cliopatra’s posterous

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I did make it to workout with my workout buddy last night, got gas for the car, and even made it to the library to pay my fine and pick up the book I had on reserve.  At home later I did a few little housecleaning tidbits and a little personal writing, then decided to watch a little TV while I messed around on the internet.

I had set up some reminders for some things I needed to do, and my phone blipped to remind me that I needed to set up a couple of Facebook event notices on our local Mensa calendar, and also research some activities for a Michigan member who will be here in December.

POP! from outside.

All the lights went out.  Everything went out.  Transformer blew again, but this is the first time this year, that I know of.

I was sitting in the dark looking at my dimmed laptop screen, remembering that earlier in the day I had been thinking “we need D batteries for all of the flashlights” but didn’t get them.  So I stumbled around and found the lighter for the grill and lit a couple of candles and an oil lamp.

The electric company was out within the hour, but at 9:40 I ran up to Walgreens to get batteries (they close at 10) and just as I turned off my car in the driveway, the lights came back on.  I love progress.

So, things are getting done.  I’m making small strides every day, though my intention is to make bigger ones than I am actually making.

The good news is, I got the Facebook activities scheduled, and found some events for the Michigan member.  I also went to bed way too late.

Still… making progress.  Must focus on that, and not on what I haven’t done.

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Last night on the way home from work I had to stop and pick up a few things.  I loaded my purchases into the trunk of the car, and then took a few minutes to dig some loose change out of my car to pay my library fines.

I owe 50 cents, and I almost never carry cash.  I haven’t replenished my ashtray full of change in a while, so after digging around I was only able to come up with 35 cents.  I decided to delay the library trip until tonight, but did have a nice little freak-out when I couldn’t find the bottle of Sobe I had just purchased to drink.  I finally found it in the trunk.

I was beating myself up quite a bit for being unorganized, and feeling so out of control.  I was feeling a lot of anger and resentment over household chores, so I knew something had to be done.

Irish had class last night, so I went home and turned on one of the music channels through cable – Party Favorites.  I expected I would have to turn it off eventually, but it was just one song after another of fun and energy.  I heard everything from James Brown to Justin Timberlake, Sister Sledge to Lady Gaga.  Lots of fun.

I cleaned house for about an hour and a half singing and dancing to the radio.  I did a couple of loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, swept the floor, took out the trash and worked up a sweat.  I had originally set the time for 40 minutes, but I decided to keep going and also count it as a workout.

When Irish got home I had him start dinner and a couple of other small chores.  He never complains when I ask him to do something, but I try to keep the requests quick and simple.

Only personal writing last night, and a couple of personal housekeeping items, but I did get some play time in.  I really needed that.

I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to last night, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.  I just have to keep a list and check things off as I go.

A friend of mine likes to send me little things she gets in her e-mail and this was today’s:

Today’s thought from Hazelden is:

It’s easy to look at all the tasks and unsolved problems and feel so pressured that we get paralyzed and don’t get anything done. It takes discipline to gather in our scattered forces and focus on one thing, one day, one step, and sometimes one hour – even when taking only that one step can seem so trivial in the face of all that looms.

Inventory Focus:
Are you creating unnecessary fear and drama by taking on more than you handle? Are you willing to trade in the I’m-out-of-control-and-overwhelmed feeling for a sense of manageability? Do you have any history with deliberately living life one day or one step at a time? How did that work?

Plans, goals, and dreams are good, but the only way to get there is one day at a time.

The link for Hazelden takes you to today’s thought on the website, which is different from that one.  They have an e-mail service where they send you a thought for the day, which is where this one came from.

I think I needed to hear that.

I was late for work today, but I’m clean and dressed and I’ve had breakfast, and really, life is full of small miracles I can look at and stop drowning in my self-flagellation.

One day at a time!

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Personally speaking, I’ve got a lot on my plate right now.  Writing projects are piling up, laundry is piling up, the house is a mess, and I feel overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done.

So I do nothing.

I’ve been paralyzed by the sheer amount of work, so I say to myself that I can knock all of the writing projects out in a day, perhaps Sunday.  Sunday comes, and I find myself sitting on the couch watching crap TV and eating potato chips.

