JohnStrong
Well-known member
from
Big agree
Rainbow Dragon's Lair
- Thread starter Laura Rainbow Dragon
- Start date
Maegaranthelas
Well-known member
from
That looks like such a warm and welcoming neighbourhood!
Finally a place worthy of our delightful Rainbow Dragon
Finally a place worthy of our delightful Rainbow Dragon
In my previous posts I showed you some photographs of "lawn" signs in my neighbourhood. But you may have noticed that most of them are not, in fact, on lawns, but in gardens.
In the Booming Metropolis, it was all about the lawn. Especially on the street where I lived, where everybody had huge properties with huge lawns. But pretty much every property was maintained with a huge amount of lawn. The lawn mowing during the summer months was loud and prolonged and frequent.
When I told people in the BM I was looking forward to moving back to a city because it would be so much quieter here, people invariably assumed I was either confused or joking. I said no, it really is significantly quieter in the city neighbourhood I am moving back to. And it is! There is so much less lawn here and so much more garden. Some big, showy, cultivars. But also a lot of native flower gardens, pollinator-friendly with different species that bloom from spring right through into the fall. The majority of properties in my neighbourhood have front yards that are mostly, or in some cases entirely, garden.
These are some of the streets Shelby and I walk down now:
This home even planted flowers along the tiny strip of land between the sidewalk and the road:
It's not just private homes either. The neighbourhood churches maintain a nice amount of garden space too:
This property backs onto a public park. And they've got flowers growing in planters fastened to the public-facing side of their fence:
More flowers:
And trees! So many more trees here!
In the Booming Metropolis, it was all about the lawn. Especially on the street where I lived, where everybody had huge properties with huge lawns. But pretty much every property was maintained with a huge amount of lawn. The lawn mowing during the summer months was loud and prolonged and frequent.
When I told people in the BM I was looking forward to moving back to a city because it would be so much quieter here, people invariably assumed I was either confused or joking. I said no, it really is significantly quieter in the city neighbourhood I am moving back to. And it is! There is so much less lawn here and so much more garden. Some big, showy, cultivars. But also a lot of native flower gardens, pollinator-friendly with different species that bloom from spring right through into the fall. The majority of properties in my neighbourhood have front yards that are mostly, or in some cases entirely, garden.
These are some of the streets Shelby and I walk down now:
This home even planted flowers along the tiny strip of land between the sidewalk and the road:
It's not just private homes either. The neighbourhood churches maintain a nice amount of garden space too:
This property backs onto a public park. And they've got flowers growing in planters fastened to the public-facing side of their fence:
More flowers:
And trees! So many more trees here!
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If one doesn't have a garden of one's own in my neighbourhood (likely because, like me, one lives in rental housing), one can rent for a modest fee a plot in a nearby community garden. People use these spaces for both vegetable and flower gardening. Some of the plots are still gorgeous, even this late in the season.
September 14:
3K run
13.5 km hiking
Consecutive days of exercise: 6
Morning hike was in a local ESA that is an easy walk from our new home. I will try to post photos soon. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this video of a Great Egret (Ardea alba) enjoying elevenses on one of the ponds we visited.
For our evening hike we walked through the Village and then along the Thames Valley Parkway down past the forks. It was after dark by the time we hit the TVP, and we had two close encounters of the striped kind. Fortunately I spotted them in time, and Shelby and I both escaped unscented. But they were close calls. (Shelby was absolutely ready to make friends!)
My run was also after dark, and I had two more close encounters with striped Flowers, right in our own neighbourhood.
3K run
13.5 km hiking
Consecutive days of exercise: 6
Morning hike was in a local ESA that is an easy walk from our new home. I will try to post photos soon. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this video of a Great Egret (Ardea alba) enjoying elevenses on one of the ponds we visited.
For our evening hike we walked through the Village and then along the Thames Valley Parkway down past the forks. It was after dark by the time we hit the TVP, and we had two close encounters of the striped kind. Fortunately I spotted them in time, and Shelby and I both escaped unscented. But they were close calls. (Shelby was absolutely ready to make friends!)
My run was also after dark, and I had two more close encounters with striped Flowers, right in our own neighbourhood.
aku-chan
Well-known member
Looks like a great place to live, seems to have a real community spirit!
September 15:
10 km hiking
18 min. yoga
5 min. meditation
Consecutive days of exercise: 7
Life in the Village just keeps getting better and better for Miss Shelby. On this day she met a couple in our neighbourhood who gave her a standing invitation to visit their home anytime she likes to get a treat. Then we came home to find our upstairs neighbours sitting out on our shared front porch. They were immediately big fans and showered her with lots of attention. (The landlord had wanted me to keep Shelby out of communal areas on the property. But this couple are the only other people who live here, and they said that was nonsense. Let her hang with us in the yard, on the porch, wherever. They like Shelby!)
September 16:
10.5 km hiking
6 km run with OSRB
Consecutive days of exercise: 8
10 km hiking
18 min. yoga
5 min. meditation
Consecutive days of exercise: 7
Life in the Village just keeps getting better and better for Miss Shelby. On this day she met a couple in our neighbourhood who gave her a standing invitation to visit their home anytime she likes to get a treat. Then we came home to find our upstairs neighbours sitting out on our shared front porch. They were immediately big fans and showered her with lots of attention. (The landlord had wanted me to keep Shelby out of communal areas on the property. But this couple are the only other people who live here, and they said that was nonsense. Let her hang with us in the yard, on the porch, wherever. They like Shelby!)
September 16:
10.5 km hiking
6 km run with OSRB
Consecutive days of exercise: 8
September 17:
12.2 km hiking
18 min. yoga
5 min. meditation
Consecutive days of exercise: 9
12.2 km hiking
18 min. yoga
5 min. meditation
Consecutive days of exercise: 9
September 18:
4 km hiking
33 min. yoga
Consecutive days of exercise: 10
Slacker day on the hiking front this day. Mostly because someone screwed up and did not go to bed at a reasonable hour the night before. As a result, our normal morning hike was skipped. (The someone was not Shelby.) Quite the excitement on our evening hike though. We saw a coyote! Just trotting down the street in our neighbourhood, like it was right at home.
4 km hiking
33 min. yoga
Consecutive days of exercise: 10
Slacker day on the hiking front this day. Mostly because someone screwed up and did not go to bed at a reasonable hour the night before. As a result, our normal morning hike was skipped. (The someone was not Shelby.) Quite the excitement on our evening hike though. We saw a coyote! Just trotting down the street in our neighbourhood, like it was right at home.
September 19:
9.5 km hiking
5 min. yoga
Consecutive days of exercise: 11
No coyotes on our night hike this day. Just a skunk. Saw some interesting birds on our morning hike this day and also earlier days in the week. Will try to post photos soon.
It's time for me to get back to tracking more things in this thread, so I can get them back on track.
Let's see... What was I looking at before?
I need to get out with Shelby now for our morning hike while it's still cool outside. Will revisit this later today.
9.5 km hiking
5 min. yoga
Consecutive days of exercise: 11
No coyotes on our night hike this day. Just a skunk. Saw some interesting birds on our morning hike this day and also earlier days in the week. Will try to post photos soon.
It's time for me to get back to tracking more things in this thread, so I can get them back on track.
Let's see... What was I looking at before?
I need to get out with Shelby now for our morning hike while it's still cool outside. Will revisit this later today.
Hit a bad confluence of factors during Shelby's and my morning hike today. The wind took my hat. So I transferred my camera into the same hand in which I was holding Shelby's lead, so as to retrieve my hat with my free hand. But as I was leaning over to pick up the hat, Shelby chose that moment to yank on her lead, trying to drag us into the path of an oncoming truck. We're both fine. But the camera went flying.
The lens casing is dented. The glass in front of the lens is smashed. The camera, amazingly, still works. For now. The glass in there is pretty messed up. It may fall apart without much provocation at all now. I have a UV filter attached in front of the lens. It did not crack. But I now cannot get it off the camera.
Crap. I really cannot afford to replace this camera anytime even remotely soon. (This model isn't available anymore in any case. The replacements are more expensive and don't appear to have the GPS-tagging feature I've relied on for posting my photos to iNaturalist.)
The lens casing is dented. The glass in front of the lens is smashed. The camera, amazingly, still works. For now. The glass in there is pretty messed up. It may fall apart without much provocation at all now. I have a UV filter attached in front of the lens. It did not crack. But I now cannot get it off the camera.
Crap. I really cannot afford to replace this camera anytime even remotely soon. (This model isn't available anymore in any case. The replacements are more expensive and don't appear to have the GPS-tagging feature I've relied on for posting my photos to iNaturalist.)
Okay. What was I tracking in this thread before?
On the exercise front:
A DAREBEE program. I'm not doing one at the moment, but would like to get back to one soon. Likely something that I can complete in a consistent, relatively short, amount of time each day.
Daily Crow. I'm not specifically working on my crow pose variations at the moment. At this point I think I want to work on re-establishing a more general, regular yoga practice.
Running. This is actually happening. Yeah!
Hiking. This has been happening all along.
At one point I was also tracking when I did certain general wellness DAREBEE workouts that I do regularly, mostly the ones for strengthening hands and wrists (because I'm a keyboard warrior) and feet and ankles (because I'm a runner & hiker) and also some posture stuff (again because of being a desk jockey). I used to have the posters for these workouts taped to the wall above my desk so I could easily do them as quick work breaks. But now my desk is in a sort of sun room that has windows pretty much covering three of the walls, and the fourth wall has a bookcase and a filing cabinet and will likely get a big calendar above the filing cabinet, and French doors leading into the dance hall. There is a small corner of the room, directly above my monitor, with no windows that is perhaps enough space to tape the posters to. I want to get back to doing these because a.) I think they are helpful as exercises to do regularly, and b.) I think it is helpful to break up long periods of sitting with mini movement breaks. I have used the Pomodoro method in the past to do this, and it worked well, both to increase my productivity and to fit the movement in.
On the writing front:
writing: what I worked on that day
new fiction words: I want to get back to writing fiction 5 days per week
fiction YTD: my running total for the year. It's currently 123,538 words.
story-a-week challenge: last week I completed story #35
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: last week I completed story #35
new consumable words: I haven't been tracking this for several months
consumable YTD: don't have an accurate # as I haven't been tracking it lately
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: Let's see. Today (September 20) is day 264. So that would make today's TYD target 534,336 words.
deficit: again I have no idea, due to the lapse in tracking. I do know that I'm very far behind at this point. It likely isn't possible for me to reach the 740,784 goal for the year now. But I will go back and do the math at some point, to see where I'm at. I got thrown off my game due to the stresses of this past summer, for sure. But now that things have calmed down, I should be able to ramp up my production for the final quarter of the year. And those numbers will give me a good idea of what to shoot for next year.
Other stuff:
French: what I did that day. For months it has been nothing more than watching French language television programming, with the occasional bit of chatting with a friend on DAREBEE or FB en français. But I have kept up my streak. And now that I have more head space, I am getting back into my work with Fluenz.
