These are some of the things that happened in my life lately:
⛸️ I’m making slow but steady progress in my ice skating skills. I’ve been practising forward crossovers going counterclockwise. I can’t do it going clockwise yet: doing anything where I support all my weight on my right leg is super hard! I got a pair of knee pads to use while I’m skating, and they are great! I fell yesterday on an exercise to practice how to use outside edges, and I didn’t feel a thing. I should have gotten them earlier, I feel a little bit more confident and less afraid of falling now.
💪 I changed my gym exercises a little bit to focus more on leg strength. And that’s been helping me with ice skating. Although ice skating is a lot about balance, having legs and glutes strength helps a lot to maintain balance and to be able to push myself. I’ve been focusing on squats, one leg deadlifts, lunges and curtsy squats.
🎮 It’s been a while since I played any video games. It’s something I’ve been planning on getting into again. So I finally started a game of one of my favourite series: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. It’s great because I can play with a female character! I don’t remember having that option in any of the previous games of the series.
📖 I finished reading Fourth Wing by #1Rebecca Yarros and I really enjoyed it. Then I started reading A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout, the second book of the Blood and Ash series. I found out that these books are being listed as “Romantasy” aka “Romantic Fantasy” genre. I’m into that vibe right now.
📅 I had another very busy week at work, in which we were closing a very big job. I can say that Time Blocking was an excellent way to manage my stress and organize myself through chaos. Also, keeping up with my morning and shutdown routines was crucial for me to survive the past two weeks. I’m looking forward to getting a couple of days off this week.
🌲 Temperatures are dropping around here, keeping in the low single digits (in Celsius). Most all the leaves have fallen, and I went out for a couple of lovely hikes.
⛸️ I've made some progress in ice skating: I did my first forward crossovers while practising in a circle! I can only do it going counterclockwise, and it's awkward and wobbly, but it's progress!
📖 I finished reading this romance fantasy book that had some plot twists that got me by surprise. I was expecting a typical “enemies to lovers” romance trope plot, but it actually had some surprising elements I was not expecting. And even the ending was not what I usually see in these books, it's a complicated relationship, and it got me curious to read the second book in the series. The first book is “From Blood and Ash” by Jennifer L. Armentrout.
🥳 I discovered that Nirvana now accepts all types of emojis. I can put emojis on the project titles, next actions and labels. Some months ago, only the black and white Unicode Symbols would show properly, and I used some for my contexts list. But now emojis are working!
😃 My neighbourhood community started building our outdoor ice rink. It's not ready yet, but I'm looking forward to going skating there when it's ready.
🤧 I didn’t write last week because I caught a minor cold, it wasn’t bad, but I was feeling under the weather and just rested.
📺 I finished watching “Good Omens” Season 2. I enjoyed the ride, but the ending was a little bit disappointing. It’s kinda of a cliffhanger? Maybe the show could have ended before the last episode, because it seemed to me they could wrap up the whole Gabriel plot and call it a day, instead of adding Aziraphale’s decision to change his current situation.
🚗 The car winter tires are installed, let it snow, I’m ready! ❄️
⛸️ I’m making slow progress on my ice skating skills. I’ve been practising one-foot glides, and changing from one foot to the other. It’s way harder to glide on my right foot than on my left, which seems counterintuitive to me. I can’t do a crossover yet, but I’m working on it. Small steps.
📖 I’m indulging myself in this Fantasy romance novel called “From Blood and Ash” by Jennifer L. Armentrout. The plot is somewhat predictable, but I’m enjoying following the story through only one point of view. I just can’t put it down!
📆It’s been one month since I started using Cal Newport’s second edition Time Block Planner. It’s been great! I used it every day at work and I feel like it has greatly improved my work routines. I’m consistently doing the shutdown routine, and I’m loving my weekend now!
💉I got my Flu shot and the new COVID-19 vaccine. The only side effect was a sore arm.
These are some of the things that happened in my life this week:
📺 I finished watching the “One Piece” show on Netflix. I liked it! Great storytelling, I cried, and I smiled and I laughed.
