Postponed post

If it isn’t incredibly clear I have abandoned my goals until after Thanksgiving due to travel and general failure for the goals to be feasible. However, they will return once I get back to Burlington, Vermont.

Prague/Budapest has been awesome and John was definitely a good choice as a companion for the trip. Now that I know about google travel’s explore section, travelling cheaply will be much easier. There are round-trip flights from Boston to many places (even nonstop) for less than $400. Combine that with couch-surfing or livingsocial/groupon deals and I’ll be set!

Back to other goals (since travelling to new country IS a goal)…

As some people know I try to use a point system to determine things I should do. I don’t usually flat out calculate numbers because of how long it would take but I weigh them appropriately enough. The categories are: Health/Fitness; Education/Knowledge; and Social. In regards to importance; Health and Education are very close but Education still trumps it and, of course, Social is really the lowest right now. There are definitely times when fitness and education are ‘impossible’. That is, I am completely out of it but not tired (if I was tired then I could ‘sleep’ for ‘Health’) then sometimes I can engage in a social act that would otherwise be out of the question. Additionally, there are intermediate categories, such as creativity. Creativity, for me, is usually lumped into ‘Social’ but it can be involved in both ‘Health’ or ‘Knowledge’. For instance, diagraming the physiology of a fruit fly has some knowledge points whereas drawing ‘for relief’ (rejuvenation) might be Health related. As I mentioned, though, this is most often a ‘Social’ behavior and I am nearly obligated to give my ‘art’ away to complete it.

I’ll try to clarify my decisions throughout the day to make the pattern more clear in the future. This exercise will help me focus a lot more, since this decision-making regime requires that I be self-conscious and such focus.

Until then!

counts cause I haven't slept yet

11/08/13

Hello. Hi.

I ate too much cookie yesterday and also too many goodies today but it’s still OK cause it was all free. See what I mean about bad things being free? Next week I will have to resist ALL the ‘bad’ things (unless they are from Sam) and some ‘good’ things (unless they are from Sam). If I am given free bad things as gifts (tasty goodies) from people who are not Sam and I feel guilty declining, then I will save them and give them to Sam. So he might be getting a lot of tasty treats next week.

Tonight I will drink with Greg and Co… I won’t drink next week except for the event on the 15^th and I still will have to avoid ‘real’ food that isn’t whey or beets until Sat. The whey and beets thing, I think, I will do for 5 days, not 7 since things will be difficult when I am in Massachusetts and then Prague. I’ll start it up again once I return from Prague although, while there, I will follow a minimalist rule (which I will determine when there since I need to be realistic)

11/10/13 but its actually 11/09/13 because I haven’t gone to bed yet.

I have successfully continued my current goal.

However, I will need to modify my next goal due to having to go to Lunch with professors.

New Goal: Whey protein and beets only unless food from BF or with high authorities (and with them, I will have to try to choose ‘healthy’ choices)

This should still be a challenge since I won’t be able to eat the free treats I see everywhere but I think it is fair.

The PB+J continues

I did say I would report regularly. I didn’t say ‘how regularly’. I’m going to go with every 1-2 days.

Yesterday: Went pretty well although I binged on pizza at the hash (not against the rules for the week). Leaving my credit card at home so I don’t purchase any additional food is proving very effective. I successfully am keeping up with the recording.

Today: So far so good. I was very tempted to have the Thursday Panini but resisted successfully. Consuming whey protein has been sufficient but it takes some time for me to feel full (normal) so I have to exhibit patience. Thanks to Sam bringing me jelly; I was able to have my daily PB+J. I’m not really looking forward to beets after I run out of bread but I’m sure I’ll find some super easy way of making them tasty after eating them every day for a week next week.

Here's your random picture taken today. This is a picture of part of my desk. Yes, that IS a soda cup full of condiments with my name tag on it velcro'd to the cork pinboard next to the empty tissue box taped to the wall. Saves space and I recommend it.

A Wild Goal Appears!

Today I went in for my Nov 5^th check-up. I have a cold but apparently everyone has one. Some people have two. I’ve decided that I want to do food/consumption experiments on myself for a bit. Primarily, to exercise my willpower.

As of yesterday, I am leaving my credit card at home so I don’t buy very much. I still have a little bit of cash but it’ll feel more like a pressure not to. And so: I am keeping track of the food I eat on livestrong.com.

http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/diary/who/daemonzeiro/

This site also shows my ‘calorie goal’ which I regularly surpass. When a muffin is 500 calories, that’s what happens.

I will eat only food that I have at home or is given to me for the whole week and then evolve the next week. That’s right, all those cookies and muffins were given to me free. It’s super hard to turn down free food.

