October is Almost Over!

My, my, it has been a while, hasn't it?  It has been an eventful month in the life of 5 Things, with a trip to Milwaukee, AIDS Walk, and Halloween coming up.  So how are we busy people doing with our lists?

Kit has been faithfully updating me on the status of her laundry, exercise, and the grooming of her cat.  She also updated the contacts in her phone, accidentally calling me a few times as she did so.  She also uploaded some more photos of her honeymoon trip to Facebook so we can see her at the Tower of London and next to the weird Japanese art installations that marred the halls of Versailles.

Holly never quite got her list to me, but she is still on board for next month.  I think she may need a little incentive... like if she accomplishes everything one week, I'll buy the first round when we go out for cocktails.

As for myself, I've been doing okay with my list.  Exercise and meditation have been challenging to keep up with, but they have been really good for me.  Also, going to bed by 10:15 (or thereabouts) has also helped with energy and keeping me from getting sick.  The games thing was a dud (I can't count on having an opportunity to fit them in during the school day), but at least it got me thinking about making a list.  The refrigerator is almost clean (I've been doing it in stages).  Two more small shelves and the door shelves and I'm done.  I had to use excessive amounts of Goo Gone to get unidentified sticky matter out of various crevices.  Lord knows how long it's been there...

So we get to finish October with a party, otherwise known as Halloween.  Still not sure if said party will be in L.A. or in San Diego.  But either way, I will be decked out in the same outfit I wore to Monster Ball:

Exercise#1, 2 AND 3...

I was wondering if I could count this as all 3 exercises for this week... haha just kidding.  But can it at least make up for me doing only 2 last week?

Yesterday, October 17, I participated in AIDS Walk Los Angeles.  It took quite a bit of effort to get there - an hour of driving around, getting stuck and rerouted, going to 3 parking structures, which were all full (and driving up and down 2 of those structures to find out that they were full!), waiting in a line of cars squealing their tires on a steep hill in the rain, trying to get up to Sunset Blvd., and finally parking on a street a half a mile away from the start line.

Once we got to the start line, we were 1 1/2 hours late, and they were starting to take down the markers of the course, so we weren't certain where the course was, and we took a wrong turn that made us cut out five miles of the walk!  Oops!  So we found the mobs of people who were closing in on the finish line, and we walked against traffic on the other side of the street, in the opposite direction, until the route turned, where we would have picked it up if we if we hadn't gotten diverted.  Also, our team had gone on ahead, so I didn't get to see Kit (who was also participating) until hours later.  That'll teach us not to be late to a walk, ever again!!

Once on the walk, however, it was really fun, great exercise, and not as crowded this year on account of the rain.  I didn't mind the rain because I was wearing water resistant clothes, and it was very light rain.  Everyone was having a great time cheering each other on, and there were lots of dogs walking too, and people wearing outrageous costumes.  Check out some of the sights:

colorful characters

walking the dog

hey, if you're gonna tag a building, this is one of the nicer things you could say...

there were nuns of all colors of the rainbow...

H and I crossing the finish line

October Things!

I finally got a hold of Kit's list, so here it is:

1. sort and organize my trip pix. pick out at least 10 pix I can share with friends/relatives/put on FB
2. groom the cat
3. exercise 4 times - at least 1x per week
4. add my speed dials to my new phone which includes updating their contact info
5. clean the shower


Still no word on Holly's list yet, but she's doing her best (this is all new to her).  Will update when I hear from her.


In the meantime, I tweeted that I did some of my exercising in Milwaukee, so I wanted to upload some pics I took on my walk (I needed to walk off all that cheese, beer, and Bratwurst!)

City Hall

The Milwaukee River

The white thing beyond is the Calatrava architecture of the Milwaukee Museum of Art

As the wings begin to close...

Fully closed - I took a video of it closing, and it was fantastically slow.  You can barely see it moving.  So, you know, don't expect a life-changing event.

Riverwalk - not sure who this statue depicts, but he has Gene Simmons' tongue

Fall colors...sigh... we just don't get this in San Diego...

September Reflection - but first, an announcement!

Five Things is gearing up for its 5^th month in existence, and we have a new person on board!  My friend Holly is joining in, and she is excited to write her list.

So that’s my little announcement. =-)  

September was a challenging month in the life of Five Things, because of Kit being in Europe for two weeks, my throat muscles freaking out on me, and being sick two weekends in a row.  Despite two of my list items being duds, I did pretty well with the rest of the list.  Here’s the breakdown:

Exercise

I did well the first few weeks, but this month I required a lot of extensions, and STILL didn’t get my 3 days of exercise in.  Being sick didn’t help.  The kinds of exercise I was doing was also interfering with my singing (too much upper body work strained my neck).  Arrgh.  But on the positive side, I did some good running and tried Jazzercise for the first time (did you know it’s the #2 most prosperous woman-owned business in San Diego?).  It’s semi-cheesy, perky aerobic fun. 

