and I'm clearing out the fridge... not to mention the rain. It has been both the most awesome and least awesome week for eating well... just depends how you define well.

Well it wasn't one of my resolutions, I guess I am ashamed enough to mention, I'm wearing sweats that are supposed to pretend to look like pants.

Maybe we need regularly scheduled emergency meetings?

Ugh.

I've gained almost 10 lbs since we started this, which is hardly productive.

I haven't written, volunteered anywhere, and I don't even remember what the rest of my resolutions are.

In terms of my recent resolution to keep myself sane while unemployed, I haven't been doing so hot on that either.

I thought Ass Pants event was scheduled for halloween, not August. That stupid 10lbs has me feeling a lot less motivated about it.

Brad Pitt will force me to run

So I've been pretty good about gyming it again. 5 times a week is working out, and the 5 AM time really is the best time to go. Only a handful of people and totally laid back. Shelle has gotten used to waking up early now, so we have no excuse for not making it. We were running for a few days, but started slacking on it in the last week or so. I want to go today after work, but with new comics coming out and a fresh new video game to play, I don't think that will happen. Still, I'll try to guilt trip myself into doing it. Maybe stare at a few still shots of a shirtless Brad Pitt in Fight Club.

Work is getting more and more productive. On top of taking over QA stuff for the magnet, my boss has me involved in a study that will be starting soon. It involves some pretty cool techniques, so I'm excited to be a part of it. Also, I've taken up reading some textbooks so I can be more knowledgeable about the field that I'm making a career out of. I still feel lost while reading some of it, but I'm slowly and steadily getting more comfortable with the principles and what not. Good times.

Hmm, I've been nice online. Not much of an update on that.

I went to the doctor today, she said there is nothing wrong with my knee and I have no excuse... I mean reason not to run. :(

Failutions update may edition

Okay, so have I been posting? No. Have I been doing a great job with my failutions? No. I stopped tracking on livestrong again, I feel icky and low energy. I have also been sick and have somehow hurt my knee. Also I was mean to a Stanford professor, and now I feel bad.

Somehow, even with so many things seeming so together, I still sorta feel sort of uneasy about how things are going.

So...We have 5 months till October, and summers are good times to be active. I'm with you Hayley, we should definitely not give up the TLC, and put this off for next year. It's going to be a TLC 2010. That means, changes will need to happen. Okay. I can do this... how the hell do I do this? :0( I'm definitely not happy with the changes I've seen recently.

Money is going okay, I dont think I've spent very excessively, but then again, I did just pay a 100 dollar parking ticket (from St. Patty's day) I forgot about it. And I did just buy 200 dollar glasses... and 200 dollars worth of picture frames. Also going to Jamaica. Oh, not to mention the extra gas that I've been buying for all the extra traveling.

The school year is almost over! And I think my kids are pretty darn awesome, so even if they can't add, I think maybe I did an okay job. :)

Threading water

I made a choice, I knew it wouldn't be easy, and I will find a way out of it. Feeling sorry for myself is hardly helpful.

And yet, I've been unemployed for almost 5 months. It's hard to keep enthused, because it feels as though I will never find work.

Ugh.

I had a terrible migraine this afternoon, and in a painkillers-and-agony induced delirium I ate a pint of ice cream and a personal pizza.

I feel a lot worse now, what a surprise!

Hmmm

I woke up at 7am this morning, only to spend the next 2 hours in bed watching youtube videos. I'm going to try channeling this boredom into something productive...like writing.

It'd be super helpful if you guys could suggest some things to write about!

Or maybe I should channel said boredom into studying for the GRE?

Let's do this!

Mark and I woke up at 5:30am to take a cycling class at the gym.

Now, time to study for the GRE!

Three out of Four ain't bad

So I finally got back into a regular gym routine. For some reason, I'm unable to get up at 5am anymore. Late evening seem to be the way to go, though I might try getting back into the 5am routine next week because it honestly frees up a lot of time and I feel great going to work afterwords.

Also, I've been much nicer to my stupid online friends. It's not that hard to hold back from making fun of them, so that's good.

