Day 88: The Curse of the Supernanny

Today, I had a completely open schedule after 1pm.  So the plan was to go home and get a bunch of stuff done.  I had written a long to-do list last night so that I would know what all I need to get done.

Result:  I got home.  Wanted to have lunch.  Made lunch.  Decided to watch something on tv while waiting for my food to cook.  I hadn't planned on watching much tv today.

3 hours later, I have now watched 3 episodes of Supernanny.  I like this show a lot, and I hadn't seen any of the episodes before.  I still was able to get stuff done today, but not nearly as much as I had planned.

And, as long as I do P90X Plyometrics tonight, I'm okay with that.

Day 87: Event Planning

So.  I'm an officer for my university's skeptic/secular student group.  As an officer, naturally I'm supposed to help plan events.

The problem is, I HATE planning events.  I hate coming up with something to do, who to ask, who not to ask, what if no one shows up, what if the person I want to host doesn't want to do it, blah blah blah, etc etc etc. 

I found two speakers for my school's skeptic group.  They both said they would do it.  One of them told me this.  Several months ago.  And I JUST today sent her an email asking if she would still do it and when would be good for her.  The other speaker, I finally emailed yesterday after talking to him about it the night of the Oscars (whenever that was; but I know it was over a month ago).

So, I am glad that I have emailed them both by now.  But I HATE planning events!! Ugh.  Must follow through, must follow through...

Day 86: Sustained Attention

Today I had the option of participating in a study for extra credit in my cognitive psychology class.  30 minutes of my time for 10 points of extra credit in the class is WELL worth it to me.  Of course, there is the possibility of me doing poorly on the visual test.

Result:  I participated in the study, even though I had 4 hours of time to kill between my class of the day and the time that this study was taking place.  I could have gone home.  And during the study, there were times that I pushed the right mouse key instead of the left and vice versa.  And I could have responded more quickly to the stimulus.  But in the big picture, this "failure" is not going to make me a dumber or less worthy person.  It's impossible to get a .01ms response time to the stimulus.  So no reason to beat myself up over making mistakes in the study :-)

Day 85: A Walk Outside

Today, I wanted to go for a walk with my boyfriend in his neighborhood.  The neighborhood is HUGE; it's neighborhoods within this one subdivision.  However, it was cold, and there was a strong possibility that it would rain during our walk.

Result:  We went for a walk despite it being cold and potentially rainy.  And it was fun!  It took a little bit to warm up, but eventually it wasn't so cold.  And we saw 3 deer during our walk, which was awesome.  And at the end of our route, we reached Lake Oconee.  Parts of the subdivision are right next to Lake Oconee, so it was fun to go right next to the lake and enjoy the view.  It was a fun time :-)

Day 84: Trials HD (Part 2)

Today, I decided to play this game again.  Why not?

Result:  I passed more levels.  But at this point, I'm at the "difficulty" levels.  And I just can't figure some of the stuff out.  So by this point, I don't know if I will play the levels much now.  I have very little patience when it comes to video games and figuring stuff out.  But luckily, they have skills games that you can play.  And I can replay levels in an attempt to go from bronze to silver or gold medals.  So all is not lost with this game :-)

Day 83: Trials HD

Today, I watched my boyfriend play Trials HD on XBox.  It's a motorcycle game where you have to pass levels, and each level is complete with its own challenges, such as getting over huge tires, not landing on dynamite, etc.  This game looked freakin' impossible, and I thought for sure I would fail miserably and make a fool of myself and totally embarrass myself.  But I decided to try it anyways because I knew I could use it for this blog project.

Result:  It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.  The way they did the graphics, it just looks super mega challenging.  It was definitely challenging, but I was able to get through levels without too much difficulty.  It was fun overall :-)

Day 82: A Science Test

So.  By now, I had taken a psychology test the day before and a psychology test today.  Right after my test, I wanted to work on stuff for my science class that I needed to do before taking the science test online.  And then I wanted to take the science test that day, even though I had 2 more days before it had to be completed by.  But I wanted to get it done today after my last test and before leaving to have dinner with friends, because I was going straight to my boyfriend's house after dinner, and I didn't want to have to do the test while I would be spending time with him.

However, I was burnt out at this point from having taken two tests within the last 30 hours.

Result:  I completed the work for the test and took the test.  It was, in my opinion, the most challenging test that we had taken in the class thus far.

And I got a 96 on it.  I was glad to have gotten it over with, and I got a good grade on it :-)  Success!

Day 81: Studying for a Test

So.  Today, the goal was to spend a large chunk of the day studying for my cognitive psychology test, which was to occur the next day.