Sleep By 10:15

This one was a challenge, but it was a HUGE benefit for me.  I was less moody and more functional during the week.  I cut myself a little slack and if I was in bed no later than 10:29, I counted it a success.  Staying up until even 11pm is really bad for me. 

Teacher’s Journal

This was a fun, easy, and helpful little item.  I just wrote down the cool stuff I gleaned from my subbing.  If I liked a teacher’s methods, behavior management, lessons, or anything else, I wrote it down and kept it in a red envelope.  Someday when I need some ideas for my own classroom, I can look through the notes. 

Singing 30 min. 3 times a week

This one became problematic when my throat muscles started getting very tense in the first week as a result of the weight lifting I was doing at the gym.  I sang 3 times the first week, then I had to rest my vocal cords to relieve the tension.  I’m still having issues with my throat, so this will not be on October’s list.  It’s too bad, but maybe when my throat calms down, I can add it back because it really helps with choir.

Follow a Schedule

This was a bad idea from the get-go, because a rigid schedule does not give you leeway for life.  Life happens and schedules get thrown off, and it really put way too much on my plate.  This was a sneaky trick by my subconscious to make me revert to my bad habit of trying to do too much all at once.  The whole PURPOSE of Five Things is to focus on 5 simple things so you don’t get overwhelmed by 50 different things.  Bad Kat.  The only good thing was the 15 minutes of tidying, which I did somewhat regularly, and which may reappear on later lists…

I will update with Kit and Holly's October lists, and as for myself, I will start in earnest when I return from Milwaukee on Tuesday.  Until then, ciao for now!!

Jazz Hands!!

Last week was challenging because I was sick over the weekend, and then this weekend my allergies went CRAZY with this abominable heat wave... but tonight I finally managed to get back in the saddle.  Here's what I've done so far:

Exercise #1

I went to Jazzercise for the first time ever!  I went from the 90 degree weather (at 6:45 at night) into a frigid air conditioned studio and skipped and toe-tapped for a solid hour... I'll be feeling it tomorrow.  It was pretty fun, and the best thing is it was totally free!  I have a week pass I found in the coupon mailer, so I doubt I'll continue after it expires (I should also use my gym membership) but it's fun to mix things up.

Okay, I'm off to bed (by 10:15!).  Also, I went to bed 3 times by 10:15 last week.  I'm liking this item...

Busy Week

This week I backslid a bit.  Maybe it's not having Kit around... btw, she got back from Europe last week, so hopefully we can resume when she's up to it.

I never got around to Exercise #3 for last week, and this week, I did Exercise #1 on Monday (gym, 45 minutes, bikes, treadmill, weight machines, stretches).

I didn't sing this week because I'm still having the tension issue in my throat.  I sang at choir the other night, but I didn't sing that well.  If I try this one again, I'll reduce it to practicing once a week.

I've gotten to bed by 10:15 two nights this week.

I've dutifully kept up my teaching journal, and I subbed every day this week.

The schedule thing flopped, but I may try again with the 15 minutes of tidying in October.

Exercise #2

Exercise #2
Today, H and I took his car to get detailed, and rather than take two cars, we took the one car, dropped it off, and walked about a mile down the road to eat lunch (not my idea).  Even though I was starving and we're both fighting off a cold, we walked 15 minutes each way (eating Lebanese food and buying some wine in between).  So there's my 30 minutes to check off Exercise #2.  So yeah, I need an extension for Exercise #3...

Exercise #3 (from last week)
SPEAKING of which, I forgot to update on Exercise #3 from LAST week, which I did this week as an extension on Sunday - I did a Billy Blanks DVD for 40 minutes.  That kickboxing six-pack-at-50-years-old powerhouse reminds me of the good ole' days of doing Tae Bo at UCLA.  You kinda of look like you're on speed while you're doing it, but Billy Boy and his hyperactive routine really make me sweat in a way that Karen Voight just can't... sorry Karen, I'll still keep you around for yoga.

Exercise #3 from this week will have to happen Sunday.

Work it, Billy!

Teaching Journal
Got more than a page of notes from my time in a 7th grade Language Arts class and a 6th grade class at a local middle school.

Schedule
The schedule was a bad idea because it defeats the whole purpose of FIVE Things - it should give you Five main things to focus on so that you actually have a chance of accomplishing them.  I haven't figured out what I'd like to replace it with yet.  Perhaps just the 15 minutes of tidying per day...

Bed by 10:15
Went to bed at 10:22 on Thursday night.