Sorry, but what is mariburjeka?
Jane.
g time. Ditto sea monkeys. Those're a couple of pets that you just don't hear much about anymore. However, I'm not criticizing; I just bought an ant-farm. Proof that we live in the space-age, NASA has managed to innovate on the old two-dimensional ant-farm with an ant-edible translucent gel medium designed to remain intact for shuttle liftoff and landing. Since it's translucent, the terrarium is several inches thick and you can look down the length of some of the tunnels, instead of just the profile. Ah, what a time to be alive!
http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/toys/6fd6/
P.S. I'm also thinking of growing a sourdough starter, but it's pretty high-maintenance, as single-celled pet-colonies go.
my god, kirk, you sound like you need a kick in the ass! everything you're complaining about you have the ability to change. yours truly has happily contracted to manage your finances, or have you forgotten? and extra time is found by cutting back on bullshit like commuting, reading on the toilet, and unecessary bitching! report immediately and present your rear.
LAN3:
Huh, I see ants aren't even included...don't know if that's better or worse than "Uncle Milton's" where they wouldn't ship you a queen. Wonder if the mail away ones are any better.
FoSO...you're probably right, but "bullshit like commuting"?
And reading on the toilet...another one of life's pleasures I'd only gie up when convinced it was a big culprit.
kirk, i'm absolutely right. and my examples are certainly very self-involved, feel free to choose your own. AND THEN DO SOMETHING ABOUT THEM!
Wait a sec. . .reading on the toilet, despite how much my g/f teases me about it, does not take away any time from me. If anything, it allows me to get a couple minutes I'd be spending doing something else, anyway, doing something that helps me get more info and such (I like reading mags there). Then again, I don't know if Kirk has no reading self-control on the toilet or anything.
As for me, I found myself in a stress and time crucnh a little bit ago. Part of it had to do with a class I had been taking which ended. I'm going to take another class in a couple weeks, but that doesn't have any serious homework other than reading and thinking, no paper writing or anything.
I've found recently, though, that lists help with the time crunch and prioritizing what's important and what's not. Must habitualize doing certain productivity things. For instance, at the beginning of this week, I had to do something about 8,000 to 10,000 e-mails in my inbox on my hard drive. I resolved to go through a 1,000 a night. Now I'm down to something like 5,999. I should probably get that down to 0 in about a week or so. I'm also trying to get into a habit of reading financial papers and doing research on stocks, business and such for investing purposes a little at night before going to bed for my novel reading time. It helps to get into these little habits. . ..
As for working with Ksenia, have you tried talking to her directly, asking her for help to make your life better, asking her what she wants with the relationship and with life, asking her if you can help her in some way, etc. etc. I found myself running into the same disgruntledness with my g/f of 2 and almost a half years a couple months ago, and I just asked her what she has on her platter for plans, what are her dreams, how can I help, etc. etc. She took a little offense at first, but when I mentioend that I wanted to help and I felt a little out of touch and that it was just really cool to get on the same page with her about these things and told her the things that I wanted to do and asked her if I can help and asked her to do certain things, a weight felt like it came off of my shoulders and I felt a whole lot closer to her. I know you and Ksenia have dated as long as me and Michi, but it's always a good way to start evaluating these things, in my opinion, or at least, to start that kind of discussion. In my opinion, not discussing will always lead to a bad situation. Discussion can even make a break up or something not so bad (don't think for a minute that I'm suggesting a break up!).
Oh crap. . .that turned out to be a bit long, didn't it. I'm at work, too!
Hope I've helped in some way.
FoSO: "AND THEN DO SOMETHING ABOUT THEM!" --I know, the whole thing sounded more self-indulgent than I meant it to. I am being proactive on some things, esepcially about really cracking down with use of my TODO list. Hermit Crabs are water under the bridge, work is an interesting question, I need to step up and tackle my apartment, finances is a big project, relationship-wise is another interesting series of questions, I don't see the way to a reliabley better path time-wise, and the weight/exercise thing ties in with time.
So I guess cleaning my apartment is the only thing I have a definite handle on right now. But there's hope on the other things.
Lex:
Re:reading...I think a lot of people, especially men, enjoy the excuse to take a break from the world and chill out for a bit, but truth be told, I can generally be outta there much more quickly if I'm not enjoying a read.
Oh yeah, exercise: I used to feel a bit of endorphin release when I lifted weights. Running kind of sucked, but I liked the being in shape and not feeling like I'm going to die after jogging and running spontaneously. Yoga I like because it does relax me. Aerobic stuff can be fun, too, just to get the juices flowing. Some of it just depends on my viewpoint of it, though. Sometimes I have to go through the hard part of making a habit out of it by appealing to my long-term self desire side of things and self esteem type stuff. It does me good. Then again, I have a good amount of discipline compared to other people, even though I have developed a small belly and have gained the most weigh than I have ever before, and it shows. I thought I would have liked it, but I don't. . .eep!
Get yourself a copy of "Getting things DONE" I snagged one on amazon for 8 bucks, after hearing about 100 geeks all say how cool it was. They were right. I haven't fully implemented the whole thing yet, but his ideas really make sense.
I use dot have that exercise/time thing too. It's a pain to haul ass to the gym or go running or whatever. That's why I got so heavily into DDR. It's easy to fit into a schedule, a quick half-hour here or there. And I don't need to leave the house (big plus). I've already got 3 times the stamina I had when I started in October (half hour straight, no rests). Plus the game motivates you, you want to get better scores, etc...
Fish consumption is heavily correlated with being winter-depression resistant. Countries who eat very little fish have very high rates of it. get yourself some fish oil capsules. It's hard to be motivated when the sun sets at 4pm.
