Thoughts...

[branwyn]

Hey!

After a week or two of feeling kinda "bleah" overall - this weekend included - I am finally feeling a little energetic, and actually proactive about planning and doing things. Don't know what caused me to be so low-energy and extra-procrastinatory for the last little bit, though potential culprits (possibly in combination) are:

• FCN PCD;
  
• The cold that lost me my voice at FCN and the subsequent drawn-out (if marginal) symptoms thereof (not gone yet, but nearly so);
  
• Weird and inconsistent weather; and
  
• Lack of exercise (I stopped working out when I got the cold and haven't gone since, and since my body's been used to getting regular exercise for the past year-ish, maybe that threw my brain chemicals off?)

What got me feeling back on track? Not sure of that either, possibly:

• A fair bit of "down time" the last two days, spent Easter with Alex and his family;
  
• Inspiration from some forced productivity when my roommates and I (plus Alex) did a pretty significant cleaning of our house on Friday;
  
• The fact that the last couple days have actually been pretty nice, weather-wise - almost summery even (I got a bit of a sunburn yesterday);
  
• Realization that it's 4 months to Feral! and I have a shit-ton of work to do before then!
  
• I actually played a half-hour or so of guitar for Alex's family yesterday... and that felt pretty good, so maybe that got my spirits turned back in the right direction.

In any case, a list of what I'm up to in the next week-or-two time frame:

• Back on my diet as of today's lunch;
  
• Back to the gym 4-times-a-week, starting after work today... including inquiring about boxing(!) classes/equipment/facilities;
  
• Back to actually planning my days and making sure I get shit done when it needs to;
  
• Speaking of which: taxes!
  
• Continuing to jam on a weekly basis with some friends - we're starting to sound pretty good on a few of the songs we've been working on, so that's pretty great;
  
• Preparing my garden for this year - both planting seeds indoors (which I've already done some, thankfully) as well as cleaning up from last year, which I didn't do in the fall, and including expanding the amount of garden space I have available, including space near the front door as well;
  
• Inquiring about getting a plot in the community garden down the street, to further expand my growing capabilities, both in square footage and in level of sunlight (I hope!);
  
• Bottle a batch of wine I started at a brew-on-their-premises place in town.
  
• Start an apple tree, some saskatoon trees, and a bonsai or two;
  
• Organizing / cleaning my bedroom, the basement storage room, the music room, and the kitchen.

Ambitious, I guess, but I'm also feeling extra-behind after sorta wasting a few weeks of time because I was just feeling "bleah". Gotta learn to "suck it up" when I get like that.

Longer term goals, while I'm at it:

• Help plan a 40th anniversary party for my parents (in Manitoba) this summer;
  
• Be in the best shape possible for Feral! this year - stack on a pile of muscle, lean down beforehand, and spend time on the local nude beach getting a most excellent tan - for once in my life;
  
• Update in here more often - I originally started this with the intent of using it as a sort of public diary, something I could refer back to in order to gauge my progress, but I've not used it consistently enough for that;
  
• Related to the above, maybe LJ is not the right place? Twitter doesn't seem right for me, the things I want to say and record are almost always more than 140 characters... I can barely keep a text message down to one part. Maybe a blog?
  
• Focus myself as much as possible to concentrate on things that will be useful and important in the future... which is to say, things that will be helpful when I am living on a farm, raising my own produce, preserving it for use through the winter, and selling/trading the remains to obtain things I can't grow or make myself.
  
• Collect my recipes together, with photos, into a cookbook.

Also: I'm sure it's partly mood-related, which may in turn be partly weather-related... but I have been hit with spring fever! In truth I was feeling this a couple weeks ago, after the first few hints at nice weather, but before the mini-depression set in. Well... it's back!

Anyways, that's more than enough for now.

How's everyone else out there in LJ-land doing?

B.