Pursuit of Sassyness

Sassyness: a state of mind generated through the relentless and unabashed persistence towards one’s goals#studyblr #productivity #fitblr

[greens-your-color]

💛 80 books in 20 weeks

First part of Evil Wednesday slain (undergrads’ shakes lecture). Now to read until class. Even just getting out the door on Wednesday mornings is a struggle; I have to pack lunch, dinner, laptop, books, and a full change of clothes plus my other ballet stuff. And remember coffee. ☕️ Needless to say I was late. 😭

Yesterday’s hike was so lovely. I need to remember that, if I have a free hour, I can do the entire loop in that time. And I should!!

Okay now for the next task: survive Evil Wednesday.

🎧 - “secret garden,” bruce springsteen

[goldensquirrel]

Books in May

The grapes of wrath by Steinbeck 5/5 

A drink before the war by Dennis Lehane 5/8

Darkness take my hand by Dennis Lehane 5/15

Sacred by Dennis Lehane 5/20

Gone baby gone by Dennis Lehane 5/27

The nightingale by Kristin Hannah 5/31

The detective stories by Lehane were fast paced but after the last one I noticed the sameness in their structure. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the Grapes of Wrath. I understand the significance and importance of the book, but I would suggest the four winds over this one. (an audacious opinion).

[supersassymoon]

Day 5: October 5, 2022

Exercise: Another strength training session followed by a nice walk around the neighborhood. I saw a hummingbird moth--seeing one is supposedly a good omen! Lately it's still dark out when I wake up and start my workouts. The sun is climbing over the mountains while I walk and I get to watch the sky lighten.

Read: a very unusual poem of the day, plus a fiction and non-fiction chapter. I'll post more in-depth about the books once I finish reading them, but for now, I'll just say that my non-fiction read is serious and kind of a downer, but interesting and thought-provoking, too.

Productivity: Today I attended a lab meeting on campus. I feel guilty leaving work to attend school, but I love being on campus among other students. I love attending lab meetings and talking about research. I need to remember this while I'm going through the not-so-fun process of grad school applications: with some luck, lab meetings and campus and classes and research could be big parts of my daily life.

Today was very meeting-heavy. As a result, my batteries are quite depleted and I'm feeling like I just want to crash. Going to get at least something done, though! There is power in momentum. Don't stop...keeping going... Even if you have to slow, it's better than stopping. Revving up again, starting again, can feel the toughest.

Reminder: Even if you have to stop (and there could be perfectly valid and healthy reasons to do so), getting up again is the most important part.

[supersassymoon]

Day 3: October 3 2022

Exercise: 21 min strength training session per my coach + a 20 min or so walk around the neighborhood. Tomorrow I’m going to work on getting my butt out of bed sooner so I can sneak in a longer workout.

Read: poem of the day, plus chapters in both my current nonfiction and fiction reads. My nonfiction read (What We Owe the Future) is introducing me to a lot of topics I haven’t much considered and it’s stretching my brain in a nice way. The chapters are quite long/slow to read so I plan to tackle them NOT before bed when I’m hella tired.

Productivity: I felt rather drained today, but I still managed about an hour of time on a research project.

[supersassymoon]

Day 2: October 2, 2022

Daily habits done:

Exercise: 45 min walk around the neighborhood. The honeysuckle, lantana, oleander, and sage are still in bloom, so my hummingbird friends are busy flitting around.

Read: poem of the day is "Verses to the Moon" by Luis Carlos Lopez, translated by William George Williams (another William Williams, not to be confused by William Carlos Williams). I was up quite late reading one chapter of both my current nonfiction and fiction reads, too.

Productivity: finally! I made some progress with both my research project and my grad school app tasks. It took hours of work while logged into Study Stream.

Other: food prepped, another load of laundry

[supersassymoon]

Day 1: October 1, 2022

Daily habits done:

Exercised: Week 6, Day 1 of the couch to 10k running program. I pushed my pace in the last run interval and got my HR up to 191. Yessss!

Read: the poem "October" by Robert Frost (fitting, right?), 1 chapter of What We Owe the Future by William MacAskill, and a couple chapters of Lorekeeper by Molly Burkhart

Productivity: 3.9 hours (grrr, slightly annoyed I didn't push through for a few more minutes to get 4 hours) of lit review for a research project.

Random productivity: three loads of laundry, cleaned all my makeup brushes, tidied kitchen

Today was the first day I used Study Stream while working on school stuff. I like the communal feel and seeing other people working and studying along with me. Solidarity! The site is kinda buggy, though. I'm highly susceptible to gamification via leaderboards and streak trackers, so I'll definitely be back.

[supersassymoon]

3 months left in 2022

Somehow we have only three months left in 2022 (!?). Time to set some goals to finish the year strong!

I'm going to be tracking the following daily habits:

Exercise: Running, strength training, and walking on "rest" days

Read: I will read (1) chapter of fiction, (2) a poem, and (3) an article or a chapter in a non-fiction book each day.

Productivity: at least one action toward a goal

Goals to reach by the end of the year:

Submit grad school applications

Complete novel on Wattpad

Complete Couch to 10k running program

Read 24 books (21 read so far!)

Here we go! Anyone else shook that it's October and the year is almost over?

