The Reluctant Athlete: I'm Sick

I knew that with the way work is at the moment, I was going to get run down and that would probably result in me getting sick. What I wasn't expecting was for it to happen so soon in the project. We still have over 2 months to go and I'm taking this afternoon so I can sleep on my couch and hopefully feel better soon. But then I looked at my schedule for the past month and realised that I haven't had any time off.

My work days have been long, but my weekends have also been chalk-a-block full of activities such as painting at my dad's and going in to work to do all the things I didn't get to during the week. It's just like the weekends I dreamed of having when I would think about 'being an adult' when I was young! (Honestly, can anyone remind me why we in such a rush to 'grow up' when we were little? Oh, right. So we could set our own bedtimes.)

I started feeling the achy-oh-crap-don't-get-sick feeling on Tuesday so the fact that I've made it to Friday without letting it win makes me pretty happy. The downside is that standing over a stove to cook or at the counter to prep food seems like some Herculean task that was beyond my skill set this week so my food choices were, well, I stopped tracking because they were that bad. It also means that instead of writing a post Wednesday night and posting it yesterday, I would finish up any work I had brought home with me and then go to bed. Glorious, glorious bed!

Here's hoping an afternoon off work, a night of going to bed during the single-digit hours, and a relatively quiet weekend of golf (it's for work) and dinosaurs (I won tickets to Walking with Dinosaurs) has me back on track for next week.

Well, That Sucked

I spent most of January either sick or recuperating from being sick. While I avoided the really nasty bugs going around the office (read = I was able to be in locations where a toilet was not handy), it really sucked thinking I was better only to find myself curled up in my bed the next morning wondering why I hadn't died in the night.

Linden and Tosio, however, rejoiced in all the extra time they got to spend snuggling with the mom-food-lady. After a four days of illness (including a weekend), they looked down right pissed when I got up at 6:30am to shower and get dressed for work.

How could I not cuddle with this?

The downside to this was that I'm only 1 month into the new year and I've already missed my goal of 11 visits to the gym each month. Seriously?!? REALLY?!?! I picked 11 because I figured that even the months when I have Alumni Band practice once a week I could still make it to the gym 11 times. Mind, given how many days I felt like death, I still made it there 9 times and I always gave it my all when I did. Not too shabby.

During one of the visits, I even ran on the treadmill for 4 minutes straight. I know that might not sound like a long time to many of you but for me, I was fucking unstoppable. Or I was until I stepped off the treadmill and did my best imitation of this guy while trying to grab my water bottle.

My legs did the exact same jello movement.

While I'm not totally ready to proclaim myself cured (I've learned that lesson!), I haven't been feeling as bad for as long so that's something.

On the upside, I'm making macarons for the first time this weekend. I won a gift basket from Bon Macaron at Christmas which included a book of macaron recipes; I figure it's time I tried my hand at making them myself. If it goes well, look for a post about it on here in the future. If it goes badly, I'll delete this paragraph and deny I ever wrote it.

Question: Make me feel better. What's something that went right for you in January?

One of Those Weeks

I know it's only Tuesday, but I'm already done with this week.

Midway through Monday, I started to feel achy and flu-y again. I had never really shook whatever it was I had after New Years but it wasn't bad enough that I felt the need to do anything about it. Perhaps I should have.

At any rate, after 10 years of thinking 'I should buy a thermometer', I bought a thermometer on my way home. Correction, I bought a defective thermometer. No matter how much I shook it, ran it under cold water or yelled obscenities at it, it refused to budge from 108F. As I moved to package it up so I could return it, the bloody thing slipped from my hand into the bathroom sink and shattered.

I feel ya, buddy!

Remember how excited I was that I'm not involved in a certain work project? Well, it was because I was already allocated to two major projects this year and I just straight up didn't have time for another one. I got the preliminary changes for one of the projects yesterday.

So long, social life. You were fun while you lasted!

I guess that's what I get for dancing around the office, laughing at everyone else.

Then, just to top off this week of joy, I decided to be a mature adult and not go to Emerald City Comicon this year. The time of the Con combined with financial plans I want to achieve this year just made it really difficult to justify going. It was a really difficult choice to make because there are a lot celebrities there this year I would give my left kidney to see. I was priding myself on being mature about my decision when I saw the announcement today that Karen Gillian is going to be there.

*sigh*

Way to rub salt into the wound.

Sometimes You Need To Hear It From Someone Else

I started the year with the downer of getting sick. My reason for not really feeling like going out for New Years and struggling to make it to a hockey game on January 1st suddenly became apparent when I woke up with a fever and achy throat on the 2nd. I wasn't able to reach my manager at work so I left a message. She played it back to me once I returned to work... I couldn't even understand what I was saying and I left the message.

Obviously, 2014 was off to a rousing start!

Because my 37 hours of sleep followed by my fever breaking just before midnight so completely wrecked my sleeping pattern - I'm still having issues sleeping through the night, it's like I'm six months old or something - the first week and a half of 2014 were pretty much a write off and I was getting down on my big plans on getting to the gym. When I did get to the gym, I was frustrated by what I couldn't do and what I hadn't improved on. Despite the month not even being halfway over, I started to think I would end this year the same size I started it. Those thoughts were depressing.

Not going to lie. I have been known to eat my feelings.

Then the winners of my gym's December active challenge were announced and I had won a free hour-long training session with our trainer. I had won because I pushed myself to my limits every time I came to the gym and I was taking the initiative to be active outside the gym (hello, lunch time runs!). Maybe I can't do as many jab-cross combos as that girl or bicep curl as much weight as that girl, but I've been fairly consistent in my attendance and I always give the best that I can give at that moment. I needed that little external pat-on-the-back to remind myself that I am doing good.

And that is how you turn a not-so-great start to the new year into an awesome new year.

Question: How about you? What do you deserve a high five for right now?