Result:  I did study for the test today.  Sort of.  For some reason, the idea of taking the test the next day gave me a HUGE feeling of anxiety.  I had just taken a test this morning, so I wasn't able to study for the cognitive psychology test prior to today.  But for some reason, the huge anxiety I was feeling about this test prevented me from studying very much.  I don't know how to explain it, other than feeling like there was SO much that I needed to study that there was no way that I could do it.  When I feel overwhelmed, I basically shut down and cannot accomplish anything until the feeling goes away.

Long story short, I was able to focus enough and study enough, both today and the next day, that I was prepared for the test.  And I got an A on it :-)

I really need to learn how not to freak out so much over tests.

Day 79: My Blog

So.  Obviously I have had this year long goal to do this blog, where I fail at something every day.

Result:  I am good with failing every day, or at least close to every day.  Okay, so I'm not always able to fail, but I certainly think that there is something that I'm going to fail at every day.  Even if I don't fail at it, I consider it a valiant effort in the sense that I am able to exceed my own expectations of myself.

However, what I AM failing at is updating this blog every day.  I don't even know why.  It's not like it's THAT difficult.  Maybe it's boring.  Or I just don't feel like doing it.  But as the days go by where I don't update the blog, eventually I forget what the heck it was that I failed at on a certain day.  Of course I could write these things down before posting them, but I haven't done that either.

I want to update this thing every day so that I don't forget what it is that I failed at.  And so that, like now, I don't have to post 8 days at once since I didn't update at all that week.

I'm disappointed in myself for not keeping up with updating this blog, but at least I AM working on the project every day.

Day 78: Trivia

Today, I had planned on going to trivia with friends at Tijuana Garage in Atlanta. 

Result:  I didn't go.  I had three tests that week, so I stayed home and studied for the test I had two days later.  Even though I wanted to go to trivia, I knew that I made the right decision in not going to trivia.  I am pretty sure that the studying paid off, although I am still waiting for my test grade....

Day 77: A School Meeting

Today, I was planning on attending a meeting for the student organization I'm an officer for (Student Coalition for Inquiry).  I kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting to get a message from our club president saying what time we were going to meet.

Result:  She ended up sending a message later that night saying that we (obviously) weren't going to be meeting that day, so we are meeting later in the week.  But I was able to spend some extra time with my boyfriend and get some stuff done at home that I wouldn't have been able to get done had I gone to the meeting.

Day 76: Race Car Driving

(no, that is not me lol)

Today, I had a birthday party with some friends at Malibu Grand Prix.  The plan was to play miniature golf and do some laps on their grand prix race track.

Result:  I chose just to be the passenger with the car; I didn't really want to be the driver.  So I rode with my boyfriend.  I had planned on doing 10 laps; I only ended up doing two!  I felt really nauseous and dizzy, so I got out after the 2nd lap.  But I still had fun watching my friends do the grand prix and looking at everyone's times to see who was the fastest.

We weren't able to play mini golf because it was crowded, and we didn't have enough time before our dinner reservation.  But I didn't mind, and we'll still be able to use our mini golf purchases later :-) It will be like a second birthday party!

Day 75: A New Mexican Restaurant

Tonight I went to a Mexican restaurant with my boyfriend.  I had never been there, but he had, and he said that the food was really good.  It was in a BP "shopping center," so typically you don't have much high hopes for those types of places.

Result:  The food was good!  It was a nice atmosphere inside, although it was kind of cramped since the space was small.  I got a strawberry daquiri, which was yummy.  So it was a good experience :-)

(Please note that the above picture is not what I actually ate; I got the image from online.)

Day 74: St. Patrick's Day

Today was St. Patrick's Day.  All day I was looking forward to celebrating later in the evening at a Japanese restaurant.  They were going to have green beer, live music...I imagined lots of fun and good times.

My boyfriend and I get there, and first of all, it was live acoustic music.  I was imagining a rockin' band.  Second, all of the outside tables were taken.  So it was a very disappointing event, and we ended up going to Mellow Mushroom instead.  To make a long story short, we ended up not even sitting at Mellow Mushroom because a drunk guy was bothering us.  So we went to another bar/grill place and ended up eating there.  I tried green beer for the first time, and it was surprisingly good!  I hate beer, but I actually liked this beer.  I only had a couple of sips, though.

So lots of things didn't go as I had expected they would, but in the end, it ended on a good note :-)

Day 73: Core Synergistics

Today, I decided to do P90X's Core Synergistics workout.  I had never done it before, mainly because I hate core work!

Result:  I got through the whole 57 minute workout.  It was almost as hard as plyometrics, and that's saying something!  I did every exercise, but I didn't do every rep of every exercise.  I could have made myself do every single one, or I could have beat myself up for not doing every single rep, but I kept telling myself that I had never done it before.  My hamstrings are still sore 2 days later!  Difficult but awesome workout.

Day 74: School Work

Today, I had a certain goal for the amount of school work I wanted to get done for the day.

