Tag: being silly

Watch me whip…

and watch me cry, cry. Today, as my brother put it, I was, “Both taking lashings and jump roping; aka [doing] dubs!” I took the time and had the energy to go pull out my outdoor yoga mat, and to set up my brand new, personalized jump rope (no kidding, it was expensive). I have gotten it almost to the right length, but I’m not sure it’s there yet. Nonetheless, I learned the valuable lesson that wearing sweatpants while jumping makes a hugely positive difference in not getting painfully whipped all over my legs. However, having long hair and being shirtless compensated for the saved whips – my hair actually hit the rope a few times, causing it to whip into my back and the back of my arm. Plus, I somehow got my hands and the tops of my forearms a lot. My shoes were surprisingly minimal today, though. (But definitely not fully safe – they totally got whipped a few times, and super painfully so.) Afterward, I was marked up as though I had a slightly crazy cat living with me, including one bruise I just now found on my lower ankle.

All in all, it was a really good time. adjusting and using my new jump rope. I actually got to a point where they are starting to click rather easily. I just have to work on the energy and momentum part of it all now, because I tire rather easily from them still. But they are loads easier with a rope that not only fits me but that is also awesomely designed for doing double-unders.

Thank you, RPM, for your lovely craft and product. I love my new speed rope!

Post-a-day 2021

^Easy

Light…

Painting. We did some tonight! AND we used lightsabers. Because why would we not?

I am beyond excited to check out the photos tomorrow, after I’ve gotten some sleep. I pray it be intensely restful sleep for me tonight.

Post-a-day 2021

^Had to think about it, but got it easily when I did

Beach fog

My mom and I went for a walk on the beach this afternoon/evening, as a way of closing out the daytime for today. Although bidding farewell-until-the-morrow to a sun that hasn’t been technically visible all day is a bit odd, it didn’t stop us.

The fog, however, almost did.

I had measured distances to various things yesterday, and we found today that a certain spot that was .19 miles away, straight up the beach, was not visible. That set the visibility at about .18 miles this evening.

It was almost spooky, but that it didn’t feel spooky; it just looked it.

See how the world just seems to end? The typically seemingly infinite beach is short; it is blocked by fog.

An unexpected result of this walk on the beach, however, came after about twenty minutes of walking.

I turned to my mom, and, seeing her hair soaked, asked her what on Earth she had done – it looked like she’d been splashed by a wave. Seeing as how she’d been seeking and picking up seashells, it wouldn’t have surprised me if she had been splashed by a wave while picking up something. However, she replied that she hadn’t done that, hadn’t had that happen. So, what was the deal, then? Why was her hair soaked?

That’s how thick and dense this fog was – it was clinging to her hair, soaking it. I asked if mine was the same, and she said it was.

We took a picture to document the absurdity of our walk on a not-rainy day at the beach. By the time we were walking home, we were wiping soaking wet eyebrows and eyelashes, too.

Post-a-day 2021

^Whoo! Just barely!

Late-night nerves

I truly do not understand how I have gotten myself yet again into a situation where I have what feels like a bajillion things to do before 11 AM, noon as the stretch. Major face palm here. It is close to midnight, and my alarm is sounding at 4:20… What am I doing? I’m about to age another year forward. One might think I had my life better sorted than this.

Oh, well… so it goes. I guess, at the very least, it is good to see that I am still so optimistic about my ability to accomplish things in a limited period of time.

Post-a-day 2021

^!!!

“Barnard Thompson”

21:01 on 2/21/21, a baby was born. This was also Santa Anna’s birthday. That shall make it quite easy for me to remember in the future. 🙂

Odd how seventh grade Texas History is proving so valuable in such a unique place in my life. 😛

P.S. That’s just what I’ve been calling the baby. I have no idea what its given name actually will be. In my mind, he shall always be Barnard Thompson, because that’s what he’s been for so long. 😂

Post-a-day 2021

Food for Thought… or naught(y)

I have just had another few sips/gulps from my freshly-made berry-veggie smoothie.  It is delicious.  But it is not fulfilling what my body needs, somehow – it is not entirely what I want.  It has helped, but it is not sufficient.

