I have recently discovered I am quite probably short sighted. To be fair, I knew my eyes weren't perfect starting last year sometime, where the driver of whatever car I was in would ask, "What does that sign say?" and then be able to read it before I was.
At church, I realized it was hard to read the lyrics from some of the songs while in the back, but blamed it on being far away and whatever funky visualizations they had going on. Then one Sunday, a pastor put up a passage from the Bible to demonstrate formatting. And I couldn't read it. I could have written that off too, saying I could still see the formatting idea and had the text in my own Bible and so didn't really need to read it and maybe that wasn't what he was going for, but David was sitting right next to me and he could read it.
The tragic truth. I was nearsighted.
As the weeks went on after that, I became a bit of a hypochondriac by looking at everything and then freaking out. As it stands right now, letters start to get blurry on signs five feet away. I don't notice it in sunny conditions, but much more in lower lighting. And I notice that I sit someone nearer to the computer than I'd really prefer with this chair and I get a little nearer to stuff in the grocery store to read it than I'd prefer.
It's way more noticeable with letters and signs, largely because of the sharp edges and the fact you have to see all the edges to be able to identify the meaning. Like that park bench could be blurry, but I can still tell it's a park bench. I see it, identify it, and then dismiss it. Which is why I didn't notice for so long. I couldn't tell things were blurry because I only looked to identify, I didn't look to see. But letters... you have to be able to see them.
If I scrunch up my nose and squint, I can make things swim into focus. And I look stupid.
It's not a big deal, yet. I can still see cars and people and everything and even if I can't precisely read the license plate until close, I can still see there is a car, which direction it's going, how fast, and color and type, from the same distance as everyone else.
It's a good thing this didn't happen when I was a kid. I would have been devastated. And glasses would have been the Worst Thing Ever. Because you need them to see, but you have to take them off at night. And they can't fall off or break. And you can't really swim with them on. Now it's like, how was that a big deal? And glasses can be chic.
Even so, I'm mildly annoyed. Is it reversible? Eye exercises, maybe?
Or maybe we can blame the increase in nearsightedness on computers.
*narrows eyes at the computer screen* *not myopically, just glaring*
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Analyze This
I found another repressed fear of my dreams!
To date:
-Fear of not flying after jumping off of something and instead hitting the ground. We'll just translate this one as fear of heights.
-Fear of doing something fun when math homework is waiting at home to claim me (from high school)
-Fear of signing up for a class or having an essay and completely forgetting until it's too late to do anything about it except try to right the whole dang research paper in an hour. (from college) Oddly enough, this haunts me more in my dreams than it did in real life. I totally did a research paper in one day once. And got like an A-.
-Fear of making a breakfast sandwich and it taking forever, only to drop it on the floor and have to start over again (from Panera)
-Fear of having camera duties and jiggling the camera when we were recording. Actually, this one is new too.
-Fear of sleeping through my alarm or having to make it to an interview and it taking forever to walk there.
-Fear of trying to run and not being able to run, or like run in jelly, or not run fast enough
-Fear of trying to drive and not being able to drive well, or crashing into things
-Fear of zombies (don't ask)
-Fear of being unable to see
And now, for the one I just discovered, the fear of being lost in a cave! With bonus fear of being unable to breathe!
Actually, this is another reoccurring one, I just finally translated it. Following another cave dream. Maybe I got this one from a movie of Tom Sawyer. I'm not afraid of caves. I went spelunking once and had great fun. I'm not claustrophobic. I actually like small spaces and will be the first one to leap under a stage we set up to do something. But I am afraid of going into a tunnel, like of snow, and having it narrow to a point and being unable to move, to get my arms from my sides, or to try and wiggle back out backwards while hoping the whole thing doesn't collapse and trap you. And, apparently, I'm afraid of following a tunnel in a cave to have it dead end as your candle is going out. And the bonus points, I'm afraid of diving into a tunnel of water only to have it never resurface and your air run out. I know I had a few dreams about that.
How do I get these fears? I blame movies. Dang zombies.
