NaBloPoMo 2015: Day 15 "Just keep swimming"

#19 Reach my Nike Fuelgoal of 3,000 fuel points every day for a week

I MADE IT.

Hoo boy, was this challenge...challenging.

During the week when I was at work, I barely made any fuel points while teaching, so I would get home late after meetings and dinners and dance like a mad woman to The Fitness Marshall YouTube videos, trying to hit my goal before midnight. EXHAUSTING.

(I took photos of all of my goal celebrations on the fuel band, but have currently misplaced them. Womp Womp.)

I was thrilled that I actually - amazingly- made it thru this goal, but also ecstatic to have it behind me, haha. The weekend was the only easy part, since I went hiking and very quickly achieved the fuelpoint goal.

Fitness it always the goal, though, more than a number or target, and that's why I love the fuelband. It's a reminder to stay active, even if only through simple arm movements. It's also a super schwanky looking watch!

Carpe calories,

A

NaBloPoMo 2015: Day 14 "I'll be back"

#21 Watch the Terminator movies

I guess you could say the Terminator movies almost fall into the "classic film" category, they've been so canonized into our lexicon and cultural consciousness. But somehow I had never watched them. Unfortunately, I did actually watch the most recent reboot ("Terminator: Genisys") before watching any of the originals, which was a very bizarre way to do it.

Survey says?: I had so much fun watching life breathed into lines I've quoted so many times. And you guys - I was so very behind! I knew so little! I was gobsmacked to discover that the terminator is BAD in the first movie. Obviously I knew "I'll be back" but had no idea of the hilarious context (what a moment!) Same with "hasta la vista."

Adam watched the first 2 with me, and swears that there's no reason for me to continue watching. Soooo, I'm saying NO to the crappy sequels and considering this one done!

Carpe robot,

A

NaBloPoMo 2015: Day 13 "Presence is a present"

#11 Give yoga/meditation a real shot

This has been a pivotal event for me: I was walking to work, and when my crosswalk guide turned green, multiple cars streamed through the zebra stripes, seemingly caring zip about the people trying to get across.

I felt such frustration at them for behaving unsafely and endangering everyone that I slapped the tail of one car as it fled merrily away.

I felt immediate shame. What if my boss had been at the stoplight, and watched me do that? Or a coworker? Or a friend? Or anyone, really.

And a seed was planted deep: I don't want to be a person who gets angry over something as small as a car.

So I've started taking a moment in bed every morning, after giving Boo Thang a good morning kiss, but before everything really starts, and just asking myself two questions: 1. What kind of person do I want to be today? 2. What is actually important/meaningful? It's a focusing moment, and has already made my days lighter and better.

But to truly satisfy this "30 item" I went online and found several "meditation for beginners" YouTube videos. I tried a different video each morning for about 5 days. And I enjoyed it (some videos more than others), and even found it to be helpful for my attitude and posture and breathing throughout the day.

But after those 5 days, I left off practicing and honestly didn't miss it either. A strong case could be made that I didn't actually give it enough time or effort, but I'm satisfied regardless. Maybe I'll take it up again in the future, maybe not!

Until then, carpe breathing!

A

NaBloPoMo 2015: Day 12 "Shutterbug"

#9 Learn how to take quality pictures

Here's the  problem:

I learned. I read up on blogs and websites and got the basic principles of photography down.

But I am terrible about practicing what I've learned! Nature and real life just doesn't easily line up for me. I see something I like and then try to force it into the rule of thirds or vanishing perspectives or whatever, instead of seeing THOSE RULES in nature, and capturing them.

My point is, you've also got to have an eye.

Obviously, you can cultivate and develop that eye, like a muscle. But it's not one I think I've ever naturally possessed. I'm excellent as an admirer - if you give me enough time with any bit of art, I think I can even extrapolate and find meaning where there truly exists none, ha.

But my eye doesn't bend and pause over camera frame moments.

Or so it seems! It was interesting to learn the basic techniques of framing and such, and I'm sure I'll keep them in mind, but I'm not going to let myself obsess over getting a "perfect shot" either.

