Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Reclaiming My Life

Life has been super insane ever since G-20. I've barely been sleeping, I haven't cooked anything substantial (with the exception of bread) in weeks, and my homework has been gathering dust. I've been spending all my time with the same people, and not enough time with myself. The past couple days, it started to catch up to me, and I started feeling overwhelmed, and kind of sad (for various reasons), and pretty manic. So last night, I decided it was time to take a mental health break. I'm taking a relative leave of absence from the lifestyle I've been living this past month and re-centering, regrouping, reconnecting. Today was the first day of the week I plan to devote to reclaiming my life. And damn, has it been a good start.

9:30 - Morning class. Overslept.
12:00 - Roll groggily out of bed. 9 hrs of sleep. Dance around my room.
1:00 - Make a fresh batch of my favorite granola for breakfast. Mmmmm.
2:00 - Hang out with Brendan at The Original table.
3:00-5:15 - Classes. I actually went to these. (I mostly slept through them, which is kind of odd considering I got such a full night of rest yesterday. I think my body functions better when deprived of sleep.)
5:15 - Score a decadent and delicious drink at work. Lay on the benches outside the Carnegie, look up at the canopy of trees, smoke a cigarette, listen to Six Organs of Admittance, feel happy and relaxed.
6:30 - Meet my dear friend Amanda at the GE for some grocery shopping. First time seeing Amanda in a couple weeks. Also first time grocery shopping in a couple weeks. I now have eggs again. And vegetables.
8:30 - Feel inspired by all my new food and have a majjorrr cookfest while dancing around my kitchen to the Black Keys. On the menu: mashed garlic Yukon gold potatoes and stuffed baby portabellas. Stuffed with what, you ask? Stuffed with Russian sausage, garlic, sauteed onion, bread crumbs, rosemary, oregano, and bleu cheese.


10:30 - Espresso & smoke break on the porch with my roommate, Colin. We used to have these every couple days, up until about a month ago, when my regular life derailed. Very nice to catch up again. Accompanying coffee was a dessert of my favorite cookies and some dates.
11:00 - Watch a bit of Goodwill Hunting with my roommates.
12:00 - Nice hot shower. Until the hot water prematurely ran out (damn you, neighbors!). Then rinsing the suds off cursing like a sailor under my breath.
Now - About to actually go to sleep at a decent hour (Yes, 2am is a decent hour for me, if that gives you any indication of my past month.) Today was incredibly refreshing. I saw old friends. I did some errands. I COOKED FOOD. Heavenly choirs are singing in my head right now. Time for warm covers and dreams.

2 comments:

  1. This is the kind of post I like. A post that involves dancing, espresso and cigarettes.

    It seems to be unique that you smoke and are concerned about healthy food. I've been curious lately if there is any truth to cigarettes being an appetite suppressant. Sometimes I don't even realize that I haven't eaten until about 5 o'clock. I didn't do that before I started smoking.

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  2. I'm sure it's true. I think when I smoke it usually makes me forget I'm hungry, but only for a few minutes. And since I only smoke a couple a day, it doesn't do much to keep me from eating.

    Yeah, I realize I can seem really contradictory with my posts where I rant about processed food. I don't really know how to explain the way I see health. I guess I look at it as: make some effort, but rules are meant for breaking. So I always try to get a variety of nutrients every day, but I still have a tendency to eat 3 servings of dessert :-P

    I think my vendetta against processed food is mostly my personal bias -- I see no appeal in it, so I rag on it hardcore.
    Also I guess one of the things that really bothers me is the pretext of health or nourishment. I have nothing against faults, which is why I think they need to be openly addressed. People eat processed food as part of their daily nourishment, and I think a lot of times they don't realized just how bad a diet based on those things is. The unnatural origins of that food and all of the preservatives in them, etc etc affect mental and physical health in big way that most people don't know about, and even scientists haven't fully grasped. Depression, stunted mental development, obesity, cancer, the list of effects from the modern diet goes on and on. It freaks me out. At least cigarettes are upfront about how terrible they are for you, ya know?

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