TRAVEL DAY: Williamsburg 3

Conversation is so valuable when passing the time in traffic.

Today's Haiku

Tulip themed diner
with silver dollar pancakes
and paper placemats

Today's Workout
Recovery

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Plummy from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

TRAVEL DAY: Williamsburg 2

Today I spent a care-free day at an amusement park, marveling at the rides, the people and the hilarious cultural misappropriation of the around-the-world theme. 

Today's Haiku

Oodles of coasters
fat patrons and soft pretzels
and the searing sun

Today's Workout
Spinning the teacup ride and walking 30,000 steps

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Higgledy-Piggledy from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

TRAVEL DAY: Williamsburg 1

Heading off the Williamsburg today to carouse and do exhilarating things thanks to human engineering. 

Today's Haiku

petite booze bottles
and a bottle of champagne
party in da burg

Today's Workout
None

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Volition from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Greed and Concealed Things

I wish I could perceive time at the same rate as the erosion of a stick of deodorant.

Today's Haiku

Tree trunks on the way
barked curtains frozen in time
hiding precious rings

Today's Workout
Running: 3.1 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Acquisitive from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Setting Scenes

I've been putting together a role-playing scenario for a game called Monster of the Week. I found out a couple of my coworkers are into role-playing games and I got so hungry I started weaving my yarns during lunch that very day. I got intrigued by the west coast so I'm setting the story in Northern California near the border of Oregon. Pulling on a bunch of Native American lore from the region for creature building. We'll see how it goes. I have the MOST fun thinking up all this stuff...

Today's Haiku

My whinging old wrists
not used to the up and down
they prefer keyboards

Today's Workout
Push-ups

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Supersede from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Two to the Fifth Power

I did it! 31 is behind me and thus begins my 6th year of the blog! Well actually it's my 5th because I took a year off somewhere in there.

Here are my goals for 32:

BASIC

• Read 32 books (I've read my age in books every year since 2014)
• Run 750 miles (1,000 was a feat. This number should be lighter while still forcing me to exercise)
• Basic exercise on off run days. As simple as a few push-ups, ten minutes of yoga, taking a walk
• Draw a picture everyday.
• Write a haiku everyday
• Meditate everyday (ideally)
• Duolingo everyday (ideally)
• Last year I wrote 1,000 words for every day on a word tracking site (some days more or less than others) and I'd like to fit SOMETHING before the haikus each day but I'm wary to commit to that. But I'll sure try.

TRACKING
**All tracking is set to do more than the previous year**

• Track veggies, fruits and dairy consumed each day. Rather than get stupid meticulous about it. I'm scaling on a rating of 0 to 3
• Track coffee consumption
• Track alcohol consumption (both days drinking and total number)
• Track processed foods (cooked meals don't count. When eating out, fast food falls in this spot)
• Track junk and news internet usage
• Track TV shows total number of episodes (movies don't count because they're more of an event)
• Track hours of video game play. This one's going to be embarrassing. 

Sidenote: I've quit something every year since I turned 25. Thsi year I quit visiting the time-wasting website Imgur. I also quit Facebook a while back but I'm not adding that one to the list because I check it periodically to see if anyone's try to contact me there.  Here's the full list:

• 25 - Cigarettes
• 26 - Energy Drinks
• 27 - Ground Beef (made obsolete when I went vegetarian the same year)
• 28 - Potato Chips
• 29 - Soda
• 30 - Candy
• 31 - Shots
• 32 - Imgur

And that's it! Mostly a few little course adjustments on the way to the better me I'm building.

Today's Haiku

Database birthday
on the keyboard and the screen
minutia refined

Today's Workout
Rest

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Gritty from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Another Feather in the Cap

It's the final day of this project. I'll keep it short. I hit my goal of 1,000 miles in a year. I read 31 books. I managed to write 365,000 words for the year and participated in NaNoWriMo though I didn't write anything impactful. I drew a picture for everyday. I would check out the link below to see more. I also wrote a haiku everyday. The final stats are below. I beat nearly all of it and I'm happy about it.

More on what to expect next year tomorrow, on my 31st birthday.