While I have been somewhat non-productive at work, things are shaping up. An influx of a few small projects, plus once we get some bugs worked out of the scanner, my boss is fully committed to showing me all the ins and outs of the system. His goal is for me to be as knowledgeable as he is regarding user errors and how to solve common issues they might have. That may take some time, but I'm optometrist and plan on spending a lot of extra time on getting to that level. Plus, the director of the center supposedly wants me to head up some study in his lab. We'll see if that actually goes anywhere or if he forgets about it in a few weeks.

And yeah, guitar learning has not been happening. Lately I have wanted to get back into drawing, so I think I'll actually be switching my failution to that. More news on it in the future.

Well, we did use the word "fail"

I've made the strategic decision to trash my failutions in favor of one I might actually be able to keep.

My new resolution is simply to keep my head above water. So far, unemployment has managed to be both easy and incredibly difficult. If I can get back mentally to where I was 2 months ago, and stay there until I've found a job, then I'll call this year a success.

Jamaica bound

Well... what resolutions can I keep while on vacation?

Definitely will be getting out in the evening, definitely will not spend less money... or eat healthy... or work out... but I will be bringing my uke.

So far, this following of the failutions has been on and off good and bad. I have worked out sorta regularly, been eating well and all of that. Money, it's like I'm burning it for fun, where the hell does it go?

All alone here in Failutions Land

Hello?

Yeah, okay.

According to livestrong, I burned over 2,000 calories today! Even if that's slightly exaggerated, 4.5 hours of heavy-duty gardening (digging, weeding, moving concrete blocks) is quite the workout.

Now excuse me while I pass out.

Monday Update

So I again failed to wake up at 5 AM, ugh. I can't seem to do it anymore. I think I might have to resort to putting my phone on the opposite side of the room so it forces me to have to get up. I have always thought of this as being the absolute last resort, reserved for the laziest of the lazy, the most pathetic on the planet. Yet here I am, placing my phone on the kitchen table. Sigh, let's hope it's not permanent.

Anyways, I went to the gym tonight. Pretty good workout. Gym was a bit more packed than I would have liked, but still manageable.

Tracked my food intake on livestrong.

Made up a list of things to do at work this morning and actually accomplished them. I feel good about that, but still felt unproductive for a few hours. I also realized I forgot all about Fourier Transforms and the Nyquist Theorum. How sad. So very sad.

As I mentioned on Hayley's post, I have been thinking a lot about the idea of eating animals. Ever since I have gotten all emo about life and death, I have thought about whether or not I really am comfortable with eating meat. It's not a life changing dilemma, or something that keeps me up at night, just something that's been nagging at me for a while now. I'll be checking packaging and asking around at the grocery stores I frequent to make sure they buy humanely treated animals. Is it fairly common now? Trader Joe's should have a decent selection of that, can't say the same for Food Max. Either way, I don't eat much meat right now. Just 4 oz. every other night. We'll see where this leads.

A new resolution

I've thought about this a lot lately, and I've resolved to stop eating meat or animal products from restaurants unless I can be sure that the animals were raised humanely.

It struck me how useless it is when I buy cafe-free eggs or free-range chickens at home when I go out the next night to a restaurant where the chef doesn't have the same scruples.

This won't have a huge impact on me, since most of the restaurants I go to already buy humanely, but I'm just informing you guys so you'll know.

And the score is?

Yesterday I went on an hour and a half walk. Good.
And an hour hike. Good.
But I ate half a pint of ben and jerry's. REALLY FREAKING BAD.


Today I had a job interview. Good.
And I went on an hour long walk. Good.
And I went bathing suit shopping at Title 9, and I wear a medium. Pretty damn good.
But I can't afford a bathing suit there. Bad.

So...maybe it evens out?

Swimming in the morning

Oh, how it miss it!

I'm also cheap.

I've been sitting here considering the cost/benefits of buying membership at the YMCA so that I may swim at 6am again. Would paying for it make me want to do it more? Will it be worth it just to swim? I am so used to being a college student who doesn't have to directly pay for any of the services I use.

Or should I just try to do something else in the morning?

Toot toot!