What I will change is my photo volume. Before snapping a photo with my iPhone, ask myself "what am I going to do with this shot?" Is it for a personal collection somewhere? To share with a friend? Or is it just that click-happy impulse that leads to hundreds of unnecessary photos sitting in folders on my hard drive? If the latter, then maybe I don't need to take the photo in the first place and instead just enjoy the view or thing for what it is.

Carpe foto,

A

NaBloPoMo 2015: Day 11 "Aqua vitae"

#7 Drink more water

This is a challenge I keep winning and losing, day on and day off.
I tried labeling a water bottle with how much to drink by certain times, but just couldn't seem to get on top of it in the morning - likely due to my tea-drinking habit. (Tea's not bad, but water's better.) This will just hav to be an ongoing challenge, methinks!

Carpe acqua,

A

NaBloPoMo 2015: Day 8 "Shaken, Not Stirred"

#1 Learn to make a mixed drink/cocktail

This was so fun. I'm not very comfortable/confident handling alcohol unless it comes in a wine bottle, simply from lack of experience. I don't know what goes into a lot of drinks, and when we had Adam's last birthday, I ended up with some random alcoholic extras because I didn't know what to buy!

Fortunately for me, I know some really cool people. The bartender at my favorite expat restaurant here in Gwangju agreed to let me come by on a slow Tuesday night and he taught me some recipes and let me try to make some drinks.

I learned that you pour and measure by seconds, that drinks are typically stronger in restaurants,that foam on beer means it's healthy, and I got drink recipes for 6 beverages!

This was one of my most fun challenges so far, I have to say.

Cheers!

Anna

p.s. Today, at brunch with my sister and hubby, I said NO to an acquaintance who asked to join us at our table. Politely and apologetically, of course, but I didn't want to share my sister, and I knew it would be an awkward interval because I didn't know the woman very well in the first place. Both sis and hubbs declared themselves impressed with my firmness, and applauded my action. But my heart hurt a little for the woman who then went and ate alone before going off to her play rehearsal. I think the downside to being a strong woman capable of saying no is having to watch others take rejection.

NaBloPoMo 2015: Day 6 "Noms"

#20 "Try a new food"

One glorious long weekend ago, Adam and I went to Sokcho, Gwangwon-do province, which is the northeastern-most province in South Korea. It was a terrifying prospect: a 6-hour-long bus ride there and back, but 100% worth it!

It was stunning.

We hiked two days in Seoraksan National Park.

We explored.

We both made the rock move!

Temple views

Legit bouldering at the peak

We made friends.

It was a masssssssive Buddha!

New friend, Erin - we all made it to the top of the 7th highest mountain in Korea!

We ate. And I ate something I've surprisingly never tried before in Korea: gamja jeon, which translates roughly to potato pancake.

I did not capture the moment on camera, because I wasn't expecting to love it so much!

I have tried various types of jeon (savory pancakes, usually full of tentacles and green onion), without being too crazy over them. But potato jeon? That jeon is my jam! And man oh man did it taste good in that fresh mountain air.

As I stuffed my mouth, I exclaimed to Adam, "How have I never tried this before??" and then immediately followed that with "Hey! This is my 'try a new food' from my list!" :D

If you ever get the chance, Seoraksan and gamja jeon both come highly recommended. 10 out of 10 would eat and visit again.

Bellyful,

Anna

p.s. These are belated, because while my sister was here, I said NO to spending time on the computer, and YES to spending quality time with her.

NaBloPoMo 2015: Day 5 "Edumacation"

If you don't already know about Coursera.org, let me just enlighten you: there exists this magical website where anyone can sign up and take university level courses FOR FREE.

It's good quality instruction, and I've turned into a serial course-taker! Unfortunately, because there's no penalty for not finishing, and because it's up to each student to decide their level of participation, I have also turned into a serial course-slacker. I've taken courses on Chinese, entrepreneurship, economics, and more, but I never finished any of them.

So with my handy "30 Before 30" list as motivation, I signed up for 2 new courses in September, determined to see at least one of them thru to the end.

And I did!! I finished both courses. Go meeee!