📕Had a great discussion with my local Bookclub about the book “Babel” by R. F. Kuang. Some people didn’t finish, some people loved it, some people didn’t like it. I enjoyed it, even though it’s a sad book. It’s heartbreaking but beautiful.
⛸️ We started going to drop-in public skating sessions on Sundays, in addition to the skating classes. I realized how hard it is for me to do a forward crossover. I can't keep enough balance, and I don't seem to have enough strength to stay in a one legged position. I'll add some exercises to my routine like: squats, single Leg Deadlifts and Reverse Lunges to strengthen my muscles.
✅ I did complete a Work Weekly Review on Friday Oct 20th before heading out for the weekend!
🙂 Even though it rained the whole weekend, I enjoyed every minute of it. I wasn't anxious, I rested, I read, I did some puzzle, watched a show and even went ice skating. All of that on top of the usual chores (laundry, dishes, groceries, cooking, etc.). I haven't had such a great relaxing weekend in months.
These are some of the things that happened in my life this week:
☔ It was a rainy week around here, so I missed going out for some walks. Maximum temperatures around 12C.
✏️ I used the second edition of Cal Newport's Time Block Planner and I liked it! There's more space to write things in, and I particularly enjoyed the Planning page at the beginning of each week. The paper is super soft, nice to write on.
💪 I started going to the gym again because it's getting a little bit too cold for me to run outside. It's good to get back to some weight training as well.
🏝️ It's been 47 days without using Mastodon. I logged in again this week and unfollowed some accounts. But I didn't stay long. I don't feel I want to be back yet, so I will give it some more time. No rush.
📺 I started watching the One Piece show on Netflix. I only saw the first episode and I thought it was super fun!
⛸️ I started my Intermediate Ice Skating lessons this weekend! It was hard because there were lots of exercises going backwards, and I'm not ready to skate backwards too much, I get tired quickly (and I’m very slow…) It was good practice, tho. My goal is to finally learn how to do cross-overs this time.
These are some of the things that happened in my life this week:
📖 I've been reading the book “Babel” by R.F. Kuang for my upcoming local Book Club meetup. It's probably the first Dark Academia genre book I've read and although the theme is indeed dark, I'm enjoying it. It's a mixture of alternate history with fantasy and serious criticism of colonialism. It's very well written, using England's Oxford University in the 1800s as background.
✏️ I got back to my morning free writing session routine. I skipped it several days last week. In one of my sessions I realized how busy September has been and no wonder I was feeling frazzled and tired by the end of the month! Writing in the morning has a positive effect on my mental health, and so I'm definitely adding it to my morning routine ritual. I aim not to skip it for more than 2 consecutive days.
🚘 We now have a second car in the house, which was one of the reasons why I was feeling anxious last week (dealing with all the paperwork, insurance, etc). My partner now works in a site 30+ km away and there is no public transportation service over there. Carpooling would not work anymore: he leaves super early, I would miss my morning routine, and we would spend a lot of time commuting. We wanted a small and economical car, and we were lucky to find a Mitsubishi Mirage available at the dealership. So cute!
📕 I was curious to see the second edition of Cal Newport's Time Blocker, so I got a copy. I will start using it tomorrow. My current time blocker is very compact, and I was missing the extra space to re-plan my time blocks several times a day.
✅ I did a long work Weekly Review on the Friday before the long weekend (Thanksgiving in Canada) to avoid any worries about my work during the weekend. It worked! I could enjoy the weekend more fully: I spent lots of time reading in my favourite armchair, I also read on the couch with my partner as company (while he played “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”), I did some puzzle, listened to music and relaxed.
🚗 During the long weekend (aka as yesterday) we drove to Montreal to say hello to our best friends over there. The plan was to go for a hike at Parc Mont Royal, but it was a rainy, gloomy day, and we ended up walking around Place des Arts and then visited a retro gaming store that sells old consoles/games.
