Egressions #187-190

187. Curried avocado? Via Food52.
188. Two heads of garlic, yusss! Via Brooklyn Supper.
189. Avocado sea salt? Via Food52.
190. Simple vanilla pudding, yum. Via Dinner: A Love Story.

State of the Biz fall 2014

Where was I:

Right now I have three solid clients, all on Tuesday night. Which I love! Whom I love! Kris and I run at six from my house to the Puerto Rican flag on Division past Western and back, which is 5K, then I bike to Vie and torture Travis with tabata at 7:30 and then Nora picks up all the heavy things at 8:30.

Step one was supposed to be shoring up my four clients. How it's turned out is, I shored up three of them and picked up Thursday at the office. Not just for Thursday's sake, I have a huge project that I'm trying to get done in, say, the next twelve weeks? I really enjoy it, it's math, and I get to wear jeans and nobody talks to me because they don't know I'm there on Thursday, doing my math.

So it was like that for a while, and then Travis moved to Saturday and then Kris moved to Wednesday, and then I won Jason in the raffle at the Black and Blue Gala, I put him on Tuesday before Nora starting at the beginning of this month, and then Travis referred Steven, I put him on Wednesday after Kris starting at the beginning of next month. So there are five clients, for real.

Meanwhile at work, I was only able to keep up the pretense that I wasn't there on Thursday for two, maybe three weeks. Work is like water, it always finds its own level. I've barely been able to do the project that was the reason for me picking up Thursday, but the busy stuff just let up like this week. I figure it'll take me at least until Thanksgiving to finish my project if nobody bothers me, and then I can figure out what I want to do. How much work I want to do. Because right now I have no days off, I'm doing all right but that doesn't seem sustainable? And practices start back up next week.

It's delightful having money again, though.

I'm suuuuper looking forward to Thanksgiving, I feel like I haven't had more than twelve hours just to relax since New Orleans. What will I even do with a whole day, and actually my work always gets Thanksgiving and Black Friday as paid holidays, thanks to the very forward thinking office manager they had back in the day (me), so that's two whole days, and actually actually I think my clients and classes will be cancelled that weekend, mein gott. Four whole days.

Ad Hoc 6 of 6

This thing about letting myself lay on the couch for half an hour or an hour and then I'll get my second wind, this has been the object lesson of this break.

// bike to Joann Fabrics
\ make vanilla pudding
# meat, greens, and quinoa

I've been in a mood about food. "I'm starving and I hate everything" was going to be my facebook status, but I didn't want to be cheered up and what if nobody tried to cheer me up? The only winning move was not to play. And I might not hate vanilla pudding. Though then standing and stirring and a teeny bit of tasting improved my mood enough that I could face a bowl of meat, greens, and quinoa, and why not, it's very good. So I'm saving the vanilla pudding for tomorrow.

Ack, why didn't I take tomorrow off from work?! Then I could have sat at home watching champs and making Halloween costumes for my menagerie, which was what Joann Fabrics was for.

Now that I've eaten, I feel a lot better. Haha.

/ State of the Biz
/ tasks

7 Minute Evening Stretch

Part three of three, or maybe four, daily practices for whole day fitness.

Last or maybe second to last but not least, 20-40 minutes of stretching/foam roller/indian clubs. To which I say, someday may I be that good. Right now, I need to get this started as a microhabit, just seven basic stretches, some L&Rs, ten breaths each, it seems to time out to just around seven minutes.

Actually what seems to have worked is bundling this microhabit with two others: first, when I feel like I'm ready for bed, I tidy up the front room a little bit. Which really I started to get myself to unpack my gear and let it air out overnight for the love of god. Sometimes all I do is unpack my gear and straighten out the throw on the couch. Then stretching is supposed to be next, but lately it feels more right to brush my teeth—so here's me tinkering, doing a little bit of habit engineering. Then habits cling to each other, you know? Let's just gloss over how not good I used to be about brushing my teeth every night, now it wouldn't feel right not to brush my teeth and then it feels like the next natural thing to do is wash my face. Which I used to be less than not good at, I just never did. And then a washed face sort of inspires a little beauty treatment, don't you think? That leaves me really in the mood to keep being nice to myself, so then I roll out my mat to stretch.

How I do:

• Yoga block raise for future handstands
• Forward bend for hamstrings
• Pigeon for IT bands, L&R
• Forward lunge for hip flexors, L&R
• Forty-five lunge for adductors, L&R
• Seated forward bend for upper back
• Seated back bend for chest

Then bed.

Catch-up Cooking Practice

Last week's food was:

• peanut butter apples for breakfast
• Chipotle bowls for lunch
• no afternoon snacks because the bowls were actually pretty filling
• random dinners
  
  • chicken torta from Taco Burrito Express
  • veggie chili at Biggie's
  • crispy fried eggs with the last of the greens and quinoa and then I really had no food in the house
  • Denver omelet with a double side of fruit for my meeting with my new client (there are five clients!) at Hollywood Grill
  • egg and rice
  • Little Caesar's hot and ready pepperoni pizza
  • and Saturday night I requested cake (for dinner!) but the sweetie man forgot and I had peanut butter apple instead

I'm already mostly caught up with my food now, "caught up," as if you don't keep eating it up and are therefore never caught up. I made the shakshuka after my Saturday workout, longest wait for post-workout food EVAR but also most delicious post-workout food ever. Then before I ran out of the house for my long Sunday, I threw together the Chinese ground pork, literally threw all the ingredients including frozen-solid ground pork into the slow cooker, that worked great. Then last night I did the greens and quinoa, et fin. Or well, I still have last week's chicken in the freezer. I was kind of thinking that this week I'd do:

• peanut butter apples for breakfast
• eggs shakshuka for lunch
• tea and nuts if I'm hungry for afternoon snack
• meat, greens, and quinoa for dinner

I think I will do that, apples are good now. I don't really need post-workout snacks because I'm not really working out.

That means I'm already all caught up, and I can just lay around. Yay.

60 Minute Housecleaning 6 of 6

OMG, last week of break. I suppose I will sum it all up at the end.

First of all, after my allowed half hour to feel the wind in my fur, I moved my slow thighs into the kitchen.