As I walk into the pantry, I sigh and ask aloud, “What do I want?… Ugh… I want….” My arms have moved outward and curved downward as the end to the last sentence.  In my peripheral vision, I see that my hands are cupping gently and loosely the area just in front of my pelvis, in front of my uterus and groin.  I say, without having thought about it, “I want warm sex?” and then give a soft snort-sigh at the absurdity of my statement.  I am here for food.  That isn’t food.

Hmm…

Is it?

I consider this a few moments, and then jump further into the absurd: What food is warm, satisfying sex?, I ask myself in my head, as though there were a cookbook somewhere with this information listed, and I am aiming to recall what foods are on the list, like proteins or vitamin-B-rich foods.

To my astonishment, after a few moments, I say, “A soupy broth, poured over a pile…bowl of deeply spiced, veggie-filled, hot quinoa.  Hot.”

Yeah, my thoughts tell me, that’s it.

And I think they must be right.  After all, they are the ones who came up with the concept in the first place.

I guess I’m having hot sex… for dinner tonight…?

(If that isn’t roflcopter, I’m not sure what is.)

Post-a-day 2021

^So fantastically easy, I almost forgot even to comment on it or notice!

Accountability, even when freezing

Today took a lot in the tidying work. For one thing, it was ridiculously cold out – seriously, it was -2°C most of the day today, and we even had snow on the ground, and some of it never melted!!! – and that meant it was also cold in the house. So, my body was struggling to find balance in warmth almost all day. That took effort. For another, a creature broke into the walls somehow last night, and CHOMPed away from around 2:00am to just after 7:00am. Vibrating wood reverberations and teeth scratching on wood and all that jazz. And yes, it was right near my bed (a wall or two away, of course, but close enough). It woke me up at about 2:00; kept me up as I looked for a solution for maybe twenty minutes; kept me up another half hour because it was so loud and stress-inducing (because imagine having a wild, potentially-rabid animal break through a wall in the inside of your house – do you really want to wake up to that in the morning?); and then left me in a stress-y half-sleep for the same reasons. I woke up just after 6:00am, totally not rested. But I went outside and played for a bit, and that was fun.

Photos here:

I particularly enjoyed the idea of wearing the unicorn onesie while playing out on the snow. Because that is pure magic right there: a rainbow unicorn playing in the snow in Houston. Nothing about that idea is less than spectacularly magical. And no, I think nobody even saw me, because the world was closed up for the day, and so no one was up yet, let alone going outside yet.

After that, I ate some yummy food – leftovers from my valentine onigiri that I turned into a warm, absurdly satisfying salad – and then went upstairs to get to work. Just after seven, the chomping finally stopped, and I could focus. I got a bit done, but was so sleepy, I ended up getting on my bed for a nap around nine, and slept for just over two hours. Hard. And gratefully so.

Then I tutored and ate, and then got back to work with tidying.

I temporarily put away the DVDs I am keeping, which was super satisfying, and then I made it through all my hair accessories, all my money- and identification-related documents/cards, all my electronics (and cables and all that even-remotely-electrical stuff), and all my cameras and camera-related stuff. I was rather surprised at how much foreign currency I had sitting with my money-related stuff. I kept the individual ones I wanted to keep – because I’ve always loved having actual currency from other nations on hand – and added the rest of the excess to the pile of US money that was ridiculous for me to be keeping sitting around, and the cottage cheese container (previously cleaned out, obviously) filled with about $50 or so of coins, in preparation of a trip to the bank (when the world opens up here again) and a direct deposit into my savings account that I’m not allowed to touch.

I was surprised at how long the first parts of those took me today. I got really weighed down after the important money stuff one. I was standing with my head against the angled ceiling, warming my hands over the oil heater, having an imaginary conversation with… actually, no… I was having a real conversation with an imaginary person, about how I didn’t want to do it anymore – I wanted to curl up with a movie, and maybe even fall asleep for a while and have to watch it again, whenever I woke up. That’s what I felt like doing. That and crying. But I wanted to keep myself accountable to my higher goals and wishes – and so I made myself reach out to my accountability partner.