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
All big zeroes for a while now. My sleep schedule is all over the place at the moment. Partially this is because I'm adding a lot of things back into my schedule now and just haven't settled into a routine yet. (I'm also still unpacking!) Part of it is because I no longer have AC, and the weather here is currently stupid hot in the afternoons but really nice in the early mornings, evenings, and overnight. So it's been easier for me to get work done at night and then take a nap in the afternoon. Which perhaps should become my regular schedule during the summer months now? In any case, I do want to get to a regular schedule on these things. But I'm not there yet.
I have also been back and forth on what to track in terms of my gaming habits and whether or not to even track them at all. At this point I think I need to set a rule of no solo video gaming. I no longer have the "I'm so stressed right now I cannot think straight" excuse for doing it, and it's just become a time-wasting habit I need to break. I have my own dining room now, with a nice big table I can physically play board games on and leave them set up for as long as I like. And the last of the games I backed on Kickstarter should finally ship to me this month. And I need to take my downtime away from my computer. I already failed on this rule today. So my streak will start tomorrow (September 21).
(Of course I will still play games online with friends. Because @sleep_twitch lives in Germany and @'rin lives in New York. So it's just not possible to get together with them physically. But solo games I can play away from the computer.)
Streaks: (as of end of day September 19)
Consecutive days of working out: 11
Consecutive days of French study: 1403
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 0
There may still be some zeroes for some of this stuff for a while as I'm still working on unpacking and settling into the new place. Perhaps this should be an additional thing I'm tracking, making certain I do some work towards settling in each day, until it is done. I have a date now for my housewarming party. November 2. So that is my deadline to get everything finished.
On the exercise front:
A DAREBEE program. I'm not doing one at the moment, but would like to get back to one soon. Likely something that I can complete in a consistent, relatively short, amount of time each day.
Daily Crow. I'm not specifically working on my crow pose variations at the moment. At this point I think I want to work on re-establishing a more general, regular yoga practice.
Running. This is actually happening. Yeah!
Hiking. This has been happening all along.
At one point I was also tracking when I did certain general wellness DAREBEE workouts that I do regularly, mostly the ones for strengthening hands and wrists (because I'm a keyboard warrior) and feet and ankles (because I'm a runner & hiker) and also some posture stuff (again because of being a desk jockey). I used to have the posters for these workouts taped to the wall above my desk so I could easily do them as quick work breaks. But now my desk is in a sort of sun room that has windows pretty much covering three of the walls, and the fourth wall has a bookcase and a filing cabinet and will likely get a big calendar above the filing cabinet, and French doors leading into the dance hall. There is a small corner of the room, directly above my monitor, with no windows that is perhaps enough space to tape the posters to. I want to get back to doing these because a.) I think they are helpful as exercises to do regularly, and b.) I think it is helpful to break up long periods of sitting with mini movement breaks. I have used the Pomodoro method in the past to do this, and it worked well, both to increase my productivity and to fit the movement in.
On the writing front:
writing: what I worked on that day
new fiction words: I want to get back to writing fiction 5 days per week
fiction YTD: my running total for the year. It's currently 123,538 words.
story-a-week challenge: last week I completed story #35
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: last week I completed story #35
new consumable words: I haven't been tracking this for several months
consumable YTD: don't have an accurate # as I haven't been tracking it lately
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: Let's see. Today (September 20) is day 264. So that would make today's TYD target 534,336 words.
deficit: again I have no idea, due to the lapse in tracking. I do know that I'm very far behind at this point. It likely isn't possible for me to reach the 740,784 goal for the year now. But I will go back and do the math at some point, to see where I'm at. I got thrown off my game due to the stresses of this past summer, for sure. But now that things have calmed down, I should be able to ramp up my production for the final quarter of the year. And those numbers will give me a good idea of what to shoot for next year.
Other stuff:
French: what I did that day. For months it has been nothing more than watching French language television programming, with the occasional bit of chatting with a friend on DAREBEE or FB en français. But I have kept up my streak. And now that I have more head space, I am getting back into my work with Fluenz.
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
All big zeroes for a while now. My sleep schedule is all over the place at the moment. Partially this is because I'm adding a lot of things back into my schedule now and just haven't settled into a routine yet. (I'm also still unpacking!) Part of it is because I no longer have AC, and the weather here is currently stupid hot in the afternoons but really nice in the early mornings, evenings, and overnight. So it's been easier for me to get work done at night and then take a nap in the afternoon. Which perhaps should become my regular schedule during the summer months now? In any case, I do want to get to a regular schedule on these things. But I'm not there yet.
I have also been back and forth on what to track in terms of my gaming habits and whether or not to even track them at all. At this point I think I need to set a rule of no solo video gaming. I no longer have the "I'm so stressed right now I cannot think straight" excuse for doing it, and it's just become a time-wasting habit I need to break. I have my own dining room now, with a nice big table I can physically play board games on and leave them set up for as long as I like. And the last of the games I backed on Kickstarter should finally ship to me this month. And I need to take my downtime away from my computer. I already failed on this rule today. So my streak will start tomorrow (September 21).
(Of course I will still play games online with friends. Because @sleep_twitch lives in Germany and @'rin lives in New York. So it's just not possible to get together with them physically. But solo games I can play away from the computer.)
Streaks: (as of end of day September 19)
Consecutive days of working out: 11
Consecutive days of French study: 1403
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 0
There may still be some zeroes for some of this stuff for a while as I'm still working on unpacking and settling into the new place. Perhaps this should be an additional thing I'm tracking, making certain I do some work towards settling in each day, until it is done. I have a date now for my housewarming party. November 2. So that is my deadline to get everything finished.
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NancyTree
Well-known member
Oh no, I'm sorry about your camera 
PetiteSheWolf
Well-known member
Ouchie for the camera...
September 20:
DAREBEE program:
yoga:
running: 4Kish easy run with OSRB
hiking: 12.5 km
wellness workouts:
writing: nothing
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 123,538
story-a-week challenge: 35 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 35 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 534,336
deficit: ?
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 12
Consecutive days of French study: 1404
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 0
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Did laundry this day. Which meant figuring out this apartments' washing machine and also unpacking and setting up all of my drying racks. (There's a clothes dryer here. But I pretty much only machine dry bedding and hang dry everything else. I might start hang drying bedding here too, since I have enough space.) I did some research on the type of hot water radiant heating system this house has. There should be a way I can turn off radiators in individual rooms (which I expect will be necessary--there is only one thermostat for the entire house, and my apartment gets much warmer than the upstairs apartment). Unfortunately, the valves that should control this are all stuck. Guess I will just have to go with keeping windows open all winter long. (Which is fine with me. I like the fresh air. And the landlord pays the heating bill. It's not my fault if he chooses to maintain a property with the heating system in disrepair and crap insulation such that the upstairs apartment is an ice box.) Will have to wait a bit longer to see how things actually are. The heating system is not turned on yet. (At the moment I have all of my windows fully open all night long to let the cool air in, and closed during the day to try to hold the cool air inside as long as possible.)
DAREBEE program:
yoga:
running: 4Kish easy run with OSRB
hiking: 12.5 km
wellness workouts:
writing: nothing
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 123,538
story-a-week challenge: 35 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 35 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 534,336
deficit: ?
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 12
Consecutive days of French study: 1404
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 0
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Did laundry this day. Which meant figuring out this apartments' washing machine and also unpacking and setting up all of my drying racks. (There's a clothes dryer here. But I pretty much only machine dry bedding and hang dry everything else. I might start hang drying bedding here too, since I have enough space.) I did some research on the type of hot water radiant heating system this house has. There should be a way I can turn off radiators in individual rooms (which I expect will be necessary--there is only one thermostat for the entire house, and my apartment gets much warmer than the upstairs apartment). Unfortunately, the valves that should control this are all stuck. Guess I will just have to go with keeping windows open all winter long. (Which is fine with me. I like the fresh air. And the landlord pays the heating bill. It's not my fault if he chooses to maintain a property with the heating system in disrepair and crap insulation such that the upstairs apartment is an ice box.) Will have to wait a bit longer to see how things actually are. The heating system is not turned on yet. (At the moment I have all of my windows fully open all night long to let the cool air in, and closed during the day to try to hold the cool air inside as long as possible.)
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I've been looking through DAREBEE's Programs today, trying to decide on the best one to pick up to round out my training. I want to focus on running for my cardio. That's on a 7-day schedule since I have a group to run with now 2 days per week, plus I now live in a city that has a Parkrun, so I'm going to start doing that on Saturdays. (Just as soon as I get my bicycle back from the friends who have been storing it for me. My local Parkrun is kind of far to walk to when I'm trying to fit in a good-sized walk with Shelby in the mornings too.) This means I need a strength-focused DAREBEE program, and one I can work on a 7-day schedule to fit with my running. To this end, I have decided to do Power Builder. It alternates strength days with stretching days. So I will do the program 6 days per week with one day off. Here is my plan:
MONDAYS:
AM: Power Builder strength day
PM: OSRB run & yoga
TUESDAYS:
AM: running intervals & Power Builder stretching day
PM: yoga
WEDNESDAYS:
AM: Power Builder strength day
PM: solo tempo run & yoga
THURSDAYS:
AM: running intervals & Power Builder stretching day
PM: yoga
FRIDAYS:
AM: Power Builder strength day
PM: OSRB run & yoga
SATURDAYS:
AM: Parkrun (or solo 5K run) & Power Builder stretching day
PM: yoga
SUNDAYS: Do Whatcha Wanna (maybe a run, maybe a longer yoga session, maybe just hiking--will see what the body feels like)
MONDAYS:
AM: Power Builder strength day
PM: OSRB run & yoga
TUESDAYS:
AM: running intervals & Power Builder stretching day
PM: yoga
WEDNESDAYS:
AM: Power Builder strength day
PM: solo tempo run & yoga
THURSDAYS:
AM: running intervals & Power Builder stretching day
PM: yoga
FRIDAYS:
AM: Power Builder strength day
PM: OSRB run & yoga
SATURDAYS:
AM: Parkrun (or solo 5K run) & Power Builder stretching day
PM: yoga
SUNDAYS: Do Whatcha Wanna (maybe a run, maybe a longer yoga session, maybe just hiking--will see what the body feels like)
September 21:
Power Builder: (starts on Monday)
yoga:
running:
hiking: 7.5 km
wellness workouts: Posture (2 x DP), Sore Feet (2 x DP), Wrist Pain (DP each side), Hand Tendons (2 x DP)
Some days it is difficult to get our mileage in because there are just so many friends to visit with in Wortley. This day there was a crafters' fair at one of the schools in our neighbourhood. So we had to stop there so Shelby could make her rounds and visit with everyone. Then on our evening walk we met up with some other puppies with their humans who had been stopped on the sidewalk to listen to musicians performing at one of the restaurant patios. The musicians were packing up when we arrived, but we stopped to talk with the puppies and humans. (The humans gave Shelby treats. So she wanted to have a good, long visit with them.)
writing: Parsec monthly meeting
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 123,538
story-a-week challenge: 35 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 35 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 536,360
deficit: ?