FINAL COUNT

Stats:

Running Mileage: 1000.08/1,000

Drinks: 384/365 *not great but better than last year's 427*

Vegan: 44/100 *jumped to vegan dinners*

Books Completed: 31/31

Words Written: 365,039/350,000 *got the full stretch of 1000 words a day*

Fasts (Days without)

Internet: 179/171

TV: 126/120

Gaming: 183/141

Booze: 149/163

Coffee: 160/150

Junk (Savory): 100/100
Junk (Sweet): 171/100
Eat Out: 243/100

Today's Haiku

Hitting one thousand
I weep as the mileage ticks
The back monkey's gone

Today's Workout
Running: 5.8 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Contraption from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

My books from the past year (those read aloud to my wife in italics and favorites in bold) :

Low - Volumes 1 & 2 by Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini

When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron

Godshaper by Simon Spurrier and Jonas Goonface

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azan Nafisi

Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Peace in Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh

Jarhead by Anthony Swofford

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Theft by Finding by David Sedaris

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett

Bonk by Mary Roach

The Adventure Zone: There Will Be Gerblins by the McElroy Brothers

Soonish by Anthony and Kelly Weinersmith

Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson

The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman

Enlightenment Now by Stephen Pinker

Essentialism by Greg McKeown

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler

Mind of my Mind by Octavia Butler

Clay's Ark by Octavia Butler

Patternmaster by Octavia Butler

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

How to Write an Email by (mystery author)

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

Caesar's Last Breath by Sam Keane

A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

A Little Bit More...

Tomorrow's my last day of this project year. I'm pretty proud of what I have accomplished. I'm excited for what I have planned for the next one. It's more of the same, pictures and haikus and running and tracking. It's a constant in my life at this point. A touchstone of small progressions. Somedays I question the value, whether I'm pushing myself too much or needlessly manufacturing stress. And that could be the case. But I'm settled with it now. We're friends rather than adversaries. And I'm gonna keep on doing it for the forseeable future.

Today's Haiku

Crisp nori paper
white rice sticky and filling
we build an empire

Today's Workout
Running: 4.2 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Lade from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Huh. Sports.

Today's Haiku

Off to the ballgame
bright children and drunk adults
clad in red and white

Today's Workout
Running: 3.7 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Puckish from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Sanguine and Languid

Today's Haiku

Slackers all around
No one's feeling it today
so we don't do sh*t

Today's Workout
Running: 0 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Tonsorial from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Soul Sucking

Today's Haiku

Christmas cards in June
A database behemoth
and mine to suss out

Today's Workout
Running: 3.1 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Demeanor from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Hot Swamp

Today's Haiku

Two separate runs
stifling in the air stew
a soggy morsel

Today's Workout
Running: 8.6 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Insuperable from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Data Dancing

Today's Haiku

Vlookup wrestling
spreadsheet with the upper hand
hopelessly outmatched

Today's Workout
Running: 0 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Boilerplate from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Sugar Minefield

Today's Haiku

Sweets in the kitchen
an office full of bakers
I have no control

Today's Workout
Running: 3 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Flounce from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Looking Back

Well I've got one more check-in before the end of this project. Overall it's been the most successful since the very first one back in 2014. I drawn a picture for every day, based of the word of the day from Merriam-Webster's word of the day. I'm very very close to getting all my 1,000 miles all by myself this year - the second most successful year was back in 2014-15 when I managed 750. I've improved already on my counts of coffee, TV, games and INSERT OTHER ONES. My plan is to make sure to improve every year.

And I've decided on my fast for my 32nd birthday. I'll be giving up mobile games. Now this one is unique in a couple ways: 1.) It's not based around consumption in the physical sense and 2.) it's a bit of a risk in a couple of ways. There my be something that crops up that's truly amazing and so much apart of culture in general that not participating would make me a pariah. This is unlikely, but it's something I have thought about. I considered quitting a website I visited regularly and I still my do that. But something tech based for quitting has been long in the making. We'll see. We each passing year I've had more difficulty coming up with something to quit. And I may quit the quitting in the future. I don't know why it's something I feel I have to do. The idea has got me in it's clutches though and it doesn't look like it's leaving me anytime soon....

This all being said, I'm looking forward to it. Here are my stats:

Week 51

Stats:

Running Mileage: 971.51/1,000

Drinks: 372/365 *needs improvement*

Vegan: 44/100

Books Completed: 30/31

Words Written: 350,595/350,000

Fasts (Days without)

Internet: 173/171

TV: 122/120

Gaming: 182/141

Booze: 149/163

Coffee: 157/150

Junk (Savory): 100/100
Junk (Sweet): 170/100
Eat Out: 237/100

Today's Haiku

Childhood return
our old games polished and new
and old rivalries

Today's Workout
Running: 5 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Assiduous from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Social Overload

Turns out running registration really slows down once the event's more than halfway over. Good thing I'm going home today. 