What's the author for Getting Things Done? David Allen or Edwin Bliss?
Some nice bits of advice there. I've been meaning to get my DDR mojo working, maybe this will help kick my ass into it. Do you use that exercise mode, that's what has no breaks?
My life too has been feeling chaotic over the past five months or so. This morning I realized that I had to do what was in my best interest and not what everybody wants me to do.
And today's big change you ask?
I switched my major from meteorology to math.
Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnn
I haven't started the full-continuous mode. But I used to have to sit down for 5 minutes after 3 songs, now I just pick a new one. Also, I still play in game mode though since there are still songs to unlock. I do like the calorie counter. "You have burned 200 calories, equal to 1.23 miles of jogging"
In Light mode it's about 10 calories a song, I try to get to 200 most times.
candi, you rock! i am also a math major! you will never, ever get tired of the shock value. people continue to be appalled when they find out, and i've been out 8+ years!
According to that Paul Graham link, http://www.paulgraham.com/hs.html , it's better to be a match major 'cause it's upwind of everything else...easier to generalize first and specialize later than the other way around.
Here's a solution to your birth-control conundrum. May sound a little old-fashioned or prudish, but it makes sense: Don't have sex with someone you're not prepared to raise a child with, period. No BC is 100%, and you owe it to future offspring to bring them into the world responsibly. If you don't even know if you'll be with Ksenia in a few weeks, how can you take chances with her that could have lifelong repercussions? Come on, think with your HEAD.
Don't condoms work pretty good?
N.y.m.I.s. - It's a good point. Sometimes I find myself drifting towards that viewpoint, which another part of me considers reactionary. The thing is, I've found out even when you think you've found your lifemate, sometimes you're wrong-- and who wants to risk raising a kid in a broken home -- or risk raising a kid at all in a world that seems to be on the edge of so many cliffs?
Lex -- no, they're inadequate on a number of fronts.
Kirk- Indeed, I had to shell out $3 for ants-- I'd've thought the first order would be gratis, given the purchase price.
I don't know if I want a queen, and certainly the ant farmers of Utah don't want me to have a queen. Furthermore, I consider the lack of government to be a beneficial environment for those ants-- if they fail to thrive, 'tis the market that did them in, and the market is just. (Even though the genetic --and gender-- dice will be heavily loaded against them.) Alas, if the Ants could indeed manage to reproduce, it would surely only be done to create a queen, proving that if government didn't exist, ants would have to create it. I, for one, welcome our new ant overlords. HAIL ANTS!
Instead of not having sex, you could look into not having intercourse.
But I'm a Republican, so I'm going to instead prescribe an egg, which you must take everywhere for a week. Or some ants. (I ordered them today.)
Also, this may gross people out, but I like to read "Cook's Illustrated" on the toilet. I have the usual hangups about food in the bathroom, but recipes and articles about cooking are pretty short, and the toilet's pretty much the only place I like to read magazines. Often, after finishing the obvious business and washing my hands, I'll sit back down to finish reading. That, perhaps, is not good use fo time, but it does justify my magazine subscription expense like no other reading I do.
You talking personally or statistically about the condom matter?
i want to point out that i wasn't impugning toilet reading but rather pointing at some time sinks in my own life. read away, all!
and k, nymis is so right. didn't your mother tell you that your mother's always right?
also, when it gets less snowy i'm looking for a jogging buddy, either 6 am or 6 pm (or both). and you have to have endurance as wimpy as mine.
Lex - both.
FoSO - yeah, I was amazed at how laughable a beginner jogger's endurance is...maybe we should try to get that done. 6am would be more reliable than 6pm I think.
Having a vasectomy is a great idea when you are in a stable, long term, monogomous relationship and you have jointly decided you don't want any more children. If you don't satisfy those requirements then you are better off with a condom. Condoms are great because they protect against both pregnancy and STDs (both partners), plus they can provide lubrication and decreased sensitivity for longer activity. The only downside is the pause while you put it on. You also shouldn't plan on reversing a vasectomy. It's an expensive & uncertain process. Better to not even consider it an option and be sure of your decision. If you are looking for temporary sterility, I think they are working on male birth control pills, patches & implants. But they don't protect against STDs either.
Not a big fan of decreased sensitivity, myself. And I'm not looking to be a swinger either.
I actually heard from someone making an argument against pro-life arguments that a vasectomy can actually spontaneously reverse. He somehow made the argument that since it can do that, then abortions should be legal. Whole other topic. . .BTW, I'm pro-life fundamentally, but realistically, pro-choice, so I don't mind making pro-life arguments.
But anyway. . .it's kind of weird talking about the personal side of condoms on a "public" forum. I guess there's also people who're allergic/sensitive to latex. One person I knew would pretty much time their sexual activity because of their latex sensitivity.
As for condom statistics, they're really not all that bad, unless I guess you use it wrong or buy faulty ones. After all, they recommend women who take their birth control pills wrong by mistake to fall back on the condom. . .to each their own, I guess. But then again, Ross and Rachel conceived while using a condom. . .. =D
And I guess for me, the time spent reading on the toilet is inconsequential compared to the knowledge that I get from reading some great magazines on it. It's well worth my time, all ten minutes or so a day. It's a good way to get away from work, though! =D
> And is there any hope of making exercise
> something pleasurable?
Kirk, do yourself a favor and hire a personal trainer. They'll push you to work hard when you don't have enough willpower to push yourself, and they'll make working out enjoyable. Combine weight training with 30 minutes of cardio 2-3 times per week (and limit your "bad" carb intake!) and you'll drop that extra 20 lbs in no time.