There were technical difficulties with the Parsec meeting. (I presume someone new was responsible for running the Zoom side of the meeting. I was logged in in time for the meeting start, but my Zoom client showed "waiting for host to join meeting" for almost half an hour before I was finally let into the room. I saw other people joining the meeting at the same time as me. So the issue wasn't just on my end.) The portion of the presentation I did hear was interesting and gave me some useful ideas.
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 13
Consecutive days of French study: 1405
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 1
Consecutive days of SOOT: 1
Consecutive days of GBOT: 1
Move-in progress: Hmm... Nothing? Between Parsec, all the visiting, and working out my training plan there wasn't time for much else this day.
Power Builder:
(starts on Monday)yoga:
running:
hiking: 7.5 km
wellness workouts: Posture (2 x DP), Sore Feet (2 x DP), Wrist Pain (DP each side), Hand Tendons (2 x DP)
Some days it is difficult to get our mileage in because there are just so many friends to visit with in Wortley. This day there was a crafters' fair at one of the schools in our neighbourhood. So we had to stop there so Shelby could make her rounds and visit with everyone. Then on our evening walk we met up with some other puppies with their humans who had been stopped on the sidewalk to listen to musicians performing at one of the restaurant patios. The musicians were packing up when we arrived, but we stopped to talk with the puppies and humans. (The humans gave Shelby treats. So she wanted to have a good, long visit with them.)
writing: Parsec monthly meeting
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 123,538
story-a-week challenge: 35 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 35 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 536,360
deficit: ?
There were technical difficulties with the Parsec meeting. (I presume someone new was responsible for running the Zoom side of the meeting. I was logged in in time for the meeting start, but my Zoom client showed "waiting for host to join meeting" for almost half an hour before I was finally let into the room. I saw other people joining the meeting at the same time as me. So the issue wasn't just on my end.) The portion of the presentation I did hear was interesting and gave me some useful ideas.
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 13
Consecutive days of French study: 1405
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 1
Consecutive days of SOOT: 1
Consecutive days of GBOT: 1
Move-in progress: Hmm... Nothing? Between Parsec, all the visiting, and working out my training plan there wasn't time for much else this day.
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September 22:
Power Builder: (starts on Monday)
yoga: 20 min. - standing balances & mobility work
running:
hiking: 13.5 km
wellness workouts:
I really need to learn to get my work done during the weekdays if weekends are going to continue to be party weekends like this one was! This day was World Car-Free Day, which was celebrated in multiple communities in London, including Wortley Village. In Wortley our main road was closed to motorized traffic for three blocks, and there were community activities in the street and on sidewalks and lawns bordering it. Information booths, live music, a yoga class, a martial arts demo, giant boardgames, chalk drawing, etc. There were also a bunch of groups offering free food. I was given a muffin, a hotdog, and a freezie. Shelby was given water, a piece of hotdog (helped herself to this, which someone had discarded on the road) and a very fancy dog cookie. Plus there were many people out and about who Shelby needed to stop and visit with. Then we headed downtown, where there were more events and more people. (More free food too, including what looked like very yummy roasted corn on the cob with fancy flavourings. But the line up for that was long, the space was crowded, and there wasn't any drink option nearby for Shelby. So we did not stick around to sample that.)
writing: short story of the week, review of submission guidelines
new fiction words: 2488
fiction YTD: 126,026
story-a-week challenge: 36 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 36 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 538,384
deficit: ?
I got my short story for the week written. But it was late at night before I sat down to even start working on it.
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 14
Consecutive days of French study: 1406
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 2
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Nothing again. Too much socializing, followed by writing work.
Power Builder:
(starts on Monday)yoga: 20 min. - standing balances & mobility work
running:
hiking: 13.5 km
wellness workouts:
I really need to learn to get my work done during the weekdays if weekends are going to continue to be party weekends like this one was! This day was World Car-Free Day, which was celebrated in multiple communities in London, including Wortley Village. In Wortley our main road was closed to motorized traffic for three blocks, and there were community activities in the street and on sidewalks and lawns bordering it. Information booths, live music, a yoga class, a martial arts demo, giant boardgames, chalk drawing, etc. There were also a bunch of groups offering free food. I was given a muffin, a hotdog, and a freezie. Shelby was given water, a piece of hotdog (helped herself to this, which someone had discarded on the road) and a very fancy dog cookie. Plus there were many people out and about who Shelby needed to stop and visit with. Then we headed downtown, where there were more events and more people. (More free food too, including what looked like very yummy roasted corn on the cob with fancy flavourings. But the line up for that was long, the space was crowded, and there wasn't any drink option nearby for Shelby. So we did not stick around to sample that.)
writing: short story of the week, review of submission guidelines
new fiction words: 2488
fiction YTD: 126,026
story-a-week challenge: 36 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 36 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 538,384
deficit: ?
I got my short story for the week written. But it was late at night before I sat down to even start working on it.
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 14
Consecutive days of French study: 1406
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 2
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Nothing again. Too much socializing, followed by writing work.
Last edited:
September 23:
Power Builder: Day 1
yoga: 30 min. - restorative
meditation: 5 min.
running: 4.3 km w. OSRB
hiking: 16.6 km
wellness workouts: - but I did some wrist rehab during my restorative yoga session. And PB included lots of calf raises.
Did not workout in the AM since I slept in. (I need to actually go to bed at night in order to maintain a split AM/PM workout schedule!) So PB was done after running, then a short hike with Shelby as a cool down, and then the yoga.
writing: study: DreamForge Story Bible
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 126,026
story-a-week challenge: 36 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 36 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 540,408
deficit: ?
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
But at least SOOT and GBOT were only off by one hour!
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 15
Consecutive days of French study: 1407
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 3
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Did some work on the kitchen.
I'm still not cooking because my kitchen is still not put together. And the space is so tiny, even the slightest bit of disarray means not enough space in which to work. So I have not been eating the greatest. (In spite of the fact that I still have some healthy leftovers in my freezer. They've been moved around so much at this point, I no longer have any idea what is what. I generally just pick a few things in different colours to defrost, and it is a mystery what tomorrow's meals will be!) I ran out of healthy snack food a while back. So I have been snacking on some things I would really rather not. For example: the other day I went to my neighbourhood grocery store with the express intent of purchasing peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies. Which I did. And which I have been eating far, far too quickly. Yesterday one of my OSRBs challenged me to only eat the cookies as rewards for unpacking my kitchen. I have to unpack and properly deal with one box of kitchen stuff to earn one cookie. Hence the reason why I worked on my kitchen last night! I earned 4 cookies. But I decided to count them as the cookies I'd already eaten earlier in the day, since I did not want to start eating cookies at 10:30 at night.
Power Builder: Day 1
yoga: 30 min. - restorative
meditation: 5 min.
running: 4.3 km w. OSRB
hiking: 16.6 km
wellness workouts:
- but I did some wrist rehab during my restorative yoga session. And PB included lots of calf raises.Did not workout in the AM since I slept in. (I need to actually go to bed at night in order to maintain a split AM/PM workout schedule!) So PB was done after running, then a short hike with Shelby as a cool down, and then the yoga.
writing: study: DreamForge Story Bible
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 126,026
story-a-week challenge: 36 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 36 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 540,408
deficit: ?
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
But at least SOOT and GBOT were only off by one hour!
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 15
Consecutive days of French study: 1407
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 3
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Did some work on the kitchen.
I'm still not cooking because my kitchen is still not put together. And the space is so tiny, even the slightest bit of disarray means not enough space in which to work. So I have not been eating the greatest. (In spite of the fact that I still have some healthy leftovers in my freezer. They've been moved around so much at this point, I no longer have any idea what is what. I generally just pick a few things in different colours to defrost, and it is a mystery what tomorrow's meals will be!) I ran out of healthy snack food a while back. So I have been snacking on some things I would really rather not. For example: the other day I went to my neighbourhood grocery store with the express intent of purchasing peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies. Which I did. And which I have been eating far, far too quickly. Yesterday one of my OSRBs challenged me to only eat the cookies as rewards for unpacking my kitchen. I have to unpack and properly deal with one box of kitchen stuff to earn one cookie. Hence the reason why I worked on my kitchen last night! I earned 4 cookies. But I decided to count them as the cookies I'd already eaten earlier in the day, since I did not want to start eating cookies at 10:30 at night.
September 24:
Power Builder: Day 2
yoga: 17 min. - restorative
meditation: 8 min.
running: 10 x hill repeats
hiking: 12.5 km
wellness workouts: Ankle Recovery (2 x DP), Talk to the Hand (DP each side), Hand Tendons (2 x DP)
London doesn't really have hills compared to where I grew up. (My high school cross country team used to train on ski hills on the Niagara Escarpment.) But compared to the area I have been living in for the past 15 years (flat, flat, flat agricultural lands), London has some decent hills. One of the best is quite close to me, on a dirt trail in my local ESA. A cool breeze, a gentle rain, a nice forested trail in autumn, with the leaves turning to red and gold and falling all around me. These are my favourite running conditions! Add in actually getting to do a hill workout again after so long of running on flats, and I was definitely in my running happy place. I could feel the previous day's squats quite a bit at the start of my run, but that eased off about midway through, and I finished feeling tired but good.
writing: study: DreamForge Story Bible
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 126,026
story-a-week challenge: 36 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 36 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 542,432
deficit: ?
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 16
Consecutive days of French study: 1408
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 4
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: More work on the kitchen. Earned two cookies.
Power Builder: Day 2
yoga: 17 min. - restorative
meditation: 8 min.
running: 10 x hill repeats
hiking: 12.5 km
wellness workouts: Ankle Recovery (2 x DP), Talk to the Hand (DP each side), Hand Tendons (2 x DP)
London doesn't really have hills compared to where I grew up. (My high school cross country team used to train on ski hills on the Niagara Escarpment.) But compared to the area I have been living in for the past 15 years (flat, flat, flat agricultural lands), London has some decent hills. One of the best is quite close to me, on a dirt trail in my local ESA. A cool breeze, a gentle rain, a nice forested trail in autumn, with the leaves turning to red and gold and falling all around me. These are my favourite running conditions! Add in actually getting to do a hill workout again after so long of running on flats, and I was definitely in my running happy place. I could feel the previous day's squats quite a bit at the start of my run, but that eased off about midway through, and I finished feeling tired but good.
writing: study: DreamForge Story Bible
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 126,026
story-a-week challenge: 36 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 36 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 542,432
deficit: ?
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 16
Consecutive days of French study: 1408
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 4
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: More work on the kitchen. Earned two cookies.
September 25:
Power Builder:
yoga:
meditation:
running:
hiking: 16.7 km
wellness workouts:
Found out this day about a board gaming night at the public library. One of my goals in moving back to London is to put together a regular gaming group that will play the crunchy Euros that I love. So I decided to forgo my workout to go to the library event instead. (More on this below.)
I'm not counting this as breaking my workout streak, since I did still hike almost 17K on the day.