These are some of the things that happened in my life this week:
💼 I had a really busy and chaotic week at work. Everything was coming at me at the same time, and I struggled to keep my cool. I didn’t sleep well most nights. I had a meeting with my manager to talk about my workload, and we made a plan together on how to tackle everything. It helped a little bit, but things are still on my plate.
🎭 Because of the tiring week, I didn’t journal or read books as much as I wanted. I might have gone off the rails a little bit with my routines. I recalibrated on the weekend, so I hope this week will feel less overwhelming. I will get back to writing my GTDnotes series.
💻 This video explaining Free-Floating anxiety was super clear and gives a quick reset strategy. It seems like a shorter version of my Overwhelm First Aid Kit. The hardest part is to knowledge at the moment what’s going on and remember to go through the steps. And what helps me to recognize these moments is regular mindfulness practice.
🎧 I listened to Cal Newport’s podcast Ep. 265: Big Ideas for Deeper Living where he talks about 8 books about productivity and its main ideas. I think the only one I haven’t read is the “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Tim Ferris. Great list!
These are some of the things that happened in my life this week:
📖I finished reading Driving the Deep (Finder Chronicles #2) by Suzanne Palmer. This was a page turner, and because of it I didn’t read anything else over the weekend because I had to get to the end (yeah, that kind of book 🙂).
📺I started watching Season 2 of “Wheel of Time”. Just got to the first episode, so far. I’ll probably go one episode a week.
🦷I finally went to the Dentist to get my permanent crown. It is such a relief to go back to chewing normally again! But I still haven’t tried popcorn.
👟I’ve been running 5K every time I go out for a run now. I want to get used to doing it with no pauses, and then build from there.
🐘It’s been almost a month since I stopped logging into Mastodon. I took a quick peek at it this weekend, and I didn’t feel I was ready to go back to using it. I will wait a little bit more, and I might have to do a major overhaul (like unfollowing accounts and hashtags).
💼It’s going to be a busy week at work, it seems that every construction project that was on hold are coming back in full force. October is going to be crazy as well with the rush to get things going before winter hits us. I probably won’t be writing on this blog so frequently because some days I will just be doing nothing for a while to recharge my batteries 🙃.
These are some of the things that happened to me this week:
📺I finally finished watching Seinfeld Season 9. I started early last year re-watching all the seasons, and now I’m done!
🏃♀️I completed a 5K on the Canada Army Run this weekend! And I actually broke my own record! The weather was perfect, not too cold, not too hot. I ran the whole 5K without resting, and I wasn’t feeling exhausted at the end. I think I can continue training and maybe run a 10K next year.
📖I’m continuing to re-read the “Getting Things Done” book by David Allen. It’s been interesting, I didn’t remember this book had that much information and detailed instructions. I’m enjoying revisiting the GTD ideas.
📚I finished reading the book Finder (Finder Chronicles #1) by Suzanne Palmer and had a fun discussion with my local Book Club. I enjoyed it so much that I continued reading the second in the series.
🧩We started another puzzle: “King of Dragons”. It’s a 1500-piece puzzle and the image is the head of a red dragon. The border is almost done.
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These are some of the things that happened to me this week:
I'm re-reading the “Getting Things Done” book by David Allen and taking notes. I'm not sure how long I'm going to take, but I'll be posting some notes to this blog! 📘
I’m almost done reading “Finder” by Suzanne Palmer. It’s my local Book Club pick for this month. 📗
I've been thinking about time blocking. I still haven't got a good habit on how often I check emails. I started thinking about all the time block categories I have and how to organize them better. I made a list! I thought about having a day or week template to have an overall idea of how my days are structured. Still a work in progress. ⏳
I finished the Magician's Study puzzle! I'll frame it and hang it in my home office. 🧩
I had to go to the dentist to repair a tooth, and I'm getting a crown. It's a tooth that had an old restoration on it and it cracked slightly. I have the temporary crown now, so I have to be careful with it. No popcorn or sticky foods for 2 weeks. 🦷
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