Defining My Role
David came up with an idea for a quick-play role-playing game. Think Dungeons and Dragons, but without the three hours of trying to choose if I want to be a race that is good for a shaman or a race that is cool. I have an odd tendency toward half-and-half races, like half-elf or half-orc. I presume this is because I'm a third culture kid and have never really felt that I belonged anywhere. Or really felt the need to.
Anyway. A version of role playing without memorizing the character sheets, looking up things in handbooks, agonizing over race and class, trying to organize a party that has all essential character, and rolling lots of dice to tell us, in a numerical value, exactly what we are good at.
David's idea was something like this:
Story: A group of people go to a coffee shop or some other gathering place. We were heading to Smokey Row the night we thought this up to meet with some friends to play games. (I thought a night of playing games would be wasted on Phase 10 and wanted to role-play, which is rather how this got started.) This group of people gets sucked into an alternate world which they then have to work their way through and cope with. David was thinking fantasy, so it'd probably be due to a portal or magic or something. I was thinking sci-fi, so alien abduction.
Mechanics: The Dungeon Master, that being David, would be a benevolent (or at least neutral) deity who controls the whole thing and tells the story. Our characters would gain skills as they interacted with the world and role-played (like if Shane kept sneaking behind trees, he might get better at it. If I kept throwing rocks at chickens, maybe I'll get better at that).
And... that's it. I wasn't really for this idea, largely because it seemed very susceptible to what I termed "brain vomit" where David could make up anything and in a pinch might put out idiotic things, like talking hats or chickens that could throw rocks back. Maybe it seems I don't have a lot of faith in David's storytelling abilities, but 1) I've never read much that he's written, and 2) he's as stubborn and contrary as the old guy in Up and might do those things just to spite me.
I'm fine with a quick-play role-playing idea, but I rather like the idea that even though a lot of elements are invisible, they still exist. Maybe you don't start with a character sheet, but something defining all learned abilities and your level in them still lurks in the background, at least until later levels. The players might not know anything about the world, but it has rules and scope and isn't just a barren wasteland that gets filled in with said scary chickens in talking hats as we run into them. Best example I can come up with was the Wheel of Time world. It was complete. Things in the first books were referenced that we didn't come into contact with much later books, but when we did, we knew about them and knew they were there. They had existed from the beginning.
Obviously that takes more prep work and David just wanted to get going.
We played Phase 10.
I'd like to point out that to start our bumbling 21st century selves into his new world, we'd get a little bit of a starter. David asked for a short list of strengths, weaknesses, and then maybe our goal in life.
I started my list, even though we didn't play it looked like this:
Strengths
1.
2.
3.
Weaknesses
1. Acrophobia
2.
3.
Goal in life:
Yeah, that's all I could come up with. Oh sure, I could probably brainstorm a LOT more weaknesses. Lack of tact? Inability to read social situations? Stubborn? Myopic? Toxiphobic? Mistrust of all authority figures? Check, check, check, check, check, check. Or is that last one a strength? But I don't know if those are the types of things that would transfer to a role-playing game well. I'll obviously role-play as stubborn and lacking tact. Because, honestly, my roles never differ much from myself. I'm a bad actress. But like myopia? At least I know I have an almost overwhelming fear of heights.
Strengths is kind of similar. I have a mild ability to understand computers, which might help me in my sci-fi world, but won't in David's fantasy. Anyway, most of my generation has that ability and Shane is actually in IT. I've had grand ideas about learning disaster preparedness, Krav Maga, ham radio, gardening, and so on, but I haven't actually done a lot of these things. Ability to run for an hour or so? That could be helpful, I guess, but I can't run fast, which seems the important part. I have no self-defense. I couldn't define what plants are edible. I probably don't have enough mechanical understanding to decipher a wildmill, much less the Six-Fingered-Man's life sucking devices. Even if we switched to sci-fi, I don't know how to pilot an aircraft (another of my dreams) or speak another language or first aid or a lot of things. I probably couldn't get my phone out of Chinese.
And if you find my life goal, could you let me know? I'll come and collect it.
Anyway. A version of role playing without memorizing the character sheets, looking up things in handbooks, agonizing over race and class, trying to organize a party that has all essential character, and rolling lots of dice to tell us, in a numerical value, exactly what we are good at.
