so today I spent a lot of time here updating some entries, cheering people and commenting on entries.
I seldom ever have more than 5 cheers, but today someone kindly cheerbomb me so all of a sudden I had too many cheers. It was fun to finally being able to cheerbomb someone but that’s time consuming. Next time I must remember to stick to my plan!
Last week I had less than 5 glasses of wine. It occured to me that that the first anniversary of this goal on my list is about 12 weeks away. If I could stick to my plan of no more than 5 glasses of wine a week for 10 weeks I could remove this goal from my list before it’s one year old. That would be great.
I tend to take 20 photos of the same flower/rain drop/building/whatever in different angles and light conditions. Instead of keeping the best one I keep them all – in folders by date taken. So whenever I want to look back at a particular photo, I have a really hard time to find it. Very stupid I know, and I’ve been doing this since November 2002 when I got my digital camera. It reached a point I no longer have any clue where a particular photo is, it takes me ages to find it. I have to think back which year/month it was, what I was doing etc until I find it. So now I’m going through all photos, deleting loads, attaching tags to the ones I’m keeping. I also have all my pre 2003 photos I would like to scan into my computer. I feel this task of organizing my photos will take me months, but I have to start somewhere so I’m starting Nov 2002 :)
I’ve been doing this under my goal “develop good habits” but somehow I got sidetracked so now I’m setting a goal just for this. I live in a very small (and cosy!) dwelling and don’t have space for that much stuff. I tend to go to the library for books, but still I have a bookcase so perhaps I could get rid of some and only keep the reference books (dictionaries, atlas etc). Don’t have CDs, I keep my music in digital format. Don’t have that many shoes or clothes. But I tend to keep things I no longer use, thinking perhaps one day I’ll use them again (some items of clothes, rollerskates, keyboard etc). There are loads of stuff under my bed that need sorting. Photographs in boxes and stuff like that.
One day (perhaps in three or four years) I’d like to live in a tent, for a whole year. The plan is to keep in storage whatever don’t fit inside the car/tent. The less I have the easier it will be to do this.
I’m changing my goal from “make new friends” to “keep in better contact with the friends I have and make new friends”. My birthday is coming so perhaps I could gather my friends together for a meal or something.
Yesterday the neighbour’s cat was playing with a dead snake in my garden.
Earlier this year in Portugal I saw a peacock showing off to loads of peahens (or female peacocks, not sure what is the correct form). First time I saw the whole peacock dance display, it was very interesting. The females are so colourful too. They were all in wildflower meadow, it was magical :)
Due to loads of work and back pain (still hurting, still investigating this) I wasn’t able to exercise as much as I was planning. But I had a great time going out with the folks from the cycling club. My only complain is that I’m the only female attending, why it’s so difficult to find other female cyclists…? So there, I blew my other goal of not complaining for a week! Now I feel I could complain ad nauseum about the back pain, but I won’t. I need to fix whatever is wrong with my back before I can go cycling again – had to stop with the short commuting trips as well, could not stand the pain.
Anyway, my mileage for June:
cycling 165.17
swimming 9.39
Even though I’m behind with my mileage goal I feel I’m making progress in other areas due to this. While paying more attention to my approach to exercise I was able to see that yes I can have a system and find the determination when I want to. So I’m trying to apply this enthusiasm to other areas of my life :)
I usually drink one glass of wine a day (sometimes two). But this past week there was 2 days when I drank 2 glasses, two days when I drank just one, and THREE alcohol-free days :)
Still not my first week of 5 glasses a week but I’m getting closer :)
Aiming for a complain-free week at first (that’s going to be hard!).
At the moment I’m unable to keep with my plan to remain computer free 2x a week, sometimes I have to work. But this past weekend I had a totally computer free Sunday and it was great.
I’m limiting the amount of free time I spend in front of the computer by doing other stuff such as cycling, swimming, gardening and reading books and magazines (not websites!).
after 30 days, the results:
-my important project (P)W&S: I didn’t work on it 2h every week day, tsk tsk.
-stay away from 2 travel websites: done!
