This week, my brother, sister-in-law, and both their kids are in town visiting. My schedule has thus been a little topsy-turvy. I still really have no idea what I'm supposed to do with the kids. This is one of those hidden curriculum things I just... never learned. I think most people get to draw on their knowledge of how they played as a kid, but I really didn't get along with my peers when I was little, and tended to read books more than anything else. Other than answering questions that are asked of me, and trying to smile properly at both children, I've mostly been an uncomfortable near-non-entity when it comes to my niece and nephew.
The perils of being on the Wrong Planet, I guess. Hopefully they won't hold it against me, any of them. I'm not really sure how much my brother and sister-in-law have taught their children about neurodiversity. I can't imagine it's a huge priority, with all the things going on in their lives. Regardless, it's nice to see them, and thoughtful of them to make this trip up, because we won't see them for Christmas or Thanksgiving this year. Traveling is really difficult with small children.
On the exercise front, I don't feel quite so tired and low-energy in the mornings any more. This is good, because biking takes energy. I'd been kind of skimping on the distance for Tuesday mornings, because after getting up the final hill and coming face to face with the busy street, I mostly just don't feel like contending with the traffic to go further. I think I might alter my Tuesday route to take myself through the park rather than go up the hill immediately. That route would let me avoid basically all of the traffic, while still letting me play Pokemon GO a little and get to enjoy the downhill on the way home.
There's precious little I enjoy about exercise. But hitting a good downhill with a lot of speed, with the sun shining and blue in the sky, is actually something I do enjoy. Also enjoyable, biking tends to keep you going fast enough that the mosquitoes don't get you. I still have bites on my legs and arms, but I'm pretty sure that's because bitey things got into the house, not because things are still managing to get me at 10+ mph. The final thing I enjoy about biking is that I am, so far, the fastest thing on the trail I frequent. I feel slightly bad about liking that, but honestly, it means I only have seconds in which I might have to interact with people or exchange awkward glances. After that I'm past them. I take extra care to make sure I don't scare people as I pass them, and stay well to whichever side I'm on so as not to crowd the other people.
My physiology, I personally think, makes me unsuited for pretty much every type of exercise except biking. My great strength is in my legs, which are beefy due to genetics and the fact that they have to carry me around. So one would think that jogging would be a good plan. But I gave jogging a really good go in college, and failed to get any better at it. And it's really, really disheartening to be the slowest person of all, even slower than the other slowest person in the class. And while they improved, I didn't. I also feel somewhat vulnerable to both human predators and biting insects while walking or running, so that's really not ideal.
It would be nice if those things weren't the case, though, because you really can't play Pokemon GO while you bike. You need your hands to steer the bike and help you balance, and you can't be using one or both of them to play the game while you do that. So when I bring that game along, I have to stop and get off my bike every time I want to play. If I was jogging, I could literally just jog in place while I did the little tasks the game wants you to do, and then continue on, no problem.
On the food front, I've thrown together something easy to break my fasting with: trail mix, comprised only of golden raisins and tree nuts. I've been reading a lot of things about how tree nuts are great for brain health, so I tried snacking on them months ago. It went okay, but I got tired of them. About a week ago, I bought a bag of trail mix last week to stand in for dinner. Liked it a lot, but it was mostly peanuts and knockoff M&Ms. I figured I could do better. So now, in theory, I have.
On a very much healthier note, I think my craving for sugary foods and high GI foods is decreasing. This is excellent, because they're probably the reason why I'm not losing weight. The three components for someone like me to lose weight are: eating plenty of vegetables and some fruit, getting movement and exercise, and managing sugar intake. I have the first two going reasonably well, but the lattermost is... challenging. Almost everything that tastes delicious and is quick to eat is high GI or flatly full of sugar.
The perils of being on the Wrong Planet, I guess. Hopefully they won't hold it against me, any of them. I'm not really sure how much my brother and sister-in-law have taught their children about neurodiversity. I can't imagine it's a huge priority, with all the things going on in their lives. Regardless, it's nice to see them, and thoughtful of them to make this trip up, because we won't see them for Christmas or Thanksgiving this year. Traveling is really difficult with small children.
On the exercise front, I don't feel quite so tired and low-energy in the mornings any more. This is good, because biking takes energy. I'd been kind of skimping on the distance for Tuesday mornings, because after getting up the final hill and coming face to face with the busy street, I mostly just don't feel like contending with the traffic to go further. I think I might alter my Tuesday route to take myself through the park rather than go up the hill immediately. That route would let me avoid basically all of the traffic, while still letting me play Pokemon GO a little and get to enjoy the downhill on the way home.
There's precious little I enjoy about exercise. But hitting a good downhill with a lot of speed, with the sun shining and blue in the sky, is actually something I do enjoy. Also enjoyable, biking tends to keep you going fast enough that the mosquitoes don't get you. I still have bites on my legs and arms, but I'm pretty sure that's because bitey things got into the house, not because things are still managing to get me at 10+ mph. The final thing I enjoy about biking is that I am, so far, the fastest thing on the trail I frequent. I feel slightly bad about liking that, but honestly, it means I only have seconds in which I might have to interact with people or exchange awkward glances. After that I'm past them. I take extra care to make sure I don't scare people as I pass them, and stay well to whichever side I'm on so as not to crowd the other people.
My physiology, I personally think, makes me unsuited for pretty much every type of exercise except biking. My great strength is in my legs, which are beefy due to genetics and the fact that they have to carry me around. So one would think that jogging would be a good plan. But I gave jogging a really good go in college, and failed to get any better at it. And it's really, really disheartening to be the slowest person of all, even slower than the other slowest person in the class. And while they improved, I didn't. I also feel somewhat vulnerable to both human predators and biting insects while walking or running, so that's really not ideal.
It would be nice if those things weren't the case, though, because you really can't play Pokemon GO while you bike. You need your hands to steer the bike and help you balance, and you can't be using one or both of them to play the game while you do that. So when I bring that game along, I have to stop and get off my bike every time I want to play. If I was jogging, I could literally just jog in place while I did the little tasks the game wants you to do, and then continue on, no problem.
On the food front, I've thrown together something easy to break my fasting with: trail mix, comprised only of golden raisins and tree nuts. I've been reading a lot of things about how tree nuts are great for brain health, so I tried snacking on them months ago. It went okay, but I got tired of them. About a week ago, I bought a bag of trail mix last week to stand in for dinner. Liked it a lot, but it was mostly peanuts and knockoff M&Ms. I figured I could do better. So now, in theory, I have.
On a very much healthier note, I think my craving for sugary foods and high GI foods is decreasing. This is excellent, because they're probably the reason why I'm not losing weight. The three components for someone like me to lose weight are: eating plenty of vegetables and some fruit, getting movement and exercise, and managing sugar intake. I have the first two going reasonably well, but the lattermost is... challenging. Almost everything that tastes delicious and is quick to eat is high GI or flatly full of sugar.
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