I can manage to do the laundry and the dishes, but only because I stick them in machines and turn the machines on.  Once the machines are done, the whole process kind of falls apart.

Yesterday I treated myself to a couple of episodes of Glee on hulu while I folded all of the laundry, then put it away and had a nap.

Guess how much writing got done?  None of the projects.  Some personal stuff, yes, but none of the moneymakers.

There are cabinets to be cleaned and floors to be mopped and articles to be written, and it’s a ton of stuff.  Too much for one person to do, much less one person in one day.

I have to stop thinking I’m SuperWoman and acting like a sloth!  I can do it all, and it doesn’t all have to be done at once.  Some things have deadlines, but it’s not like they can’t be done in chunks.

I have to remind myself of that old saying: how do you eat an entire elephant?  One bite at a time.

Tonight’s schedule:  30 minutes workout (with friend), 30 minutes of cleaning, and 30 minutes of paid writing (more if I feel like it’s going well).  That leaves the evening free to play around, and hopefully not feel so guilty about opportunities and assignments piling to the heavens.

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My workout partner cancelled on me last night, which I didn’t let excuse me from working out.  I decided to Go For It with the Wii Fit Plus ultimate cycling, which is actually called “expert”.  Whatever.

I was relieved to see that there were only 20 flags that had to be captured, but they were spread out much farther apart.  This means more hills and other surfaces (like the beach) to explore while hunting for flags.

Usually with the advanced cycling, the Wii will remind me at some point that I can press the B button, which will end my current game, and save my Fit Credits.  I never do it, but it’s nice to know the option is there.

During this session, it reminded me THREE times that I had that option.  I also paused it 3 times to take drinks of water.  I finally gave up with 3 flags left to go, because I simply could not figure out how to get to them from where I was.  They are either up on the mountain on some trail I haven’t found yet, or IN the mountain in a cave I haven’t found yet.  I got the ones on the beach and in the ruins, but those last three, I can watch my arrow passing them on the map, but cannot actually see the flags on the screen.  There is no panning function for the camera (that I am aware of) and the map in the manual is no help.

So I gave up, pressed B and was informed by the system that I had been cycling for 43 minutes.  It really did fly by.  I thought I might have done 30, but I wasn’t sure.  I’ll probably try it again this weekend.

I will admit that on the healthy living front I have failed miserably for the past couple of weeks.  I haven’t been feeling motivated, and I have somehow even made the Wii somewhat of an enemy.  I’ve been treating it like going to the gym, which is to say “I don’ wanna!”

When my brother got it all hooked up correctly to the tv last weekend, I lost the excuse that “the dvr has control right now” and can now use it whenever I want.

I did manage to make it to a workout with a friend yesterday after work, 30 minutes on the stationary bike, in air conditioned comfort, while watching Cash Cab and watching the neighborhood kids out riding their actual bicycles.

When I got home I stayed in my workout clothes, and after dinner decided to do a couple of things on the Wii Fit Plus, because why not?  I was dressed for it.

I did the Perfect 10 (adding to 10 using numbered mushrooms you bounce off of your hips), the basic step, and the advanced step.  Probably one of my favorite games on the Wii Fit Plus is the cycling.  Here’s a clip of the basic cycling:

To play this game you hold the Wii remote horizontally like a handlebars and you stand on the balance board and either lift your feet or heels to simulate pedaling while you follow the trails and the roads to collect a set number of flags.

I did the basic cycling and collected all 13 flags in about 4 minutes.  Then I did the advanced cycling, which requires you to collect 22 flags.  That may not seem like much more, until you are trying to track down those last two f&*king flags that you can’t seem to find.  I found them and returned to start/finish line in 25 minutes, dripping in sweat.  (Total Wii Fit workout time: 45 minutes.)

As a reward, I “unlocked” the Ultimate Cycling.  Now, the Island View cycling (which is the next step up from Advanced) has 27 flags.  I shudder to think what Ultimate Cycling requires of you.  I think I may set aside a couple of hours this weekend and find out.

Cloud effects

Originally uploaded by cherylrw

I don’t know where I found this picture, but I love it. I did some playing around with it in Picnik (if you aren’t using this – you should!) and thought this looked really neat.