Body: Healthy (walking, lots of sleep)
Mind: Fascinated (documentaries)
Spirit: Relaxed (lots of family, helped with kittens)
Post-Christmas is going pretty well. It looks like there will be relatively little time in-between the festivities of Christmas and the festivities of New Year's and the weekend it occurs on. As a result, I'm just using these couple of days to rest and enjoy life. I'll start acting like a proper adult in 2016. :)
My attention is currently dominated by the WWII documentary World at War. It's a lot different watching war documentaries now than when I was younger. Young men tend to be fascinated by the trappings of war: how cool the flying fortresses are, how valiant the troops were. While that stuff is all still present for me, I think I have more context and imagination for the harsher realities, like the families that suffered, and the troops too. And how senseless it all was, thanks to a few blustering bullies (Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin). Stalin ended up on the allied side, sure, but he was cut from the same cloth.
I am sleeping a ton right now, which is very pleasant. I'm having a lot of bizarre dreams, including a couple of lucid dreams here and there, which I enjoy. I don't manage to stay lucid for very long, but the brief moments that I can, I quite enjoy the sensation, as it's like having your own magical theme park to explore.
I'll have to hit the AI pretty hard in the new year, but that should be fun.
Tuesday 29 December 2015
Saturday 26 December 2015
Check-In: 2015-12-26 (Boxing Day)
Merry Christmas!
Body: Good (Feeling okay despite Christmas junk food, good sleeps)
Mind: Relaxed (rest, puzzle)
Spirit: Good (visiting family)
So that was a long break between check-ins, but it has been busy, what with the Christmas season, guests visiting on the weekend, parents visiting during the week, and popping by my friends' place to take care of some cats.
99% of what I've been doing all week has been restful, though I kept my brain active through conversation and working on a 1000 piece puzzle, which we managed to get done in four days. The puzzle has now been returned to its state of entropy so that it can be transported and inflicted on my aunt and uncle. :)
Actually, it was a fun holiday activity. We also did a bit of walking around downtown and visited a giant ice palace being built in Hawrelak Park. Mom and Dad are now on their way home.
The haul this year includes a huge amount of chocolate and candy, robot-foot-slippers, coasters that glow when you put cups on them, a coaster that turns into a puzzle, a book, a pony-based Christmas tree decoration, and various other things.
Body: Good (Feeling okay despite Christmas junk food, good sleeps)
Mind: Relaxed (rest, puzzle)
Spirit: Good (visiting family)
So that was a long break between check-ins, but it has been busy, what with the Christmas season, guests visiting on the weekend, parents visiting during the week, and popping by my friends' place to take care of some cats.
99% of what I've been doing all week has been restful, though I kept my brain active through conversation and working on a 1000 piece puzzle, which we managed to get done in four days. The puzzle has now been returned to its state of entropy so that it can be transported and inflicted on my aunt and uncle. :)
Actually, it was a fun holiday activity. We also did a bit of walking around downtown and visited a giant ice palace being built in Hawrelak Park. Mom and Dad are now on their way home.
The haul this year includes a huge amount of chocolate and candy, robot-foot-slippers, coasters that glow when you put cups on them, a coaster that turns into a puzzle, a book, a pony-based Christmas tree decoration, and various other things.
Thursday 17 December 2015
Check-In: 2015-12-17 (Thursday)
Been a while! I've had a crazy weekend and week.
Body: Good (yoga, walking, rest, good sleep)
Mind: Tired But Active (meditation, game meeting, TED talks)
Spirit: Excellent (being helpful, meditation, relaxation)
The past several days I first of all had a mediation seminar that involved lots of early mornings, and then I've been helping a friend out in small ways since he's been going through some surgery. The actual work involved has been extremely minor--sending a few emails, shovelling his walk for 5 min, that kind of thing--but even these small things have been a pleasant boost in the spirit category. We are social beings, and we have evolved in such a way that our brains reward us when we help each other.
I'm still catching up on sleep, but I am having a lot of success in doing so wisely. I've been getting tired early and I've been taking advantage of it. My sleeps have been both long and at relatively good times of night. I still feel like I'm paying off some sleep debt, but at least I am making my payments. This may also give me a good stable sleep pattern to continue with afterwards, which can be very helpful for getting things done.
My ribs are feeling better and better. I did a little yoga over the meditation weekend and my ribs didn't mind. In fact, they seemed to get better for having had a little exercise. So that's encouraging.
We had a really good game meeting on Tuesday night. Andrew has accomplished some really interesting feats in programming and Gerry and Andrew have done some neat things with the art. In the near future I'll need to step up and do some design again. Of course, priority is still the AI course which has been on hold for the last several days, though I'm going to take a stab at getting some done this afternoon.
I'll try to get back into the regular blogging habit again. I have no shortage of things to write about.