Also: I discovered on Tuesday that, if my Saturday morning 5K time trials are to be anything approaching meaningful, I need to not do high volume squats on Fridays. So I'll be switching up my Power Builder schedule such that the work days are Saturdays, Mondays, and Wednesdays, with Fridays off from the program. (Except for this Friday, which will be a Power Builder stretching day, to get me caught up for having taken Wednesday off this week.) I will flesh out these changes more in a subsequent post.
writing:
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 126,026
story-a-week challenge: 36 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 36 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 544,456
deficit: ?
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 17
Consecutive days of French study: 1409
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 5
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: On Tuesday I received a parcel (my copy of Deep Shelf, which I backed on Kickstarter back in February 2023). My first personally addressed mail at my new address! So I took the mailing label to my local branch of the London Public Library to set up an account. Then I found out about the gaming night at the Central branch that evening.
The event this evening was only 2.5 hours long. Which isn't really enough time to teach and play through most of the crunchier Euro-style games that I love. Plus: most of the ones I own are really big box games that would be too cumbersome for me to transport to the Central library. But I took Arborea, which is one of the smallest box games I own.
I set up the game as soon as I arrived at the library. Two people sat down to join me. So I started the teach right away (knowing we would need the whole time of the event to get through the game). One of the players who joined me picked up the rules quickly and got into the game well. The other player, unfortunately, appeared to be there more for the opportunity to talk at people than to play the game. We had to re-explain to him how to take his turn on every round and prod him to actually take it. Which was frustrating.
[Also: I don't do well with people who fail to engage in conversation in a socially appropriate way. For a few minutes I will try to be polite. I get that not everyone possesses the same level of social skills as I do. But two and a half hours of this guy being completely checked out from the topics of conversation the people around him were trying to engage in, and instead saying things like:
"I notice your nails are very short. You should tell the person you live with to look after you. Teach them to give you a manicure."
and:
"I notice your hands are shaking." (He said this of both me and the other player. Neither of our hands were shaking. So maybe this was an idea he had practised saying and was going to say it no matter what?) "I suggest you both switch to drinking a different kind of coffee."
was a bit much for me.]
Nevertheless, we made it through the game. Mostly. (The other player who was actually engaged in the game and I agreed mutually to skip the final two rounds.)
But the best part of the evening was that, as we were tallying the score at the end of the night, another guy who I guess had arrived after we'd started our game was watching and said, "That looks like a heavy Euro."
Weird guy tried to lecture the newcomer on how sometimes it was not appropriate to insert oneself into a conversation one was not a part of, especially if one was looking to change the subject of the conversation.
Meanwhile, I was all: "OMG! There's someone here who knows what a heavy Euro is!"
So I started talking to the new guy. Found out he loves the crunchy Euro games with complex decision spaces, that he owns a long list of them (that I don't have but would be interested in playing) and that he brings some each week to a different library gaming meetup that runs all day on Saturdays. And that people show up regularly to this other group who enjoy the sorts of games that one actually needs the whole day to play!
This other gaming meetup is at a library branch that is 4km from where I live. Also, it's on the way home from the London Parkrun, which I want to start doing, which is on Saturday mornings. So I won't be taking any of my own games to this group. (I'm not lugging those things >6km to the Parkrun, then leaving them sitting around outside during the run, then lugging them to the library and then back home again afterward.) But it sounds like there are plenty of cool games at this other group every week brought by other people.
I am LOVING being back in London!
Power Builder:
yoga:
meditation:
running:
hiking: 16.7 km
wellness workouts:
Found out this day about a board gaming night at the public library. One of my goals in moving back to London is to put together a regular gaming group that will play the crunchy Euros that I love. So I decided to forgo my workout to go to the library event instead. (More on this below.)
I'm not counting this as breaking my workout streak, since I did still hike almost 17K on the day.
Also: I discovered on Tuesday that, if my Saturday morning 5K time trials are to be anything approaching meaningful, I need to not do high volume squats on Fridays. So I'll be switching up my Power Builder schedule such that the work days are Saturdays, Mondays, and Wednesdays, with Fridays off from the program. (Except for this Friday, which will be a Power Builder stretching day, to get me caught up for having taken Wednesday off this week.) I will flesh out these changes more in a subsequent post.
writing:
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 126,026
story-a-week challenge: 36 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 36 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 544,456
deficit: ?
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 17
Consecutive days of French study: 1409
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 5
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: On Tuesday I received a parcel (my copy of Deep Shelf, which I backed on Kickstarter back in February 2023). My first personally addressed mail at my new address! So I took the mailing label to my local branch of the London Public Library to set up an account. Then I found out about the gaming night at the Central branch that evening.
The event this evening was only 2.5 hours long. Which isn't really enough time to teach and play through most of the crunchier Euro-style games that I love. Plus: most of the ones I own are really big box games that would be too cumbersome for me to transport to the Central library. But I took Arborea, which is one of the smallest box games I own.
I set up the game as soon as I arrived at the library. Two people sat down to join me. So I started the teach right away (knowing we would need the whole time of the event to get through the game). One of the players who joined me picked up the rules quickly and got into the game well. The other player, unfortunately, appeared to be there more for the opportunity to talk at people than to play the game. We had to re-explain to him how to take his turn on every round and prod him to actually take it. Which was frustrating.
[Also: I don't do well with people who fail to engage in conversation in a socially appropriate way. For a few minutes I will try to be polite. I get that not everyone possesses the same level of social skills as I do. But two and a half hours of this guy being completely checked out from the topics of conversation the people around him were trying to engage in, and instead saying things like:
"I notice your nails are very short. You should tell the person you live with to look after you. Teach them to give you a manicure."
and:
"I notice your hands are shaking." (He said this of both me and the other player. Neither of our hands were shaking. So maybe this was an idea he had practised saying and was going to say it no matter what?) "I suggest you both switch to drinking a different kind of coffee."
was a bit much for me.]
Nevertheless, we made it through the game. Mostly. (The other player who was actually engaged in the game and I agreed mutually to skip the final two rounds.)
But the best part of the evening was that, as we were tallying the score at the end of the night, another guy who I guess had arrived after we'd started our game was watching and said, "That looks like a heavy Euro."
Weird guy tried to lecture the newcomer on how sometimes it was not appropriate to insert oneself into a conversation one was not a part of, especially if one was looking to change the subject of the conversation.
Meanwhile, I was all: "OMG! There's someone here who knows what a heavy Euro is!"
So I started talking to the new guy. Found out he loves the crunchy Euro games with complex decision spaces, that he owns a long list of them (that I don't have but would be interested in playing) and that he brings some each week to a different library gaming meetup that runs all day on Saturdays. And that people show up regularly to this other group who enjoy the sorts of games that one actually needs the whole day to play!
This other gaming meetup is at a library branch that is 4km from where I live. Also, it's on the way home from the London Parkrun, which I want to start doing, which is on Saturday mornings. So I won't be taking any of my own games to this group. (I'm not lugging those things >6km to the Parkrun, then leaving them sitting around outside during the run, then lugging them to the library and then back home again afterward.) But it sounds like there are plenty of cool games at this other group every week brought by other people.
I am LOVING being back in London!
Adjusted Schedule:
MONDAYS:
AM: Power Builder strength day
PM: OSRB run & yoga
TUESDAYS:
AM: running intervals & Power Builder stretching day
PM: yoga
WEDNESDAYS:
AM: Power Builder strength day
PM: solo tempo run & yoga
THURSDAYS:
AM: running intervals & Power Builder stretching day
PM: yoga
FRIDAYS:
AM: yoga
PM: OSRB run
SATURDAYS:
AM: Parkrun (or solo 5K run)
PM: Power Builder strength day & yoga
SUNDAYS:
AM: recovery run
PM: Power Builder stretching day & yoga
MONDAYS:
AM: Power Builder strength day
PM: OSRB run & yoga
TUESDAYS:
AM: running intervals & Power Builder stretching day
PM: yoga
WEDNESDAYS:
AM: Power Builder strength day
PM: solo tempo run & yoga
THURSDAYS:
AM: running intervals & Power Builder stretching day
PM: yoga
FRIDAYS:
AM: yoga
PM: OSRB run
SATURDAYS:
AM: Parkrun (or solo 5K run)
PM: Power Builder strength day & yoga
SUNDAYS:
AM: recovery run
PM: Power Builder stretching day & yoga
September 26:
Power Builder: Day 3
yoga:
meditation:
running: 3K + 7 x hill repeats
hiking: 9.3 km
wellness workouts:
Power Builder Strength Days (3, 7, 11, 15, 19, 23, 27) are circuit workouts which call for a push-up plank to be held for 10 seconds immediately after completing one's max 3-second push-ups. This is not possible for me. If I truly execute my maximum # of push-ups, I will collapse on the hold before the 10 seconds are up. @Damer reckons one's body should be able to adapt to being able to complete this exercise combo (as explained here). So I will keep trying. (For now, when I collapse, I will pick myself back up as soon as possible and go again to complete the time.)
Due to skipping my tempo run on Wednesday, I had planned to do a hybrid run this day, with a shorter run (the 3K) followed by 6 hill repeats. But apparently I cannot count and run at the same time. (On Tuesday I had intended to do 8 hill repeats but accidentally ran 10.)
writing: prep for online convention I'm attending this weekend (choosing which sessions to attend)
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 126,026
story-a-week challenge: 36 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 36 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 546,480
deficit: ?
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 18
Consecutive days of French study: 1410
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 6
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: I unpacked one box.
Yeah. I need to do more. Maybe, since the con this weekend is online, I can unpack and listen in at the same time.
Power Builder: Day 3
yoga:
meditation:
running: 3K + 7 x hill repeats
hiking: 9.3 km
wellness workouts:
Power Builder Strength Days (3, 7, 11, 15, 19, 23, 27) are circuit workouts which call for a push-up plank to be held for 10 seconds immediately after completing one's max 3-second push-ups. This is not possible for me. If I truly execute my maximum # of push-ups, I will collapse on the hold before the 10 seconds are up. @Damer reckons one's body should be able to adapt to being able to complete this exercise combo (as explained here). So I will keep trying. (For now, when I collapse, I will pick myself back up as soon as possible and go again to complete the time.)
Due to skipping my tempo run on Wednesday, I had planned to do a hybrid run this day, with a shorter run (the 3K) followed by 6 hill repeats. But apparently I cannot count and run at the same time. (On Tuesday I had intended to do 8 hill repeats but accidentally ran 10.)
writing: prep for online convention I'm attending this weekend (choosing which sessions to attend)
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 126,026
story-a-week challenge: 36 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 36 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 546,480
deficit: ?
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 18
Consecutive days of French study: 1410
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 6
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: I unpacked one box.
Yeah. I need to do more. Maybe, since the con this weekend is online, I can unpack and listen in at the same time.
September 27:
Power Builder: Day 4
yoga:
meditation:
running: OSRB group run. ~ 6km
hiking: ~ 14 km
wellness workouts: Sore Feet (2 x DP), Wrist Pain (DP each side), Hand Tendons (2 x DP)
OSRB runs generally involve some stopping and starting and periods of walking as there are some newer runners in the group. I often do part of the run with the group and part of the run solo (so I can get in some more speed and also some hills). My mileage for both running and walking tends not to be very accurate on group run days. But I get to run with other people, so it's good.
writing: Flights of Foundry online convention
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 126,026
story-a-week challenge: 36 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 36 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 548,504
deficit: ?