Today's Haiku

Find something to do
and please stop talking to me
I'm all peopled out

Today's Workout
Running: 0 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Recidivism from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Con Living

Ran through the city park and sculpture garden. One of my favorite 5ks, like, ever. Surrounded by beauty in the quiet of the morning. 

Today's Haiku

Ragged chicken man
trots among conventioneers
an unnerving sight

Today's Workout
Running: 3.5 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Oneiric from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

A Twin City Series

An odd day in the Twin cities. I got up at 5am. Got a ride with a Lyft driver who was an immigrant from Afghanistan studying computer science. Took a three hour flight. Got a ride with a Lyft driver who was an immigrant from Somalia who came to this country all on his own. I checked into my hotel in downtown Minneapolis using a company account. Once at the conference, I checked in registrants with swag bags, lanyards and ticket printouts. I failed to notice someone was visually impaired and made an ass of myself. Took a train to the capital in St. Paul. Bought a 750ml can of beer called The Salted Nut Roll Ale. Walked along a gutted road to get a pile of fried food at 9pm.

Got a Lyft back to the hotel by a driver whose country of origin I did not learn.

This was my first day. No idea what tomorrow may bring.

Today's Haiku

Capital pictures
Craft brewery with robots
Flaming hot cheese curds

Today's Workout
Running: 0 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Scrutinize from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Off to the Twins!

I'll be off to a conference for work in Minneapolis tomorrow. My first ever work trip! I do grown -up things now apparently.

Today's Haiku

On my way to work
a squirrel falls from his oak tree
hoping no one saw

Today's Workout
Running: 5.8 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Equivocal from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Stumble and Shed

Today's Haiku

Work presentation
walking through our database
with my two left feet

Today's Workout
Running: 0 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Chasten from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Mouth Feels

Today's Haiku

My pizza mistake:
I ate way too much of it.
not rocket science

Today's Workout
Running: 6 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Ineffable from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

TP Flurry

Week 46

Stats:

Running Mileage: 951.02/1,000

Drinks: 362/365

Vegan: 44/100

Books Completed: 29/25

Words Written: 343,950/350,000

Fasts (Days without)

Internet: 168/171

TV: 116/120

Gaming: 176/141

Booze: 148/163

Coffee: 153/150

Junk (Savory): 100/100
Junk (Sweet): 166/100
Eat Out: 234/100

Today's Haiku

Toilet paper snow
Soft and white and delicate
dust from every roll

Today's Workout
Running: 0 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Vocation from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

A Pesky Burn

Today's Haiku

stovetop conduction
the oven heat rose too high
and I was unwise

Today's Workout
Running: 2.9 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Quibble from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

A Little In-Your-Face

Today's Haiku

Skinny pony-tail
slurping down a jello cup
sugar-free orange

Today's Workout
Running: 0 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Bombast from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Yawning Awning

Today's Haiku

Proud lion sconces
vomiting straight metal rods
to hold an awning

Today's Workout
Running: 5.7 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Kinetic from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Obstruc-Shawns

Today's Haiku

Hey there, man-spreader
you're all up in my business
perhaps you don't know....

Today's Workout
Running: 0 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Malapert from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Pickers and Chewers

Today's Haiku

Digging in his schoz
my busmate plumbs for mucus
to wipe on his slacks

Today's Workout
Running: 0 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Amalgamate from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Bonkers

Today's Haiku

The flight of a day
with so many things to do
night falls far too soon

Today's Workout
Running: 5.9 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Nuance from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

A Real Mess

Week 46

Stats:

Running Mileage: 936.44/1,000

Drinks: 357/365

Vegan: 44/100

Books Completed: 28/25

Words Written: 336,940/350,000

Fasts (Days without)

Internet: 167/171

TV: 114/120

Gaming: 174/141

Booze: 146/163

Coffee: 149/150

Junk (Savory): 97/100
Junk (Sweet): 164/100
Eat Out: 229/100

Today's Haiku

The Sunday sh*tshow
our grocery store at 6
during a rainstorm

Today's Workout
Running: 0 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Circumspect from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Feets of Strength

I ran the last of the long races for the spring, a 10 miler in Baltimore. Since late April I've run two half-marathons, a 6K and this past 10 mile sucker. And I'm still just barely going to make my 1,000 miles in a year goal I set back in late June 2019.  But...I think I'm going to make it.

Today's Haiku

The masochist horde
we crave the pain in our roots
from when things were tough

Today's Workout
Running: 10 miles

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Nectar from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***