pshaw_raven: (Swandog Raven)
Today is Boxing Day - which contrary to what I believed for years as a kid, has absolutely nothing to do with the Boxer Rebellion. AKA the Yihetuan Movement. Anyhoo, it's also the first day of Kwanzaa, so if you're celebrating that, have a blessed one.

My holiday went really well. It was quiet, which we like, and lots of lemon crumb muffins were made. We're not big gift-givers so we tend to buy ourselves things we really wanted anyway as "gifts," or use the Christmas sales as an excuse to get big-ticket items. For example, I lumped some Amazon gift cards together and bought a set of Aftershokz bone conduction headphones for running. I've wanted some sort of open-ear or ambient sound headphones for a long time, and it's hard even buying normal earbuds because my earholes are apparently weirdly small. I've tried demo models of Aftershokz and they will allow me to still hear my running music as well as clearly hear anything around me. I worry about being a jerk to my fellow runners by accident. The bone conduction thing is neat, and it's why some churches and cathedrals have horse skulls buried in their floors.

I also have some books in the way: Memoirs of Hadrian, Thoughts in Solitude, and a couple of books on the yoga sutras. I also picked up Bill Porter's Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits which ought to be interesting.

Fox and I ran into some problems yesterday with what was supposed to be a small, easy project. We were going to install hand rails around the front deck, ramp, and rear deck. Except as he was running the weed-whacker around the base of the ramp he found it was rotted out. Since we built it in 2011, the ground has risen around there and the wood's been in constant direct contact with wet earth, and the lower deck is likely to need replacing, too. We ripped the ramp out and early this morning went to buy supplies to build a new one, including extra concrete and stuff to raise the posts and hopefully keep the wooden parts out of the ground. Partially it looks like just normal sand shift that we should have stayed on top of, and partially it looks like animal activity. Something has been using the decks as a small highway, and we found dug out spots and burrows, so it could be a rabbit, squirrels, cats, who knows. We were up against a time constraint when we first did this, and we aren't now so we can make sure things get done properly.

Eventually the lower deck will be replaced with concrete, but I'm looking at using some pavers, old bricks, and acquiring some gravel to do something artsy with the surface. I skimmed through photos of Japanese garden paths and some some interesting ideas. I'm not looking to do anything as fancy as wave patterns, but maybe line up the square pavers, then fill in with brick, then fill with gravel so it's even and lined up, but also has a sort of flow to it. It's an autumn/winter next year problem.

So I'm catching up on some chores today, doing a short training run, and pondering my 2020 moves. I don't typically make "New Year's Resolutions," as in "I'm going to do This or That." But I do like to think about where I am now, where I'd like to be this time next year, and start planning how to get there. NYE can be a good time to set goals, but so is Monday, or your birthday, or any day really. But "special" dates can help nudge you in the correct direction.
pshaw_raven: (Perched Raven)
 I know a lot of people are probably doing their "new year, new me!" posts, whether here or on more frenetic social platforms and this post is kinda more of the same. But, I am also chiefly making this post for my own reference (hence the 2019 minimalism tag). If you see something here that interests you or you want to do something similar you're obviously welcome to comment! Anyway, I think I mentioned my overarching goal for 2019, the Year of the Boar, this particular span of days ahead of us, is decluttering and minimizing. So I'm going to take this post to discuss my definitions, specific goals, and give a general lay of the land.

While I like aesthetic minimalism, it's not really a reasonable goal for me. A. I have cats. B. I like colors. C. I have cats. Having a monstra plant, all white walls, and a few strategically placed books on architecture would make me feel like I live in someone's Pinterest board. So when I say "minimalism," I don't mean that. I also don't mean the types of radical minimalism that have been rightly criticized for their classist and other problematic standards - like that guy who says since you can only write with one pen at a time you should only own one pen? Dude. I like multitasking devices, I like being able to digitize and reduce the amount of things I'd need to carry for, say, a weekend out of town, but I don't want to slash my items down that much. Besides, I'm an artist, so having "only one pen" is heresy to me, LOL. What I DO mean is that I want to assess the material items I own and find a way to donate, repurpose, or dispose of things I don't actually need, want, use, or like. 