Some good sessions at the con. I sat in on 5 hours of programming. Did not do any unpacking during this time. Did do the wellness workouts though. So I wasn't just sitting on my butt the whole time.
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 19
Consecutive days of French study: 1411
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 7
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Nothin'
On Saturday my friends who have been storing my bicycle for me are bringing it back to me. On this day they were visiting a community garden, and someone there was harvesting their basil and asked my friends if they would like some.
My friends like basil, so they said, "Yes, please," thinking it would be nice to have a few leaves of fresh basil to put on their dinner.
The person with the garden proceeded to rip out entire plants and hand them to my friends.
So my friends ended up driving around London with a huge bushel of basil in their car, wondering what to do with it all. Since they were coming to see me the next day, they decided they should bring the basil here and we would make pesto. They messaged me with this idea, and I said, "Sure! Let's do it!"
Then my friends realized they won't actually have room in their car for my bicycle with all of the basil in there. So they called me and said, "We're in the neighbourhood. How about we bring the basil 'round to you now."
I said okay.
So they did.
This is the basil:
I have a small kitchen. And these plants are 5' tall! They ended up covering both sinks and my entire work space!
So I put some water in a pail, put the basil in that, and moved it into my bathroom.
Now I cannot bathe until after we've made the pesto. But at least I can prepare food!
Power Builder: Day 4
yoga:
meditation:
running: OSRB group run. ~ 6km
hiking: ~ 14 km
wellness workouts: Sore Feet (2 x DP), Wrist Pain (DP each side), Hand Tendons (2 x DP)
OSRB runs generally involve some stopping and starting and periods of walking as there are some newer runners in the group. I often do part of the run with the group and part of the run solo (so I can get in some more speed and also some hills). My mileage for both running and walking tends not to be very accurate on group run days. But I get to run with other people, so it's good.
writing: Flights of Foundry online convention
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 126,026
story-a-week challenge: 36 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 36 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 548,504
deficit: ?
Some good sessions at the con. I sat in on 5 hours of programming. Did not do any unpacking during this time. Did do the wellness workouts though. So I wasn't just sitting on my butt the whole time.
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 19
Consecutive days of French study: 1411
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 7
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Nothin'
On Saturday my friends who have been storing my bicycle for me are bringing it back to me. On this day they were visiting a community garden, and someone there was harvesting their basil and asked my friends if they would like some.
My friends like basil, so they said, "Yes, please," thinking it would be nice to have a few leaves of fresh basil to put on their dinner.
The person with the garden proceeded to rip out entire plants and hand them to my friends.
So my friends ended up driving around London with a huge bushel of basil in their car, wondering what to do with it all. Since they were coming to see me the next day, they decided they should bring the basil here and we would make pesto. They messaged me with this idea, and I said, "Sure! Let's do it!"
Then my friends realized they won't actually have room in their car for my bicycle with all of the basil in there. So they called me and said, "We're in the neighbourhood. How about we bring the basil 'round to you now."
I said okay.
So they did.
This is the basil:
I have a small kitchen. And these plants are 5' tall! They ended up covering both sinks and my entire work space!
So I put some water in a pail, put the basil in that, and moved it into my bathroom.
Now I cannot bathe until after we've made the pesto. But at least I can prepare food!
PetiteSheWolf
Well-known member
Oooooh, I can just smell the basil from here!
September 28:
Power Builder:
yoga: 40 min. - there was a yoga class as part of the online spec fic con I attended!
meditation:
running:
hiking: 7 km
wellness workouts: - but some good stuff covered in the yoga class
writing: Flights of Foundry online convention
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 126,026
story-a-week challenge: 36 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 36 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 550,528
deficit: ?
Six hours of con programming. (Plus the yoga.)
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 20
Consecutive days of French study: 1412
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 8
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 1
Move-in progress: Some more work on setting up my kitchen. Then did some actual cooking in it. Then my friends came over with my bicycle, and we ate some of the food I had prepared together in my feast hall. My first dinner guests in our new home! (Well, dessert guests. But it still counts.)
Power Builder:
yoga: 40 min. - there was a yoga class as part of the online spec fic con I attended!
meditation:
running:
hiking: 7 km
wellness workouts:
- but some good stuff covered in the yoga classwriting: Flights of Foundry online convention
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 126,026
story-a-week challenge: 36 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 36 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 550,528
deficit: ?
Six hours of con programming. (Plus the yoga.)
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 20
Consecutive days of French study: 1412
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 8
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 1
Move-in progress: Some more work on setting up my kitchen. Then did some actual cooking in it. Then my friends came over with my bicycle, and we ate some of the food I had prepared together in my feast hall. My first dinner guests in our new home! (Well, dessert guests. But it still counts.)
September 29:
Power Builder: Day 5
yoga:
meditation:
running:
hiking: 16 km
wellness workouts:
writing: Flights of Foundry online convention, short story
new fiction words: 3164
fiction YTD: 129,190
story-a-week challenge: 37 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 37 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 552,552
deficit: ?
Five hours of con programming. A good con overall, and well organized--at least from my perspective. (The event was set up as much as possible to mimic an in-person convention, with panels but also author readings, presentations, games, social events, etc. all facilitated through Webex and Discord. I did not attend any of the social stuff. I was not able to devote my entire weekend to the convention, so only checked in for the specific sessions that interested me.)
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 21
Consecutive days of French study: 1413
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 9
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Well, I made the pesto. So now I have a bathroom again!
Power Builder: Day 5
yoga:
meditation:
running:
hiking: 16 km
wellness workouts:
writing: Flights of Foundry online convention, short story
new fiction words: 3164
fiction YTD: 129,190
story-a-week challenge: 37 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 37 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 552,552
deficit: ?
Five hours of con programming. A good con overall, and well organized--at least from my perspective. (The event was set up as much as possible to mimic an in-person convention, with panels but also author readings, presentations, games, social events, etc. all facilitated through Webex and Discord. I did not attend any of the social stuff. I was not able to devote my entire weekend to the convention, so only checked in for the specific sessions that interested me.)
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 21
Consecutive days of French study: 1413
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 9
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Well, I made the pesto. So now I have a bathroom again!
PetiteSheWolf
Well-known member
I suppose it made lots of pest! How do you keep it, frozen? very cold ?
I put mine in 1/2 cup pots and freeze them.
We got about 9 cups of pesto from this project.
September 30:
Power Builder:
yoga:
meditation:
running: OSRB group run 6K
hiking: 14.2 km
wellness workouts:
One of the faster runners in the OSRB group showed up this night. We all did the first km slow together. I then did 2.5 km solo to add in some hills and an extra km to my run. Met up with the group again at their turn around point, at which point the other faster runner had pulled ahead. I picked up my speed for ~ 500 m to catch up to her, and we finished the final 2 km together.
Back was a bit jacked this day. So did not do anything after running except for some stretching and walking. I've decided not to be fussy about which days of Power Builder get completed on which days. There are going to continue to be days on which I just don't have time to do everything. I don't want to be staying up late to try to squeeze everything in. Or worse: doing something my body needs a break from and risking injury. The primary goal here is to remain healthy and active long term. So, provided I do something each day, I'm going to call good enough good enough. I'm still more-or-less following the schedule. But there needs to be room to roll with the punches.
writing: looking into some resources gleaned from the con
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 129,190
story-a-week challenge: 37 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 37 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 554,576
deficit: ?
Not a super productive day. I think a lot of sleeping happened. (I really need to stop screwing up my sleep schedule on Sunday nights.)
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Actually fell asleep ~ 9:30 PM. But then got up @ 11:45 and took Shelby for another walk. Didn't do much on my computer after the evening nap. So almost SOOT? But I'm giving myselfs because really, my sleep was pretty screwed up on account of Sunday's late night.
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 22
Consecutive days of French study: 1414
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 10
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Nothing? I don't remember. Probably nothing.
Power Builder:
yoga:
meditation:
running: OSRB group run 6K
hiking: 14.2 km
wellness workouts:
One of the faster runners in the OSRB group showed up this night. We all did the first km slow together. I then did 2.5 km solo to add in some hills and an extra km to my run. Met up with the group again at their turn around point, at which point the other faster runner had pulled ahead. I picked up my speed for ~ 500 m to catch up to her, and we finished the final 2 km together.
Back was a bit jacked this day. So did not do anything after running except for some stretching and walking. I've decided not to be fussy about which days of Power Builder get completed on which days. There are going to continue to be days on which I just don't have time to do everything. I don't want to be staying up late to try to squeeze everything in. Or worse: doing something my body needs a break from and risking injury. The primary goal here is to remain healthy and active long term. So, provided I do something each day, I'm going to call good enough good enough. I'm still more-or-less following the schedule. But there needs to be room to roll with the punches.
writing: looking into some resources gleaned from the con
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 129,190
story-a-week challenge: 37 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 37 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 554,576
deficit: ?
Not a super productive day. I think a lot of sleeping happened. (I really need to stop screwing up my sleep schedule on Sunday nights.)
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Actually fell asleep ~ 9:30 PM. But then got up @ 11:45 and took Shelby for another walk. Didn't do much on my computer after the evening nap. So almost SOOT? But I'm giving myself
s because really, my sleep was pretty screwed up on account of Sunday's late night.Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 22
Consecutive days of French study: 1414
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 10
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Nothing? I don't remember. Probably nothing.
October 1:
Power Builder: Day 6
1000 Calf Raises: Day 1
yoga:
meditation:
running:
hiking: 15 km
wellness workouts:
other stuff: did some hanging in a local park
I decided to add in the October Challenge. Because one can never have too many calf raises in their life.
I also decided to check out the fixed rings in one of the playgrounds Shelby and I pass on one of our hiking routes. There are a lot of really cool children's playgrounds in London. But almost no equipment for adults. This particular playground has monkey bars. But they are so low to the ground, if I dead hang from them, my knees are on the ground! There are, however, some fixed rings I can dead hang from by bending my knees. These rings have a tiny flat spot at the bottom. So they are good for close grip hangs and also parallel grip hangs. I also did some upside down hanging by my knees from the monkey bars as I thought this would feel good for my back. I figured I would be able to just flip out of the hang, since my hands could easily touch the ground while doing it. But the monkey bars were too close together to extricate my feet while in the upside down position. So I had to use the ol' core muscles to lift my torso back up to the bar so I could get my legs off of it!
writing:
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 129,190
story-a-week challenge: 37 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 37 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 556,600
deficit: ?
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 23
Consecutive days of French study: 1415
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 11
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Got sucked into watching the US vice-presidential candidates' debate.
Power Builder: Day 6
1000 Calf Raises: Day 1
yoga:
meditation:
running:
hiking: 15 km
wellness workouts:
other stuff: did some hanging in a local park
I decided to add in the October Challenge. Because one can never have too many calf raises in their life.
