The Raven's Roost

Saturday I did my last race of the "season," which for me is winter. I train over the summer and race again in the fall. Anyway, the Gate River Run 15k is a pretty fun race - it's huge though. It's supposed to be the largest 15k in the US which I can believe. I shaved two minutes off my unremarkable finishing time, so there's that. I'm going to be spending the spring and summer focusing more on building speed, since I know I can handle distances. I just want to be able to do it faster. I took yesterday off, and this week I have daily 3-milers at easy paces so nothing terribly exciting. I should finish up Attack on Titan soon. I didn't because I got into listening to podcasts more than watching anything. I also have Natsume's Book of Friends queued up next.

My minimalism project is going really well. A LOT of donations, dump runs, and decluttering. I think I've finished with books - no wait, there's a bookcase in my studio that needs one more pass - but books are pretty much done. Clothing is done, but needs tidying. I'm at the point where I'm starting on what Marie Kondo calls "komono," or miscellany. Going through cabinets and sorting drawers. I'm starting easy with the laundry room, and treating the kitchen like a boss level. I don't want to fight it yet.

We also had a DVD rack in the living room that we removed. I put the discs into a binder and then had all the stupid cases. I did the same with some CDs I had. I was at a loss as to what to do with the cases but I discovered something good. When I first moved here, I was told the curbside recycling only took #1 and 2 plastics. I went to the county environmental services page yesterday and found they now take 1 through 7! And those "tetra pack" boxes soup, tofu, and such come in. DVD cases and jewel cases are usually #6 plastics, but there's SO MUCH I don't want to put the box out to the road, so I'll just be taking it on my next dump trip and dropping it at the recycling center myself. There's probably fifty or sixty pounds of cases, and I have already taken out all the paper covers and inserts. I'm glad Fox and I have moved to an "access" mindset with movies and music, rather than an "ownership" mindset. For a long time, I haven't felt the need to own a physical disc of something.

This is just the pile of DVD cases.
You can also take this opportunity to organize your cats - by size, color, or whatever system meows most sense to you.

With St. Patrick's coming up I thought I'd make a grasshopper pie - it's green. I started looking around for vegan versions and can't find much that seems viable, so I may just whip some full fat coconut cream myself. I don't need it to be vegan AND paleo, raw, GF, nut free, kosher, etc. But it seems like there's a non-dairy version of Cool Whip out there, so I'm going to look for/at that. I know I'm also far from the first person to complain about this, but I really wish food bloggers would put a "jump to recipe" link at the top of their posts. I don't really want to read about their husband, kids, grandfather, etc. in some long-ass, rambling, autobiographical essay. Goddammit, just share the recipe for fucking enchilada sauce. I don't care if you once had a farm in Africa.

This week's other project is getting garden stuff prepped. There's the obvious need to clean up around the garden beds, and I need to start seed trays. I might buy a few starter plants today. I find purchasing young herbs and putting them in pots works out well for me. I have an oregano I planted last summer that's still thriving outside. But I could always stand to get a head start on basils and parsleys.

 Yesterday, Fox and I headed out and bought a weight bench. This sounds random but we have been discussing replacing our old cheapy Walmart weight bench for a while, and I have been wanting to work on my body fat to muscle ratio, which requires strength training beyond my couple of sets of dumbells. This thing is a home weight machine, so think of the consumer version of one of those things in a hotel gym. You remove these pins, put this here, and it does leg exercises. Move this thing over here and you can do upper body, back, and ab stuff. We finally got it assembled, five thousand pulleys and all, last night late, and today I tried my first workout with it and have a nice case of "noodle arms," LOL. I don't want to be "lean, toned, and sexy," I want to crush a man's skull with my bare hands and strike terror into the heart of my enemies. You can't buy that at Planet Fitness! :D

I made another batch of garlic bagels today and I am much close to having my technique down. These LOOK like bagels - Fox even said they look like bakery bagels. They're round, golden, and they make a nice hollow sound when you tap them. The insides are sort of chewy - could be chewier but they taste good. I am pleased. I slathered some Kite Hill cream cheese on one that was still so warm it was hard to handle and it was delightful.

I figured out what part of my MOOD is - I'm tapering. The races are in less than two weeks, and tomorrow's my last long run. During the week I do a couple of three and five mile runs and that's it. So being aware that is happening, I'm trying to make a point of getting a yoga session in every afternoon to keep my Zen, and keep my IT bands happy. My hips will start screaming at me if I don't at least do the physical yoga postures regularly. I moved my yoga space to the rec room where there's not only plenty of space, but there's a free blank wall I can use to work on my headstands and shit when we get back from Disney. 

And since I don't really do New Year's Resolutions or do any partying, I've got nothing planned for the upcoming holiday except maybe DMing a game online and getting some wine. (Rollllllll for initiative!) I DO try to set some intentions, or goals, or what have you for the coming year. I identify areas I want to focus on, and if a concrete goal arises out of those then that gives me a way to narrow down my focus. For example, in 2017 I said I wanted to run more, and get better at running longer distances. Then I found that at RunDisney in 2018 they were having the marathon's 25th year, and the Dopey Challenge's 5th. I didn't feel in any way shape or fashion ready for it when I signed up in April but I trained, and I did it. 

What am I focusing on for 2019? In general terms, minimizing, decluttering, and a general embrace of "slower living." I am also going to put pen to tablet and start putting my webcomic out - I've spent too much time collecting underpants and it's just time to get started. I may even just sit down and lay out some pages tomorrow because why not. That's it for me, I like to keep it simple. 

- There is pollen everywhere. The deck is yellow. The truck is yellow. UGH there's tree spooge on everything! Though, knowing Florida, there will be a major cold snap at some point before Spring really gets into gear. So I guess I'll just live with it being uncomfortably humid for a while.

- I was not 100% certain what a "bralette" is but I bought a couple online. My command of the English language tells me it's a diminutive of "brassiere" but not much else. They look like a cross between a tube top and a scarf - at least the ones I picked out did. I figure I've lost enough weight and gained enough definition in my arms to wear something like that, so what the hell. Anyway, they prevent people from seeing your nipples, which is apparently the single most important thing for anyone who is perceived as female.

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I survived RunDisney! Holy shit, it was cold. I have been cold in my life but the morning of the 5k was practically Arctic when you consider this is Orlando/Kissimmee we're talking about. Happily Fox found a huge pack of those Hot Hands things, so I stuffed some in my gloves, in my shoes, and even found the stick-on kinds to burrito myself with while waiting in the corrals. They gave out mylar wraps, too - a lot like the emergency blankets you find in first aid kits, but it was so cold that they mostly served as windbreakers. I managed to fold mine up and use it the whole weekend, but wound up giving it to someone else the day of the full marathon because the lady looked like she was going to actually, literally turn into a solid block of ice.

- I really should get a medal rack for those things.

- Running in the Gate River Run 15k this March! :D Because I have very weird ideas of what "fun" is. But we get to run over the Main St. and Hart bridges, which will be cool. (BEEP BEEP I'M A CAR)

- We're in Spring Cleaning mode here which means each week involves trips to the dump or various donation places. I've got a bed headboard to try to unload this week, plus some musical instruments and more books. I already took so many boxes of books to Chamblin's that I racked up over a hundred bucks in store credit. I'm just sort of at a loss as to what to do with the clarinet, bass clarinet, and guitar. I think there's a keyboard, too. Maybe the pawn shop? No idea. :P