It’s been six weeks since my last entry and what an eventful six weeks they’ve been.  I’ve been back in Minnesota for the past two weeks, returning from an eighteen day trip to Ohio that only found me at the gym once and back in the habit of eating fast food and not updating my blog and otherwise just not sticking to all those positive changes I had made physically, organizationally, mentally, etc.  However, at 4pm on a Saturday, I currently have 100% of my tasks for the weekend done (laundry, dishes, cleaning, grocery shopping, bills paid, taxes finished, etc.) so I’m taking advantage of this momentum.

I’ve actually been back to the gym a few times this week, which is always the first step that gets me back on the right track again, but I didn’t start going back until I finally admitted a big part of my problems… I wasn’t sleeping.  I was getting, perhaps, two hours of sleep a night consistently since coming back to Bloomington and I finally broke down and bought some Unisom against what I assumed was my better judgment.  Regardless of my negative perception of sleeping pills, I’m happy to say that I’m sleeping well at night now and it gives me almost miraculous amounts of energy during the day again.

With that momentum, I had a productive week, drank less, got to the gym, and completed the aforementioned weekend task list pretty early.  I also had a tasty, healthy homemade lunch and will likely be following it up with a dinner much the same.  I am not ruling out a couple of drinks later tonight, though, as it is the weekend after all.

On the note of drinking, I realized midweek last week that I’m starting to enjoy it a lot less.  No, really, hear me out… I love myself a good night of binge drinking if I’m already in the mood to party.  That said, I’m quickly learning that the day after half a bottle of that night’s beverage of choice is typically filled with laziness and face-stuffing, setting into motion a chain of events that can last days on end if left unchecked.  Those of you who’ve fallen into this routine, sober up for a week and you’ll be shocked at how easy life gets.  To quote Styx, “I’m a jet fuel genius and I can solve the world’s problems without even trying.”

I was gonna save this next bit of information for a full length entry on stress and happiness and work and life and creating the right balance, but here it is… three weeks ago, Kristin discovered my first grey hairs.  I’ve since found another.  It’s not that shocking that this has all occurred in the months succeeding the departure of my boss and my increased duties at work, but it’s a bit disappointing.  I’ll own up to being more stressed than I’ve ever been between being away from home longer than expected, the increased workload, and just the general stress of future plans being in limbo for such a sustained period, but I was really hoping it wouldn’t result in the Bob Barkerization of my hair.  Yuck.

So I’m finding ways to destress.  I’m going to take a road trip to Canada sometime soon for some Havana Club Cuban rum.  I’m going to have a Swedish massage sometime in the coming week or two.  I’m keeping my gym rhythm because I have noticed less stress after good workouts.  Above all that, though, I’m planning vacations.  In a month, I’ll be in Miami for a couple days of work and a few days on the beach.  A few weeks later I’ll be taking off Memorial Day week with Kristin but we haven’t decided what we’ll be doing just yet.  Whatever it is, it won’t be work.

We lost a lot of employees at the company this week.  My best wishes for all of those folks… it’s not fair but it’s the system we live in.  Maybe if this stuff keeps happening to good people, eventually they’ll rise up and replace this broken national economic system.  I was planning to participate in the May Day Nationwide General Strike but found that I was already going to be out of town.. so I’m participating by default.  I’m urging everyone else to join me, but I’ll save that for a Rage blog entry.

We need to get herb legalized already.  That would help me destress.

Kristin’s down to her last six weeks of insanity.. college, internship, and work.  She’ll still have the job but two of the three will disappear when she graduates May 19th in Youngstown.  Hopefully she won’t have the job long as I know she’s itching to get out of there and move into a degree-related career and she has some good prospects to do just that.  Her stress level is likely as high as mine right now if not higher, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.  If things work out as I’m currently predicting, she’ll be wrapping up all her madness at the same time I’m packing everything to move back to Ohio.  Fingers are crossed.

To those of you who played the lottery this week… next time, you all send me that money instead; that way when you inevitably don’t win anything, at least one of us will come out ahead.  And who knows?  I may just give you a couple of dollars back too.

My plans for the next couple of hours are to visit a couple of stores to finish putting together an actual gym bag.  I usually wear my workout clothes there and back and can’t make any stops on the way home because I’m in a muscle shirt and shorts and covered in sweat.  Today, I’m tossing everything I need in a bag and keeping it in the car so that I can take a shower after the workout and change back into season-appropriate clothes.  Of course, after that, I’m actually going to the gym itself then coming home to figure out a healthy home-cooked dinner, as mentioned at the top.

Music played during this entry: Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ridin’ the Storm Out by REO Speedwagon, Too Much Time on My Hands by Styx, Get Down Make Love by Queen, House of the Rising Sun by the Animals.

I hope to deliver a Rage category entry tomorrow.  There’s plenty to write about.  Perhaps I’ll give my Eugene Kennedy Rockefeller videos on YouTube the proper introduction they so deserve or address the I Am Trayvon #HoodiesUp movement.  Until then…