General

For use when I really don’t have time to figure out to what category the post should belong.

I Hate Drawing

~ Guy Hall

I cannot draw. I’ve known this for all of my life. And no, I don’t buy the “anyone can draw” bullshit. So, when I signed up for a psychology class, the last thing I expected was an art component. But that’s what I have to do. Now, I’ll draw, but it does not do anything for my learning experience. Just the opposite, it bogs me down. I do not get the thought behind making me do art. It seems to be an unsound theory not supported by any real-world situations.

Now, I get the concept of critical thinking. I believe it is a crucial aspect of being able to succeed in the world. However, I’m not convinced that it is a process that can be taught equally to everyone with the expectation of a universal time-frame. People learn at different paces and in different ways. I am a word thinker. My thoughts are dialogue. I cannot visualize anything. Nor do I hear music. Or have music in my mind. Just words. Just dialogue. So, I am a simple man who likes to receive information through words. I will go through life using what I was taught, gaining mastery at my pace.

It irritates me when education goes beyond educating and forces premature “mastery” of subjects. In other words, they are trying to force comprehension. It is the one thing I have learned in all my years as a counselor – I cannot force my clients to gain comprehension. It is a spontaneous process that occurs at a different pace for each individual. Mastery is gained through repeated effort. And through their respective manner of thinking. Kinetic thinkers, auditory thinkers, visual thinkers, and emotive thinkers all learn in different ways. Unfortunately, teachers are forced to craft a classroom without regard to the various manner of thinking. And that’s a shame.

Oh, and for the first time since I started college, I have an instructor that I am not liking. It’s a first for me.

Report on the Incremental Marathon

Just Keep Running
~ Guy Hall

Without elaborating too much, I am going to say I managed three runs this week. Forty-five minutes on Monday, and 30 minutes Wednesday and this morning. Feeling pretty good about them – no exhaustion or out-of-the-ordinary tightness that existed before I received the vaccine.

I have hope.

Follow Up on Health

Brighter Days
~ Guy Hall

Okay, since writing my long post the other day, I’ve managed to get two workouts in. The first one on Monday was 45 minutes long. The one today was for 30 minutes. Again, nothing great on my speed or distance. But that is to be expected. I weighed myself today for the first time in a long time: 238 pounds. It’s about the heaviest I have weighed in years. It’s not the heaviest I have ever been – that was close to 250 pounds.

Anyway, despite the weight, I felt good during both workouts, and there was no exhaustion afterward.

And on the schoolwork front – I’m gaining ground already.

Post Vaccine Post

Gandolf
~ Guy Hall

I could write a 500-word post about how I feel now that I’ve gotten past the discomfort (I minimize) of the second shot. Suffice it to say; I feel physically better than I have for the past year. In February of 2020, I became ill. It was mild at first, but something told me to sleep. I did, for over 30 hours, getting up to go to the bathroom once.

Since that day, I have been mildly achy, tired, and stiff – every day. Sitting at a desk caused a mild backache that became excruciating if I felt even a little under the weather beyond the already discouraging discomfort. I experienced three days of exhaustion after exercising. An eight hour day of employment was exhausting. I ended up dropping the fall semester of college because I didn’t have the energy to do school work after eight hours on the job. I lost a job because of being so tired and making the poor choice of confronting my boss about their condescending and moralizing manner.

Hindsight being 20/20, I’m amazed I managed to keep my current job. I am surprised I was able to perform at my current job. And I was once again struggling to keep up with my school work.

On the emotional and mental front, I struggled with mild depression. I lost motivation. I would become angry over the actions of others, something I had overcome through meditation and exercise. However, because of my physical condition, activity became a chore. And meditation became elusive. I became moody, swinging between irritation, sadness, and hopelessness.

Now? I can tell something has changed. Not only physically but mentally as well. My stiffness and achiness have left. Instead, I feel the normal physical condition of an overweight man approaching 60. I can accept that. And I can do something about my weight. I know it will take a while until I am back to the weight before February of 2020. But with how I feel these past two days? Yeah, I can get it done.

I have already emailed my instructors, as well as resumed working on assignments. The damage to my grades is not reversible, over which I have no worries. Instead, I will pick myself up, dust myself off, and get back to business. I am contemplating taking a few days off from work and concentrate on getting caught up on my school work. I am behind on the lab portion of my introduction to biology class. I struggled with using the app required with the course. However, taking time off may not be necessary.