\\ wash dishes
\ greens
\ quinoa
# meat, greens, and quinoa

I really haven't gotten to housecleaning this whole break, it's all I can do to keep the house picked up:

\\ fold and put away laundry
\\ fix couch

Ehh, idk if I fixed the couch. It's a great couch, it just has a huge split down the middle. I cut away the old patch, which never did hold, stuffed in some more batting and fabric to cover the gap, and covered it with the throw. I can't imagine that this is going to hold, but at least it's better than the raggedy old patch. Sigh, what I really want to do is get this reupholstered, but that's going to be as expensive as a new couch. I can't afford either of them, anyway.

That's enough for now, tomorrow is another day. 'Twould be nice if I could talk myself into my regular evening routine that I didn't do all last week: tidy the front room, stretch, brush. I mean I did brush, finally have that down. Now if only I could make myself stretch. Just like when you're working on hockey stops is when you nail plow stops for good.

ETA: Ah. Needed that.

60 Minute Offskates Interval Training plus 60 min onskates

2:00 PM bootcamp by Sparty, ten stations, 50 seconds on, 10 seconds off, three sets.

Here's how I rolled:

• plank drag
• wall sits
• L&R windmill with 15# kb
• air squats
• dead bug
• bear crawl
• WTFs
• L&R one leg squat to bench

Then onskates I think R&L plow, turn, and hockey stops, one-on-one 45s, and two-on-one 45s in the straight and in the turn.

Then 4:00 PM learn to skate clinic.

Then 6:00 PM referee practice.

Haha.

Egressions #183-186

183. Eyeball lights! Via Say Yes.
184. Love black licorice, and it's hard to find. Via Food52.
185. Oh whoop, I have apple sticks in the oven— Via Food52.
186. Tennis ball holder. Via WikiHow.

Things I love but will never make, two of them involving googly eyeballs.

No Housecleaning 5 of 6

Home, hungry, tired, wind, fur, egg, rice, couch, television, popcorn. Then bed.

15 Minute Afternoon Meditation

This is part two of three, maybe four, daily practices in what I call whole day fitness.

This is what Marcus Martinez says about meditation:

10-30 minutes of meditation/mindful breathing/close your eyes and not think of shit

The last one is the toughest to get people to do, but will deliver the most in my opinion. I won’t go into the benefits of meditation on this post, but if you’re one of those “I can’t turn off my mind for more than 5 minutes” then let me tell you that you’re one of the people that need it most.

I agreeeee.

This is how I do:

• I have the intention set in my mind (in my timetracker, actually) that I will meditate every day in the afternoon. Almost always when I say "every day" I mean something more like every other day, which is perhaps an abuse of language; but for meditation I actually mean every day. That said, I fall short sometimes. Falling short is part of meditation. Soo much is part of meditation; it's really hard to say everything that I have to say about meditation, but I'm giving it a shot. Giving it a shot is part of meditation.
• I'm at the point where I can feel when now's a good time to meditate, usually between tasks. So then, it's go time:
  
  • if I'm at work I make myself a cup of tea, grab my phone and my keys, step out the office and up a flight and a half of stairs. It's not perfectly undisturbed, but so far nobody from my office—i.e., nobody who actually knows me—has stumbled on me there. I set an alarm on my phone for fifteen minutes from now, and yes, I played a bit with ringtones and volumes so that the alarm doesn't startle me to death when it goes off. Being startled to death is not a part of meditation, I don't think.
  • if I'm at home I sit on the couch, and if the sweetie man's at home I inform him that I'm about to meditate. I set a timer on my computer—I use e.ggtimer— for fifteen minutes, and again check the volume before I start.

So, what's the deal with the tea. Idk, it just turned into a trigger at work, and specifically fragrant tea because there was earl grey tea and then constant comment tea that I was trying to use up. Making the tea and smelling the tea sort of signals that I'm stopping this and starting that. I don't bother with the tea at home, because why? Because it takes too long to boil the water, I can get hot water out of a tap at work, boom, tea.

What's the difference between an alarm and a timer? You have to calculate and enter the time into an alarm, you can just enter the minutes into a timer. A timer is better, I think most smartphones have timers; if I had a smartphone, I'd just use that.

• So then I start the timer and close or unfocus my eyes, breathe naturally, and count my breaths, not out loud. I count on the exhale and "and" on the inhale, up to four. When I get to four, I start back at one. And that's it, until the timer goes off.

Except. That's never it. And it's not that the above is perfect meditation, and anything that deviates from the above is failed meditation. You get that "perfect" and "failed" are not the only two choices that life has to offer, right? In fact if I had to choose, I'd choose failed. Anyway. The whole thing is meditation: your mind staying focused on your breath, your mind wandering away from your breath and you not even realizing it, realizing your mind has wandered way away from your breath, bringing your mind back to your breath; mediation is all of this. Written even larger, meditation is also ticking off all seven days of 15 minute meditations last week and only two days this week. Or even larger, consistently meditating for twelve weeks and then just stopping for a month and then starting it up again—all meditation.

Right now I'm teaching one-foot balance to my learn to skate class and also to a couple of my clients, I tell them that there are two kinds of balance: one, where you're a calm buddha, perfectly centered and strong in your core; and two, where your arms and free leg are windmilling all over the place; and they're both valuable types of balance; and the real discipline of balance is being able to transition from windmill to buddha, by bringing yourself back, by drawing yourself in.

The real discipline of meditation is also just like that: you notice that you're halfway through a rant at somebody who hurtfully hurt your feelings, or you're busily planning a practice plan, or you're up to 57 in counted breaths. For any of these, I use a technique called "the parade," which in itself can be your whole meditation practice:

On any given day, the parade in my brain includes a wide variety of interesting attractions: mundane logistical thoughts that plod past me like the marchers in a high school band; silly thoughts that tumble through my head like clowns, noble thoughts striding along magnificently like the Budweiser Clydesdales, and humble thoughts that follow the Clydesdales to shovel up their inevitable load of crap. I don't judge or control the elements of my thought procession... I simply call them by name and watch them move on by. —Martha Beck, The Joy Diet

The above is how I started meditation, I switched from that to breath counting with the parade as my recovery mechanism because breath counting gives me that quiet place to return to. I guess I didn't feel like the parade encouraged me at all to go to the quiet place. I know I say this all the time, but now more than ever YMMV.