[supersassymoon]

Weekend Review

1. Completed all my priority goals! The most rewarding was finalizing the draft of my upcoming poster presentation. It wasn't as unpleasant or difficult as I thought it would be, but it did take me longer than I anticipated. I've noticed I tend to build tasks up in my head which can make them loom larger than they really are. Lesson: sometimes projects become less foreboding once you actually dig into them, so dig into them.

2. Finished reading The Flu Season and picked up two new books to read--one fiction and one non-fiction. I'm going to try reading two at the same time and see how that goes.

3. Foam rolled and stretched in prep for another week of running and strength training. I'm toying with the idea of running a marathon next spring or summer. In fact, I suggested to one of my friends that we do this together before I go off to grad school. ("How many years do we have to train?" she wanted to know lol)

4. Had dinner with two friends I hardly ever see! We caught up on each other's lives over Thai food (the only cuisine we agree on). It was lovely.

So, this past weekend was unusual in that I actually left my apartment--twice! As a result I was less productive, but I feel more rested. I declare it a victory!

[supersassymoon]

Weekend Goals

Weekend of March 26, 2022

It's the end of March already?

Lots to do this weekend as per usual.

Priority things:

1. Complete poster presentation for next month's conference. Be ready to email it my co-author by Monday (Sunday night would be best!) so I can finalize and submit it by the soon-approaching deadline. This poster still needs quite a bit of work which is not great as I'm already sick of working on posters after spending so much time working on the other poster presentation (which is submitted!)

2. Food prep so I have healthy noms to eat next week

3. Return library book due very soon. I'm such a homebody on the weekends. I never want to go anywhere, so the simple errand of going to the library feels like a chore. Blarg.

Should-do-but-not-the-end-of-the-world-if-I-don't things:

4. Stretch and foam roll. As soon as I mentioned that my hamstrings are sore, my coach ordered some stretching and foam rolling this weekend. Next week's running plan includes quite a bit more running so I want to be ready and avoid injury.

5. Finish reading The Flu Season and start next book. I have no idea what that next book will be. I'll decide on a whim.

6. Add more to the experimental study brainstorming file because we're meeting about it on Thursday and it's important to make some progress.

7. Feed all the plant babies.

8. Spend two hours creating GRE Psychology study materials. Next month's test got cancelled (such a huge relief!), so now it looks like I'll probably have to take the test in October instead. Studying is no longer the urgent imperative it once was, but I still need to keep on track with my study plan so I don't forget what I've already learned and so I can keep making progress.

Bonus-fun things:

9. Some kind of fun exercise

10. More writing. Yes, I already started this weekend off with some tinkering on a WIP. This makes me happy as it's been a while since I touched my fiction writing. Something about springtime makes me feel especially writerly.

Here we go, weekend. Let's make it happen.

[supersassymoon]

My secret to reaching my reading goals is what I call « Read to Ryan ». I use this Ryan Reynolds I received in the mail as a bookmark to mark the spot where I want to stop reading for the day.

Current read: The Flu Season and Other Plays by Will Eno. (Which I have to confess I’m reading because it’s the thinnest book on my shelf and I’m one book behind in my reading challenge haha)

[supersassymoon]

After a Long Weekend...

This weekend was intentionally unproductive, but I was able to get some things done over the last few days and now I feel better.

1. Maintained my streak in Duolingo

2. Did some brainstorming for a study-in-the-works (an experiment!)

3. Took my poster presentation about as far as I could and then asked for feedback

4. Gave feedback on the other poster presentation which felt awkward but was necessary

5. Kept up with my scheduled workouts. This marks week 2 training with the Future app. So far, so good! I'm running three days a week and weight training at home the other two days. I'm mildly (pleasantly) sore.

6. Painted my nails an almost-neon pink for self-care purposes

7. Oh, and I requested feedback for the vignette and open-ended questions I'm preparing for my other study-in-the-works.

It's back to work for me tomorrow and I feel more mentally prepared to face the onslaught of demands and requests. Here we go!

[supersassymoon]

Spring Energy!

For the first time ever, one of my many beleaguered houseplants is blooming! I love this springy time of year when my plant babies unfurl new leaves despite my neglect of them.

March has historically been a good month for me and has brought renewal and new beginnings. I'm embracing the hell out of that rebirth energy this year and have been thinking a lot about my goals and where I go from here.

For today, I can count some small victories:

1. Took a three mile walk this morning.

2. Fixed (I think) some annoying household problems

3. Completed Spanish and French lessons on Duolingo (254 day streak!)

4. Rest

Yes, rest. I feel the nagging mental pull of my school projects, but in the interest of recovering from this most recent bout of burnout, I'm allowing myself some time to rest. Maybe just today. Let's see how it feels.

[supersassymoon]

10/2/2021

Day 14 of 75Hard

I slept in this morning (went to bed last night at midnight—eep!) and took a 3 mile walk around my neighborhood as my outdoor workout. It’s cooling down here which is great! I’m excited to leave my patio doors open to catch the breeze and give my ac a break.

Today’s agenda:

1. Brainstorm some titles for my poster presentation

2. Double check all my sources and start on the References section of the paper

3. Sleep early! 9:30? I want to a wake up before the sun tomorrow and head to the park for an extra long walk.

4. Laundry

…and maybe make some seitan?