Okay. After seeing everyone's enthusiastic posts, I booked myself a tennis match. The courts were full. I drove all around town, but either no parking or full or something else. So I went to chili's with my brother and his girlfriend. I was out at night. Tonight I ate a huge buffet dinner at facebook...

not good!

I considered running last night around this time, but decided against the midnight run. Anyone do it before? Do you think it's dangerous?

Okay, so I'm not exactly on track, but I do have plans to be more on track, 6 days of exercise. I have been tracking my food, its not looking good, but I do have somewhere to work from. I think maybe if we thought about working out a little more like Peter does, a scheduled dedicated time, I'd have more success. So...

I'm swimming on Thursday. Tennis booked on each weekend. Friday... maybe an afterwork swim or run? I'll report back on success rates.

Who would have guessed?

Today I weighed myself for the first time in a month, and it turns out I've been losing weight! This doesn't make any sense to me, especially considering I ate an entire box of chocolate bon bons last night, but oh well!

I've officially dropped all of my winter weight. Score!

All aboard the failutions train! (sorry)

Today I went on a walk for an hour and a half with the puppies.

I also wrote some stuff/crap for my creative writing class. Not book-related stuff, but it's important to get back into the swing of things.

I aced a phone interview, and they scheduled me to come to the office later this week.

No updates on the volunteering, but I've got it on my radar.

We've talked about swimming, so tomorrow I'm going to dig up my bathing suit and goggles.

Failutions, back on track!

So today I overslept. I felt bad, because I was determined to go to the gym in the morning. So I dragged myself to the gym around 8:30 tonight and stayed for about an hour.

I also started tracking my caloric intake again on livestrong.com. Very productive.

I also did quite a bit of work today, and was really nice to my online friends.

Tomorrow night I have already scheduled time to practice the guitar before LOST.

I'm full of pep!

Hmmm

I've stagnated. It's been over a month, and I'm not losing weight, haven't found a job or a volunteer position, have only written a sentence of my book, and I wore sweatpants on the train yesterday.

I'm going to call an emergency meeting.

Need some pep talk.

Today I stayed in bed all day and watched Emma and it was fantastic.

1/31/2010 Failutions updates

Last night, I stayed out (in the darkest of dark nights) and about walking around town. I can't say that being out in the dark has improved my life all that much, though I do feel like I get to hang out with more people than I did before. I like that this failution continues to get easier and easier as we go along, the night sky gets darker later and later. :D

I also played two hours of tennis and then went on a treacherous uphill hike with Daniel near the observatory. I probably would've picked a less hilly climb, but asspants-ass is appreciative. I also took a bunch of awesome pictures, while not part of my resolutions, definitely helpful in our photo-a-day forum.

On money, teaching, and such, I need to work on those ones.

Failutions: Progress!

Today I had a job interview, I looked fantastic for it, and I opted not to take a delicious cookie from the lunch table.

Success!

Insomnia = Joining OkCupid

So because I could not sleep I have created an OkCupid account. I can't wait to start taking quizzes and, hopefully, waste time on there. Maybe I'll meet interesting local people, I don't know. I'm trying to figure out how I can tie this into one of my resolutions and I figured out how. Basically, I will use it to find a band and have jam sessions with them. Then I can learn to play the guitar much faster. Also, I think I would be nicer to the friends I have if I meet really shitty people. My logic is that they will make me appreciate the awesome peeps that I already talk to. That should work, right? We'll see.

Check in!

I have been thrown a little off track while preparing for the funeral/helping my mom, although I did lose a few pounds. I'm almost back to my pre-holiday weight.

Now that the funeral is over, I will focus. Whitney and I made a plan to go rock climbing in late Feb, which means that I need to build some upper body strength before then.

The Road to Ass Pants

I finally went to the gym again today. Last time I went was last Thursday and I have been aching to go back ever since. Figure this week I'll start going 5 times a week. It's an easy enough step up to make, seeing as how I already go 3 times a week. I'm leaning towards going every day of the week and then taking the weekend to relax. The plans might change if I get lazy and decide I would rather sleep in that extra hour in the mornings. We'll see.