So when I notice that I'm halfway through a rant I pull back and quietly note, "rant," or even better, "hurt," and then I go back to counting my breaths, when I notice that I'm busily planning I pull back and quietly note, "busy," and then I go back to counting my breaths, when I notice that I'm up to 57 I pull back and quietly note, "haha, whoop" and then I start back at one and count up to four.

If I ticked off all seven days last week and only two days this week, I quietly note "gah, so busy at work," because sometimes it is so busy at work that I feel like I can't hide in the stairwell for fifteen minutes, and then I ask myself, how about now? And if now seems good, I make myself a cup of tea and grab my phone and keys.

If I consistently meditated for twelve weeks and then just stopped for a month, I quietly note, "away," and then ask myself, ready to come back? And if I'm ready, I reset the intention in my mind.

I think maybe the larger point is that at no time am I beating myself up over this. Or if I do notice that I'm beating myself up, I quietly note yadda yadda.

Last but not at all least, the crazy thing is how it turns into so much more than just fifteen minutes counting your breaths. I guess it's because basically you're practicing calmly bringing yourself back to the task at hand, over and over just in the fifteen minutes, then day in and day out, then week by week and so forth. That is a lot of practice, a ton of repetitions. You know what it is, it's WAX ON WAX OFF. You wax on, wax off for fifteen minutes every day, and then somebody tries to sweep your leg and WAX ON comes out of nowhere! Except not nowhere, it came out of those fifteen minutes. I have used it to calm myself down when I'm freaking out, and to turn myself back to my work when I'm obsessing over some stupid drama. In How to Meditate, Lawerence LeShan says that people who meditate might be thought of as otherworldly, but actually are quite grounded and good at things in the real world. Which I initially took with a grain of salt, but now I see it.

Food Plan B

I know you've been real worried about what I've been eating since I usurped last Tuesday's cooking practice to get Monday's cleaning done that was usurped by going out to A-bomb's storytelling night. It hasn't been so bad: butter coffee and peanut butter apples for breakfasts, I actually had plenty of slow chicken in the fridge for the rest of the week's lunches, and I actually had plenty of meat, greens, and quinoa in the fridge for the rest of the week's dinners. Kind of a non-story, really. I had the extra chicken because I'd been having butter coffee and peanut butter apples for lunches the past week, I forget why, and I had the extra meat, greens, and quinoa because those recipes make more like a week and a half's worth of dinners, so like every third week I can just skip making them.

I did, however, eat up all the food in the fridge by Sunday afternoon. I stocked up again on apples and peanut butter, and for Monday lunch I activated Plan B: Chipotle. I have two Chipotle options: 1) if I get the salad, that's totally clean by my standards. But, idk why, I like a green salad with protein, but the Chipotle one only tastes okay to me, no offense! So actually 2) if I get the bowl, that counts as an allowed starch and I can make do with just meat and veg for dinner because break. And, I like the bowl a lot. Girl meets Chipotle, film at 11. Idk why I never thought of it before, but it totally works as a Plan B. So if I oddly miss my cooking practice for the week, the whole plan doesn't go out of the window; before if I missed a cooking practice, the default was bagel and cream cheese for breakfast and, you know, coke and chex mix for lunch. I had nothing planned for Monday dinner but Biggie served veggie chili at pumpkin carving, problem solved.

Here's the thing, though: I missed today's cooking practice, too. Wind. Fur. Winter is coming.

ETA 10/23/14: Do you know what? If you order a bowl with no rice and beans, that's basically the exact same thing as a salad without the vinaigrette... but it tastes better. Why is that? Because the lettuce is on top instead of on the bottom? Anyway, now it's back to clean! I do half steak, half chicken, fajita vegetables, tomato salsa, cheese, guacamole, and lettuce. And I ordered and paid for it online, so I just walked over there and picked it right up.

Ad Hoc 5 of 6

60 Minute Offskates Interval Training

9:00 AM Fury bootcamp by Flo, twelve stations, 50 seconds on, 10 seconds off, three sets.

Here's how I rolled:

• L windmill with 15# (?) kettlebell
• R windmill with 15# (?) kettlebell
• air squats
• L straight arm side plank
• R straight arm side plank
• L one leg squat to bench
• R one leg squat to bench
• forward agility ladder
• dead bug
• lateral agility ladder
• plank
• wall sit

Not sure what weight that kettlebell was, it was small. In any case, haha holy obliques. I think if I did this workout once a week for six weeks, I'd look like a coke bottle—

Egressions #181-182

181. Porridge championships! Via NPR. Actually, via Riley via Facebook via NPR.
182. One gratin to rule them all. Via Food52.

Housecleaning 4 of 6

Home, hungry, tired, wind, fur, meat, greens, and quinoa.

Then I get up. There's a pile in the kitchen of all the towels and rags in the house, I guess I could take them to the laundromat. And I could go to Kmart to buy some new towels. Which maybe kind of counts as a thing on my Egression #180 list, she said sheets but towels is close enough? We don't need sheets, and we need towels. We have bath sheets and towels, and we need towels because one of them has finally torn. We also need towels because I don't know where all my rags went, I can get new towels and cut up the old towels into new rags. The old rags, in fact, were cut up from my old towels from college. COLLEGE. I've kept these last two, three bits of cloth for twenty-nine years. I skate against girls younger than these rags.

I'm not sure that buying towels that you pretty unequivocally need counts as making your life more interesting. And besides:

m: did you get yummy towels?
p: ...
p: your mate!
p: is a very boring mate.
m: you got white towels.

Well what can I say, he does know me.

// wash towels
// buy towels

I also don't know that schlepping some towels to the laundromat and some other towels from the store is really what I meant when I said I was going to houseclean. I could wash the corner of the kitchen floor that I cleared out Tuesday morning. I could roll all these plastic grocery bags that I cleared out of that corner. When the old towels come back from the laundromat, I could cut them up into rags. I could read the manual for my new camera. I could write my blog post about meditation. But I think I'm going to bring the laundry home from the laundromat, and then I'm done for the night.

// fold towels
// put away clean and new towels
/ tasks

60 Minute Foot and Body Rub

YOU GUYS. Fit Foot is the best. For $28 plus tip, you get a one hour foot and body massage. That is a steal for a massage, which I generally can't afford. And much to my regret! I do regard bodywork as necessary if you, say, play an aggressive contact sport or, at the other end of the spectrum, if you're making the jump from sedentary to active, and for many situations in between.

