Quick Update

So yeah, I haven't kept of with this. I've been busy working, busy preparing for my trip and busy running and camping, among other things. I'll talk a bit about this past weekend though.

We leave for Michigan Thursday afternoon and get to the campsite well after dark. Don't even bother setting up tents and just sleep on tarps under the stars. We get registered around 6 in the morning with our first runner off at 6:30. After that we decorated our car and figured out how everything was working. My first run went well. It was 6 miles and I did it at around a 8:47 pace (more or less. My timer gave 8:49 but I got held up near the beginning by cars), which is possibly my best pace ever for that distance. I also passed 3 people during it, which felt great. My second leg was supposed to be 3.2 miles but I picked up the ghost runner's 3.1 mile leg to do a 6.3 mile run. My pace then was somewhere between 9:07-9:12 which is pretty normal for my 10k. Need to get that down a bit, I think 8:30 is my next goal. Passed one person and got passed by another. My final leg was 7.6 miles and started strong. I kept about a 9 minute pace on the flat section but after about 4 miles I was getting noticeably slower. And the hills were very tiring. My final pace ended up being about 9:44. I did get 5 kills thanks to that fast start and only 1 death. 

All along the way I got to see many cool sites and parks. Michigan (at least western/northern Michigan) is really pretty this time of year. Saw lots of sand dunes and beaches and the like. After the race, I went up to the UP with some of the other runners and we camped for a couple days. Actually had near perfect conditions to see the northern lights...except that it was rainy and cloudy when the solar storm hit. Oh well. It was a really fun trip; I hiked a lot and got to know these people better (though I already knew them well, we camp a lot). 

Anyway, I gotta get going. After packing my bags (almost 30 pounds, though a decent portion of that is snacks or things I'll send once I get to Jakarta. My actual clothing is like 7 or 8 pounds) I think I'm ready for this next adventure. And if I'm not, well oh well.

Tuesday thru Friday in Mid September

It's not even that I've been busy, it's that I'm lazy.

Uhh key things from the past few days? DnD went well, though the party took longer to do things, I kept getting screwed by the dice rolls (and having to improvise things on the spot...they ended up meeting a myconid village and destroying a lich's phylactery because of that...probably should figure out how to incorporate said Lich into the campaign) so I had to rush the actual plot point I wanted to do. At least the foundations are in place for the sea dungeon I've been planning for a while. I've gotten some new records. Backed some kickstarters (okay just like one new one). I've been avoiding work a bit too much. I met an Indonesian economist and an Indonesian who works here on campus. I've not gotten the car's new plates. I've been thinking a lot about my place in the universe? I still need to find those Flores guide books and finish planning that part of the trip. 

Oh and running. The race is next week and my runs this week have turned out good. Conditions have been quite nice, but I did a 5k with a 7:53-8:00 pace (depending on how you count waiting for cars at intersections) which was my summer goal. Felt like dying but I should be able to do my 3.5 mile leg at an 8:30 pace. And today I took my night running equipment out for a spin on the 8.756 mile loop, which I did in just under 80 minutes, meaning my pace was somewhere between 9:04 and 9:07. Most impressive is that the second half of the loop was only a tad slower (maybe 20 seconds) than the first half, so I kept that pace very consistently. Left me exhausted, unsurprisingly, but not necessarily dead like the 5k did. Anyway, my pace goal for the long legs is 9:30 which should be pretty sustainable seeing that I did a longer distance than either of them much faster than that. Now to review my legs and set up playlists to help me pace. 

Yeah that's me right now. I should go to bed.

Ahh I'm so late

Between a terrible sleep schedule (basically all my fault), internet problems and other such things, I've been not keeping a diary well. So here's just the important things in no particular order.

DnD was like 90% improv and now the Empire and the Merchants' Guild hate our adventurers. 

We had an office potluck on Friday which I was sort of in charge of and in the end it went well (even if there were way more people than expected). I made misir wat for it, which turned out amazingly. As part of that, I made my own niter kibbeh and berbere, got a spice grinder (since I have so many whole spices now). I also made timatim for the ward potluck, which I called "Ethiopian Salsa" because that's how I roll.

It's cooled down a lot, which is nice. I've still been doing some running and also some very fast biking to work on cardio/endurance. In fact, I did a ride the other day to a game night where I average like 4:10 per mile (and that's with stops). Maps said plan for 45 minutes and I did it in like 33. Legs have been assigned for Ragnar and I'll be doing the last shift (which is like the 3rd longest/hardest). 17.5 miles. Then I'm gonna go camping with the other grad students on the trip up in the UP. Get home Tuesday and then basically go right into prepping for my trip, since I leave that Thursday. 