David's idea was something like this:
Story: A group of people go to a coffee shop or some other gathering place. We were heading to Smokey Row the night we thought this up to meet with some friends to play games. (I thought a night of playing games would be wasted on Phase 10 and wanted to role-play, which is rather how this got started.) This group of people gets sucked into an alternate world which they then have to work their way through and cope with. David was thinking fantasy, so it'd probably be due to a portal or magic or something. I was thinking sci-fi, so alien abduction.
Mechanics: The Dungeon Master, that being David, would be a benevolent (or at least neutral) deity who controls the whole thing and tells the story. Our characters would gain skills as they interacted with the world and role-played (like if Shane kept sneaking behind trees, he might get better at it. If I kept throwing rocks at chickens, maybe I'll get better at that).
And... that's it. I wasn't really for this idea, largely because it seemed very susceptible to what I termed "brain vomit" where David could make up anything and in a pinch might put out idiotic things, like talking hats or chickens that could throw rocks back. Maybe it seems I don't have a lot of faith in David's storytelling abilities, but 1) I've never read much that he's written, and 2) he's as stubborn and contrary as the old guy in Up and might do those things just to spite me.
I'm fine with a quick-play role-playing idea, but I rather like the idea that even though a lot of elements are invisible, they still exist. Maybe you don't start with a character sheet, but something defining all learned abilities and your level in them still lurks in the background, at least until later levels. The players might not know anything about the world, but it has rules and scope and isn't just a barren wasteland that gets filled in with said scary chickens in talking hats as we run into them. Best example I can come up with was the Wheel of Time world. It was complete. Things in the first books were referenced that we didn't come into contact with much later books, but when we did, we knew about them and knew they were there. They had existed from the beginning.
Obviously that takes more prep work and David just wanted to get going.
We played Phase 10.
I'd like to point out that to start our bumbling 21st century selves into his new world, we'd get a little bit of a starter. David asked for a short list of strengths, weaknesses, and then maybe our goal in life.
I started my list, even though we didn't play it looked like this:
Strengths
1.
2.
3.
Weaknesses
1. Acrophobia
2.
3.
Goal in life:
Yeah, that's all I could come up with. Oh sure, I could probably brainstorm a LOT more weaknesses. Lack of tact? Inability to read social situations? Stubborn? Myopic? Toxiphobic? Mistrust of all authority figures? Check, check, check, check, check, check. Or is that last one a strength? But I don't know if those are the types of things that would transfer to a role-playing game well. I'll obviously role-play as stubborn and lacking tact. Because, honestly, my roles never differ much from myself. I'm a bad actress. But like myopia? At least I know I have an almost overwhelming fear of heights.
Strengths is kind of similar. I have a mild ability to understand computers, which might help me in my sci-fi world, but won't in David's fantasy. Anyway, most of my generation has that ability and Shane is actually in IT. I've had grand ideas about learning disaster preparedness, Krav Maga, ham radio, gardening, and so on, but I haven't actually done a lot of these things. Ability to run for an hour or so? That could be helpful, I guess, but I can't run fast, which seems the important part. I have no self-defense. I couldn't define what plants are edible. I probably don't have enough mechanical understanding to decipher a wildmill, much less the Six-Fingered-Man's life sucking devices. Even if we switched to sci-fi, I don't know how to pilot an aircraft (another of my dreams) or speak another language or first aid or a lot of things. I probably couldn't get my phone out of Chinese.
And if you find my life goal, could you let me know? I'll come and collect it.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Desperate Times call for Biking
"That's the worst part about this," David said. "I don't want to leave you without the car."
"Cause I'd use it if you did," I reply sarcastically.
I don't like to drive. It's not the mechanical act that bugs me, because on an empty highway with the tunes cranked it's pretty good, and I like driving go-carts and things like that. I hate driving around other people, all of us wielding massive metal machines with just our hands, I hate driving around traffic laws, because they seem super easy to break, and I hate using a several ton polluting machine to haul my 135 pound butt a mile to pick up something from the grocery store. Seems overkill to drive in town. I'm not anti-car, they are very useful for when it's very cold, or you need to go a couple hundred miles (preferably not taking all weekend to do so), or for picking up milk, box-wine, and pizza. I just personally don't like driving and it seems the lazy option, the easy way out.