‘I just want to call someone, and say how much I want to watch a movie and sleep; take a rest from all of this, instead of trekking through any more today,’ I thought to myself, imagining how easy it would be to have the other person agree with me that I deserved a break.

Pause.

‘Well, you do have an accountability partner. Tell her that, and see what she says,’ I thought.

“Ha!”

And so, I had the conversation with myself, taking turns being the one working and the accountability partner, as I had to do so much at the start of all of this. And it was spectacular. She – meaning I – reminded me of why I care about all of this in the first place; of how it’s okay to be scared and terrified; and of how I want to keep my word to myself, especially on this birthday gift to myself. And I still felt heard. She agreed with everything I presented, and understood them and got them completely – like, seriously more than anyone has ever gotten me on something, right? It was very cool. And she also was present to my true intentions, and helped me stick with them. And it took only a few minutes for the whole thing… we just are that much in sync with one another! 😂

Anyway, that bit was the whole point of this today. I went really tangential today. Oh, well… that’s kind of how this whole weekend has felt. Even Monday has been a tangent of the weekend, instead of the start of its own week. 😛

P.S. Did I share this lovely photo of my valentine onigiri skills? They are even pink from beet powder, and 100% Paleo.

Post-a-day 2021

^Only slightly had to think about it

Mardi Gras Fun (Run)

As expected, after my much-needed rest, I was quite willing and able to greet the freezing cold day today. We added on a little extra time to our sleeping, because we were getting to bed so late, and we showed up at the run just before it was supposed to start – only two minutes before packet pick up was scheduled to end, and 17 minutes before the run was to start.

And it was a blast. There were not very many people there – perhaps around 50, and just as many people who did not show up, probably because of the cold. However, that added significantly to the charm of the event and the experience. It made it feel even more like a close-knit family fun event, even though we didn’t know anybody else there. (Although, as it turned out, we did know one of the photographers! I told him that I would love to do volunteer work with him on photography… We shall see what happens there. Fingers crossed!)

For what I believe was the first – and will quite possibly will be the only – Time in my life, I won first place in my age group. That was really exciting. My mom got second place in her age group. I had told her that I had intended to run the whole thing, and not do it with her, mostly walking and running some. However, she somehow thought that I had changed my mind, and was going to stay with her the whole time. So, when it was my turn to start, and I took off running, she called out to me, with obvious slight annoyance at having been left behind. She wasn’t mad, but she was surprised, and it was actually rather funny. After I finished my 5K, though, as my cooldown, I went and joined her on the course, and I finished her 5K with her. So, we got to spend extra time together on the 5K after all.

After the little awards ceremony, we went back to our little motel and took extremely hot and awesome showers, bundled all up again in clean clothes, and headed out to attend the local Mardi Gras parade. It, too, was a total blast, with close-knit family vibes. I also believe that we each got more beads than we have ever gotten at any Mardi Gras event we have ever attended. We were at the very beginning of the parade, all on our own except for one woman and the emergency workers who were waiting for the end of the parade. We were the first attendees that anybody on a float was getting to see after pulling out onto the road, so just about everyone, with extreme excitement, threw an unnecessary number of beads our way. And it was only a 30-minute parade… from the very first vehicle to the very last, it was only 29 minutes. Then, because we had gone all the way to the start, we were able to leave immediately, and not wait for the parade to reach its end destination. So, we headed to the ferry to go across to Galveston Island, and had breakfast at a spot that we like. (We had a bit of a double-take upon arrival to the restaurant, because there was a whole slew of Mardi-Gras-decorated jeeps, just like had been in the parade on Bolivar. Turns out it was a group doing a Mardi Gras pub-crawl-type-thing with all of their decorated jeeps.)

