No Cigar

but i was close! i had these grand ideas of reconnecting with lost friends and family. somehow, though, life just had a tendency to roll over me. delightfully so, with trips and festivals and hiking and theater and this and that and the other (guess i ran out of commas and had to use "and").

still, comma, i made pretty good progress. not to any great depth of reconnection. i've not found myself spending hours a day conversing with long lost family and friends. but, i have reached out and chatted...by e-mail or voicemail. my goal was 30 people. if i count some folks i will reconnect with on a scuba adventure i leave for in...CRAP!...7 hours from now (and not in the least sleepy!)...then i will surely get close to my goal of 30 reconnects.

i've been joining along with daisyfae in doing the pushup thing, with success, though not in Arnold Schwarnegger-ian proportions. i've also been cognizant of, if not strictly keeping to, my old goal of an earlier bedtime and a 7 hour sleep. next 30 days? no clue.

and an apology for dropping off the grid and not supporting my fellow 30-day-ers. i know i appreciate your bon mots and optimistic support.

but, must toddle off for now. that OCD fifth repacking of the suitcase is in order...

It Takes Time

well, i'm off to a slow start in reconnecting with 30 people. i'll be making excuses and giving reasons. they're more for my benefit than trying to convince you.

so, here we are...what?...10 days into this challenge? so, theoretically, i should have reconnected with 10 people. okay, how about 5? and you may challenge me on one of those, but i'm counting it.

after two years away in the Peace Corps, my Girl Child has returned from South Africa. admittedly, i spoke with her on the phone fairly often (it was a tad expensive dialing halfway across the world...go figure) and e-mailed on occasion (e- service was sporadic and expensive where she was). but, since her return this past Friday, i've considered this to be a major reconnect in my life. she's actually here in person!

the others? a couple friends from years past. and a couple friends from not to long past (though i'd felt i'd really lost track of them...and them, me).

so, i'm going to have to kick it up.

and will do so just as soon as Daughter Person leaves here to begin her life in another state (this weekend? boo!!).

Success and Continuing

wow. what an adventure. i'd forgotten how wonderful it was to sit down and read a book. now, admittedly, i did have a few excellent suggestions on what books to read, so that made it worlds easier to accomplish the reading challenge.

even though there were a few days i didn't make my 30 minutes reading challenge, i still declare victory. three books, plus bits and pieces of three other books. and still a taste...a need...to continue reading. that is the essence of the challenge.

the sleep? not so well with that challenge, but glimmers of hope. will continue to pursue a full seven hours a night, plus try and do so with a reasonable (ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!) bedtime.

and, absolutely, i want to continue. i will continue to work at last month's challenges. but a new one is surely required.

next 30 day challenge? i will reconnect with 30 people who have been otherwise 'lost' in my life of late. people who are in my thoughts, but not recently in my e-mail, snail mail, voice mail. make the effort to let them know i care and hope they are doing well.



most of those will be family. after my divorce, i sort of withdrew from my family, spread across the country, in favor of my virtual local family comprised of good friends and colleagues. while my 'new' family is important to me, i still wish to reconnect to my true, blood family.

some will be friends. people i've crossed paths with in the past who have changed my perspective on life or otherwise been important to me. a man, for example, who was a work colleague and a friend...to include being best man...yet i've lost touch with him (or him, me...but that's not important) and want to at least reach out.

the notional challenge will be one person a day, but reality will be (due to upcoming vacation adventures), that i will likely double or treble up a few days.

accountability? indirect. i won't be posting on each person i reconnect with, but give an overall impression on how things are going.

and to those continuing with a new challenge, plus those new to this challenge? good luck and see you on the blog!

Onward

well, after a one week vacation and other local activities to steal my attention, i'm surprised to find myself doing well with the reading challenge. at least 30 minutes a day is going well. often, more than that. i'm thinking the books i'm picking have something to do with that (nope, still can't tackle that Mr. Rogers' book on "Going To The Potty").

my turn to read "Packing for Mars" and it's a delightful read. full of interesting scientific stuff, but not remotely presented in a scientific way. not to say the author is making shit up, but she writes like she wants the average Jill or Joe on the street to understand it. very fun.

the sleep? not so good. some of the activities have kept me up long past my 11pm target. sleep, when it comes, has often been sparse and unsatisfying. part of that was due to overuse of muscles (walking, standing, dancing) which decided to punish me back by waking me in the middle of the night to clench up. whee.

but, all in all, i'm feeling really good about this challenge. and, as Bob said in a comment on an earlier post, that's what this should all be about, yes?

Chicago relax

on holiday. that has tuned out to be a boon to both the sleep and book reading challenges. yep, i'm still doing lots of cool holiday stuff -- visiting places, meeting people, eating too much. but i've also been sleeping well and hitting that 7 hour goal (not to mention afternoon naps).

also, spare time in between holiday adventures has been spent reading. finished my third book, "World War Z", this afternoon. yay!! will be scrounging for a new read tomorrow.

the lesson learned here? take vacation the rest of this 30-day challenge and i'll hit my goals!

