The Opening Salvo of '24:
Tuesday, December 19, 2023
As scheduled this morning at 3:15 AM, I kicked off The Plan for 2024. I suppose I ought to backtrack: last night I finalized the NYR24 with a progress chart. Seeing that 30,000-foot view helps me to wrap my mind around what lies ahead. While initially it was on a monthly basis, its segments by Expeditions are more practical.
There's something empowering and transparent about laying all of my stuff out there, where I am and where I am going. It parallels my closet: once I had a discombobulation of workout shorts and sweat pants. Now, I have a growing new collection of pants and jeans (17 at last count) all segmented out with 3-inch dividers (pool noodle) by waist size. The only shorts that remain are for swimming.
I am so going to delight in moving across the closet rack this year! Truly, it's just another chart, albeit in 3D space.
This morning, I put in 50+ minutes of lifting. They were supersets, so much so that there were times I skipped the rest even between the combos. I mean, if I usually take 45 seconds to rest, why not just use the other exercise to rest? At 5 sets each, I did high reps, primarily 20:
- Stiff-Leg Dead Lifts / Curls
- Shrugs / Incline Zottman Curls
- Incline Rows / Wrist Curls
I completed that and straight away in the backdrop of a windchill of 24℉, I hit the streets—welll, not before fumbling with the Starbucks app. The 4.6-mile round trek became my morning walking target, like Panera percolated 2021 (I need a new Oak Court Mall zombie run). My steaming hot venti coffee would eventually be close to an iced coffee by the time I got home. Yes, and I did savor 4 warm and cozy cups of homemade chicken broth upon my return!
These Starbuck morning cardio sessions will be fundamental to 2024. While the cup or just the sleeve I do not know, but I will be keeping a trophy from each experience. It's all the building blocks of what I am becoming.
The Coffee & 31
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
I am back on NZT—eh, coffee...
...the thing is, I could withstand another day of aches in my hamstrings and quads as the back thing has all but disappeared with the headaches (well, it woke me up last night). But, an idea of mine for the new year is to walk/jog the 1.7 miles to Starbucks as a regular route to encourage cardio just as the 3-mile trip I did to Panera in 2021.
Another upcoming resolution for the new year involves finding a style to build a wardrobe. For more than a decade, I haven't given that any forethought; I just wore what I had. It came to a head this fall, when I was happy with a bundle of bowling shirts discarded on the side of the road after someone's yard sale. I happily wore them until one day, I really looked into the mirror and thought, "What am I DOING?!" I became dissatisfied with my not-so-athletic shorts even. It checked off my pramatic boxes: it was cheap, immaterial, and fulfilled societal expectations. And yet, culturally, there is unintended, unspoken words with that largely egalitarian intent, emitting nuances I never intended.
And thus, I want to find my style. How do I wish to express myself? Who I am?
I'm not sure how to proceed. I'm swearing off shorts for 2024—well, keep the swim trunks—I'm not some ancient Grecian after all! And frankly, shorts look ridiculous on men.
Well, what styles do I like? Lemme see...
Renegade
Highlander
The Witcher
Jason Bourne
DIY
...and a touch of Jonathan Scott from the Property Brothers coupled with a big ol' helping of Ron Swanson:
...and maybe a certain leather jacket from The Walking Dead.
The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning
Now, the complicated thing in all of this is that I am...*toning* this year. OK, I'll be slicin' and dicin' with my Ginsu gym!
The one thing I know I want is something that once was a staple: a pair of jeans. I haven't had a pair for a bit, so I went shopping, just looking for a cheap pair 'cause I know I won't be at my current size for long. Nearly bought a pair from the Tractor Supply. But, coming in under that at Walmart, I thought I did it, $12 Wranglers on sale. I had a couple pairs in hand, but I didn't want to be that skeevy guy hanging out in front of the only changing room that was over in the ladies' intimates, so I left Schrödinger's cat to her fitting.
My wife went up there and did her hocus pocus and uncovered a series of $1, $3, and $5 clearout Levi jeans and Wrangler pants that span across a range of waists! She just happened to trigger an idea of mine: I can now work down the sizes. Starting with the 42 and 40 "deals" I had found, I'll moving on to 38, 36, 34 AND...31.
Yes, 31! I haven't been 31" since...umm...well...maybe the 5th grade? I'm pretty sure Reagan was the President. This is a callback, of course, when I purchased 33-inch jeans this time in December 2011. It was what I wore to go line dancing at Casper Creek during wrestling season. It would take time, just under a decade, where powered by the slash-and-burn of carnivore, I slid them on in 2021 despite being 20 lbs heavier than I had when I wore them last in 1995.
It is hard for me to actualize, but if I could make it into 33-inch jeans on carnivore at 182 lbs, what can I do at 163?
And thus, there are a couple of pairs of Levi's waiting for me to make them into daily wear as a quest reward.
(And yes, I threw out those bowling shirts. And my briefs. I'm not Walter White.)
Come On Feel the Noise
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Greetings from the wastelands of coffee withdrawal and detoxification! Today, I can sit for longer periods of time so I'll take a win there. What, isn't there like 10-12 steps to Alcohol Anonymonics? For coffee, what step is I Wanna Rock?
After a limited release, I chunked my classic retrowave theme in the bin. While I would feel reinvigorated by it, a nod to the past years of fitness and all the drive within, my overall response was different. Visually, it draws me in, but it is at the cost of the content.
I set up the stylesheet to adhere to color standardization so there won't be one-off color solutions, thereby it's easy for me to switch out colors as needed. Of course, I recognize all of this is for my own giggles—isn't that the driver for all of our behavior?
Tangentially connected, my brief foray into Habitica is over. It feels like a dying platform; there has been no innovation on the site. I suppose it hasn't changed since 2016? The thing is, you can't run a fantasy platform and not be imaginative. As far as its subscription model, I always cringe when an open source project demands one. Now, if I may adorn my DM cloak, I could make up adventures and employ tasks for their resolution, but for now, I'll just make my return to the free version of Todoist.
My New Year's resolutions remain open. I find I can easily adopt a flurry of activity while disregarding the project itself. We feel like we're doing something if we're doing something! It's measurable! But, why are we measuring it?