Body: Good (yoga, walking, rest, good sleep)
Mind: Tired But Active (meditation, game meeting, TED talks)
Spirit: Excellent (being helpful, meditation, relaxation)
The past several days I first of all had a mediation seminar that involved lots of early mornings, and then I've been helping a friend out in small ways since he's been going through some surgery. The actual work involved has been extremely minor--sending a few emails, shovelling his walk for 5 min, that kind of thing--but even these small things have been a pleasant boost in the spirit category. We are social beings, and we have evolved in such a way that our brains reward us when we help each other.
I'm still catching up on sleep, but I am having a lot of success in doing so wisely. I've been getting tired early and I've been taking advantage of it. My sleeps have been both long and at relatively good times of night. I still feel like I'm paying off some sleep debt, but at least I am making my payments. This may also give me a good stable sleep pattern to continue with afterwards, which can be very helpful for getting things done.
My ribs are feeling better and better. I did a little yoga over the meditation weekend and my ribs didn't mind. In fact, they seemed to get better for having had a little exercise. So that's encouraging.
We had a really good game meeting on Tuesday night. Andrew has accomplished some really interesting feats in programming and Gerry and Andrew have done some neat things with the art. In the near future I'll need to step up and do some design again. Of course, priority is still the AI course which has been on hold for the last several days, though I'm going to take a stab at getting some done this afternoon.
I'll try to get back into the regular blogging habit again. I have no shortage of things to write about.
Wednesday 9 December 2015
Check-In: 2015-12-09 (Wednesday)
Body: Healthy - walking, diet, rest
Mind: Smart - reading news, writing, French, Toastmasters, AI
Spirit: Spirited - concrete goal, French, Toastmasters, family, friends, end of Education Reports, music
Yes, I am returning to the Body / Mind / Spirit metric. I've decided to re-invigorate my check-ins by bringing imagination back into them.
I have also decided to avoid judgemental self-reviews. So I am switching away from a pass/fail/improve system to one that lists: a) how I am feeling, followed by b) what positive actions I have taken. I figure that feeling sick, for instance, isn't necessarily a failure--it may just mean I have a cold. But if I am taking positive action, then that's okay.
Similarly, I'm ending the Education Reports. Last week I became very demotivated, and I think the Education Report was contributing to that. It first of all made the pass/fail judgement much more concrete. It also had me focusing more on time than results.
After deciding to abandon the Education Report, my motivation returned, and I have since been doing better at educating myself again, because I now am educating myself for the intrinsic joy of learning and not for the extrinsic motivations of operant conditioning.
Also, my mom proposed a goal to me: finish the AI course before going to Victoria for the winter, so I could be free to pursue other interests. This is a triply-effective goal that I have cheerfully embraced. First, it sets a concrete, tangible target. Secondly, it places the AI course as a single focus, so I no longer feel like I'm juggling dozens of self-imposed expectations on myself. Thirdly, it provides an intrinsic reward: being free to move on to my next whimsical curiosity.
Since adopting this goal, I have finished the challenging chapter on probability in AI, and had fun doing so.
One last piece of positive news: I met with a doctor again to go over my bloodwork results and he agrees that I most likely pulled or irritated something in my ribcage while exercising. The symptoms are almost all gone now, so I will soon begin cautiously exercising my core again. I've already done a little but am being extra cautious.
Mind: Smart - reading news, writing, French, Toastmasters, AI
Spirit: Spirited - concrete goal, French, Toastmasters, family, friends, end of Education Reports, music
Yes, I am returning to the Body / Mind / Spirit metric. I've decided to re-invigorate my check-ins by bringing imagination back into them.
I have also decided to avoid judgemental self-reviews. So I am switching away from a pass/fail/improve system to one that lists: a) how I am feeling, followed by b) what positive actions I have taken. I figure that feeling sick, for instance, isn't necessarily a failure--it may just mean I have a cold. But if I am taking positive action, then that's okay.
Similarly, I'm ending the Education Reports. Last week I became very demotivated, and I think the Education Report was contributing to that. It first of all made the pass/fail judgement much more concrete. It also had me focusing more on time than results.
After deciding to abandon the Education Report, my motivation returned, and I have since been doing better at educating myself again, because I now am educating myself for the intrinsic joy of learning and not for the extrinsic motivations of operant conditioning.
Also, my mom proposed a goal to me: finish the AI course before going to Victoria for the winter, so I could be free to pursue other interests. This is a triply-effective goal that I have cheerfully embraced. First, it sets a concrete, tangible target. Secondly, it places the AI course as a single focus, so I no longer feel like I'm juggling dozens of self-imposed expectations on myself. Thirdly, it provides an intrinsic reward: being free to move on to my next whimsical curiosity.
Since adopting this goal, I have finished the challenging chapter on probability in AI, and had fun doing so.
One last piece of positive news: I met with a doctor again to go over my bloodwork results and he agrees that I most likely pulled or irritated something in my ribcage while exercising. The symptoms are almost all gone now, so I will soon begin cautiously exercising my core again. I've already done a little but am being extra cautious.
Tuesday 1 December 2015
Learning Goals: Week 49
Learning Goals: Week 49
According to the WEEKNUM function in Google Sheets, this week is #49 of 2015. I use this function in order to filter my target and tracking information for my charts.