I also decided to check out the fixed rings in one of the playgrounds Shelby and I pass on one of our hiking routes. There are a lot of really cool children's playgrounds in London. But almost no equipment for adults. This particular playground has monkey bars. But they are so low to the ground, if I dead hang from them, my knees are on the ground! There are, however, some fixed rings I can dead hang from by bending my knees. These rings have a tiny flat spot at the bottom. So they are good for close grip hangs and also parallel grip hangs. I also did some upside down hanging by my knees from the monkey bars as I thought this would feel good for my back. I figured I would be able to just flip out of the hang, since my hands could easily touch the ground while doing it. But the monkey bars were too close together to extricate my feet while in the upside down position. So I had to use the ol' core muscles to lift my torso back up to the bar so I could get my legs off of it!
writing:
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 129,190
story-a-week challenge: 37 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 37 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 556,600
deficit: ?
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 23
Consecutive days of French study: 1415
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 11
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Got sucked into watching the US vice-presidential candidates' debate.
October 2:
Power Builder:
1000 Calf Raises: Day 2
yoga:
meditation:
dancing: - a wee bit
running:
hiking: 12 km
cycling: 11 km
wellness workouts:
other stuff: more hanging in the park, a few micro pulls
Finally dusted off ye ol' bicycle this day. The tires were a bit low after having sat in my friends' garage for 3 months, and I don't have a tire pump anymore. (Both manual pumps I used to have broke while I was living in the Booming Metropolis. I do still have a power pump that plugs into a car cigarette lighter. But I no longer have a car.) Fortunately London has bicycle repair stations throughout the city which include pumps, and there is one only two blocks from where I live. (Lots of cyclists in the village!) So I pumped my tires. Headed off to a grocery store. This store is ~ 5 km from where I live, so having the bike to get there really speeds things up. (There is a grocery store in the village, less than 500 m from where I live. But it's expensive and doesn't have a huge selection. There is another discount grocery store ~ 2.5 km away. But even it is more expensive than the further away store and doesn't have as much selection.)
Both discount stores are uphill from where I live, which is nice. I have to work to get there, while I'm nice and fresh, but once I'm laden down with groceries I can pretty much coast home. On the way home this day, it was rush hour. My first time riding in actual traffic in 17 years! And I did not die. Made a left turn from a major road onto another major road and still did not die. Signalled. Took the lane. The motorized vehicles respected me. It was awesome. This is the good news.
The not-so-good news is that my chain came off three times, and one of my brake lines snapped. Now I need to add "learn bike repair & maintenance" to my to-do list.
Tried some pulls in the park this morning and learned I can get a couple inches of lift from a dead hang with both parallel grip and close forward grip hand positions.
writing:
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 129,190
story-a-week challenge: 37 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 37 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 558,624
deficit: ?
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 24
Consecutive days of French study: 1416
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 12
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Some change of address stuff.
Power Builder:
1000 Calf Raises: Day 2
yoga:
meditation:
dancing:
- a wee bitrunning:
hiking: 12 km
cycling: 11 km
wellness workouts:
other stuff: more hanging in the park, a few micro pulls
Finally dusted off ye ol' bicycle this day. The tires were a bit low after having sat in my friends' garage for 3 months, and I don't have a tire pump anymore. (Both manual pumps I used to have broke while I was living in the Booming Metropolis. I do still have a power pump that plugs into a car cigarette lighter. But I no longer have a car.) Fortunately London has bicycle repair stations throughout the city which include pumps, and there is one only two blocks from where I live. (Lots of cyclists in the village!) So I pumped my tires. Headed off to a grocery store. This store is ~ 5 km from where I live, so having the bike to get there really speeds things up. (There is a grocery store in the village, less than 500 m from where I live. But it's expensive and doesn't have a huge selection. There is another discount grocery store ~ 2.5 km away. But even it is more expensive than the further away store and doesn't have as much selection.)
Both discount stores are uphill from where I live, which is nice. I have to work to get there, while I'm nice and fresh, but once I'm laden down with groceries I can pretty much coast home. On the way home this day, it was rush hour. My first time riding in actual traffic in 17 years! And I did not die. Made a left turn from a major road onto another major road and still did not die. Signalled. Took the lane. The motorized vehicles respected me. It was awesome. This is the good news.
The not-so-good news is that my chain came off three times, and one of my brake lines snapped. Now I need to add "learn bike repair & maintenance" to my to-do list.
Tried some pulls in the park this morning and learned I can get a couple inches of lift from a dead hang with both parallel grip and close forward grip hand positions.
writing:
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 129,190
story-a-week challenge: 37 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 37 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 558,624
deficit: ?
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 24
Consecutive days of French study: 1416
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 12
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Some change of address stuff.
October 3:
Power Builder:
1000 Calf Raises: Day 3
yoga:
meditation:
running:
hiking: 13 km
wellness workouts:
Bit of a slacker day. Shelby and I hiked to our local ESA. So no playground for hanging, but we spent some time watching the birds and turtles.
writing:
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 129,190
story-a-week challenge: 37 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 37 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 560,648
deficit: ?
I really need to get with the program and start tracking my non-fiction words again or else just accept that challenge is a write-off for this year and drop it.
I also need to get with the program re: working on my fiction writing more consistently. (I'm still busy with other things at the moment though.)
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 25
Consecutive days of French study: 1417
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 13
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Found my postage stamps. Then mailed off the PO Box key from the old house which I had forgotten to return before I left town. Made plans with a friend for a grocery shopping trip for my house-warming party. (Carrying home enough groceries on my back to cook a feast is tough. So I try to get a friend with a car to help with that job.) The house-warming isn't happening until November 2. But the reason it's that late is because the friend who is helping me with the grocery run, and her husband (who is the friend who drove the moving truck for me and helped with the heavy lifting), are out of town for pretty much the entire month of October. So plans needed to be made now.
I also (I think) got caught up on all of your check-in threads. (I was only able to read the most recent page of entries in most cases. But I think I'm at least back to the point where the Hive software will notify me of new entries going forward again.)
Power Builder:
1000 Calf Raises: Day 3
yoga:
meditation:
running:
hiking: 13 km
wellness workouts:
Bit of a slacker day. Shelby and I hiked to our local ESA. So no playground for hanging, but we spent some time watching the birds and turtles.
writing:
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 129,190
story-a-week challenge: 37 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 37 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 560,648
deficit: ?
I really need to get with the program and start tracking my non-fiction words again or else just accept that challenge is a write-off for this year and drop it.
I also need to get with the program re: working on my fiction writing more consistently. (I'm still busy with other things at the moment though.)
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 25
Consecutive days of French study: 1417
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 13
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Found my postage stamps. Then mailed off the PO Box key from the old house which I had forgotten to return before I left town. Made plans with a friend for a grocery shopping trip for my house-warming party. (Carrying home enough groceries on my back to cook a feast is tough. So I try to get a friend with a car to help with that job.) The house-warming isn't happening until November 2. But the reason it's that late is because the friend who is helping me with the grocery run, and her husband (who is the friend who drove the moving truck for me and helped with the heavy lifting), are out of town for pretty much the entire month of October. So plans needed to be made now.
I also (I think) got caught up on all of your check-in threads. (I was only able to read the most recent page of entries in most cases. But I think I'm at least back to the point where the Hive software will notify me of new entries going forward again.)
October 4:
Power Builder: - taking a break to heal minor injuries
1000 Calf Raises: Day 4
yoga:
meditation:
running: 6K with OSRB
hiking: 13.5 km
wellness workouts:
other stuff: hanging in the park, micro pulls, hanging knee-ups - need to take a break from this for a bit too
A new person came out to the OSRB group run today who is a good fit for me for a leisure run. We were easily able to match pace with one another, not working too hard but not purposefully trying to run slowly either. We did the full 6K together, chatting and enjoying the run and being outside in gloriously fall-like weather.
My back is still a little bit jacked, and also my left calf (which I tweaked during the final 100 m of Monday's run). Running does not seem to make either injury worse. But stretching does. So I'm going to lay off the hanging for a bit and also avoid back and calf stretches. I'll just do dynamic warm-ups and cool downs for my runs. I'll take a short hiatus from Power Builder too. (I don't think either of these injuries is serious at the moment. But I screwed my back up royally the last time it felt like this and I failed to take a break from activities that were exacerbating the injury. I'm not keen to make that mistake again!)
writing: coursework: How to Write Short Stories
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 129,190
story-a-week challenge: 37 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 37 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 562,672
deficit: ?
I've decided to review materials from a writing course I purchased a while back because it includes some good material on generating fresh ideas quickly. Which I want to do. Stress and other demands on my time had pushed me into a rut of writing in the same universe every week for my story-a-week challenge. I want to break out of that and get back to writing fresh ideas.
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 26
Consecutive days of French study: 1418
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 14
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Not a lot. Sorted through some papers.
Power Builder:
- taking a break to heal minor injuries1000 Calf Raises: Day 4
yoga:
meditation:
running: 6K with OSRB
hiking: 13.5 km
wellness workouts:
other stuff: hanging in the park, micro pulls, hanging knee-ups - need to take a break from this for a bit too
A new person came out to the OSRB group run today who is a good fit for me for a leisure run. We were easily able to match pace with one another, not working too hard but not purposefully trying to run slowly either. We did the full 6K together, chatting and enjoying the run and being outside in gloriously fall-like weather.
My back is still a little bit jacked, and also my left calf (which I tweaked during the final 100 m of Monday's run). Running does not seem to make either injury worse. But stretching does. So I'm going to lay off the hanging for a bit and also avoid back and calf stretches. I'll just do dynamic warm-ups and cool downs for my runs. I'll take a short hiatus from Power Builder too. (I don't think either of these injuries is serious at the moment. But I screwed my back up royally the last time it felt like this and I failed to take a break from activities that were exacerbating the injury. I'm not keen to make that mistake again!)
writing: coursework: How to Write Short Stories
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 129,190
story-a-week challenge: 37 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 37 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 562,672
deficit: ?
I've decided to review materials from a writing course I purchased a while back because it includes some good material on generating fresh ideas quickly. Which I want to do. Stress and other demands on my time had pushed me into a rut of writing in the same universe every week for my story-a-week challenge. I want to break out of that and get back to writing fresh ideas.
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 26
Consecutive days of French study: 1418
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 14
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Not a lot. Sorted through some papers.
October 5:
Power Builder: - taking a break to heal minor injuries
1000 Calf Raises: Day 5
yoga:
meditation:
running:
hiking: 7.7 km
wellness workouts:
writing: coursework: How to Write Short Stories
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 129,190
story-a-week challenge: 37 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 37 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 564,696
deficit: ?
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 27
Consecutive days of French study: 1419
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 15
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: A bunch of organizing: clearing stuff out of my dance hall (the room where everything was dumped initially) and moving it into proper storage spaces. There's still a lot left to do. (How did I acquire so much stuff?) And not a lot of space left to put everything into. But I did make good progress this day.
Power Builder:
- taking a break to heal minor injuries1000 Calf Raises: Day 5
yoga:
meditation:
running:
hiking: 7.7 km
wellness workouts:
writing: coursework: How to Write Short Stories
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 129,190
story-a-week challenge: 37 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 37 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 564,696
deficit: ?