I've also been really nice to my online "friends" that sort of bug me. I let most things slide at this point and just try really hard to ignore the stuff that pisses me off. And I held the door open for an old man at the library today. It took him an extra second or two to get to the door, and under normal conditions I would have just gone in let him fend for himself, but I decided to let it slide this time around. I'm being a good boy.

On a sadder note, I dicked around at work today. I should have been more productive, but I didn't have the drive. I think I'm going to start making list of things I want to get accomplished each day and make sure I get them done. I have enough task to keep me busy for about half the day, so the other half will be devoted to random other things that I have been meaning to get done over the last few months.

EDIT: I practiced the guitar today. Just the three basic power cords. I'm building up the callouses and, thankfully, I was able to switch between the three of them pretty easily so I don't feel too bad about not practicing for too long. Then afterwards I did my sit ups, push ups and pull ups routine. All in all, a good day for failutions.

Slight detour

So my mom got sick and had to go to the ER, so I drove down to SC to help her. As a result, I haven't been going to the gym, or eating healthy. Oops.

I did watch Pride and Prejudice though, which I count as "research" for my book.

Ass pants

I decided to sign up for ultimate tennis again, even after that terrible experience with a demeaning older lady who wore a tiny skirt (which I only wished I could wear).

That's at least one game of tennis a week (probably on the weekend or in the dark!).

Debra's failution updates

I'm sick again, that makes asspants goal very hard to attain.

I have been going out almost every day despite the dark, I wonder if one day it will stop being an issue for me completely.

The going out in the dark failution was supposed to support the asspants failution but instead kills my money failution.

FAIL

Today I woke up at 9:30, but in my defense, I was up late last night.

Today I'm going to take Comet to the dog park, finish my reading for my book club, read more from the Parachute book, and map out the plot of the 1st chapter of my book.

Last night Mark and I booked tickets to Hawaii for April...so that's another reason to work hard on getting in shape.

Vegas makes for Failution success

So, afraid that my gluttonous las Vegas ways have ruined my failutions I realize going to las Vegas and staying up every night and all that is a great way to address my going out in the dark issues. Granted it's never really all that dark, but never during the entire weekend did I say, eh it's dark f' it. Yay!

Monday, Monday

Yesterday I bought myself a high-waisted belt. See? I'm now fashionable.

Today my plan was to go to the gym twice, just to prove that it was possible for unemployed people, but I'm still recovering from food poisoning, and I decided it would be best if I weren't sick all over the weight room. I'll go once tonight, if I feel up to it.

Week 1 done!

It's 10am and I've already gone to the gym to do some lifting. Now that I'm back, Mark and I are going to go on a walk.

Three hours of tennis... In the dark. Yes. Spent twenty bucks on dinner. No.

Success

Today I hit 2 resolutions in 1- I applied for a job at a temp agency, and looked hot doing it. Observe.

I paired a velvet jacket with an unusual neckline over a faux two-piece dress with a ruffled collar and a patent leather high waisted belt. I didn't wear makeup, but I did wear a silver necklace and bracelet.

Did I also mention that I gave up coffee?

Woke up at 8:15, success! Here is my plan today:

1. Write a chapter of my book and send it with a query letter. On hold today.
2. Asspants! take the dog on a walk at Point Isabelle.
3. Get a good job and/or go to grad school. meeting with St. Mary's financial aid today. Will apply to the jobs I found yesterday.
4. Volunteer with something fulfilling. Already did some research. Contacted the Eco Village, but they don't need volunteers this early in the year. I'll need to find something else then.
5. Put more effort into my appearance. Will wear shoes that aren't sneakers today, possibly eyeshadow.

On a side note, yesterday I was going through my glove compartment, and I found my birth certificate along with a piece of paper with my SSN on it. Oops!

Today I used my Iron Gym and Perfect Push-ups as well as did situps, all while watching the finale to the first season of Buffy. I was planning on practicing with the guitar, but got preoccupied with a really good book and by the time I realized it was too late to practice. I have since rescheduled it for Thursday night.

Also, I was really nice to this one online friend I have that I typically tease. I also saw a bum in Berkeley today with a sign that read "Bet you $1 you will read this sign" It was funny, and I contemplated giving him $1. That's way nicer than what I typically do, which is not even acknowledge them. Baby steps.