In any case, I haven't yet managed to hit an unqualified success in a week, though there are some successes to be found.
For starters, I finally opened up the AI course again. I stopped at 1.5 hrs rather than pushing through to 2 hrs, but it was a really good stopping point. We'd just covered what happens in a Bayes Network when a single outcome has two probabilistic causes and were about to dive into a new topic, so it was a good place to pause.
One thing that is becoming apparent to me over the course of this experiment in self-education is that I do much better with classroom situations. I'm consistently hitting a good number of hours--including homework--in French class. For Toastmasters I'm not doing a ton outside of the meetings, but I am hitting the meetings consistently.
So I may have to face the reality that I'm not quite yet ready for self-management, and may need to arrange more situations where I have classes and/or managers and/or other social obligations if I want to really succeed.
Then again, I may need to more deeply consider what I perceive success to be. If the yoga instruction goes well in the spring and is able to provide me with a stable, modest income, I may be able to relax a bit and just study what suits my fancy rather that getting all official and guilt-ridden about it, as I have a tendency of doing.
In any case, here's the next set of goals. Total hours are again 16. I've boosted French to 5 hours because the amount of homework we've been getting has been going up. I may try to focus some of my Writing hours onto doing my next Toastmasters speech, because I should get on that. I really enjoyed the last one, and I have no shortage of topics to speak about.
Check-In: 2015-12-01 (Tuesday)
Diet: WIN! (fruit, vegetables, low added sugar)
Exercise: PASS (walking, rest)
Sleep: PASS (stable hours, at least)
Mindfulness: PASS (some meditation)
Love and Support: PASS (visiting with friends, corresponding with family)
I have to get the frequency of my check-ins back up again. I admit I've still been somewhat addicted to Fallout and it continues to impact my productivity. Though at least I'm beginning to manage my physical and mental health a little better, which typically precedes a period of increased productivity.
The main thing to continue tackling is sleep. I'm now reasonably stable in my sleep times, but I think I would be happier and better rested if I could get to sleep and wake up a couple hours earlier. So I'll see what I can do on that front.
I'm still resting my ribcage and it continues to feel better. The symptoms are now really mild and most of the time I don't even notice. I may soon start doing some gentle core workouts again, though I want to go cautiously because I'd hate to set myself back. This in turn will further help with my sleep issues and general esprit de corps.
Not that the spirit of my body has been suffering, exactly. I'm generally pretty cheerful. But I am feeling unproductive and that is causing me some anxiety. The situation isn't terrible--I did have some successes last week, such as doing some AI course work--but I very easily enter the following negative cycle:
1. For whatever reason, I start to feel overwhelmed.
2. This causes me to become demotivated, so I do less.
3. Doing less makes me feel more overwhelmed.
4. Loop.
The medium through which this loop churns is made up of feelings of guilt. I rapidly attack myself for being lazy, which then feeds the whole cycle.
In more positive news, it's looking more likely that I'm going to be making an attempt at teaching some yoga classes this spring. My kung fu club is getting a new space near the University here, and the new space should be a pleasant place to run some yoga classes. This gives me a little more to focus on, and a single, clear, actionable plan on how I'm going to start earning money again.
So that's something positive to look forward to.
Exercise: PASS (walking, rest)
Sleep: PASS (stable hours, at least)
Mindfulness: PASS (some meditation)
Love and Support: PASS (visiting with friends, corresponding with family)
I have to get the frequency of my check-ins back up again. I admit I've still been somewhat addicted to Fallout and it continues to impact my productivity. Though at least I'm beginning to manage my physical and mental health a little better, which typically precedes a period of increased productivity.
The main thing to continue tackling is sleep. I'm now reasonably stable in my sleep times, but I think I would be happier and better rested if I could get to sleep and wake up a couple hours earlier. So I'll see what I can do on that front.
I'm still resting my ribcage and it continues to feel better. The symptoms are now really mild and most of the time I don't even notice. I may soon start doing some gentle core workouts again, though I want to go cautiously because I'd hate to set myself back. This in turn will further help with my sleep issues and general esprit de corps.
Not that the spirit of my body has been suffering, exactly. I'm generally pretty cheerful. But I am feeling unproductive and that is causing me some anxiety. The situation isn't terrible--I did have some successes last week, such as doing some AI course work--but I very easily enter the following negative cycle:
1. For whatever reason, I start to feel overwhelmed.
2. This causes me to become demotivated, so I do less.
3. Doing less makes me feel more overwhelmed.
4. Loop.
The medium through which this loop churns is made up of feelings of guilt. I rapidly attack myself for being lazy, which then feeds the whole cycle.
In more positive news, it's looking more likely that I'm going to be making an attempt at teaching some yoga classes this spring. My kung fu club is getting a new space near the University here, and the new space should be a pleasant place to run some yoga classes. This gives me a little more to focus on, and a single, clear, actionable plan on how I'm going to start earning money again.
So that's something positive to look forward to.
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