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 27
Consecutive days of French study: 1419
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 15
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: A bunch of organizing: clearing stuff out of my dance hall (the room where everything was dumped initially) and moving it into proper storage spaces. There's still a lot left to do. (How did I acquire so much stuff?) And not a lot of space left to put everything into. But I did make good progress this day.
TopNotch
Well-known member
I ask myself that question. Where did it all come from? And how much can fit in my little house?!
All of my physical possessions are now inside my apartment. But a lot of them are still cluttering up the room I intend to leave empty of things so I can use it for dancing/yoga/working out. And the supposed guest room is still too cluttered to set up the bed in there. Still work to do. But we'll get there!
Last edited:
October 6:
Power Builder: - taking a break to heal minor injuries
1000 Calf Raises: Day 6
yoga:
meditation:
running:
hiking: 19 km
wellness workouts:
writing: DreamCasters meeting, short story
new fiction words: 2463
fiction YTD: 131,653
story-a-week challenge: 38 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 38 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 566,720
deficit: ?
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 28
Consecutive days of French study: 1420
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 16
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Nothing.
Poor Shelby had a rough day. Funky bum all day. And now that we live in rental housing, she can no longer just go outside in her own yard when she is feeling the need. Every instance requires a trip to a public waste receptacle, the closest of which is 400 metres from our home. Not bad on a normal, two-poops-a-day kind of day. But tiring when you need to go ten times over the course of thirteen hours. And when you need to get up at 5:30 AM to go, after not having gone to bed until 2:30 AM. And when even these short walks take a long time because the clean-ups are messy, and Laura is having to do most of them by the light of her wristwatch. Also: it takes humans a long time to get ready to go for a walk--especially when the temperature plummets 15C over the course of half a day, so they need to wear different clothing for every trip. This is stressful when you really, really need to go NOW.
Power Builder:
- taking a break to heal minor injuries1000 Calf Raises: Day 6
yoga:
meditation:
running:
hiking: 19 km
wellness workouts:
writing: DreamCasters meeting, short story
new fiction words: 2463
fiction YTD: 131,653
story-a-week challenge: 38 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 38 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 566,720
deficit: ?
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 28
Consecutive days of French study: 1420
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 16
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Nothing.
Poor Shelby had a rough day. Funky bum all day. And now that we live in rental housing, she can no longer just go outside in her own yard when she is feeling the need. Every instance requires a trip to a public waste receptacle, the closest of which is 400 metres from our home. Not bad on a normal, two-poops-a-day kind of day. But tiring when you need to go ten times over the course of thirteen hours. And when you need to get up at 5:30 AM to go, after not having gone to bed until 2:30 AM. And when even these short walks take a long time because the clean-ups are messy, and Laura is having to do most of them by the light of her wristwatch. Also: it takes humans a long time to get ready to go for a walk--especially when the temperature plummets 15C over the course of half a day, so they need to wear different clothing for every trip. This is stressful when you really, really need to go NOW.
Lady Celerity
Well-known member
from
The Woods. NorCal
Posts: 861
"..one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on.."
for Shelby
MadamMeow
Well-known member
Fae
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,586
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,586
"I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time, but Im too young to worry..."
Poor Shelby (and poor mom of course)! Hope she feels better tomorrow!
@Lady Celerity @MadamMeow thank you.
We had some pumpkin on our dinner last night, and again today with both breakfast and dinner, and already things are improving.
We're going to head out for our bedtime walk now and hopefully will be able to get a good night's sleep afterward.
We had some pumpkin on our dinner last night, and again today with both breakfast and dinner, and already things are improving.
We're going to head out for our bedtime walk now and hopefully will be able to get a good night's sleep afterward.
PetiteSheWolf
Well-known member
Mademoiselle Luna sends feel-better purrs to Shelby.
October 7:
Power Builder: - taking a break to heal minor injuries
1000 Calf Raises: Day 7
yoga:
meditation:
running: 6K with OSRB
hiking: 11.2 km
wellness workouts:
Now it looks like there is one person coming out to Monday group runs who is a good speed for me, and another person who comes out on Fridays who is a good speed for me. Yeah! My calf is still a bit tweaky. It's not too bad. But I feel it when I'm running. So still being a bit careful. (I am still doing the Calf Raises challenge because I can actually complete it one-legged if needs be. I might need to repeat the challenge next month on my left leg, if that ends up happening. But for now I'm just letting my right leg do most of the work. We'll see how this goes over the next week or so.)
writing: character development, brainstorming
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 131,653
story-a-week challenge: 38 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 38 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 568,744
deficit: ?
Saw a couple of interesting characters on Shelby's and my walks through the Village this past week. One: a guy on roller blades, skating down the road, wearing a kilt and playing a guitar. Two: a young woman in a bus shelter @ 2AM, not waiting for a bus (they don't run that late here) or huddled against the cold or trying to catch some sleep in a sheltered location, but sitting on the concrete ground, facing the shelter's bench, and laying out things from her bag onto the bench. I did not see what specifically she was laying out on the bench, but from her body language I got the impression she was setting out pottery to serve a formal tea. Now my mind is spinning me ideas for what types of stories these two characters might tell.
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 29
Consecutive days of French study: 1421
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 17
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 1
Move-in progress: Nothing. But we got to bed on time! And we needed it. Got a full night's sleep. Slept in this morning, even. Shelby was eager for breakfast today, but then lay down on the futon beside my desk and went right back to sleep after. It's after 10:30 AM here as I write this, we've not been out for a walk yet today, and Shelby seems perfectly fine with this. We are definitely catching up on missed sleep but otherwise feeling good again.
Power Builder:
- taking a break to heal minor injuries1000 Calf Raises: Day 7
yoga:
meditation:
running: 6K with OSRB
hiking: 11.2 km
wellness workouts:
Now it looks like there is one person coming out to Monday group runs who is a good speed for me, and another person who comes out on Fridays who is a good speed for me. Yeah! My calf is still a bit tweaky. It's not too bad. But I feel it when I'm running. So still being a bit careful. (I am still doing the Calf Raises challenge because I can actually complete it one-legged if needs be. I might need to repeat the challenge next month on my left leg, if that ends up happening. But for now I'm just letting my right leg do most of the work. We'll see how this goes over the next week or so.)
writing: character development, brainstorming
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 131,653
story-a-week challenge: 38 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 38 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 568,744
deficit: ?
Saw a couple of interesting characters on Shelby's and my walks through the Village this past week. One: a guy on roller blades, skating down the road, wearing a kilt and playing a guitar. Two: a young woman in a bus shelter @ 2AM, not waiting for a bus (they don't run that late here) or huddled against the cold or trying to catch some sleep in a sheltered location, but sitting on the concrete ground, facing the shelter's bench, and laying out things from her bag onto the bench. I did not see what specifically she was laying out on the bench, but from her body language I got the impression she was setting out pottery to serve a formal tea. Now my mind is spinning me ideas for what types of stories these two characters might tell.
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 29
Consecutive days of French study: 1421
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 17
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 1
Move-in progress: Nothing. But we got to bed on time! And we needed it. Got a full night's sleep. Slept in this morning, even. Shelby was eager for breakfast today, but then lay down on the futon beside my desk and went right back to sleep after. It's after 10:30 AM here as I write this, we've not been out for a walk yet today, and Shelby seems perfectly fine with this. We are definitely catching up on missed sleep but otherwise feeling good again.
Merci, Luna.
We have healthy pooping!
Sólveig
Well-known member
from
#ShelbyPooped ! 
PetiteSheWolf
Well-known member
Ha ha, kitty vibes worked, LOL! And yeah, funny how your environment, when looked at with care, can give you story starters 
Run with those ideas, Dragon!
Run with those ideas, Dragon!
October 8:
Power Builder: - taking a break to heal minor injuries
1000 Calf Raises: Day 8
yoga:
meditation:
running:
hiking: 7.3 km
wellness workouts:
Back is feeling mostly better. Left calf not so much. (It is fine for walking. Uphill, downhill, long walks, no problem. But I feel it during running and calf raises.) I need to figure out some routines so I can start doing more without doing more damage.
writing: character development, brainstorming
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 131,653
story-a-week challenge: 38 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 38 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 570,768
deficit: ?
A bit more work on my new characters, but mostly a slacker day.
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 30
Consecutive days of French study: 1422
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 18
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 2
Move-in progress: Nothing. Again.
Shelby and I really need to stop being so social.
On Monday morning I had intended for us to do only our short (3K) neighbourhood walk because of Shelby being so tired from the day before, and me needing to get a lot of work done. But on that walk we encountered a couple of women standing out on the sidewalk talking who wanted to greet Shelby. Well Shelby is always up for meeting new friends. So first she made her acquaintance with the one women. We talked for a bit. Then that woman left. Then Shelby made her acquaintance with the second woman. Shelby thought the second woman gave very good massages. So she sat down to better enjoy the massage. The lady leaned over to keep petting Shelby. So Shelby lay down. This was an older lady, now completely doubled over, so she could continue to pet my lazy dog who was lying on the sidewalk lapping it all up. This went on for at least 15 minutes until I, afraid for the health of this poor woman's back, told Shelby we needed to move on.
On Tuesday, the walk distraction was my fault. We'd decided to go to our local conservation area. This is an area that was newly designated as an ESA while I was living in the Booming Metropolis. But when I had lived in Wortley Village before, I had been a member of the group that was trying to get the area protected. Well on this day's walk we'd stopped at a lookout point on the ESA trail and were admiring a great blue heron who was fishing there, when another hiker came along and asked if I'd seen anything interesting. So I pointed out the heron to him. We got to talking. Turns out this guy was also involved with the group working to protect the area while I was away and had been involved with the rehab of the area and development of the trails once it received the ESA designation. Also turns out the guy was born in the same county in England as I was. And that we shared other similar socio-political interests. Three hours later...
In sixteen years of living in the Booming Metropolis I only ever met one other person there I could discuss socio-political concerns with for longer than 5 minutes without wanting to rip my hair out. And he also has a large-breed dog. So we talked while walking our dogs together, not just standing around. Plus: we weren't out at the same time as each other every day. So a lot of days it was just Shelby and me out doing our own thing and then getting back home to work. But now that we're in London we meet interesting people pretty much every time we step foot outside our apartment. We really must learn to just say hello and keep on going. (At least some of the time.)
In other news: my mother's house is finally on the market. For a (hopefully limited) time, you can now see photographs of the place both Shelby and I lived in for longer than anywhere else in our lives. (Ugh!
) Sadly, most of the beautiful native plants the birds and I had planted together there have been ripped out. The ridiculously large monoculture lawn is what realtors believe home buyers in Canada value.
Power Builder:
- taking a break to heal minor injuries1000 Calf Raises: Day 8
yoga:
meditation:
running:
hiking: 7.3 km
wellness workouts:
Back is feeling mostly better. Left calf not so much. (It is fine for walking. Uphill, downhill, long walks, no problem. But I feel it during running and calf raises.) I need to figure out some routines so I can start doing more without doing more damage.
writing: character development, brainstorming
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 131,653
story-a-week challenge: 38 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 38 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 570,768
deficit: ?