To recover from the impact of that last year, all I need is to apply effort. I will let the outcome figure itself out.

Okay, so I ended up coming close to 500 words. What can I say? My muse overcame me.

Ouch……………

Ill
~ Guy Hall

Not that anyone needs to care, but my entire body aches. And stretching is problematic. Not in a “it hurts” kinda way. My muscles start pulling without pain, bending my body in a strange manner that I didn’t think I could achieve. I honestly think my spine performed an S shape. I was worried I wouldn’t straighten out.

The only thing I haven’t experienced was vomiting.

Second Shot

Ill
~ Guy Hall

Three weeks ago today, I received my first vaccine shot. It kicked my ass. I had a sore back – exceedingly sore – for three or four days. And I’ve been exhausted ever since – more than usual for me, anyway.

I’m going to go for my second shot today, later this afternoon, at about 3:00 PM. I suspect I’ll be experiencing more significant discomfort. All the reports I’ve heard second hand suggest that I’ll be extremely miserable within 12 hours and then slowly taper down over the next 24 to 72 hours.

I’ve already struggled with keeping up on my school work. I’m afraid this will make me even farther behind. At some point, I will have to bite the bullet and inform my instructors of my struggles. For now, though, I’ll maintain the axiom of pulling myself up by my own damn boot strings, thank-you-very-much!

Slipped My Mind

~ Guy Hall

So, on Saturday I took Tina out for some shopping. It turned into buying her a new computer and buying myself a new phone (and giving my old phone to her). There was also a meal involved, one of which I posted about previously. All this driving about, shopping, and eating resulting in my forgetting that January 30th is my sobriety date.

That’s right. I was so busy practicing these principles in all my affairs of living 24 hours at a time I forgot I’d been doing so for 36 years. So, yeah me!

Adventures in Leftovers

~ Guy Hall ~ 1 Comment

Tina treated me to lunch at Outback Steakhouse. I had the ribeye, and she had salmon. The Outback in Hermantown has yet to disappoint. I’ve had sirloin, prime rib, and now the ribeye. Tina has had the salmon there before, but they had a new variation, which had an excellent sauce. However, as is always the case, we had more food than we could eat.

Not to worry. This morning I cut up potatoes, onions, along with the ribeye and salmon. I fried up the potatoes and onions in a half stick of butter. I also had some leftover rice that was just the right amount of spicy that I also threw in with the potatoes and onions. I added Kosher salt, coarse ground pepper, some reduced salt Lowery’s, and granulated garlic. After that browned, I added the steak and fish. It made a most excellent hash for brunch. I thought about taking a picture of the finished meal, but I was too busy eating it. You’ll have to take my word for it that it looked fantastic.

Now I’m going to focus on school work. I have a biopsychology class I need to get busy finishing. You all have an excellent rest of your Sunday.

Better Picture

The Castle
~ Guy Hall
Loki!

Here’s a better picture of Loki. He was looking at the living room. As you can see, his ears show the potential growth he is going to achieve. He’s half Maine Coon. His mother is a full Maine Coon. Loki’s father is unknown. He has the customary ‘M’ on his forehead and the tuffs at the tip of his ears. He also has six toes. No tuffs yet between them. He doesn’t look to be a long-hair. But it turns out that Maine Coons can be medium hair cats as well.

One of the reasons we got Loki was because Smokey is a high energy cat, and Kang doesn’t have the energy to match her in play. Now that Loki and Smokey have become accustomed to each other, there is much running and wrestling. However, as I type this, Kang and Loki are battling.

Loki is also a people’s cat. He follows both Tina and me around the house. And he has bonded to me. He will race upstairs to beat me to the bedroom. While Kang and Smokey stay with Tina downstairs, Loki stays upstairs with me while I sleep. If I get up to go to the bathroom, he’ll usually still be waiting on the bed for my return.

Indoor Incremental Marathon

Just Keep Running
~ Guy Hall

I decided to do my run on the treadmill in the basement. There’s just too much slush on the sidewalks and roads. Plus, there’s a lot of traffic this time of day. Finally, it’s dark. I am not in the mood to get hit by a car. My stats may seem off, but I ran with the incline set at 2.