Sunday, June 28, 2009

Edit

Recent events bring a few key things to mind. So I'm changing my weekly report a bit.

Social
-Goal for next week: Secure my car.

Weekly Report

I have it in my head to do these kinds of weekly reports. They'll help keep me focused on my goals, and add a notch of personal accountability to the exercise.

The report for the week of June 22-28, 2009

Academic
-5/5 Psych 345 classes attended
-2/2 Psych 201 classes attended
-3/3 Psych 357 classes attended
-Activity level in classes: High.
-No graded assignments to report
-Goal for next week: Better utilize commute time by reading textbooks on the bus.

Physical
-Weight training twice in the mornings.
-Extended physical activity on Sunday
-Diet improved, thanks in large part to the HUB's salad bar.
-Goal for next week: Add a variant on the morning gym routine which is about aerobic exercise.

Social
-Outwardly social in class, within reasonable parameters
-Leadership role established and accepted in 345 & 357 group sections
--Acceptance is of particular importance. It will be tested as it carries forward.
-Won favor with professors, including the self described Misanthrope
-Epic social success Sunday.
-Goal for next week: 3 instances of outgoingness in my recreational life that are not carried out through the Internet.

I know this week it may seem like I'm bragging, and maybe I am, but I did really well this week, and I feel generally better in almost every way. So now I have my new goals, all of them are reasonable and doable, and next week I'm going to head straight for them.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

The Silence Deafens

I was laying around just now, reflecting on a number of things, and a thought occur ed to me.

"I wish I could write on my blog without having to get up and go to the computer."

Before that though another much more relevant thought occur ed to me. I don't write in my blog nearly as often as I used to. I also play a lot less video games, and am out of the MMO cycle that does so many terrible things. The reason here is really quite simple. Commuting has added a notch of structure, that structure, along with my recent life changes, have improved my life in many ways that I'm not willing to talk about publicly on the Internet in a medium that is readily accessible by my parents. It's a good thing, it really is, it just leads me away from blogging. And when you think about it, that may be another good sign. Blogging has always had a few of the trappings of the Internet addiction / social isolation form of depression that is so common these days.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Karma

So years and years ago my Dad was trying to buy a new car. He was trying to buy one that wasn't a Ford, and ultimately he had to give up. I remember time after time walking out and imitating a Simpson's line that's a favorite of mine.

"Everyone needs to drive an automobile, even the extremely tall."

That finally caught up to me today, as I rode a series of buses for an hour to find out that Hyundai doesn't make cars that fit me. Neither does Kia. Now if I'm willing to give up on a lot of things and get a Chevy...

Screw that. There are alternatives. The Mazda Tribute is pretty good. Not great, but not bad, and certainly fills the role I need it to.

The CRV and the Pilot are better, but cost more. It's a complex problem, but on July 5th the one of us who has a functional car is going on a multi month long Journey, so it's a complex problem I'm going to need to solve soon, because I happen to need groceries.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Life Direction

I had an interesting first day of class today. From the get go the instructor was being an annoying old man. He's not that old either, not nearly enough to use it as an excuse, but he explained very frankly that he has a list of very detailed instructions and a deep seated structure fetish, and that if we failed to play his little games our grades would suffer accordingly.

That's annoying, but it's not new, and I've learned to play the game, and I have my minor vengence via my snide remarks from the back of the class. He's also so obvious and direct about it that he is really easy to play. The interesting thing, and the odd thing, is how aware he is of his own nature. My Social Psychology lecturer is a self identified misanthrope. It sounds odd, or counter intuitive, our out and out stupid until you remember one thing.

This is someone who knows that he hates people. Hates people in general, they bother him, he doesn't like them, so why did he go into Social Psychology? It's very simple, he remembers the first rule. Know thy Enemy.

Monday, June 08, 2009

Housing Misc

-How is it that a house can have this many spiders, and still get the occasional group of flies. It seems like one group or the other would just win.

-In a month I need someone to make sure that I'm not still "looking into getting carpeting installed" because I have a bad feeling that we'll end up sitting in our equally unfinished basement three years from now, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let that happen.

-The garbage service guys better get busy. Our garage can only hold so much.

-I have a feeling I'll be learning a lot about drywall this summer. And about the joys of buying new shirts. Which reminds me, if you see me doing any housework in my blue and black "extraordinary times" shirt STOP ME. I love that shirt.

-I moved my computer into a more public space partially because of our home theatre plans, but mostly because I wanted to get out of the habit of lurking in my lair all the time. It worked, but it makes me remember why I liked having my computer in my room.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Breakdown

So the week before this I was crazy busy.  School, managing the move, and learning the new schedule.  The weekend before that I was busy moving things.  This last weekend I was running double shifts moving things.   

I'm pretty sure that's why I got a horrific sinus infection on Monday.  It's made me begin to reconsider my policy on being sick.  Up until now I've had a pretty simple policy.  "If you can easily walk around then you're healthy enough to go to (blank) and if you can't then you should go back to sleep."   Medication consisted entirelly of steam, tea, soup, and nyquil taken half a bottle at a time.

I'm thinking of re-evaluating that policy because today is Thursday and I'm finally back in the game.  It just seems like too much time to lose.  Granted this is the biggest illness I've had this year, but still.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Grand Works

I have this discussion every time, and I don't think I'll ever actually stop having it.  It consists of me sitting in the blasted out ruins of a place I used to live, looking around and seeing all of the things that still have to be done and reflecting on just how much work moving actually is.  

I'm getting both edges of that sword today, because my room is the one finished room in the largely unfinished basement.  I have a lot of ideas for finishing that basement, and the more I look around our place the more potential I see, and the larger my worklist gets.  It also makes me think about aesthetics and decor, and those are dangerous thoughts because they can cost a fortune.  Playing the craigslist game can save one a lot, but still.

Right now my pet project, as soon as I'm done unpacking, will be making the unfinished room in the basement into our rec room.  It's not as hard as I thought, the only real skill I'll have to learn is how to install carpet, and once I've got that down and we've finally settled on an aesthetic design we'll be set.