Speaking of my trip, I've gotten my flights mostly figured out and a couple different hostels booked. I still need to contact the place in Tentena for more information about transport (and booking a guide for Lore Lindu), figure out Tanah Toraja (but finding a hostel should be pretty easy) and basically figure out all my bus/housing issues in Flores. Also find a place for my suitcase in Jakarta. I'm still mostly winging this trip, which should be exciting and also very stressful (in a good way). Finally, Walgreens has been really slow at filling my vaccine order but when I called today the robot said it should be ready by tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, I need to get up early to do laundry, finish up dishes and do some work before going to lunch and then coming back to finish planning our session (it's exploration but I also want to use it to forward one of my plot threads). So a busy day, especially since I'm behind on work and need to get a presentation ready by next Monday (though the full presentation isn't needed for another two weeks).

Finally, the other big events of the past week. On Friday, an investigator (this one) texted me asking if I'd say the closing prayer at his baptism. After the baptism he sent out a very nice text to everyone who participated saying that he invited us to be part of the ceremony because we were all important in his faith journey. Then I woke up the next day to a text from the missionaries saying that he wanted me to confirm him. Which was a huge honor (and I even ironed a shirt and wore a suit coat for it) but very scary. Unlike basically every other blessing, this one is public and that makes me very self conscious. But I did it and while it was a bit of a struggle at first, by the end words that felt right were flowing out. So I hope he appreciated it. Anyway, that was the last Sunday that Bishop is bishop (next week is stake conference and the week after that he's being released) and since I will be gone until the end of October (due to camping after the race) I really need to reach out and thank him for being a great bishop. 

Two final things. After the baptism I was talking with people and the concert we were all planning to go to was cancelled. Which somehow turned into a discussion of karaoke and me hosting karaoke night...that night. Which I did. I had a two computer set up (one connected to the tv and one for adding songs to the playlist) and it was a lot of fun. I even got to hook up my computer to my new speakers (after a bit of struggle). And today, while heading home, I saw a kingfisher. First it was flying and then it went into a tree and then it took off as I was trying to get a picture. I love kingfishers, too bad they are so hard to photograph. 

Last notes. Like I said, I've been sleeping pretty poorly. Well the sleep is fine, I've just been going to bed way too late and either getting up early or oversleeping. So not a great schedule. I do wonder if I'm (mildly) hypomanic right now or have been recently. That feeling of wanting to be productive and not sleep (though I feel tired in a way that I didn't get at say the camp out). Being really antsy/agitated. But not really euphoria or even irritation/anger (I think?). Nor am I anxious (maybe because I have nothing to be anxious about...ever since getting an answer to the question I've been avoiding thinking about those sorts of social situations). So who knows.

Labor Day and Pre-Fall Day 1

So for Labor Day I went out to a local state park to climb (in prep for the competition next week). It was good climbing and thanks to shade and a breeze (plus low humidity) it didn't feel nearly as hot as it could have. Still have a lot to get better at, but whatever. Also I need to sign up for the comp. Other than that, not much to say. My arms and legs got both banged up from climbing and very bitten by mosquitos (which has been annoying all of today).

As for today, I got up and had a fairly ordinary morning. Went to the library to return the charger but they were closed for meetings. Helped my sister's roommate and her dad move furniture up to their apartment. Chatted with people in the office, sent off some emails and then went home. Meant to work on DnD but instead slept. Then panicked, found some enemies for various different adventures but had no idea what adventure to run so I decided to leave that to the party. They chose the one I was least prepared for (especially enemy wise) so we had a very talky session where I ad-libbed a whole bunch of stuff. It was funny because it was probably the three least diplomatic characters trying to do this diplomacy heavy session without starting a fight with either of the factions they were running messages between. And after that I cleaned up and made it to here.

I've felt really tired this last while. Dunno why. It's not just lack of energy from doing too much, I think.

