The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised.

Oy. I totally know why people put “rest” days in the middle of multi-day challenges. My body hurts today, so much that I left dance class early, I didn’t do a ton of stretching, I spent time with the heating pad on my back, and I couldn’t grip well enough to play my instruments comfortably. I worry that I’m giving myself some repetitive stress injuries from going to dance class 3 days a week all of a sudden, so I need to take it easy. I may not do much stretching tomorrow, and I’m considering not going to dance on Friday, as I previously planned. I’m currently sitting on an ice pack. I’m looking forward to sleeping.

Daily Challenges

Stretching	✓
1SE	✓
Intimate Time	?
Cooking	Today’s Menu: I started with a breakfast shake; I guess I didn’t eat lunch? (my shakes are quite filling, and I didn’t finish it until after noon); for dinner, we roasted a chicken and had it with potatoes and carrots and onions and gravy; also I ate some brioche.
Reading (Poetry)	“My Invisible Horse and the Speed of Human Decency” is by Matthew Olzmann, a poet I read for this project earlier (his poem “Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years from Now”). “My Invisible Horse” looks at social expectations for change, and the speed of social change, by playing with the phrase “don’t put the horse before the cart.” I like his poetry a lot; it speaks to my own internal voice with simplicity.
Reading (Fiction)	I have trouble stopping reading The Poisonwood Bible. I think I’ve read about a hundred pages over the past couple of days; I’m certainly past the halfway point finally. The action is getting thicker and harder to pull myself away from.
Reading (Nonfiction)	There’s a post going around Facebook that categorizes various typefaces from “lawful good” to “chaotic evil,” and Comic Sans is included as the “neutral evil.” I asserted that Comic Sans was dyslexia-friendly, and then pressed for details, which led me to this lengthy and robust post about typefaces and the way we learn and process information. It’s aimed at educators, primarily, but it’s all very fascinating to me. (TL;DR: Comic Sans isn’t necessarily better for new or dyslexic readers than any other typeface, because the kerning/spacing is more important than the letter shape, and also they need to do some more research about it.)
Music	My hands in particular were hurting me today, so I chose to leave dance class, to write song lyrics first instead of music, and not to play any of my instruments today. Tomorrow I will; I can’t procrastinate it away any longer.
Postcard Poem	I was inspired by Olzmann to write a poem riffing off a common expression. It turned into a commentary about capitalism and environmentalism—I could have spent a while writing it, and I will have to remember and come back to it in the future: Whatever you do, don’t rock the boat. Whose boat? Your boat? I don’t have a boat. Stay steady, on an even keel; this massive passenger ferry is on fire, but don’t rock it. Don’t disrupt the tourists on their whale seeing sight watching cruise. Don’t get in the way of freighters, the true barriers between the reef and, ultimately, survival, with cargoes of plastic and oil and other things made from dead dinosaurs we found in rocks. – Sarah Reebs, 10/22/2019
Trash Pickup	I accidentally took a bag with me today that had a bunch of holes in it (a potato bag) and then it turned out to be Partially-Filled Aluminum Can Day. I must’ve picked up a dozen cans just going around one block, and then my bag was so full, I couldn’t put anything else in it….and then kept putting things in it anyway:

Today’s Challenges

Abs are over! It only took me 18 days to complete a 14-day challenge! I’m glad I didn’t just skip days, but carried them over; it feels like more of an accomplishment. I’m extra glad that they’re over now, and I don’t have to re-skip a day tomorrow, to avoid hurting myself somehow. In the interest of remaining whole, I left dance class early, after trying to warm up and stretch, and being told by my joints and my back and basically everything that movement is: Not. An. Option. I could have stayed and watched my lovely friends dance, but I was already feeling on the verge of tears from frustration, so I took my pity party home and ate some brioche instead.

Today is 2 of 7 of my songwriting challenge. Because my hands hurt too much to play uke, I decided to brainstorm lyrics. I like story songs, so I think mine will be a story song. I have a few different possible stories developing. It’s very Bonnie Raitt/Reba MacIntyre sort of stuff so far. I will spend time with the music side of things tomorrow, and see if that leads me in one direction or another. I have no idea what I am doing, and if I’m doing it “right,” or if there’s such a thing. I suppose I will just invest time in it each day, and see what comes of it over the next couple of days. At the very least, I can’t panic until day five.

Here’s hoping my body doesn’t hurt so much tomorrow, so I can be useful at the food bank. Also I would like to have energy to write fiction, write music, and procure a wedding gift, in addition to all the other things on my list. So, I’m going to make my breakfast shake for the morning, and then go to sleep. Catch you all on the flip side!

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