Halfway through book three of The Blade Itself by Abercrombie it occurs to me what appeal is left concerns ninefingers and is quite similar to the appeal of professional wrestling. Oh well.

Insomnia from yesterday's exercise. Not sure what exactly though. Possibly from doing the situps as fast as possible. Didn't fall asleep until 5AM. And was supposed to get up at 5:15AM to work until usually 8:15PM. Called off. 4th call off. Can't call off again for next 9 months, or I'm blocked from transferring. Not usually an issue, but I have applied for an unique research position. With my insomnia issues a normal 8 hour a day job would be better for me. And research is a better fit, etc.

How ridiculous that simply switching to doing a set of situps faster would result in such insomnia. In the future I simply can't do any strengthening exercises if I have to work the next day. Or on rare occasions I could then take something to help me sleep.

I laid there, not feeling particularly bad. But just with stuff firing in my brain. Feeling my heartbeat, etc. Like my insides were moving, moving, moving, outside of my control. Sleep was impossible. Finally called off and just read a book until I finally felt sleepy at 5AM. Slept from 5 till 10. Now I sit here feeling like I've done something wrong. Like I've been bad. (sigh). What the hell though? Who can't fall asleep until 5AM because they did a sit of setups at about 2pm?

If only my work days weren't 15 hours long, taking care of critically sick people.

On the plus side, my manuscript finally got accepted. To be published almost two years from now. Making it a literature review with nothing from the most recent 3 years, which is stupid.

Started exercise bike last monday. Tried it a second time on Wednesday. Crashed and burned on Friday run. Perhaps in part becuase not used to hitting legs three times a week. But then, perhaps also because it was just slower continuous biking for 40 minutes.

Friday run was 4/2 for 10 miles in 93:40. Previous was 92:20. Felt awful rest of Friday and into Saturday. Pullups on Friday were a half effort. Just did 9.
This Monday got back down to a 92:44. Then 2/2's on bike. Trying to go fast to teach my body to move faster. Just did 4 first time. Then overhead press-19. Dips 16. Although they hurt more. And a fast set of sit-ups. 35 done as fast as possible. Again, teach body to move fast. Arms at side.

The wine I made was a fail. Possibly the wrong kind of grapes. Also the grow lamp was a fail.

Listening to the music I wrote. 142 "songs", roughly 8 hours worth. Ahhh, the incredible injustice of it all. But then I also worked my butt off for a decade in college just to have my career destroyed. And far worse than that has happened. To me, that is. That which can't be described for example.

It's nothing new. Has happened to millions. Billions. More.

It's a coping mechanicsm that works except for making nothing at all matter.

The wine though appears to not have had enough grapes in it. Also knats managed to get in it. I'll have to try again. Although I'm unfortunately a teetotaler currently, so there's no hurry.

Well into The Blade Itself by Abercrombie. Somehow it's not too dark despite having a main character who's a torturer and whom is in such physical agony he hardly cares if he lives or dies himself. Somehow it's a good book. Just a little bit of magic. Magic is more of an ace up the sleeve of Bayaz that's rarely used. Logen also has his fighting skills ace. It's a pleasant book.

Lately I've spent a lot of time playing Oblivion: Sky Rim. It's the music that does it for me. I was really into the previous game too, although I eventually lost interest. It's quite the time suck and there's quite a bit of repetition just under the surface if you're looking for it. I'm trying to not look for it. Nice music. A silly thing to do though. Spending whole days recently by the fire playing this game. But in the last 20 years I've only played a couple Zelda and Oblivion games, so ultimately not really spending that much time on it. Will move on soon enough and probably not touch a video game for another year or two.

Overhead presses, Standing 13,15,17. Seated 15, 18 (70bls)
Dips 6, 9, 12, 14
Added set up situps (20 today with hands behind head) and exercise bike. Back when I last got down to 3:02 for half a mile I was working hard on the exercise bike. Now I'm well short of that speed.

Today 4/2 for 10 miles in 92:20. First mile I was 10 seconds slower in 3:40 (pitiful), at 3 miles I was 30 seconds slower. At 6 miles I was only 15 seconds slower. At 7 miles I was 5 seconds faster and at 10 I finished 38 seconds faster. I wasn't trying to pace myself better. My body just did so on it's own.

So in roughly November I did 2/2's for 12 miles twice a week and lasted a month before my right knee really started hurting. (And my back after laying down for 4 or so hours.) Ran slower for a couple months then over the last 3 or so weeks did 2:30/2:00's for 10 miles twice a week. Despite being a lot more carefuul, my right knee is again hurting. Far, far less than last time, but I can see where this is going. Also my back could feel better, same issue with it bothering me with sleep, although much less so.

Seems I need to slow down a bit more and what I'm hoping is that I just need to run more aerobically/less anerobically. Less torso twisting, less arm swinging. So today did a 4/2 for 10 miles in 92:58. There's this good feeling one can get from running, which doesn't start to kick in apparently until you've run for at least 4 minutes stretches. Felt it just a little for the first time in a long time.