So, as long as I am successful this week, next week I will try eating only whey protein and beets while evaluating my physical and psychological state. I need to have at least one solid food so that I can correctly consume my multivitamin. If I can spend a week only consuming whey and protein bars it will be a miracle since people keep trying to give me cookies. The only asterisk to this is: if my bf feeds me. This isn’t to pressure him but it’s a principle-type rule.

This week, starting tomorrow, I will report regularly on my consumption pattern, psychological state (including the physical pain experienced from being forced to exhibit willpower) and will take random pictures of things that I look at for long periods of time. This include Teagan, Esper, and disaster areas. Completely unrelated but I’ll give them figure legends that suggest otherwise.

All this so that I can procrastinate.

The End.

Well.

It is weeks later. I survived.

In fact, I got out early. I got out Monday evening. Don’t tell anyone though. Military fitness made it sound like anyone who came on Wednesday was going to have to walk off a diving board blind folded (if they are afraid of heights, which I am) into a pool and carrying some kind of weight so some other group could practice saving people. Not lying. Pretty sure that is what was going to happen that week.

Anyway, in retrospect, I would do this again. Multiple times over. I was pretty sick for a few days but not the whole time and this was even with the worst case.

I will admit: I did start to go a little crazy after a week. If I wasn’t busy being deathly ill for a couple days; would my tolerance for been cooped up actually prove to be shorter? It gives me something to think about since I’ve played with the idea of satisfying my travel goals by simply going to some country and spending the bulk of the time still working. It wouldn’t really be officially ‘cooped up’ I suppose but still. I remember hearing about some study for astronauts where they wanted volunteers to be asleep (or not moving) for three months. Sure they make a ton of money but, if conscious, I would go insane. If not, I wasted 3 months of my life which is pretty substantial. I wouldn’t do it. Not that kind of thing. No cancer, prions, flesh-eating bacteria or HIV either.

I do feel inspired though. Inspired to seek things like this out again. Maybe once I graduate I’ll just sell myself as a guinea pig for a while as I plan for the future and study up for prospective jobs.

I hope to run into some of the patients again sometime. I bet I will. Next study, lol.

And I'll blog next time too! With pictures!

Day (?): starting to go crazy

Day…uh…Sunday at some time. Looks like it is 10.13.12. The time/days have been weird not having a schedule. I am having a much more difficult time doing my work than I expected. I think part of it is not getting enough exercise. I’ve also quit caffeine permanently. This has permitted Depo to take a more full hold. Mood swings and fatigue. I know it is evil for sure now. Never again.

Today I did some experimentation with oil pastels and I loved it. I ran into my typical frustration whereupon my work doesn’t seem ‘good enough’ but I think it would be a lot of fun to try to get into it and maybe do some science-art.

I did almost no stats because I kept zoning out and getting distracted. I need a doctor. More doctors.

But…what about poop?! Isn’t this all about poop?! Yes!

Today, they stopped collecting my urine samples and pressuring me to drink profusely. However, everyone got to go outside except for me and one of the other more physically troubled Cholera patients as, apparently, our titers are still showing signs of Cholera despite today being our last day of antibiotics.

According to the Bristol Stool Scale my stool is currently a Type 5. When I arrived here it was a healthy Type 4. Wednesday (they day of doooooom) it was, of course Type 7; same as the day following.

What I know about the real world is all from facebook. No different from any other day. Apparently there is something going on with football and Tom Brady. You know what? There’s 10 of us here. Not a single one of us is interested in the game. Not one. Not even 1/10 Cholera patients are interested. However, most, if not all, of them ski or snowboard and play video games. None of them are homeless to my awareness.

My medical wristband appears to be deteriorating. I imagine it’s timed such that it will completely disintegrate the day of my release which, I hope, will be early! There are rumors. A gift to me and the other sickest individual for having to be so severely ill to get antibiotics early. Joy! I hope it is true!

Yes, clearly I haven’t ye obtained a camera either. L

NO THROMBOSIS FOR ME!!!

i took a shower. thought you really needed to know that.
also...THEY TOOK OUT MY IV BECAUSE THEY WERE AFRAID I WOULD GET THROMBOSIS!!

That is why I took a shower. Because I finally could without plastic wrap around my arm.

My intake is listed on the front of my door in milliliters. They threaten to put the IV back in though so I am guzzling water like a pro / like I am scared to death of the IV. Finally I can respond to my emails without extreme irrigation irritation. I feel like running around! Excitedly. Because I don't have to drag a huge pump around with me. I'm going to wear real clothes today. Clothes that I wear all the time normally! I am wearing them now!

That said, I am still showing substantial cholera symptoms. The staff are hoping they will let up today but appear a little surprised that, even after my 2x daily dose of 500mg Ciprofloxacin, my symptoms have not let up to a greater degree. I definitely notice the difference though.

I named my IV pump 'Peter'. I don't know why. Maybe because it has the same first letter as 'pump'. We parted ways at 11:35am.