Fit Foot isn't a typical, by which I mean private, massage experience; so I feel like the most helpful thing would be to give a little primer of what to expect.

It's helpful, but not necessarily necessary to make reservations.

Some of the Yelp reviews say to specify how you like your massage, light or firm or so forth. But you know what, I like to not control all my experiences. And I sort of have the feeling that they massage you however they want, so why turn it into a battle of wills. YMMV!

You keep your clothes on, so shorts or wide-legged pants are ideal for bottoms. I like a tank top best, but a comfortable T-shirt is also good. I don't wear a bra, but I realize this isn't universally doable.

There's three rooms filled with couches, which is where you get massaged. Kind of like a public bath, except like I said you keep your clothes on. You get led to your couch, and you have your own round sort of ottoman with a lid where you put your shoes and anything else that you want to put away.

First you lay on your back with your knees bent so that your lower legs are dangling off the couch. Now this may or may not be comfortable for you; if not, this is a real good time to engage your glutes and abs to hold your pelvis in a neutral position. Your guy comes with a bucket of hot water and puts your feet in, and covers you with a blanket.

While your feet soak, you get a head, neck, and shoulder massage.

After that, your guy covers your eyes and starts on your feet. Not just your feet, also your lower legs; it lasts a good long time.

After a long minute, your guy softly says "hello lady" and that's when you turn over. Your couch has a hole for your face, your guy puts down a liner and punches it open; you lie on your stomach and rest your face on the liner. Then you get your back massaged, pretty much from head to toe.

Really the only parts that don't get massaged are the front of your torso and the fronts of your thighs. Everywhere else, though.

When he gets to the thumping part, you're about done. He tells you when you're done, though. Sit up slowly and carefully, then you get your ottoman back and you can put your shoes and socks back on. You might want to look at your guy, so you know whom to give your tip to—just saying.

You go back to the front desk to pay, they take credit cards but prefer cash and hopefully you brought cash for your tip. Don't be cheap! Tip on the regular price, not the special price. Your guy is sitting in a chair waiting for his tip, you can just hand him the money.

Fit Foot is located at 1459 W Fullerton Ave.

No Cooking

Okay, I usurped my cooking practice to clean out the corner of the kitchen where the coffee cart is! SO RELIEVED. Now I have no food prepared for the week. Erk. Haha.

Ad Hoc THIS! 4 of 6

THEORETICALLY I am going to houseclean on Thursday. Though truthfully things aren't looking good for housecleaning at this point.

Anyway tonight I crossed a thing off my Egression #180 list, going to an open mic night. You know, I didn't read that closely; was I supposed to do the open mic night? And anyway it wasn't an open mic night, it was a storytelling night that A-bomb was in. Close enough!

Maybe one day, post derby. I used to do this sort of thing, pre derby.

If I were a proper blogger, I would have taken a picture with me and smiling A-bomb; but no. My new camera did arrive, though! I have to read the manual, and the first picture I want to take is of old camera and bid it a fond farewell.

MOISTURIZE ME!

p: ack!

p: so the unsub just immoliated himself--

m: emolliated?

m: immolated.

p: haha!

Malanciata

This is more what I've been drinking instead of wine spritzers, just so I don't have to buy a bottle of prosecco every Friday night. I already have malort in the house, and malort is delicious with orange, so.

malort
aranciata

Fill a mason jar with ice, then pour over a can of aranciata. Or two cans, and no ice. Add malort to taste; as you know, I drink comically small amounts of alcohol and I like a scant shot here. Keep in mind the flavor of malort, though.

Ad Hoc 3 of 6

I'm sort of having a break within a break: Sunday I ditched my interval workout because I was so sore from my Saturday strength workout. Monday I didn't houseclean because I was a zombie from not having slept Sunday night. Tuesday I was not sore! But I had that hella long cooking practice and then I had an appointment with the guy who won the training session that I donated to the Black and Blue Gala, those two together squeezed out my strength workout. And that guy signed up to be my client, yay! There are four clients! I was thinking that I could bump my strength workout to Thursday, that would actually be perfect because Saturday I've been invited on a taco ride right after Travis so I'm not staying for that strength workout. But, by Wednesday afternoon I had a tiny cold.

It really is a tiny cold, I'm not miserable at all. My nose is just running a tiny bit, and I'm sneezing and coughing a tiny bit. This is a typical cold for me. I mean, I get miserably sick sometimes. Like February this year, ugh, I was miserably sick twice in a month. I don't think I've been sick since then? I don't always remember my tiny colds. I treat them just like regular colds, though. That tiny bit of sick tells me that my body is stressed to the point that its defenses are down. Even if it's just a little bit, I don't think the thing to do is push. Surely the thing to do is take the pressure off, and shore up the weak spot. That's what I do, then you get to enjoy being sick. I mean, right? You're alert and comfortable enough to read or watch TV or even write if you do that.

Okay but, guess what else I did. Haha! So this morning Tami posted a casting call for ethnic athletes, can I tell you something I realized? Derby keeps me out of a lot of trouble. You know how I was saying all these thoughts are unleashed in my head that I didn't even know were leashed? There's things I just don't consider because I have derby, and when I don't have derby I have sleeping. For a minute I don't have derby or sleeping, so hey, I'm an ethnic athlete, and what could be more ad hoc than getting home from work and shooting a little video of myself skating around the schoolyard with my poor droopy eyelid camera that I have never shot a video with before tonight. I mean, I didn't shoot the video; MJ did. So that's been tonight so far:

// shoot video
/ Ad Hoc 3 of 6

Really though this break is telling me that what I would do if I didn't have derby, which is a thing I wonder now and again, is barf up words like woah.

/ tasks
/ bills
# licorice tea and cashews
/ notes
\\ tidy front room
// stretch
# brush
{ Criminal Minds
# tart cherry juice
# sleep

30 Minute Morning Walk

This is a series of daily practices that are very much in the vein of what I introduced as whole day fitness ...erm, a year ago. Welp! Better late than never?

Let's see what Marcus Martinez says about this morning walk:

30-45 minute walk (first thing in the morning on an empty stomach or before your last meal of the day)

And what did I say?