A Challenge Dropped

...but it's not a bad thing. i'm leaving in about 10 hours to go on a vacation. that sort of makes my "spend 30 minutes a day organizing and purging stuff" a bit difficult to accomplish. now, i suppose i could volunteer in the back office of the hotel and do that, but i think they'd frown on that. so, i'm putting that challenge to rest. for now. as i've mentioned before, there will amazingly be yet another 30 days after this 30 days is done for me to pick up the challenge again. it's a good challenge. just would rather give it a full 30 days.

the sleep thing? will still look to get my 7 hours a night on vacation, even if it takes a nap...or three. yeah, still having that issue of going to bed earlier, but having my body clock still get me up after 5-1/2 to 6 hours. but, that's the essence of the challenge...to change old habits. it will happen. i'm being patient.

and the reading? doing great. enjoying picking up reading again. i've finished my second book and am now reading "World War Z" - - a journalistic collection of interviews about the zombie war (you did hear about that, yes?). and this is top literature, mind you. for example, a line i read today is just literary gold - - "But instead [the monkey's] little penis popped out and he peed in my face." Pulitzer Prize, baby...

Stinkin' Hot

where i live, we're in the grip of a nasty spell of hot temperatures, high humidity, and generally miserable weather.

but, comma, that has made it beneficial to wander to the nearby pool in my complex and luxuriate in the waters there. when there haven't been idiot kids...okay, and a few adults...splashing about without regard to me on the side of the pool, i find it wonderful to soak and read at the same time. as such, i'm getting in more than the 30 minutes of the challenge, just because it's relaxing and cool.

the organize/purge? meh. i'm counting it, but the last couple days, my time set aside for that challenge task has been at work. part of that is work avoidance, but part is also that my filing system, both at work and at home, is the archaeological method. the date of any document needed defines how deeply i have to dig into the piles on my desk. pickaxes, miner lights, and, often, dynamite are necessary tools to accomplish this task. so, i'm trying to alleviate that in my organize/purge.

the sleep? [sigh] i am getting to bed on work nights by the proscribed 11pm, but having difficulty getting a full 7 hours of sleep. my body is still used to the 5-1/2 to 6 hours i'd been getting, so i find myself waking earlier than i had been and still getting not much more than 6 hours. a work in progress.

onward to today's reading...

One Down, Plus A Quandary

finished "Room" early this morning over breakfast coffee. the Sunday paper had to wait. this afternoon, i started on my next book, "Winter's Bone". progress (on the reading challenge, anyway).

the quandary in the subject line refers to a discussion a friend and i had about what constitutes "read an actual book for 30 minutes a day". should that be 30 minutes straight through or can it be 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there. it came up because, on saturday, i was interrupted by a phone call 10 minutes into my read. i finished up with 20 minutes later. i'm thinking that it counts. the real crux of the challenge here is more along the lines of reading something of substance...i.e., an actual book...versus attaining a zen reading mode for 30 minutes. i got the impression she disagreed. hmmm...

have been doing okay on the organize and purge challenge as well. okay, okay, some of my 'organizing' is actually moving piles of stuff into more centralized and controllable piles, without actually organizing. but that gives me space to do more organizing, so i'm counting it.

the big problem has been the sleep thing. i'm trying to get a full 7 hours of sleep a night, with the add on that, on 'school nights' (sunday-thursday before work days), i get in bed by 11pm. i've been doing okay (with a few misses of 10 minutes or so) with the 11pm bedtime, but finding it hard to stay asleep for 7 hours. it's like my body has gotten used to 5-6 hour nights. but, again, think that's part of the challenge.

and, no, i decided not to pick the Mr. Roger's book referred to in my last post. it just got too technical and confusing, so had to set it aside. oh well...

Harder Than You'd Think

okay, not really. i mean, yeah, i could do a lot better. but fitting stuff in amidst life sometimes makes it a bit difficult. maybe it's because i tried to squeeze three personal 30 day challenges instead of just one. i thought that, individually, they weren't that much of a challenge. and, honestly, they aren't. but that being diligent thing.

okay, yeah, fine...we're only on day 3, yes? so - -

as i said, i'm doing fine. i've spent at least 30 minutes the last few days reading an actual book - - "Room". i've gotten so used to reading the instant gratification of blogs and facebook that i find i lose focus. i have to reread passages. it takes time. but i'm getting better.

also doing fine with spending 30 minutes a day organizing and purging. can't bring myself to throwing out 10 items a day, but have been dumping stuff in the trash.

more difficult is the in bed, lights out, and go to sleep. that damn tv and interwebz tempts me to look one last time. or, even with lights out, i feel restless and can't settle in.

but, all said and done, that's what this challenge is about. over 30 days, change a habit. make a change. i'm still in.

three quarters done with the book. starting to look for the next one to tackle. i'm thinking this one - -

How Many Times...

...do we relearn old lessons...try to break bad habits...learn new habits...

yet, still, we always seem to be able to have to do it again. so, yes, at the tender age of mumblety-four, i will take up this challenge and do something good for myself. cyberdryad did a great job of cataloging a bunch and others have good ones as well. while i'd like to be able to lay claim to something amazing ("pick up trash on a mile of road a day") or unique ("learn a different national anthem each day") or both ("discover a new insect species"), i feel it best to pick something more mundane (given that it is Monday here) and choose the "read an actual book for 30 minutes a day". well, that's what i'll report to. i may try and do another couple things as well (like that 'clean and organize' thing), but won't report out.

there's a new 30 days next month...i can keep going...

thanks for the invite and good luck to all.

GnuKid