A bit more work on my new characters, but mostly a slacker day.
French: CBC Gem
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 30
Consecutive days of French study: 1422
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 18
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 2
Move-in progress: Nothing. Again.
Shelby and I really need to stop being so social.
On Monday morning I had intended for us to do only our short (3K) neighbourhood walk because of Shelby being so tired from the day before, and me needing to get a lot of work done. But on that walk we encountered a couple of women standing out on the sidewalk talking who wanted to greet Shelby. Well Shelby is always up for meeting new friends. So first she made her acquaintance with the one women. We talked for a bit. Then that woman left. Then Shelby made her acquaintance with the second woman. Shelby thought the second woman gave very good massages. So she sat down to better enjoy the massage. The lady leaned over to keep petting Shelby. So Shelby lay down. This was an older lady, now completely doubled over, so she could continue to pet my lazy dog who was lying on the sidewalk lapping it all up. This went on for at least 15 minutes until I, afraid for the health of this poor woman's back, told Shelby we needed to move on.
On Tuesday, the walk distraction was my fault. We'd decided to go to our local conservation area. This is an area that was newly designated as an ESA while I was living in the Booming Metropolis. But when I had lived in Wortley Village before, I had been a member of the group that was trying to get the area protected. Well on this day's walk we'd stopped at a lookout point on the ESA trail and were admiring a great blue heron who was fishing there, when another hiker came along and asked if I'd seen anything interesting. So I pointed out the heron to him. We got to talking. Turns out this guy was also involved with the group working to protect the area while I was away and had been involved with the rehab of the area and development of the trails once it received the ESA designation. Also turns out the guy was born in the same county in England as I was. And that we shared other similar socio-political interests. Three hours later...
In sixteen years of living in the Booming Metropolis I only ever met one other person there I could discuss socio-political concerns with for longer than 5 minutes without wanting to rip my hair out. And he also has a large-breed dog. So we talked while walking our dogs together, not just standing around. Plus: we weren't out at the same time as each other every day. So a lot of days it was just Shelby and me out doing our own thing and then getting back home to work. But now that we're in London we meet interesting people pretty much every time we step foot outside our apartment. We really must learn to just say hello and keep on going. (At least some of the time.)
In other news: my mother's house is finally on the market. For a (hopefully limited) time, you can now see photographs of the place both Shelby and I lived in for longer than anywhere else in our lives. (Ugh!
) Sadly, most of the beautiful native plants the birds and I had planted together there have been ripped out. The ridiculously large monoculture lawn is what realtors believe home buyers in Canada value.
October 9:
Power Builder: - taking a break to heal minor injuries
1000 Calf Raises: Day 9
yoga: 10 min.
meditation: 10 min.
running:
hiking: 18.3 km
wellness workouts:
This day Shelby and I hiked to London's "best and only dedicated calisthenics option" (according to the review on the only site I found that suggests London has outdoor fitness parks at all). I actually missed the park because the road in front of it was closed due to construction. So Shelby and I hiked way too far north. I wasn't certain exactly which block the park was located on, but figured eventually we had to have gone too far. So we hiked another block east, then turned back south and found the park from the other side.
It's not a dedicated calisthenics park at all. It's just yet another children's playground with monkey bars. In this park the monkey bars are at least high enough off the ground an adult could hang from them. But considering how far away this park is from us, and the fact that the walk there is not very pleasant (and there are so many other walks we can do from our neighbourhood that are), I don't think I'll go back.
Bonus fail: the review I found of this park also said it had washroom facilities. But when we were there, they were locked. I considered asking the crew working the construction site if I could use their port-a-john. But given the lack of hand-washing facility there, I decided discretion (and strong kegels) might be the better part of valour. I almost regretted that decision as there were no other public washrooms (or sheltered enough places for squatting in the bush) anywhere nearby. Nothing until we got all the way back to the public washroom at the forks.
The facility at the forks fortunately has a hitching post immediately outside the washroom door. So I left Shelby there while I went in. Most people will either ignore or be friendly towards a dog tied up outside a public space, waiting for its human to return. And I know Shelby will be friendly to any humans who approach her. But one does hear stories of bad actors on occasion. So I never leave Shelby alone in public anyplace where I cannot at least hear what is going on and run to the rescue (with pants down, if necessary) if there is any trouble. Fortunately, all I heard on this occasion was one lady talking nicely to Shelby, who had the good sense even not to approach her until I came out and said it was okay.
Super Shelby bonus: The fastest route back to the toilets at the forks involved going down a long, steep, metal grate staircase. I was prepared to go around the longer way if Shelby balked at doing this. But she took those stairs like a champ. They did not slow her down one bit. My dog is awesome!
writing:
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 131,653
story-a-week challenge: 38 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 38 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 572,792
deficit: ?
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT - Was actually in bed on time. But then I stayed up and played Wingspan. 
Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 31
Consecutive days of French study: 1423
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 19
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Some unpacking.
I also finally made it down to Covent Garden Market this day. I used to work in the building next door to the market back in the day, and went there often. There used to be a bakery in the market where one could purchase not-very-healthy but very-delicious cakes, as well as fancy quiches and other savoury fares. There was also another bakery there that sold very nice specialty breads (fancy stuffed breads and focaccias) and muffins. There was a cheese shop with a huge selection of cheeses from all over the world, including cheese from my home county of Lancashire, and a pasta shop that sold a variety of fresh-made noodles and some specialty dips. The place where I used to get basil for $2 for a huge bag was in that market. There were food vendors where one could grab a quick and inexpensive lunch too.
After I left London the market was closed for a time for renovations. I had heard that not all of the old vendors came back once it finally re-opened. I had heard that what did return was not the same as before. But I decided to go give the place a look-see all the same.
Well... I can no longer afford to purchase anything in Covent Garden Market. The spinach and feta burek that used to sell for $2 is now $6.50. The falafel wraps that used to sell for $2 are now $7. The place with the quiches and gourmet cakes isn't there anymore. Which is probably just as well as I'm sure I couldn't afford to shop there now anyhow. The other bakery is there, but their selection was much less than I remembered and their prices 3x higher. The place that used to sell me basil now sells tiny little pots of the stuff for $6 a pot. The only "Lancashire" cheese the cheese shop has now is that weird "creamy Lancashire" that is nothing like the sharp, crumbly cheese they made in Lancashire county in my youth. The pasta place was always expensive, but now? There's just no way I could justify the expense. The places there now that sell baked goods are selling muffins for $5 each, and tiny little slices of cake for $7-8. The gourmet ice cream stand charges $5 for one scoop.
I'm going to need to get my act together and actually start cooking 100% homemade again. (Which isn't a bad thing.)
Power Builder:
- taking a break to heal minor injuries1000 Calf Raises: Day 9
yoga: 10 min.
meditation: 10 min.
running:
hiking: 18.3 km
wellness workouts:
This day Shelby and I hiked to London's "best and only dedicated calisthenics option" (according to the review on the only site I found that suggests London has outdoor fitness parks at all). I actually missed the park because the road in front of it was closed due to construction. So Shelby and I hiked way too far north. I wasn't certain exactly which block the park was located on, but figured eventually we had to have gone too far. So we hiked another block east, then turned back south and found the park from the other side.
It's not a dedicated calisthenics park at all. It's just yet another children's playground with monkey bars. In this park the monkey bars are at least high enough off the ground an adult could hang from them. But considering how far away this park is from us, and the fact that the walk there is not very pleasant (and there are so many other walks we can do from our neighbourhood that are), I don't think I'll go back.
Bonus fail: the review I found of this park also said it had washroom facilities. But when we were there, they were locked. I considered asking the crew working the construction site if I could use their port-a-john. But given the lack of hand-washing facility there, I decided discretion (and strong kegels) might be the better part of valour. I almost regretted that decision as there were no other public washrooms (or sheltered enough places for squatting in the bush) anywhere nearby. Nothing until we got all the way back to the public washroom at the forks.
The facility at the forks fortunately has a hitching post immediately outside the washroom door. So I left Shelby there while I went in. Most people will either ignore or be friendly towards a dog tied up outside a public space, waiting for its human to return. And I know Shelby will be friendly to any humans who approach her. But one does hear stories of bad actors on occasion. So I never leave Shelby alone in public anyplace where I cannot at least hear what is going on and run to the rescue (with pants down, if necessary) if there is any trouble. Fortunately, all I heard on this occasion was one lady talking nicely to Shelby, who had the good sense even not to approach her until I came out and said it was okay.
Super Shelby bonus: The fastest route back to the toilets at the forks involved going down a long, steep, metal grate staircase. I was prepared to go around the longer way if Shelby balked at doing this. But she took those stairs like a champ. They did not slow her down one bit. My dog is awesome!
writing:
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 131,653
story-a-week challenge: 38 of 52 completed
54 stories in my 54th year challenge: 38 of 54 completed
new consumable words: ?
consumable YTD: ?
target YTD for 2024 words a day in 2024: 572,792
deficit: ?
French: Fluenz
GOBOT
SOOT
GBOT
- Was actually in bed on time. But then I stayed up and played Wingspan. Streaks:
Consecutive days of working out: 31
Consecutive days of French study: 1423
Consecutive days of no solo video games: 19
Consecutive days of SOOT: 0
Consecutive days of GBOT: 0
Move-in progress: Some unpacking.
I also finally made it down to Covent Garden Market this day. I used to work in the building next door to the market back in the day, and went there often. There used to be a bakery in the market where one could purchase not-very-healthy but very-delicious cakes, as well as fancy quiches and other savoury fares. There was also another bakery there that sold very nice specialty breads (fancy stuffed breads and focaccias) and muffins. There was a cheese shop with a huge selection of cheeses from all over the world, including cheese from my home county of Lancashire, and a pasta shop that sold a variety of fresh-made noodles and some specialty dips. The place where I used to get basil for $2 for a huge bag was in that market. There were food vendors where one could grab a quick and inexpensive lunch too.
After I left London the market was closed for a time for renovations. I had heard that not all of the old vendors came back once it finally re-opened. I had heard that what did return was not the same as before. But I decided to go give the place a look-see all the same.
Well... I can no longer afford to purchase anything in Covent Garden Market. The spinach and feta burek that used to sell for $2 is now $6.50. The falafel wraps that used to sell for $2 are now $7. The place with the quiches and gourmet cakes isn't there anymore. Which is probably just as well as I'm sure I couldn't afford to shop there now anyhow. The other bakery is there, but their selection was much less than I remembered and their prices 3x higher. The place that used to sell me basil now sells tiny little pots of the stuff for $6 a pot. The only "Lancashire" cheese the cheese shop has now is that weird "creamy Lancashire" that is nothing like the sharp, crumbly cheese they made in Lancashire county in my youth. The pasta place was always expensive, but now? There's just no way I could justify the expense. The places there now that sell baked goods are selling muffins for $5 each, and tiny little slices of cake for $7-8. The gourmet ice cream stand charges $5 for one scoop.
I'm going to need to get my act together and actually start cooking 100% homemade again. (Which isn't a bad thing.)