I already walk 30 minutes every other morning: it's 30 minutes door to door from home to work, and I work four days a week, check. I walk to the train, take two flights of stairs down, stand on the platform, train surf on the train, and take two flights of stairs up. It doesn't have to be more than that. On the other hand, it doesn't have to be less than that. It's good standing, walking, and climbing stairs, and if I do sit on the platform or the train, it's good sitting i.e., squatting. All with proper form! The reason you should do all these things with proper form is JUST BECAUSE. Because you should do things the way your body is designed to do them, the better for doing those things and the better for your body and the better to build on. And obviously I do all that, in reverse, from work to home, and I'm not even counting that, which is why I don't sweat it if sometimes I sit down.

Well you know, basically that. For me. It may be different for you. I mean, it'll probably be different. I just talk about myself because that's what I know, and also because I don't tell you what to do.

I have cottoned to this idea of first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, I guess mostly because that's how I already do; so, check. I am not an early riser and I have to be a certain level of awake to eat. And so, I've eaten breakfast at work for as long as ...I've worked, I think. So walking to the train to work very nicely happens on an empty stomach.

I'm toying with the idea of being strict about not letting myself sit on my morning commute, but I don't know yet. I'm fine standing on the platform, which is my favorite place to do one-foot balance work anyway. On the train though, sometimes you sit just to get out of the way of traffic flow. I'm pretty seriously against prioritizing training over train etiquette. But! People are nuts, if you ask me, about having a piece of something to hold onto on the train. I love to let them and stand right in the middle of the mosh pit and ride handsfree, casually reading my RedEye like it ain't no thang. I mean, I'm really good at it now. For now, I'm happy with mixing it up—if it's getting all Twister up in there, I take the space that nobody wants and train surf; if a seat opens up, I flow into it. I have another post brewing in my head about how few things I actually expect myself to do every day, life needs syncopation.

Fall Tuesday Cooking Practice

So here goes, I guess I'm liveblogging today's cooking practice where I'm trying out One Practice To Rule Them All. So far, so good, first of all I slept, thank you for asking. The sweetie man woke me up at eight before he left to take care of Rudy, I got up shortly thereafter and fixed myself (!) a cup of coffee with almond milk and went back to bed to do my words. Sent Travis his reminder email about his Saturday appointment, and then up and at 'em. Tidied the bedroom, and tidied the kitchen only enough to clear off the cart. The cart is my prep surface, my favorite story about this cart is that I assembled it while baked on vicodin.

1a. Shakshuka

I don't really like cooking with dishes piled in the sink; but shakshuka has to simmer at the end, so I'm saving the dishes to do then. I put my saute pan on the stove over low heat, glug in some olive oil, then pretty methodically, maybe meditatively, dice onions, peppers, and zucchini, adding the vegetables to the pan as they're diced, gradually turning up the heat and occasionally giving them a stir. After the zucchini's in the pan, I start on the garlic. I just barely have patience for peeling and mincing garlic, I only don't run amok with a kris in my teeth because I know the zucchini could use the time to brown up. Garlic goes in, a spoonful of cumin, a spoonful of paprika, stir, then open a can of tomatoes, chop them up, and add them to the pan with their juice. And now the shakshuka simmers and I do the dishes.

When the dishes are done, the shakshuka is done and I ladle seven ladlefuls of shakshuka into seven mason jars and one ladleful onto a plate. By the way, I increased the amounts from the original recipe to make this much. I need enough shakshuka for the whole week.

There's going to be a pic of my shakshuka jars here in juust a sec...

1b. Crispy fried eggs

My new favorite thing is the crispy egg from smitten kitchen, or if you're me, the three crispy eggs. I clean out my shakshuka pan pretty well with my heatproof rubber spatula and make the eggs right in that pan.

Breaaakfast tiiime is here...

I upped my breakfast eggs from two to three as a positive step toward actually eating more protein and not just saying "I should eat more protein" and then eating the same amount of protein. And not unlimited amounts of protein, just this one extra egg for now. And the same goes for water, just an extra half glass here and there.

But anyway, enough of my yammering. Up up, Munt. More cooking to do.

But first, I think I will drop my camera and mess it up good, tch, I dropped it so lightly this time... now it has a droopy eyelid, the battery compartment won't shut, and I think it has internal injuries so it won't talk to Flickr? I am sad. I've had this camera since before this blog, it's the end of an era—

2. Slow chicken

Today's slow chicken is basically this shallot and squash slow chicken except I don't have shallots, I have a leek, and lately I'm making slow chicken with unconscionable amounts of butter. I slice up a stick of butter and put the pats in the bottom of the cooker, then the chicken on top of the butter. I have a new slow cooker that cooks properly low, so might as well give the butter and chicken a head start while I cut up the leek and the squash. In you go, Mr. Leek and Mr. Squash. And that's it, now it just cooks by itself.

2a. Ground meat

I'm doing ground meats for fall specifically because I'm doing all my cooking in one practice, so I can do chicken in the slow cooker and meat on the stove.

First, fill up a soup pot with water and start heating it up on the back burner for 2b. Greens.

Okay today is Korean ground beef, and I'm going to make it right in this pan that I made the crispy eggs in, that I made the shakshuka in. Drain the excess oil from the crispy egg pan, scrape out the burned bits, et voila I'm good to go. I suppose I could have just used the crispy egg oil, but I do like sesame oil for Korean beef. So drizzle in a bit of sesame oil over medium heat and put in the ground beef and break it up. While the beef is browning, dagnabbit, more garlic, should I have chopped a whole pile of garlic when I did it for shakshuka? Meh, six of one, half dozen of the other. I have to wait for the meat to brown, anyway. Peel and chop the garlic, sure, a little bit extra for the greens, trim and chop the green onions, and by now the meat is browned, so I can stir in most of the garlic, red pepper flakes, two spoonfuls of molasses, and four spoonfuls of soy sauce, and now it all goes on the back burner over low heat for twenty minutes.

