Healthy Wood / RIP iPad — Lostinthewoodz

Sitting on a this lazy Sunday at this super loud cafe (Blank Slate coffee) where even with my noise canceling headphones I cannot drown out the sound. What is this the club?!?!??!?!?!??

I am feeling back to myself.

This past week I’ve felt soooooo low energy. Just going through the motions. Spending most of my day at home playing Slay the Spire (amazing game btw) and watching TV.

But being in this loud ass place with all these people around me and my coffee at my side I feel a bit more energized (although it’s likely I’ll go lay in bed after I finish writing this).

Also just got lunch and coffee with Kelvin. Getting out of the house helps. Especially since I work from home so often.

When I first moved to NY people said to choose my neighborhood wisely because I’d end up spending most of my time there.

I’ve found that to be absolutely true and unfortunately I don’t love living in LIC. Astoria is nice. Has a very homey atmosphere with plenty of restaurants and cafe. But that’s a 20-30 minute walk and the walk there from my place is barren and industrialized.

I think next year (if I’m still in NY) I’ll try to go back to Manhattan. Prioritize being in a more vibrant place and living closer to friends (although I do live close to some friends in Queens currently)

Healthy Wood

This is the season of prioritizing health.

In the past few months (years? since Pandemic?) I’ve had terrible habits and I want to re-evaluate how to live.

I’m getting to the age where it’s more apparent than ever how important my health is.

My shoulder’s busted. My sleep keeps getting interrupted. Diet hasn’t been great. And I’ve been living with all this longer than I’ve had to.

Here’s the fix:

Re-establishing my sleep habits. I’ve very consistently been sleeping around 1 and waking at 9.
Cooking way more
Finding specialists for my shoulder, sleep problems

When I write it all out it seems so obvious but perhaps I haven’t been living like an adult these past few months.

In a misguided effort to re-establish my youth I started drinking and partying more over the summer but in some ways that’s backfired 😂

Had fun though so no real regrets.

RIP iPad

In a spurt of motivation I also sold my iPad so my sleeping habits can improve.

I bought this back in 2021 as a present for myself after getting promoted. I told myself I wanted one so I could start drawing with Procreate. What happened instead is I started going to bed with my iPad every night and watching TV late into the night.

I’ve had a problem with internet self control from the start.

As a young child in the early 2000s (long before smartphones) I got my hand on a portable handheld TV (as a prize for making so much progress in Kumon…).

Mom was relatively strict about sleeping at reasonable times so I had to exert caution. After I was sent to bed I’d get under the covers to hide the light from showing through my door, plug in my earphones, and BINGE INTO THE NIGHT!

I remember watching a lot of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (probably because that was one of the few things on then) and Sex and the City (because I thought there’d be sex 🤦🏻‍♂️).

I destroyed my sleep schedule back then and must have fried so many brain cells.

Anyways same thing seemed to be happening now so it was time to clean up house.

Good bye iPad, you will be missed. I used you for nothing useful and watched countless hours of TV, Youtube, anime on you. I hope this sacrifice leads to a healthier, more harmonious lifestyle.

Other thoughts/events of the week

Went to my first Improv II class! People are more talented but also more intense. They should make an anime about improv classes. Really felt like that. We’re in a new arena and we’re all sizing each other up to see what strengths/weaknesses everyone has. Maybe it’s just me but it feels like we’ll be more competitive with each other. I think it’ll be pretty fun
Been climbing consistently with Raj. My hands are callused but my spirit is nourished. Just kidding I don’t love climbing like that but it’s fun.
Went to a Diwali event at work. We rented out an Indian restaurant and they served us till we bust.
Went to jazz piano again. We are moving at a quick pace.
My despair about work is lessening. As I start working on actual work I start to enjoy building more. Who knew…
That’s about it. ~Slow week~