Four full days

The weekend had so much crammed into it. I slept horribly Sunday night and forgot to turn on the alarm, my feet were killing me, and my parents want my stuff out of their house, but I had a great time.

The dreams were weird. The big one was something Buffyverse style. I was in a group of people who were fighting the bad guy hordes, and we did a huge group ritual to bestow one person with magical powers to defeat the threat. ToddB was the chosen subject, and we all focused on a candle. At the end of the chant, I was close to the candle we all gestured towards, and the last phrase said we grant the power to Todd. He was up on a balcony and distracted, trying to rig some bombs to blast the enemies in the building. We all finish by pointing at him, and I even got lifted up somehow to be at balcony level. It didn't seem like anything happened, and Todd was like, "Wha?" as one of his bombs went off around the corner. Then I'm standing there looking around the corner down a slope. Now the bad guys weren't humanoid, but some mini-golem things that were all white. I turned to whoever was next to me (maybe Crystal) and asked, "Um, did we all say ToddB or just Todd?"

"Todd, why?"

"Uh, I think I got it."

"Seriously?"

Then I somehow charged up my hand, and shot a blast at one of the little stone minions coming at us. I spent the next little while trying to get the hang of charging and shooting the energy bolts. It was cool but unpredictable.

I got some homework done, but still have a ways to go to catch up when I get back from BC. The big project I have to do in the next two days is convert all my karaoke music to the computer. The same Saturday evening I return on the train, I'm KJ-ing the work Holiday party. It'll be nice at least having a backup, but I'm staying legal even if I have to run it at two venues.

Sunday was great! I finally went downtown for swing dancing. Lots of cute girls asked me to dance. Obviously not all of them are interested romantically, but once I'm better at it, I'll be doing the asking and chatting to get to know regulars. Eventually I'll move up to the Thursday lessons at the PPAA, but they teach a lot of steps on Sundays and repeating one or two would actually help me get them down. The folks have done swing, ballroom, and salsa so I'll get some pointers from them too.

Still doing some exercise every day, and it feels good.

momentum

This whole not having Internet at home has turned out to be a welcome catalyst. That, and the long holiday weekend. I'm getting some of the homework backlog done and I finally switched out my alternator, so my truck runs reliably. Since I have to go somewhere to use the Internet, I plan it out in advance and don't waste time just randomly browsing. To that end I decided to start using RSS feeds to keep up on general web stuff, and just log into the mail once a day. If I get mail that I have messages on Myspace/Facebook or whatever, I'll do those later and spend minimal time there.

I've been doing resistance exercises every day since Monday and I'm not stopping. I think I can already see a difference in the upper body. I can do a handstand for a few seconds now. The flexibility is going to take longer and somehow I need to figure out some cardio besides walking I can do in bad weather. Once I get some more urgent projects done I can fix the bicycle and ride that when it's dry. The cardio is both to keep my weight/fat sensible and to warm up muscles for stretching. Some yoga would be cool, if it isn't too expensive or time consuming to take a class. Tonight I'll finally be going to the beginner swing dancing lesson at the Scottish Rite; should be fun. I also heard recently there was a study saying napping a few times a week is very good for heart health, especially in men. Not a bad idea, especially when I have karaoke late. I need to read more too so I'm going to read myself to sleep as much as possible instead of waiting to feel sleepy. In the morning I've been getting to work around 8:30. An improvement, but I'm still shooting for 8.

OK, it's 1:00. Time to get groceries, knock out some homework, and figure out how I'm going to rip all my karaoke music before the trip to Canada! The party for work I'm KJ-ing is right when I get back to town and my employees will be running the show that night with the traditional gear. Looks like today and Tuesday are my only chance. Hey, I'll bring the laptop to the bar Tuesday to finish it off, that'll get both done at once. Sweet.

New Purpose

I'm going to use this blog to keep track of my progress in fighting lethargy. Procrastination, poor concentration, ADD, lack of exercise, they all plague me. Basically, it's being undisciplined and unmotivated. I'm sick of it.

Last night, I skipped class. Normally that's bad, but Sunday I didn't get enough homework done to turn anything in. All weekend I had no Internet, and I was still being a slacker! So after work last night, I got an alternator, did some laundry, worked on homework, and read myself to sleep at a reasonable hour. It was an improvement. I set up a schedule of when I was doing what and reminded myself to stick to it. It seems to be working. Oh, and I actually did exercise: two sets of descended pushups, and two sets of curls, as well as some leg stretching and handstand practice.

Today, I'm doing a bad job of getting work done, but I got here before 8:30. That's a huge improvement. The good sign is that I felt that sense of urgency which had been absent for too long. I'm shooting for 8 tomorrow, and from now on. I'd like to ride the bus with Laurel, that would be awesome.

coasting

I'm not doing anything new just yet. Well, that's not quite true.

Karaoke starts Saturdays tomorrow. Got a new employee for that; hope it works out. I need to fix my karaoke collection. I'm going to try thinking outside the proverbial box, but still stay legal. Work wants me to do their holiday party on a Saturday so I think it's time to rip my collection to a computer for portability, backup, and private use.

Still behind on school. It's time to get serious about creating better time strategies and habits. I'm reading up on some online resources and new software. Chandler looks interesting.

Poor Kojak didn't get all the cancer removed with the surgery, it turns out. Next Monday I'm meeting with the doctor again and we'll see what makes sense for treatment. It's hard not to notice how expensive this is getting. I love that kid though, and we both deserve a chance at him living some more years of mobility.

No ladies in the picture right now. Probably a good thing. I'm content.

Sunday I'm finally doing swing dancing, no more putting it off. Should be fun!

Oh yeah, I got an espresso machine. Turns out the base is completely detached from the machine. Welding doesn't seem likely to fix it, so I'm going to try fastening it with some brackets next week.