So, David is leaving for the weekend and taking the car, largely because he needs to go a hundred miles or so. Very practical. And I have some stuff I need to do this weekend and some stuff I want to do this weekend, with no car.
Challenge accepted. With my bike.
So tonight, I want to get pizza. I have, actually, gotten pizza on my bike before. So I'll be hunting down a sweatshirt I can use to tie it to my handlebars again.
Tomorrow I need to go take pictures of one of Dad's houses, but that barely counts because I could walk to that house. And then I have a work shift at like 9:30. PM. Maybe I'll stop by Bike World and get my headlamp battery replaced.
Sunday. I might be lazy and listen to the message from the Internet. Shame shame, I know. Then maybe go on a bike ride with Mom because it's actually supposed to be nice that day, and all next week (did I mention it's not going to get above 40 degrees until then?).
Also, I have a coupon for a free movie rental from Family Video, over in West Ames. They're advertising Into the Woods, which I want to see, but I don't think David would appreciate. So maybe I'll do that tomorrow too. We'll see if I get to all/some/any of this stuff. Well, I have to get to the pizza. Already ordered.
I'll be posting this after David gets back. Don't particularly like advertising I'm home alone without a car.
Update 1: I made with the pizza just fine, although some of the people waiting at Pizza Hut were rubbernecking to see what I was doing. Stripping off my sweatshirt and using it to lash my pizza to my bike that I had with me in the lobby. Yum, pizza.
Update 2: Saturday was as-planned. Light obtained. Work... worked. Ride home uneventful.
Update 3: Sunday I was lazy and listened to the sermon on the Internet as soon as they uploaded it. I did not go on a bike ride with Mom because the wind was like 30 miles per hour from the West. We went on a walk and almost became kites. For the same reason, I did not bike to Family Video. It's west.
So did I meet the challenge? Eh. I did everything I needed to do (work and picture taking). I didn't do everything I wanted to do. I guess I'll take it. It's so great to be able to bike again and transport myself again. I love Spring.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
I so loved the Internet
The absolute worst part about the whole net neutrality thing is that all the people who fought for it thought they were fighting for freedom.
I seldom see a debate so skewed rhetorically and factually.
I seldom see a debate so skewed rhetorically and factually.
Monday, February 23, 2015
I'm a wuss
I'm staying home from work today. Well, more specifically I called in sick to my 10am shift that would have probably lasted three to four hours. And I feel like a wuss.
I remember one class in college. It was one of those dumb required one credit classes that lasted only six weeks, made you fill out a graduation plan, and you couldn't skip a single one for any reason at all. I failed it the first time because I procrastinated making the graduation plan. Which is stupid. So the second time I took it, I resolved to do everything possible and that I wouldn't miss a single class. If I got the flu and was throwing up, I figured I'd take a bucket with me and wait until they threw me out.
I didn't get the flu, or get sick at all. I usually don't, only one cold a year unless David brings back some particularly nasty cocktail of germs from a job site. He did that once and I got my second cold for that year and was sick for like a month.
And so, I'm guessing that's what I have today. My cold of the year. Which makes me feel stupid for staying home from work. Oh, I don't feel good. I don't have a fever at this point and my body feels ok overall, but my chest feels heavy, my nose large, and I have fluids sloshing around. By Linsey standards, low sickness. If I couldn't call in sick or had a limited number of sick days, I'd go to work. If I was still at McFarland, I'd go, although that tends to be sitting around behind a desk and not a highly active job like Scheman. Actually, during that month-long cold that David gave me, I wouldn't feel as bad in the mornings, so I'd go work at McFarland, and feel like crap in the evenings. I also disinfected my phone and keyboard for the next person.
But yeah, Scheman is more flexible, I say, "Hey, I don't feel good," and they're like, "Ok." And Scheman is more physical labor and I don't really want to throw around tables and chairs while I'm glued to this tissue box and keep having to tilt my head and swallow to clear my airways. Blah.