2b. Greens

The pot of water comes to the front burner. When it comes to a full boil, I open a bag of kale and dump it in. It says on the bag that it's prewashed, how I feel about that is don't look a gift horse in the mouth. It's being boiled! It blanches just until I can smell it, then I drain it and by now the meat is done, gets its green onions stirred in, and goes into its container. And now I'm going to do the kale right in the pan that I did the meat in, that I did the crispy eggs in, that I did the shakshuka in. Just hit it with a drop more sesame oil, dump in the drained kale, and scrape the rest of the chopped garlic and stray bits of green onion off the cutting board into the pan. Stir it up and put it on the back burner.

2b. Quinoa

The pot that I blanched the kale in, now that gets a cup of quinoa and two cups of water and gets put over high heat on the front burner.

I really want to sit down, but I have to wait for the quinoa to come to a boil. So, I might as well do the dishes. When the dishes are done, the quinoa is boiling and gets covered and put on the back burner for fifteen minutes.

I retire to the couch to write this up so far.

Then the timer goes off, I turn the heat off the quinoa and let it rest while I put the kale in its container. Then the quinoa goes into its container.

All done, it pretty much looks like this except beef instead of pork:

But wait, I think I will heat up the rest of this tofu soup that I made for the sweetie man right in this pot that I did the quinoa in, that I did the kale in. And I will eat the soup for lunch. And I will take a nap. This is doable, but I am tired.

Coda

I have two people to train tonight, the chicken is done when I home and I fish it out of the slow cooker with tongs. I let it cool while I fix myself a snack and chat with the sweetie man. Eventually I pick the meat off the bones, divide it and the buttery squash and leeks between four jars. Finis!

No Housecleaning 3 of 6

Woof:

1. sore from strength training Saturday afternoon
2. hurting from two hours of sleep last night whyyy

Here's what I have to say: a fitness chart might look pretty on paper, but at the end of the day it's written on your body, and body trumps paper. I mean this sincerely, I mean to do right by my body this time. Not be the slave to a chart. Sore means that training did what it was supposed to do, broke down the muscle tissue. Next is recovery to build it back up, for the love of god. NOT MOAR TRAINING, and more than not training! Recovery is sleep, meditation, hydration, nutrition. I tried to sleep, honestly. I think I will sleep tonight, I'm exhausted. I think meditation is what's helping me not be a slave, more about that later. I know, I keep saying later. And I don't just want to say hydration, nutrition, yeah yeah. Hydration what, drink an extra glass of water right meow, that's what. Nutrition, maybe an extra egg? My egg intake is breathtaking. Ha, hopefully not literally.

So yeah I jettisoned my interval workout last night, after more thought than ought to have been needed. I was on skates for learn to skate clinic and referee practice, that was the right thing to do and it felt good. After a hard workout a low-intensity workout is a good idea, no workout is not a good idea, and a high-intensity workout is a bad idea. I should have caught it in the plan, I always forget that Saturday and Sunday are back to back. But anyway, I caught it in the execution. Recalculating...

I'm not not housecleaning because of strength training, I'm not housecleaning because of not sleeping and also because of writing the intro email for the second session of LTS clinics. Boy the two weeks leading up to SW break, all I was thinking was all the housecleaning I had to do. So I thought that was all I had to do. But no, that was just all I could think. It's not even that I'm taken aback that things are all unleashed up in my head, I didn't even know that things were leashed up there.

So no housecleaning today, but session two intro email, session two roster, and this post. And so to bed.

No wait, stretch. Then bed.

For a Healthier Tomorrow!

Man, I really don't like lists longer than four. Anything more than that is hrair, you feel me? Here's 25 Things to Do Tonight For a Healthier Tomorrow. Geez, twenty-five things. Tonight? Is that a thing? Do I actually do twenty-five things in a night all the time, I just stop counting at four?

1. Drink green tea to boost your metabolism.
I'm not supposed to have caffeine after 6:00 PM, so I better get up off the couch and get that started right now. In a minute.

2. Set your alarm an hour earlier to squeeze in a morning workout.
I'll just duck into the bedroom and do that while my tea is steeping. Or I would, if I had an alarm clock. I don't wake up to an alarm, I wake up when I wake up. I mean, pretty reliably by eight every day. But anyway, I don't do morning workouts.

3. Have sex to help beat stress and boost immunity.
I guess while my tea is steeping, okay.

4. Stop eating out, and pack your lunch ahead of time to save money and calories.
Stop eating out ...right now? I feel like this advice isn't really well-timed. It's Friday evening, next up is dinner. And tomorrow is Saturday, I don't need a lunch packed for tomorrow. Am I supposed to pack my lunch tonight for Monday? Joke's on you, I already have a bunch of lunches in the fridge.

5. Drink a glass of water to help clear your skin.
Glass of water with dinner, check. Which will be after the sex and the green tea. So like sex, green tea, then make dinner, drink glass of water with dinner.

6. Ditch late-night carbs to lose weight; save them for breakfast instead.
I beg to differ, I save my carbs for dinner and don't have them for breakfast. It's cool, agree to disagree. Actually I'm about to go over to Trouble's for wine party and am going to stuff my face with bread. I mean, I hardly ever eat bread. Except for pizza last night and bread tonight. But not for breakfast tomorrow.

7. Do a short yoga sequence to de-stress and relieve anxiety.
Mein gott, yoga too? Okay well, I am trying to stretch every night before bed. I kind of was thinking that it wasn't going to happen tonight because I'd be getting home late tonight filled with wine and bread, but hey. So like sex, green tea, then make dinner, drink glass of water with dinner, go to wine party, come back, and stretch before bed.

8. Eat salmon (or other omega-3-rich foods) for dinner to help lower the risk of developing breast cancer.
I guess it's salmon for dinner.

9. Skip sugary sweets to beat belly fat.
But it's Friday, Friday is when I eat sweets. Sometimes they have cookies at wine party!

10. Clean your gym mat to fight off germs and fungus.
Uh, okay. Sex, green tea, make salmon for dinner, drink glass of water with salmon, go to wine party, try not to eat cookies, come back, stretch, then clean yoga mat. Then bed.

11. Try preparing overnight oats for a grab-and-go healthy breakfast.
Sex, green tea, make salmon for dinner, drink glass of water with salmon, go to wine party, try not to eat cookies, come back, stretch, clean yoga mat, prepare overnight oats, then bed.