-wake up at 5:45 – I will keep on trying. Most days I wake up at 6, some days at 4:30 or 5… of course I could use an alarm clock but that would be no fun, I would like to wake up at 5:45 by myself without any alarm.
It was great to challenge myself, I’m doing this again.
I would like to improve my languages, I don’t need any certificates for work or study but working towards a certification will give me extra incentive and focus.
Languages I’d like to relearn/improve:
*English – It would be great to reduce the amount of “I beg your pardon?” and “I didn’t quite catch that” that I say and listen to.
*Italiano – Voglio parlare l’italiano come se fosse la mia lingua madre :)
*Espanol – Hablo muy mal y entiendo relativamente bien. Puedo mejorar y mucho.
*Deutsch – I habe alles vergessen :(
So I’ll try to gain certification to the following levels of the European Framework (CEFR): C2 for English and Italian and C1 for Spanish. Not sure for German, perhaps B1 is more than enough for me and my holidays, will see.
I’m starting with English. I’d like to take the CFE Cambridge Proficiency Test. I’ll register for this exam (next one is in December), buy some books and study.
Yesterday while cycling I saw a different bird, how exciting! It was yellowish-green and it went past flying and making some sounds. Later at home I checked my book on birds and my “british sound library” CD. I’m almost certain it was a greenfinch :)
Since my last entry I went back some three times to the same place for more organ music. I could get into the habit of going to the city centre every Saturday for some window shopping/people watching, coffee and this recital. Some weeks ago a friend took me to a “medieval fayre”: loads of different things and performances including some morris dancing, something my friend sees as “very weird”. Also went on a quick trip to Portugal where I saw a performance by this excellent folk group called Xucalhos.
cycling 83.2 miles
swimming 9.32 miles
walking no idea
I’ve been thinking about my original cycling and swimming goals for 2008:
- 3000 miles cycling
So far this year I rode 605 miles, I would have to ride 343 each month which seems quite impossible. It’s not fun to chase an unrealistic goal. But perhaps I still have a change to do 2500? If I ride aprox 271 miles every month until the end of 2008 I may be able to do this! So yes, I’ll try 2500!
- 130 miles swimming
So far this year I did 41.43 miles. Perhaps I’m being too optimistic here but yes, I believe 130 miles are still possible, provided I increase my laps and carry on swimming at least 4x a week.
As for walking: I’m finding it hard to keep track, I tend to use mapmyfitness.com (which I already use to keep track of my cycling) but it can get boring and time consuming. Not sure what to do about this.
Anyway, I still have 1895 miles to cycle and 88 miles to swim this year. Go me, I can do this!
I lost my book on trees. I’m sure I left at my friend’s months ago, but I don’t dare ask him because he’s going through some anxiety problems and I don’t want to add more anxiety to his life by having to look for my book in his phenomenally messy house. I will buy another copy of the same or just get any one from the library and keep renewing it.
Anyway the good news: I became a member of the local botanical gardens, for £20 a year I can visit the place as much as I want. This is quite a bargain considering each individual entry is about £3.50. Now I’m just waiting for the weather to improve to start going there often.
Being a budget conscious person, when joining the gym last year I went for the cheapest membership with time restrictions: from 9am to 4pm weekdays only. With suits me fine since I work flexible hours. Yesterday I was told me the most wonderful news: the basic membership was extended from 6am AND now I can go during the weekend too! YYYYEEEEESSSSSS!!!!
Yesterday I did 28 lenghts in 23 minutes. Same speed from months ago. But after all the problems I had in April, I’m sooo happy just to be swimming again :)
I’m challenging myself to do the following for 30 days:
-work at my important project (P)W&S at least 2h every weekday
-stay away from 2 travel websites I visit too much
-wake up at 5:45 am everyday (should not be too difficult, I’m a morning person by nature)
I’m starting tomorrow and plan to report back in June.
For now my challenge is to progress in my own career, so I’ve been studying to update my skills and hope to get new certification this Summer. Perhaps once this is done I’ll look into programming again. Not sure.