The first class was very informative and helpful to this business-dumb arts major, and the second was geared too much towards university 20-somethings to be totally appropriate, but it had some good reminders.

I didn't manage to hit all the deadlines within the courses, which resulted in a lower "grade" but I just focused on actually crossing the finish line, and didn't worry at all about grading. That said, I still managed to pull off As in both of them! Overachiever me was very happily surprised.

My grandmother was taking university classes even in her sixties; I definitely want to follow in her footsteps and continue my education for the rest of my life. Happily, I can do that on my own terms, in my own time, for free! There's a limited number of classes available on Coursera, so here's hoping that sites like it will only keep expanding their online options for the future.

We haven't reached the limits of the human brain - maybe there is no limit! It feels socially irresponsible to not strive for more education. And actually, most of this challenge was about educating myself in one way or another - so this particular list item is fairly representative of my 30th birthday goals in general. ^^

Happy studying,

Anna

p.s. MY SISTER IS HEREEEE!! IN GWANGJU!!!

MANY EXCITE.

SUCH HAPPY.

I'm going to cut myself a little slack on "NO" while she's here, just to ensure that she has the best time possible. ^^ But I did say NO to taxis all day, NO to getting a delicious pretzel while shopping downtown and NO to buying anything for myself (couldn't resist a gift for my hubby and bestie, tho...).

NaBloPoMo 2015: Day 2 "Hairy"

#2: Do my hair every day for a week.

I'm typically a slap-dash woman when it comes to hair grooming. Pass the brush through hair, usually every day. Scrub some moisturizer on my face and consider makeup, but inevitably run out of time and shrug my shoulders. Pull hair up and down throughout the day, as the mood strikes. I put far more thought into my clothing than into hair or makeup or accessories.

But I'd like to be able to do my hair neatly and professionally (or close enough to it), whenever the occasion calls for it.

I watched a gajillion youtube videos, quite liked this one by Tess Christine, this one by Vivian V and this one by Luxyhair because they avoided heat and product.

I meant to take a photo each day but only managed 3:

1: Quick pin curls! I've done full-on pin curls in the past, but did a "lite" version the first day. My hair was still slightly damp from a late-night shower when I woke up, so I quickly threw it up in some pin curls. Got dressed, had breakfast, and when I pulled the pins out 30 minutes after putting them in, I had some loose wavy curls to play with. Clipped back the sides and tripped off to work.

pin curl morning

after 30 minutes

2.  The next day I did a mini-braid pull-back... Which you can't see at all in the photo.

I swear there's a hairstyle in there somewhere...

 3. For the third day, I wanted to have fun, so I went all out and slept overnight in some pin-curls. Loved this, it was so much fun to have bouncy curls for most of the day. My hair's quite heavy, so they'd mostly fallen by the afternoon, but there was still a nice wave.

DEM CURLZ 

rogue curl on the left, hubbo on the right - life is good

4. I did a braid-wrapped pony for the fourth day, and neglected to snap a pic.

5. And for my final day, I did a loose french braid, and once again, neglected to snap a pic. (At this point in the challenge, I hadn't made the decision to blog about all 30 list items, so photos weren't prioritized... REGRETTABLE.)

It was a relief to not think about my hair the next week, but I was happy to have done the full five days. Geez, that makes me sound almost lazy! It really was fun, though. In the abstract, I'd still like to be a whiz with my own hair, but for now I'm not motivated enough to make that idle dream a reality with practice.

Carpe diem,

Anna

p.s. Happy NOvember! Today is also our first day of NOvember. What is NOvember, you might ask? Didn't that start yesterday on the 1st? For Adam and I, it's going to be a month of saying "NO." No to unhealthy foods, No to desserts, No to unnecessary expenditures (like taxis), No to extracurricular activities that we don't need to commit to, etc. Basically, No to indulgence and No to overextending ourselves. Yesterday, I was too sick to think about anything but sleep, so we decided to start today on November 2nd. Here's to NO, and a healthier, happier body & wallet! I know I have a couple other friends doing NOvember - FIGHTING!! <-- as="" in="" korea="" p="" say="" we="">