12. Sip on a glass of wine to reduce the risk of heart attack and increase bone strength.
I got this!

13. Finish your workout early (at least three hours before bedtime) to help you wake up refreshed in the morning.
Way ahead of you on this, I finished my last workout around 8:30 PM on Tuesday.

14. Whip up homemade energy bars to have a healthy snack ready for when you hit the gym.
Gah idk why, I really don't like bars. Pass.

15. Pack a gym bag so you're ready to start your workout in the morning.
Yeahhh, okay. Not.

16. Enjoy a square of dark chocolate to beat fatigue and lower blood pressure.
Trouble has chocolate sometimes at wine party!

17. Keep a food journal to lose weight faster.
LOL, you have no idea. Check. Couldn't care less about losing weight, though.

18. Slow down your dinner; eating quickly can stop you from realizing when you're really full.
Sex, green tea, make salmon for dinner, drink glass of water with salmon to be eaten slowly, go to wine party—cookies no, wine yes, chocolate yes—stretch, clean yoga mat, prepare overnight oats, then bed.

19. Detox and debloat by adding a few simple ingredients to your water.
Wouldn't it be simpler if you told me the ingredients? Fiiine. Sex, green tea, make salmon for dinner, drink glass of water with simple ingredients, eat salmon slowly, go to wine party—cookies no, wine yes, chocolate yes—stretch, clean yoga mat, prepare overnight oats, then bed.

20. Pack healthy snacks so you don't give in to junk food cravings at work tomorrow.
Work tomorrow is Travis, there's no food at the gym. I was planning to have soup when I got home.

21. Prep for sleep earlier than usual to wake up with ease.
Tch well, I could get to bed earlier if I didn't have to clean my yoga mat and make oats.

22. Find time to meditate — it will help you focus and relax.
Already done this afternoon!

23. Try eating clean to improve your energy.
I'm good, right? With the water with the simple ingredients, the salmon, the wine, and the chocolate?

24. Be body positive and give yourself some extra love.
So like, after the sex and before the green tea?

25. Lighten up your favorite dish for dinner, and bring the leftovers to work.
Idk, it's not that big of a piece of salmon and I'm probably going to be hungry after the sex and the extra love...

Egression Detail #180

I actually mean my egressions to be more than cannon fodder, I actually actively dislike the my-eyes-bigger-than-my-stomach behavior that mmmaybe Pinterest encourages. I mean, man's reach should exceed his grasp or what's a heaven for. I do, though, try to only pin and egress what I could conceivably get down with. And I'm genuinely interested in lists like A CHANGE IS AS GOOD AS A BREAK! 17 LITTLE THINGS YOU CAN SWITCH AROUND TO MAKE LIFE MORE INTERESTING, not just to collect but to converse with. That's what to do with these lists, talk back to them. Not to argue with them, but to engage with them. I figure that's what they're on this earth to do, how you get something out of them is by them getting something out of you.

So, whatcha got for me:

1. Order a new hot beverage.
Well, I don't order beverages. For budgetary reasons, you know? On work days I make coffee in the kitchen, and it varies with the season and sometimes with the weather whether I want it black or with butter. I guess I sort of have a rep as a butter coffee enthusiast, but really it's because butter keeps better than cream. And everybody else in the office thinks butter in coffee is disgusting or weird, so nobody's going to filch my butter like everybody does cream. On home days the sweetie man brings me coffee in bed, again it varies with the season whether I get it black or with almond milk. I'm spoiled enough already, I feel like it's too much to ask for butter coffee in bed.

Idk, it's a pretty good setup. What would I do differently? In fact the last thing I innovated was bringing in a spare rocket blender and a jar of coconut oil for my work cupboard so that I could have butter coffee instead of getting coffee with cream from Corner Bakery, for the aforementioned budgetary reasons and also to stop myself from getting bagels for breakfast.

Here's me drawing a blank. Switching things around is hard.

2. Buy a Groupon for a new restaurant in your neighborhood and order something you've never had.
Okay well, a) I don't buy Groupons, and b) we don't go out to restaurants, both for the aforementioned budgetary reasons and also the sweetie man is deaf in one ear and can't hear over the background noise in most restaurants. We have a really short list where we get takeout from: Taco Burrito Express and Mon Lung, and the occasional $5 Hot and Ready pepperoni pizza from the Little Caesar's in the Kmart. Taco Burrito Express and Mon Lung are both very, very good; but that is a dire little list, isn't it.

Sometimes Dawn and I go out to eat. Maybe I will look for someplace to go with Dawn.

3. Construct an outfit around one of your closet orphans.
Okay yes, I can do this! Brb!

4. House swap with friends for the weekend.
GAH, NO. This gives me hives on so many levels. I don't even want to talk about it. Lalalalala.

5. Take a different route (or type of transportation) to work.
Whyyy, my commute is perfect the way it is. It could only be faster and more direct if I put myself in one of those canisters and jumped into a vacuum tube like they have at the bank. If you haven't noticed, my life is very tightly scheduled and I'm really disinclined to dislodge very much.

Maybe on a Friday, when things aren't so tight.

6. Try out a new hairstyle.
Yes, I will!

7. Ask your boss if you can come in/leave early or vice versa.
Nooooo. See #5 about being tightly scheduled. This is not a little thing that I can switch around, this is taking the whole damn thing apart, thank you, but no, thank you.

8. Take a new class at your gym.
Yes! I'm doing this now, this is what I'm so excited about break about. That last sentence seems screwed up, but onward. I mean, I don't take classes and don't have a gym; so it's more like "take a new class" "at your gym." Still!

9. Read a magazine about a topic you know nothing about.
Okay, sure.

10. Go to open mic night.
I can go see Juanna! I will definitely put this on my list.

11. Listen to a new radio station.
I do try this on Songza, which is my radio. I had no idea that I was so strongly inclined to mellow indie until Songza. So now and again I'll be about to click on a usual suspect and suddenly my hand veers like a possessed Ouija pointer, and hilarity ensues.

12. Switch your part.
This is not such a big deal for me, Biggie cuts my hair so it can go both ways. Also, isn't this basically the same as #6?

