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Day 42: Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit
Jun. 1st, 2023 10:33 amIt's a new month, so naturally I've loaded up my day to include as many activities as possible to start off on the right foot. I'm honestly not sure if I'll get through all of them, but I'm going to give it the old college try.
First up: exercise and diet. I've been hovering around 210 pounds for a while now, and while weight is only a number I think it's an indication that my caloric intake is higher than it should be. I've noticed that it's a bit harder to kneel or bend, that my ankles complain terribly if I run, and my core is basically a can of cranberry jelly.
I honestly like running, so I'm getting back to that but starting slow. One mile every day until my body tells me I need a rest; every ten days, I'll add a bit more distance. Today I (mostly) ran one mile in 12:17, which is surprisingly close to my normal time! I couldn't keep up the pace for the whole mile though, so that'll be my next milestone.
To keep myself from getting shin splints again, I'm stretching before the run and warming up with a quick walk through the apartment grounds -- about a fifth of a mile, according to my tracker. I'll also be hydrating a lot more because I know I'm not doing myself any favors only drinking caffeinated beverages and alcohol. I'd like to find the happy medium where I'm pushing myself as much as possible but doing my best to avoid an injury that will put me on the shelf for a week or so.
For my diet, I think it's really as simple as eating in more often. R. and I are still making Blue Apron meals four times a week, but I've been pretty bad about satisfying my worst cravings during breakfast and lunch. Being more mindful about what I'm eating is the goal. I'm training myself to check in when I feel the urge to snack so I don't immediately act on that cue. Instead, I'll try to use my snacks as a reward for good behavior. Hit your writing goal? Pushed yourself to run? Hit all six habits today? Then you can have a snack. Bored? Uncomfortable? Stressed? Maybe there's another way to deal with that.
Just to keep on top of things, I'll keep a food log in MyFitnessPal for the month. Just seeing the insane number of calories I'm eating every day has worked pretty well for keeping control of my diet, so we'll see how it works here.
Next up: writing. I've given folks a heads up that I'll be relaunching the Patreon this month with a four-part serial, and today I'll talk a little bit about it. The first part isn't quite ready to post, but if I keep to my schedule it should be good to go by the weekend. I'll also need to update the payment tiers; right now I just want to be consistent with posting and I don't have time to shell out for any extras. Maybe once I get into a good rhythm I can publish more polished stories or other bits of non-fiction for a higher tier, but it'll just be $2/episode and $5/episode for now. I'm not expecting a ton of extra cash from it, but every little bit helps.
Once I'm on a more even footing with the Patreon I'll turn my attention to The Writing Desk blog. I'll spend this month in the background learning a bit about the state of blogging today and get some feedback on how to build something that can also serve as a portfolio. It feels like most blogs have moved to YouTube and other video services, so I'm not sure what actual bloggers are doing right now. Digging into sites like Medium, Pocket, and other places might not be the worst thing.
And of course, there's the D&D game. I'd like to take an "inventory" of dangling plot threads and start working with them to tie the story together. Right now I have a bunch of loose ideas that I'm not sure when to pull the trigger on. Solidifying those a bit so I know what I'm working toward would be really nice, so I'd better get on that in a hurry. That's one good thing about being unemployed -- you actually have time to dig into projects!
The job search is still my top priority, even though I haven't been talking about it a whole lot. I need to create a new job tracker so I can keep tabs on things more easily; now that I'm signed up for CA unemployment I'll need to provide information for the places I've tried every two weeks. It would be nice to mark down what I've sent and where, too. From now on, I'd like to find information about the hiring manager/team for various positions and reach out to them either on LinkedIn or through email.
I've also signed up for the CALJobs website, which has improved greatly since I was last there in 2019. They build a profile of your skills, desires, and values -- then they match those with open positions in their database. I'm getting a lot of social work, health care, and education bids, but I'll need to get a degree to qualify for any of the openings that pay a livable wage. That's the problem.