The saga continues...

I woke up at 9 today, proving my "slippery slope to laziness" theory. Tomorrow I will set the alarm.

1. Write a chapter of my book and send it with a query letter. plotted out the book.
2. Asspants! Going to the gym after work with Mark. I had a cupcake today...probably not the best way into asspants. Sorry guys. :(
3. Get a good job and/or go to grad school. I set up an appointment with Saint Mary's financial aid office to work out the math of going to school there. I also left a message for the admission counselor, asking if I can use my old application (deadline is this friday, and I'd need to come up with the personal statement and 1 more letter of rec by then...). Will spend at least an hour today looking at jobs. Set up an appointment at my temp agency to be put on their roster. Read 100 pages of the Parachute book- really interesting book! Read entire Jansen book, which was less helpful for my situation.
4. Volunteer with something fulfilling. On hold...
5. Put more effort into my appearance. Look at fashion blogs instead of cooking blogs. Hopefully this will contribute to #2 as well. Looked through Anthropologie's January catalog- what's in right now are small waists, big hips (woo!), unusual necklines, Noir-inspired pieces, and peeptoes. Bib necklaces, thankfully, appear to be on their way out. All of this would be useful if I had money to buy the appropriate stuff, so I'm going to have to focus more on how to make my limited wardrobe more fashionable. I also dropped my coat off at the dry cleaners, I sure hope I have an income soon, since dry cleaning does NOT come cheap.

Objective: Find a Job

I just went to the library and checked out the following books:

"I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know It's Not This" by Julie Jansen

"The Job Hunting Guide" by Ron and Caryl Krannich

"What Color Is Your Parachute?" By Richard Bolles

I also did some research on grad schools and discovered that CSU East Bay is still accepting applicants! But...they only offer programs for K-12 counseling, not college counseling. I guess I'm outta luck there.

First gym day of the new year

So I went to the gym this morning at 5 AM like I always do, but felt more determined this time around because of the resolutions we set out. It was going well until the very end of my workout. See, I like listening to podcast during my workouts. Today, I was listening to the Savage Lovecast, which is a sex advice show that a cool gay dude puts up. Well, today he had a girl call in that was describing her inability to...pleasure her boyfriend. I won't get into specifics, but she described that one reason its hard for him is because of complications with a penis piercing that he has that he got illegally as a teenager. He let it get infected and then...god I can't even type it. Lets just say it was so gross what he did and how it became that I literally felt like vomiting. It was like a kick to the scrotum followed by a horrible dizzy spell. I had to rush to the toilet stall because I really did want to vomit. Luckily, I didn't And I normally don't have a weak stomach. But this fucked up guy just completely freaked my body out.

Other than that, great workout. Took it easier today, and figured I'll start using my Iron Gym and Perfect Push-up equipment at nights, to cut down the time I spend at the gym.

Also, guitar practice is set for tomorrow after work.

Day 1 of FUNemployment

I woke up at 8:45, which is pretty reasonable considering that 1) I did it without an alarm, and B) I could sleep until 12 and no one would know. I need to be careful how I spend my time, now that I have so much of it. My natural inclination would be to spend all day sleeping, drinking coffee in the backyard, and reading. Since that's hardly productive, I need to map out some sort of goal, and stick to it. I'll start with my resolutions, and my plans to meet them today.

1. Write a chapter of my book and send it with a query letter. I just signed up for a creative writing class for spring semester.
2. Asspants! take the dog on a walk at Point Isabelle today.
3. Get a good job and/or go to grad school. work on the assignment from my interview, and find some jobs to apply to.
4. Volunteer with something fulfilling. I just signed up for a peer tutoring certification class for Spring. Once the counseling department opens later this month, I'll go over there to see about volunteering.
5. Put more effort into my appearance. Fix my cracked nail polish before going out in public.

Running and Dark

I ran about 2 miles today. I hate running, but I love the knowing nod that you get to give other runners on the same route, it's like acknowledgement of our mutual awesomeness.

And now I will go make keys, even though it's dark, at Walmart.