Dog Days 41 and 42

So Saturday. I overslept (or rather went back to sleep after my alarm, forgetting why I had an early alarm in the first place) but still managed to get to brunch on time (averaged a 12 mph and since it was cool in the morning, I barely broke a sweat). Brunch was nice. Apparently the place was owned by Albanian immigrants and I had an Albanian lamb sausage platter. Good to hang out with people. On my way home, I stopped at my sisters house since she wanted help finding Walmart. So we hooked up the bike rack to the car and took our bikes over to my house then went shopping. After Walmart we went to home depo for light bulbs. Returning home we put together my new record player (still working to get everything balanced right to stop skipping, also to get better sound quality) and I made some adjustments to her bike. Then we biked over to the capitol for a food festival. Wandered around with other people from the ward and ate lots of food. I got rendang (not spicy enough), some brisket (not juicy enough), a cheese donut (very good, make pick up the frozen version some time) and various other things. Got a ride back with my roommate and that was basically that. Oh, we hung out for a while longer before my sister went home. Stayed up too late (like 3).

I slept in today, which was fine because I wasn't running in the morning. Regular Sunday morning. Sacrament meeting went well. Sunday school was pretty boring. After church my sister and I went over to my place (after stopping at hers to pick up cash) and then with one of my roommates went over to another city to pick up a table/desk for her. Dropped it off at her house and then hung out at my place for a few hours. She went home, I made dinner and then did a run. It was very hot, but since the sun was already going down and the humidity was low, it honestly didn't feel too bad. I still sweated a lot though (I weighed in two pounds less than this morning and that was after drinking a bunch and eating dinner). The route was almost exactly 5 miles so I set a 45 minute timer. I took my 48 minutes (so a 9:37 or so pace) which was really disappointing. I know that the conditions were not ideal and this route is hillier than some of my other routes (also all I'd eaten was a burrito an hour before), but this is basically what I did last week except half as long and without the morning run or 20 miles of bike riding. Anyway, after showering I watched the last two episodes of the new superman tv show. I'm really liking this show, shame the season is only 10 episodes. They build the plot and characters well and I like where it is going. Then I accidentally took a very short nap and here I am. Except I keep getting distracted by cleaning (there's a leak in our basement that needs frequent cleanings when the ac runs heavy...like right now; also I think I finally unclogged our sink) which I don't like since bursts of semi productivity like this can be a sign of hypomania. Or maybe not. It's hard to tell. There would be something poetic about the traditional summer starting with extreme depression and ending with hypomania but I really hope that isn't the case. Why can't I get the happy hypomanias? (At least if this is a hypomania coming on, I'm not depressed so hopefully no mixed episode).

I have two potlucks this week. For my ward potluck I signed up to make a tomato mixture (we're trying out theming), so I'll make Timatim. With that in mind, I guess I'll do a wat for the office party, probably a misir wat. Keep the theming going.

Dog Days 40

I continue my descent into spending because I guess that's just what I am now (all I really have left to go though is my plane tickets from Jakarta to Palu, Malang to Jakarta, and when I get things more planned Labuan Bajo to Surabaya. Oh and lodging, which will probably run me another $300 or so over the course of the trip. Probably less honestly, hostels in Jakarta and Malang are cheap and I have free housing in Surabaya). Got a bunch of cheap records plus some other stuff for Bandcamp Friday. But enough about my bad habits...and it's not like I don't have a healthy investment account plus I'm earning like a net of $400+ more a month compared to the beginning of summer (2 roommates instead of 1 and also 10% pay bump). I'll probably still have some to put away post trip.

Anyway, got up and was lazy going running. Decided to do a 5k (well 3.2 miles) and see how fast I could do it. The goal was sub 8, so I set my timer for 25 minutes. Unfortunately I couldn't quite do it. I was like 30-45 seconds behind schedule by the time I hit the 1.2 miles to go point and only had like 3 minutes with half a mile remaining. Eventually completed the circuit in around 26:10 or 26:15, leading to a pace around 8:12/mile. So much better than last time (and more consistent) but still not quite as fast as I'd like. Basically collapsed for like an hour after that. Showered, ate lunch, went to my office. Did some work, read some stuff. Called Walgreens to get a price quote and an order for the typhoid vaccine, but they need a prescription first, so I emailed the travel clinic to hopefully get that done on like Tuesday. 

Checked out the local outdoors store since they were having a sale but they didn't have the dry bag I was looking for. Went home and mostly just read and thought about DnD stuff. Backed a kickstarter to get a pdf and softcover book from one producer I like and put myself on a list for another one. Pretty basic stuff. Realized I should probably do this. And that's about it.

I have a brunch in the morning tomorrow and then there's a food truck/stall festival in the afternoon/evening. So that's exciting. Busy day.