Home remedies! David got sick this weekend and his sister offered him Dayquil, Nyquil, ibuprofen, Tylenol, or aspirin. He declined. I tend to have similar propensities. I was raised with no using medicine, unless you were REALLY sick. Otherwise, you'll get over it. Go lie down. Clearly, it worked, as I am not dead.
But I do like finding things that will make you better, ease symptoms, and not have any adverse effects. For colds, I started with orange juice. Feel a cold coming on? Go buy some orange juice, drink until better. But orange juice has a lot of sugar in it, so I canned that eventually and switched to vitamin C drops, which are dangerously close to not being a home remedy, although it still isn't medicine. To be honest, if I get a cough, I get cough drops. I hate going to bed and coughing out a lung every two minutes.
In other things, which are quite possibly just placebo effects, I like Traditional Medicinals' Echinacea Plus Elderberry tea that supposedly supports the immune system. If it does, it helps, if it doesn't, it doesn't hurt.
My mom swears by Scope with hydrogen peroxide. Gargle for sore throats. I haven't tried that, partially because my throat isn't really bothering me that much and partially because I'm pretty sure my hydrogen peroxide is now largely water.
And then the other cure I've heard about on Facebook. Really, the idea of getting a cure on Facebook is disconcerting. I also got a recipe for protein balls on Facebook. But anyway, someone said raw honey and cinnamon would knock a cold right out. So that's what I'm trying right now. I Googled that looking for the graphic I saw on Facebook that claimed that and discovered that some people think raw honey and cinnamon is like a magic thing for weight loss and like 17 other things, including cancer.
Wow. Downright magic.
I remember one class in college. It was one of those dumb required one credit classes that lasted only six weeks, made you fill out a graduation plan, and you couldn't skip a single one for any reason at all. I failed it the first time because I procrastinated making the graduation plan. Which is stupid. So the second time I took it, I resolved to do everything possible and that I wouldn't miss a single class. If I got the flu and was throwing up, I figured I'd take a bucket with me and wait until they threw me out.
I didn't get the flu, or get sick at all. I usually don't, only one cold a year unless David brings back some particularly nasty cocktail of germs from a job site. He did that once and I got my second cold for that year and was sick for like a month.
And so, I'm guessing that's what I have today. My cold of the year. Which makes me feel stupid for staying home from work. Oh, I don't feel good. I don't have a fever at this point and my body feels ok overall, but my chest feels heavy, my nose large, and I have fluids sloshing around. By Linsey standards, low sickness. If I couldn't call in sick or had a limited number of sick days, I'd go to work. If I was still at McFarland, I'd go, although that tends to be sitting around behind a desk and not a highly active job like Scheman. Actually, during that month-long cold that David gave me, I wouldn't feel as bad in the mornings, so I'd go work at McFarland, and feel like crap in the evenings. I also disinfected my phone and keyboard for the next person.
But yeah, Scheman is more flexible, I say, "Hey, I don't feel good," and they're like, "Ok." And Scheman is more physical labor and I don't really want to throw around tables and chairs while I'm glued to this tissue box and keep having to tilt my head and swallow to clear my airways. Blah.
Home remedies! David got sick this weekend and his sister offered him Dayquil, Nyquil, ibuprofen, Tylenol, or aspirin. He declined. I tend to have similar propensities. I was raised with no using medicine, unless you were REALLY sick. Otherwise, you'll get over it. Go lie down. Clearly, it worked, as I am not dead.
But I do like finding things that will make you better, ease symptoms, and not have any adverse effects. For colds, I started with orange juice. Feel a cold coming on? Go buy some orange juice, drink until better. But orange juice has a lot of sugar in it, so I canned that eventually and switched to vitamin C drops, which are dangerously close to not being a home remedy, although it still isn't medicine. To be honest, if I get a cough, I get cough drops. I hate going to bed and coughing out a lung every two minutes.
In other things, which are quite possibly just placebo effects, I like Traditional Medicinals' Echinacea Plus Elderberry tea that supposedly supports the immune system. If it does, it helps, if it doesn't, it doesn't hurt.
