Weekly Summary # 27

Holy crap has this been a busy week. My new job is my fullest employment yet, so the hours I've been clocking there have been taking priority over much of my other stuff, including my nearly dozen library books rented and my meditation practices. Most days I've been just waking up, cooking breakfast, writing, and then going to work, relaxing once I get home. It's no matter: I need to but improve in my efforts. My only qualm is that I've been getting terrible sleep lately, the kind where I wake up with the sense that I need to sleep more, and yet my body won't allow me to, thus wasting more time in bed. There have been periods since I've gone Paleo that I've been able to get fantastic sleep night after night, so I don't understand why that ability comes and goes. I'd like to correct this so that I can get up earlier without mental or mood consequences. Anyhow, here's the list:

1.) Look up online cooking schools: Ran out of time.

2.) Read one Robert L. Wolke article from the Washington Post per day: I read about two, but again ran out of time.

3.) Read a chapter/section a day of The Guide to the New American Kitchen, What Einstein Told His Barber, and Mind Over Mood: Ran out of time just about everyday.

4.) Look up and learn more tasting concepts: I have a website documented, but my search was unfruitful. I doubt now that I'll be able to find an extensively compiled list of tasting terms, so my best bet is to continue reading food reviews and cuisine books specialized on a specific food. The latter might be more apt to use tasting terms given its isolated focus.

5.) Go to Master Grill: Done and reviewed. Utterly delicious. Next month I think I'll go to Charlie Palmer at The Joule.

6.) Look up Egyptian music: Ran out of time. I'm looking for something that fits a model in my mind, and may make a music post about it.

7.) Look up Japanese music: The rhythm I heard in Love Letter to Japan bothers me, because I feel like I know some traditional Japanese music fitting it, but cannot put my finger on it. I ran out of time for it this week.

8.) Get a gym membership: Done. It's great to be working out again. I cater my regiment around the Body by Science methodology, and it's the only workout routine that I've consistently valued and enjoy doing. I hate going without exercise now.

9.) Look at the Dallas Objectivist Society: Done. I've been experiencing my loneliness full force ever since moving to Texas, and I think it's high time to meet some fellow Objectivists.

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In summary I feel like this week was much off kilter, and in a way I feel like a failure for not having been able to complete all my daily goals this week. Oh well, I shouldn't be so harsh on myself, for the time constraints were there and still need some adjusting to. What most worries me is if I have to return my library books before I'm finished with them, as the library system here in my area is more difficult to deal with than the one back in Michigan. In Michigan it was very easy to place inter-library loan requests online and to have them quickly shipped, but here I've got to hand-fill out forms and wait much longer for them to arrive. I've got to be more diligent in my reading pace.

This week I'd like to try and get myself adjusted to my new working life, though I'll alter the wording of some goals so as to acknowledge the time constraints.

1.) Finish Charlie Palmer's Practical Guide to the New American Kitchen

2.) Read fourteen chapters of Mind Over Mood: This book so far is proving to be fantastic, and I'm thinking about doing a review of it once I'm finished since it fits the theme of this blog so perfectly. The chapters are very short, so doing fourteen should be no problem.

3.) Read/skim seven chapters of What Einstein Told His Barber: While I love Robert L. Wolke, not all the articles in here interest me enough to keep my attention, so I'll peruse it to see what strikes my fancy. I'm starting to feel less and less guilty about the prospect of not reading a book cover to cover. I only have so much mental energy, so it would be a waste of my time and learning capabilities if I exert my efforts towards things that don't interest me and aren't relevant to my life.

4.) Look up Egyptian music: Short and sweet, but good to have a reminder amongst my weekly goals.

5.) Look up Japanese music: Same as above.

6.) Watch some lectures on inflation: A scary subject to think about, but one nonetheless in need of preparation for. I'll link the specific lectures next week. (Lazy, yes.)

7.) Document what I need to do for my new job: With a new job comes new self-improvement ventures.

8.) Establish a banking account: I may change my decision if inflation protection demands it, but I want to move my money to Texas now.

It's quite time for me to take on another big project (lowercase p), isn't it? My weekly summary feels boring and monotonous without such focused strivings to concentrate on. Oh well; soon enough. It's time to get back on track first, then contemplate the next big endeavor.

However, I will say that my life has been getting increasingly better since my move. The Project (uppercase p) is proving to be one of the most important projects I've ever successfully completed.