Fasting / Thanksgiving Week

For the last twenty minutes I’ve been sipping coffee in the backyard with my feet propped up against the fireplace staring at the blue sky and zoning out.

I feel a lightness in my shoulders and it feels good.

I’ve felt pretty happy being home with the family the past few days. Daydreaming of what life would look like if I moved back. I don’t see that happening anytime soon but I can’t help but feel a little torn. A blissful life with family in California vs an exciting life with a good group of friends in NY.

If only there were a way to combine the two!! To migrate my family to the east coast or start over in LA.

The thought of starting over in LA reminds me of how much I invested in living in NY. For a time I felt lost. A number of my friends had left the city. I wasn’t doing much. I wondered why I was spending so much time and money staying in this place.

I debated whether I’d stay in NY or just nomad around but I’m glad I decided to stick through it.

If I were to start over in LA I think I have a decent playbook.

  • Join some activities. I cycled through a number of them (volleyball, choir, sewing, improv, group piano classes) before i found the right fit. I’m sure I’ll iterate further

  • Be very proactive about reaching out to people. Friendships are like fire in that they initially require a steady flow of oxygen to thrive. Once you put in that initial breathwork things should spark naturally. There’s a natural resistance to taking that initiative but most people want to be included and thought of and reached out to.

  • Ideally go to the office a subset of the week. Having that anchor in place was much more important than I realized

Something to think about if I leave NY after all.

Fasting

Every time I’m in Oxnard I tend to binge. Food, TV, everything.

This time around I reigned it in a bit.

Did 16 / 8 fasting where I’d only have an 8 hour window to eat.

Feels great so far. Will keep it up back in NYC as well.

I’m debating whether to apply this to media as well. Maintain an 8 hour window where I get in all my TV and stop after that window’s over.

Fasting may be the key to everything. Having my cake and eating it too. If I’d been stricter with my media (and food) consumption earlier in life who knows where I’d be today?

Our entire society is geared towards consumption. Feels good to be taking back some power and reinvesting in self control.

I recently bought this timer lock box that you can use to lock away your devices for a period of time. Will report back next week on how my life feels different after using this.

Thanksgiving Week

I’ve been off work the last few days for Thanksgiving. This four day weekend flew by so quickly. Some highlights

  • Day 1: Thanksgiving Day. Very low key. Just the four of us. Dad had COVID so he didn’t do much. Harry, Mom and I did the bulk of the cooking.

    • No turkey. Just Popeye’s chicken. I don’t like turkey (too big and dry) so I was glad.

    • Harry made Kale bread pudding. A bit heavy on the bread side but tasty for sopping up sauces

    • Mom made green bean casserole (seems like her favorite to make every year). With crispy bacon and onions as toppings this was an unhealthy but delicious addition to the table

    • I made a cheesy hasselback potato gratin. Not too much effort and it turned out delicious. Extremely crispy. Also made magnolia bakery’s banana pudding for dessert. Surprisingly delicious given the simplicity of the ingredients. Would make it again for future dinner parties

  • Day 2: San Pedro Fish Market. We’ve gone here over the years. A fish market right by the harbor where they launch cruise ships into the ocean. I think this is a place we go to more for the memories than the taste. We got a stack of fried fish, shrimp, garlic bread, etc. Huge portions. Tasty enough but too far from home IMO.

  • Day 3: Sunset at Ventura. Drove over to Ventura and walked the main street. Walked the pier and watched the sun go down.

  • Day 4: Ojai. I wanted to plan something for the last day. Our family goes out but we seem to lack a formal itinerary so I wanted to have a clear schedule of what we’d do

    • Went to the Farmer’s Market first. Picked up some delicious strawberries (this area has the best strawberries—far better than supermarket types), heirloom tomatoes and a delicious bottle of fresh squeeze orange / mandarin juice.

    • Got some vegan Mexican food at Farmer and the Cook. Dad hated his dish. I thought the food was good but I don’t blame him. It was tasty in the sense that you knew everything you ate was healthy and locally grown but in terms of crowd pleasing, wide appealing flavors it seemed to be lacking.

    • Went to Ojai Olive Company to do some olive oil tasting. Well worth the trip. Situated in the hills on an olive farm, it was a calm and pleasant experience lounging around and sampling olive oil, balsamic vinegar. This place had the best flavored balsamic vinegars I’ve ever had. I particularly enjoyed the peach flavor.

  • Nights were spent in our backyard. Mom recently built this stone fireplace that’s so comfortable to lounge around. We also set up a screen in the backyard and watched movies off the projector. Very very very very comfortable.