I already tend not to accumulate knick-knacks, but we do have a lot of "little things" around. Fox, for example, has a lot of little porcelain and other types of fox figurines. These aren't slated for disposal. But I do tend to acquire books, which need to routinely be thinned out. I also have a fondness for t-shirts so I'll either be turning old, too-big ones into cleaning cloths or possibly having a quilt made, etc. I do have a lot of clothing I can sort through - since I've maintained my weight for a year now (officially!) I think I can safely get rid of "what if I get fat again" clothes. And since I have a very raven-ish brain I pick up interesting shiny objects, but then a month later can't remember why I liked it, where it is, or in some cases, what it is. 

In a week, we head to Disney for the race weekend, so I'm spending this week mainly planning. I'll be assembling a cleaning schedule, a decluttering schedule (room by room) and looking up places to donate or dispose of items locally. I will be doing SOME picking up and tossing out this week but we're not officially ready to start yet. But the general idea is to start by decluttering, then set a cleaning schedule for each day of the week in place so that I can spend a little time each day on the house and easily keep everything clean and tidy. I'll start in the exercise room, declutter it, then move on to the master bathroom the next week. I'm giving myself a whole week in each room to make sure the job is thoroughly done. And I'm also making sure I am not pushing myself to cleaning burnout, decision fatigue, or the other pitfalls that plague large-scale projects like this.

I kind of hate to say it but I think Kitty was a hoarder. With Fox and I around it didn't get too out of hand, but she didn't seem capable of parting with anything. I forget who originally said that if you need things to organize your things you have too many things, but that was Kitty. She was always trying to organize her stuff, when it seemed to me it would be a lot simpler to just get rid of it. But, it wasn't my stuff and wasn't my decision. Well, it is now, but I think it's highly unlikely she's going to come back and haunt me because I got rid of her crochet stuff. I never managed to learn to crochet, I didn't like or enjoy it, and I have exactly zero reasons to keep any of it.

Today's plan is to do my usual weekly floor cleaning, pick up around in the exercise room, break down the old weight bench to store it, and set up a "Household" digital notebook with schedules and stuff saved to it that I can change to suit my home and goals. I'm considering whether to break up my kagami mochi and grilling it up or leaving it until the weekend when I can make a pot of soup to go with it.
pshaw_raven: (Sebastian)
 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. 


pshaw_raven: (Flying Raven)
At some point I probably need to settle on one goal or another. I keep coming across things I want to do, and there's honestly only so much time and so much training. I've thought for a while now that I'd like to tackle a distance beyond the marathon - an ultra. Technically anything over twenty-six miles and three-hundred fifty two yards is an ultra - but I often see 50k, 75 milers, and 100 milers. A 50k is about 31 miles so that seems like a good place to start, and what got me thinking about it is there's a really great ultra with all three distances held almost literally in my backyard - the Daytona 100.

It starts up in one of the north Jax beach neighborhoods and follows the coast through St. Auggie to (wait for it) Daytona. I'm not saying I'm signing up for 2019, but it's on my radar as an "at some point" race. But I also still have my eye on getting into the Tokyo Marathon, and improving my marathon time will only help. I know entry is mostly by lottery but it can't hurt to have a good finishing time.

I'm sort of procrastinating on my yoga this afternoon. Honestly I need to go hit the mat for a while - I've scheduled myself a hip and leg yin flow, followed by a more active hip opening sequence. I have tomorrow off from running, then a twelve and thirteen milers this weekend.

It doesn't help that my lazy cats are all sprawled around asleep, which is what I'd like to be doing right now, LOL.

June 2025

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