Tomorrow I'll write a bit more structured entry. Today, I just wanted to free-form what's on the top of my mind.
First up: exercise and diet. I've been hovering around 210 pounds for a while now, and while weight is only a number I think it's an indication that my caloric intake is higher than it should be. I've noticed that it's a bit harder to kneel or bend, that my ankles complain terribly if I run, and my core is basically a can of cranberry jelly.
I honestly like running, so I'm getting back to that but starting slow. One mile every day until my body tells me I need a rest; every ten days, I'll add a bit more distance. Today I (mostly) ran one mile in 12:17, which is surprisingly close to my normal time! I couldn't keep up the pace for the whole mile though, so that'll be my next milestone.
To keep myself from getting shin splints again, I'm stretching before the run and warming up with a quick walk through the apartment grounds -- about a fifth of a mile, according to my tracker. I'll also be hydrating a lot more because I know I'm not doing myself any favors only drinking caffeinated beverages and alcohol. I'd like to find the happy medium where I'm pushing myself as much as possible but doing my best to avoid an injury that will put me on the shelf for a week or so.
For my diet, I think it's really as simple as eating in more often. R. and I are still making Blue Apron meals four times a week, but I've been pretty bad about satisfying my worst cravings during breakfast and lunch. Being more mindful about what I'm eating is the goal. I'm training myself to check in when I feel the urge to snack so I don't immediately act on that cue. Instead, I'll try to use my snacks as a reward for good behavior. Hit your writing goal? Pushed yourself to run? Hit all six habits today? Then you can have a snack. Bored? Uncomfortable? Stressed? Maybe there's another way to deal with that.
Just to keep on top of things, I'll keep a food log in MyFitnessPal for the month. Just seeing the insane number of calories I'm eating every day has worked pretty well for keeping control of my diet, so we'll see how it works here.
Next up: writing. I've given folks a heads up that I'll be relaunching the Patreon this month with a four-part serial, and today I'll talk a little bit about it. The first part isn't quite ready to post, but if I keep to my schedule it should be good to go by the weekend. I'll also need to update the payment tiers; right now I just want to be consistent with posting and I don't have time to shell out for any extras. Maybe once I get into a good rhythm I can publish more polished stories or other bits of non-fiction for a higher tier, but it'll just be $2/episode and $5/episode for now. I'm not expecting a ton of extra cash from it, but every little bit helps.
Once I'm on a more even footing with the Patreon I'll turn my attention to The Writing Desk blog. I'll spend this month in the background learning a bit about the state of blogging today and get some feedback on how to build something that can also serve as a portfolio. It feels like most blogs have moved to YouTube and other video services, so I'm not sure what actual bloggers are doing right now. Digging into sites like Medium, Pocket, and other places might not be the worst thing.
And of course, there's the D&D game. I'd like to take an "inventory" of dangling plot threads and start working with them to tie the story together. Right now I have a bunch of loose ideas that I'm not sure when to pull the trigger on. Solidifying those a bit so I know what I'm working toward would be really nice, so I'd better get on that in a hurry. That's one good thing about being unemployed -- you actually have time to dig into projects!
The job search is still my top priority, even though I haven't been talking about it a whole lot. I need to create a new job tracker so I can keep tabs on things more easily; now that I'm signed up for CA unemployment I'll need to provide information for the places I've tried every two weeks. It would be nice to mark down what I've sent and where, too. From now on, I'd like to find information about the hiring manager/team for various positions and reach out to them either on LinkedIn or through email.
I've also signed up for the CALJobs website, which has improved greatly since I was last there in 2019. They build a profile of your skills, desires, and values -- then they match those with open positions in their database. I'm getting a lot of social work, health care, and education bids, but I'll need to get a degree to qualify for any of the openings that pay a livable wage. That's the problem.
Tomorrow I'll write a bit more structured entry. Today, I just wanted to free-form what's on the top of my mind.