Then we headed home, I did some preparation for our intense freeze that is coming tomorrow night onward, I went to work, I got to go home early from work, I did a little more preparation for the freeze, and now I am about to pass out hard core. It was a wonderful day, I reached my ideal step goal for a day, I had a great time with my mom, and I am super grateful that my bedroom is warm enough for me to sleep in it tonight. We shall see what happens tomorrow, though. Fingers super crossed that all goes well around that.

Post-a-day 2021

^ It wasn’t too bad this time. I mostly remembered.

Dumbassery…?

Have you ever had trouble letting go of something, but haven’t been able to figure out why?

Whenever something bothers me, at some point, I really look to see why it bothers me, and then what I need to do about it either to handle the situation or to let it go / have it no longer bother me.

Something happened this evening at my part-time job that my mind cannot seem to settle about. It feels like I am bothered because I wasn’t trusted, and I was invalidated. Also, I was genuinely correct in my statement of what was the accurate thing to do – of course I verified afterward with the right person, and so I know that I had been accurate. And yet, due to something in how the people with me in the shop took on the situation really bothers me. When I initially mentioned my concern and solution to one person, a superior who is newer, all went well. She wasn’t sure on timing blah-blah-blah, but she accepted easily my reasoning. However, the person who had done the initially incorrect thing that had caused the issue in the first place, came to me later, while I was helping someone, nonetheless, and told me her reasoning for her actions, and also told me that I needed to do the original task – the one that couldn’t be done in the first place. I told her of the reason the task couldn’t be done, and she quickly gave a “solution” for me to do, and walked away before I could finish responding.

I think that’s it – not only did she tell me what to do (yes, we are equals in the store), but she didn’t even stop to hear what I had to say. She was right, and no one else was worth listening to – we weren’t worth her time. That’s what hurt the most; much more than the fact that she was the one who didn’t stop to consider what would be holistically best, and act accordingly, thereby causing the whole issue.

Also, it really pissed me off when people are stupid. And she had acted stupidly. Use your brain, dude. And she hadn’t. Instead, she had acted without wisdom for the act, and then had caused a problem, then made it someone else’s problem to manage, and didn’t even stop to hear what that person was trying to communicate with her.

What’s ironic is that I wasn’t even expecting her to do any further work for the problem. I was going to do it myself. Yet she was acting as though I were forcing her to do more work (although, she had already done more work by doing what had caused the problem in the first place).

Ugh! It just pissed me off when people are stupid and then righteous about their stupidass-ness!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haha

I am genuinely laughing right now, and I feel much better. I think that was the real issue I had here. I had to deal with more work and being disrespected and ignored, and someone’s sassiness, all because of one person’s stupidass-ness and defensive righteousness afterward.

Ugh(!).

I hate stupid people. Go back to school, please, and learn to be a worthy contribution to society. These aren’t the Hunger Games*, folks. Use your brain, not your ego.

And yes, I know there is definitely some ego in this for me – like I said, I was hurt that I was distrusted and all that jazz. And it is difficult for me to love people who do not, in my opinion, act as true people. Our lowest selves, stupidity combined with righteousness, are not easy for me to love right now. I work as a teacher and specifically help students become aware of this state, and to grow out of it. They are willing to listen and to learn, and they develop spectacularly. When I meet adults – I use the term loosely – who never grew out of that, and who are unwilling even to consider that they are even in that, it is very difficult for me. I evaluate so much of my life so much of the time, it is hard for me to be around people who aren’t working to be their best and highest selves in life.

But, as I kept reminding myself this evening, over and over again, Marianne Williamson has a big part of the right of it. By letting our own light shine, we unconsciously allow others to do the same. By being my best and highest self possible, I am encouraging and empowering others, without their knowing, to be their best selves. And acting out in any way negatively does not help that. I certainly had to catch myself several times with that tonight, but I always did rather quickly, and I rebalanced and resettled myself. I am grateful for that success, despite all the rest having been utter nonsense and stupidity.

Haha 😛

*For those who don’t know, the reference is used to suggest that people do not watch for sport other people fight one another to be the last one standing. Aka we aren’t a society that puts value on having people to sacrifice to The Games.

Post-a-day 2021

^Got it!