My mom swears by Scope with hydrogen peroxide. Gargle for sore throats. I haven't tried that, partially because my throat isn't really bothering me that much and partially because I'm pretty sure my hydrogen peroxide is now largely water.
And then the other cure I've heard about on Facebook. Really, the idea of getting a cure on Facebook is disconcerting. I also got a recipe for protein balls on Facebook. But anyway, someone said raw honey and cinnamon would knock a cold right out. So that's what I'm trying right now. I Googled that looking for the graphic I saw on Facebook that claimed that and discovered that some people think raw honey and cinnamon is like a magic thing for weight loss and like 17 other things, including cancer.
Wow. Downright magic.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
New Years Resolutions
I, like most Americans, I believe, made some New Years Resolutions. Mine don't tend to be anything earth-shattering and are usually a cross between goals and a to-do list.
Also, I don't usually have them figured out by New Years. I keep adding as I wish. So, my list to date:
-Floss
-Beef up
-Find my fulfillment in God
-Become a stagehand
-Get curtains for my bedroom
-Learn Krav Maga
-Read 100 books
Now that I type them out, they look weird. I put down floss because my dentist (I just started going back last year, after eight years of not) keeps making my gums bleed and says flossing would make them better. I hate flossing. It makes my gums bleed. And swell a little bit. And I have a fixed retainer, which is basically a metal wire glued to the back of my front bottom teeth. To floss behind that, I have to loop the floss around a tooth and then pull it through until it comes out of one side of the tooth, leaving it sticking out in the back, somehow grab that tiny bit of floss and pull it back until I can thread it behind the retainer. Way more work that I usually want to commit, and it takes me several tries. My compromise tends to be doing it while watching something.
Beef up is my summary of my fitness goals for this year: not gain weight (except muscle weight, as applicable) and gain muscle and toning.
Find my fulfillment in God. Uh, this isn't something I generally want to discuss on a blog. Suffice to say that in considering my plans for the future, I realize I am still not placing desire for fulfillment on the proper source, and recognize that all other efforts toward fulfillment will come to disappointment. Also recognizing that my disappointment can range from mild to explosive.
Becoming a stagehand is a rather silly goal, as all that supposedly takes is being at CY Stephens for six months and still be taking calls. So if the management actually pays attention, I should be a stagehand around March I think. I might even have another part time job in the works... how do I tell Facebook that my work includes three part time jobs and two volunteer ventures? Facebook likes to guilt me sometimes with stuff like, "Where'd you go to high school? Where's your hometown?" I didn't and I don't know. Lemme alone!
Get curtains for my bedroom. That is obviously to-do list with a loose time component. I usually balk at price tags, though.
Krav Maga is one of the best martial arts for self-defense. It can be fairly well grasped within a fairly short time period. My Marine brother said that the Marines don't use it because they wanted escalation of force, something like a three step process: Threaten, Beat Up, if necessary, Kill. Krav Maga goes straight from Step 1 to Step 3. It was designed by an Israeli boxer for use by the Israeli military. And they teach it in town. I want to know enough self-defense that I can keep myself safe. And, preferably, make the attacker regret it.
Read 100 books... Goodreads has something on their page that lets you enter in a goal number and then adds everything you add with a date finished within the year to that count. Honestly, I'm already regretting this one. Part of my problem tends to be I love rereading books. Books only count once on Goodreads, so I have to read new books. One year my goal was to read 52 books, one a week, and I got that pretty easily. So I'm like, "I can read two books a week!" Today Goodreads told me that at 12/100, I am now one book behind. And when you start looking at books just to get finished, it will push you towards short books that are easy reading, and away from difficult or longer books. I picked up a book on Queen Elizabeth (who was nicknamed the Pirate Queen) because I was interested in her rule of loose capitalism and privateering against Spain. Except I haven't been reading it since it's a long book and if I'm going to read, I've got a deadline to make. I've been judging books by their thickness, Kindle books by how many dots they have, and Audible books by time length. The Snow Queen on Audible is under two hours? Sign me up! My largest motivation for reading "God's Chisel" from the in-laws is that it is slim and with big print. "The Landmark History of the American People" will probably continue to sit on my desk. So I don't like the pressure, albeit subtle and self-applied, to edge away from big books and toward stuff like YA fluff, that I also like, but isn't terribly edifying. I said I wanted to focus on historical books and sci-fi. Which was also poor planning, as those both tend to be heavier genres as well. A better system (or one that would work for me better, anyway) is counting pages instead of books.