13. Swap out your bedding for something totally different.
Mehh. I do sort of want new sheets, I've had the same two sets of sheets since I've been in this apartment. So since 2006, that's like eight years! White sheets, even. They're great sheets though, 600 count cotton; they weren't cheap, I bought them before I adjusted to my post-divorce financial situation. They're not as nicely white as they used to be, but they're whisper soft at this point. So the rub is, we're spoiled. It's not just me, the sweetie man's just as much of a princess about our sheets as I am. Though a thing about him is that he's not much about just getting new things just to get new things, and that has nicely rubbed off on me. Which kind of leaves us to appreciate the nice sheets that we've got.

14. Go to an international grocery store and buy a bunch of things you've never tried.
Guh, "international" feels like code that means something to a white person. I know, it can mean something totally innocent. I could cooperate, but I don't feel like it.

15. Wear a new shade of nail polish, a new color of eyeliner, a new shade of lipstick.
By "new shade," do you mean ...any? Okay, sure.

16. Sit with someone you don't know at lunch.
By "someone you don't know," do you mean somebody other than me? I consider it my God given right to eat lunch alone.

17. Rent a car that's totally unlike yours for the weekend.
By "a car that's totally unlike yours" do you mean ...a car?

Okay so, if you're keeping track:

Yes, I already do:

Listen to a new radio station now and again.
Switch my part now and again.

Yes, I will!

1. Construct an outfit around one of your closet orphans.
2. Try out a new hairstyle.
3. Take a new class at your gym.
4. Read a magazine about a topic you know nothing about.
5. Go to open mic night.
6. Wear a new shade of nail polish, eyeliner, or lipstick.

Idk mmaaaybe...

7. Order a new hot beverage.
8. Go to a new restaurant and order something you've never had.
9. Take a different route (or type of transportation) to work.
10. Swap out your bedding for something totally different.
11. Buy a bunch of groceries you've never tried.
12. Rent a car for the weekend.

NO, I WILL NOT!

House swap with friends for the weekend.
Ask your boss if you can come in/leave early or vice versa.
Sit with someone you don't know at lunch.

So that gives me six to start off with, and six more to think about...

The Return of Pizza Quest! apart pizza company

AKA Ad Hoc 2 of 6! Wakka wakka!

The 20 Best Pizzas In Chicago Via Chicagoist.

Apart Pizza Company
Chicago-style is fine, but sometimes you don’t want to fall into a coma after eating half a slice of pizza. A thin, crisp crust is a hard thing to find, and when I find a place that gets it right, they go right to the top of my list. Apart Pizza Company is my latest go-to for thin crust delivery. I credit my newfound appreciation to our former weekend editor Amy Cavanaugh, who insisted that I order from Apart during a night of gin-fueled gluttony. I’ve never looked back. A particular favorite: their Quattro Formaggi, which isn’t topped with mixed cheese but arranged in quarters, so you and your friends can argue over who wants goat and who wants bleu. Apart has a huge selection of Italian meats, so if you’re up for a night of carnivory that goes beyond sausage and Canadian bacon, they’re perfect. Allow plenty of time for delivery; sometimes good things are worth the wait. —Anthony Todd

Apart Pizza Company is located at 2205 W. Montrose Ave. and 5624 N. Broadway Ave.

The latter being just around the corner from Dawn's new apartment, and they do have a couple small tables where you can dine in. We had the Queen Margherita, I like to order a margherita at a new pizza place to see how they do a classic:

Very good! Boy, the crust! I loved it, this was the most crackery crust that we've had so far. Not bready at all, wafer thin and crisp. We thought there could be a bit more cheese, it was really delicious; perhaps we are greedy. Good tomatoes, nice basil.

Dawn has tried the above-mentioned Quattro Formaggi and didn't love the goat or the bleu, and I am not a fan of bleu. Do you know what the other two cheeses are, though? Brie and Parmesan, nom! Next time I'm going to ask if they will make a Due Formaggi, man, half brie and half parmesan. On that crust? Fuggedaboutit!

"Chicago-style is fine, but sometimes you don’t want to fall into a coma after eating half a slice of pizza." LOL, half a slice of pizza.

Fall Food Chart

Black coffee in bed.
Eggs shakshuka for work breakfasts.
Fried eggs with avocado vegetable hash at home.
Slow chicken with steamed vegetables for work lunches.
Creamed vegetable soup at home.
Tea and fruit for afternoon snack.
Ground meat, greens, and quinoa for pre-workout dinner.
Sauteed fish and vegetables for Friday dinner.
Beetlejuice for pre-workout drink.
Cococherry2O for workout drink.
Peanut butter apple for post-workout snack.
Wine spritzer with Friday dinner.

Lots of new things to eat! Or well, new this year. I am definitely starting to cycle through the wayback machine. Which is great, I might actually have this eating thing down...

Ultimate food chart! Always tweaking...
Fall food planner for the extremely detail-oriented.

Grokkk, these food charts are a lot of work and still quite short of how I want them ::angry face shaking fist emoji::

Fall Chart

ARGH, but in a good way? This whole blog from its very beginning is an opera about Sundays, I need Sundays to put myself together for the week, I have Rioters on Sundays, I have Fury on Sundays until Champs, I have Second Wind on Sunday until IKC, ahhh I have Sundays and life is like in the movies. I did have a good stretch of Sundays this summer, it was grand. Now all of a sudden I want to watch Bears games! I want to go out to brunch! Things that normal people do!

SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT
SLEEP	SLEEP	SLEEP	SLEEP	SLEEP	SLEEP	SLEEP
morning	morning	morning	morning	morning	morning	morning
PASTIME	WORK	HOME Cooking	WORK	WORK	WORK	PLAY^ strength
PASTIME	WORK	SYSTEMS bills	WORK	WORK	WORK	SYSTEMS appts
afternoon	afternoon	afternoon	afternoon	afternoon	afternoon	afternoon
PLAY^^ interval	HOME Cleaning	PLAY^ strength	PLAY bodywork	SYSTEMS tasks	PASTIME	PASTIME
evening	evening	evening	evening	evening	evening	evening
SLEEP	SLEEP	SLEEP	SLEEP	SLEEP	SLEEP	SLEEP

Sooo I'm going to squish cooking into my Monday housecleaning practice, it's slow chicken so it shouldn't impair my ability to clean. And squish tasks into my Thursday adhoc practice, it's wafer thin!

Man, this is a great schedule.

ETA: No no no, save Monday for cleaning and squish all cooking into Tuesday. I can make it happen.