Maybe I'll take a quick overview of children's books. Little Golden Books are educational, right?
Also, I don't usually have them figured out by New Years. I keep adding as I wish. So, my list to date:
-Floss
-Beef up
-Find my fulfillment in God
-Become a stagehand
-Get curtains for my bedroom
-Learn Krav Maga
-Read 100 books
Now that I type them out, they look weird. I put down floss because my dentist (I just started going back last year, after eight years of not) keeps making my gums bleed and says flossing would make them better. I hate flossing. It makes my gums bleed. And swell a little bit. And I have a fixed retainer, which is basically a metal wire glued to the back of my front bottom teeth. To floss behind that, I have to loop the floss around a tooth and then pull it through until it comes out of one side of the tooth, leaving it sticking out in the back, somehow grab that tiny bit of floss and pull it back until I can thread it behind the retainer. Way more work that I usually want to commit, and it takes me several tries. My compromise tends to be doing it while watching something.
Beef up is my summary of my fitness goals for this year: not gain weight (except muscle weight, as applicable) and gain muscle and toning.
Find my fulfillment in God. Uh, this isn't something I generally want to discuss on a blog. Suffice to say that in considering my plans for the future, I realize I am still not placing desire for fulfillment on the proper source, and recognize that all other efforts toward fulfillment will come to disappointment. Also recognizing that my disappointment can range from mild to explosive.
Becoming a stagehand is a rather silly goal, as all that supposedly takes is being at CY Stephens for six months and still be taking calls. So if the management actually pays attention, I should be a stagehand around March I think. I might even have another part time job in the works... how do I tell Facebook that my work includes three part time jobs and two volunteer ventures? Facebook likes to guilt me sometimes with stuff like, "Where'd you go to high school? Where's your hometown?" I didn't and I don't know. Lemme alone!
Get curtains for my bedroom. That is obviously to-do list with a loose time component. I usually balk at price tags, though.
Krav Maga is one of the best martial arts for self-defense. It can be fairly well grasped within a fairly short time period. My Marine brother said that the Marines don't use it because they wanted escalation of force, something like a three step process: Threaten, Beat Up, if necessary, Kill. Krav Maga goes straight from Step 1 to Step 3. It was designed by an Israeli boxer for use by the Israeli military. And they teach it in town. I want to know enough self-defense that I can keep myself safe. And, preferably, make the attacker regret it.
Read 100 books... Goodreads has something on their page that lets you enter in a goal number and then adds everything you add with a date finished within the year to that count. Honestly, I'm already regretting this one. Part of my problem tends to be I love rereading books. Books only count once on Goodreads, so I have to read new books. One year my goal was to read 52 books, one a week, and I got that pretty easily. So I'm like, "I can read two books a week!" Today Goodreads told me that at 12/100, I am now one book behind. And when you start looking at books just to get finished, it will push you towards short books that are easy reading, and away from difficult or longer books. I picked up a book on Queen Elizabeth (who was nicknamed the Pirate Queen) because I was interested in her rule of loose capitalism and privateering against Spain. Except I haven't been reading it since it's a long book and if I'm going to read, I've got a deadline to make. I've been judging books by their thickness, Kindle books by how many dots they have, and Audible books by time length. The Snow Queen on Audible is under two hours? Sign me up! My largest motivation for reading "God's Chisel" from the in-laws is that it is slim and with big print. "The Landmark History of the American People" will probably continue to sit on my desk. So I don't like the pressure, albeit subtle and self-applied, to edge away from big books and toward stuff like YA fluff, that I also like, but isn't terribly edifying. I said I wanted to focus on historical books and sci-fi. Which was also poor planning, as those both tend to be heavier genres as well. A better system (or one that would work for me better, anyway) is counting pages instead of books.
Maybe I'll take a quick overview of children's books. Little Golden Books are educational, right?
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