Result:  I got stuff done for existentialism, abnormal psychology, and Science 1102.  But I didn't get what I wanted to get done for cognitive psychology.  But I was okay with that, because I did a lot of school stuff throughout the day, including reading a 110 page book about Sartre.  So yay for not judging myself!

Day 72: A Vegan Lunch Gathering

Today, I had planned on going to Mellow Mushroom for a lunch gathering with a vegan lunch group I am a member of.

Result:  I didn't go.  I was tired and just wanted to stay closer to home.  I like the group, and I love Mellow Mushroom, but it would have taken me close to an hour to get there, and I just didn't have the energy to drive there and back.  I'm okay with my decision :-)  And I'm glad that I didn't force myself to go.

Day 71: A New Weekly Exercise Goal

For a while, my exercise goal has been to exercise for 30 minutes or more, 5 days a week.  After consistently NOT meeting this goal, I decided to change the goal to 3 hours of exercise a week, whether it's 30 minutes or an hour or whatever amount of time needed in order to reach that goal. 

Result:  I didn't reach my goal this week.  I procrastinated exercising until the last 3 days of the week, and because I was doing new workouts that I hadn't done before, I got quite sore and was not able to complete 3 hours of exercise during the last 3 days of the week.

I learned quite quickly that is far smarter for me to spread the 3 hours out rather than try to cram it in at the end of the week.  Technically I could do it, but I can't be super sore and be able to function at the same time.  Hopefully I learned my lesson!

Day 70: Trying to Get From Point A to Point B

Today, I was invited to go to a friend's house to hang out and watch a movie.

Results:  I got lost.  Which is not surprising at all.  I had directions, but I constantly get lost even with directions.  There are lots of places in Atlanta and the surrounding counties where a road ends but then starts again at another point.  It's really freakin' confusing.  So yeah, I got lost.  I could have given up.  I could have called a friend and asked for help.  But I knew the general area that I was in, so I knew that I would eventually get to my direction.  It just took twice as long as it should have.  But I was proud of myself for figuring it out for myself :-)

Day 69: A Toastmasters Speech

Today, I was scheduled to give a speech for my Toastmasters group.  Usually there are only 2 speakers per meeting, but today there were 4 other speakers.  Of course this DRAMATICALLY reduced my chances of winning the Best Speaker Award for the meeting.  So I really didn't want to go do the speech.  But I went and did it anyways because I knew that I would have to do the speech eventually anyways, and this week was my Spring Break, so the timing was perfect for me to give a speech.

Result:  I won Best Speaker.  I FREAKIN' WON BEST SPEAKER!!! I have NEVER won Best Speaker, except through default.  The title of my speech was "It's Okay not to Smile," and the whole thing was about my life-long history of people telling me to smile more, and how that only made my determination not to smile that much stronger.  I told the listeners that they don't have to smile all of the time, and if they're not ready to not smile in front of family, friends, or coworkers, they could practice in the car. 

I freakin' rocked during my speech.  I was passionate, funny, had vocal variety, hand gestures, etc.  I was way proud of myself :-) And my parents were too, which was nice :-)

Day 64: A Baby Shower

I was invited to attend a baby shower today for a friend (more like a friend of a friend, but still).

Result:  I didn't go.  I don't even know why.  I just didn't feel like going honestly.  I'm okay with the fact that I didn't go, but I still need to give the gifts to my friend, who hopefully can give it to the girl who had the baby shower. 

I constantly plan on attending things and then don't show up.  Ugh.

Day 68: Driving Home

(Please note:  I got this image from the internet.  I did NOT take a picture while attempting to drive on the interstate during a downpour!)

Today I drove home from Eatonton, GA, which is 2 hours or so from where I live.

Result:  It was one of the scariest drives of my life.  I had tried to check the weather before leaving, but my phone wouldn't upload a radar map.  I called my mom and asked her if she had seen anything on the news about bad weather, and she said no, I should be fine.  So I left.  I got maybe 20 minutes or so from Eatonton when, on the interstate, it started to REALLY pour.  I literally could hardly see the car in front of me, and I was hydroplaning really badly.  So I pulled off to the side of the interstate and proceeded to call my mom, my dad, and my boyfriend in an attempt to decide what to do.  Do I keep heading home?  Do I head back to Eatonton?  Do I chill somewhere off of an exit?

Luckily, after maybe 15 minutes, the downpour started to subside, and it was safe for me to continue driving.  The storm was heading East, and I was heading West, so if I had gone back to Eatonton, I would have been following the storm instead of getting away from it.  I made it safely home :-)

Day 67: My Birthday

Today was my 30th birthday!

Result:  I had a fabulous birthday!  I failed to have a bad birthday, which is exactly what I was hoping to fail at :-) I went out to lunch with my boyfriend, I read a chick lit novel by my favorite author (Sophie Kinsella), I went for an hour long walk in my boyfriend's neighborhood (the pic above is at the end of the neighborhood, with Lake Oconee right next to the golf course), and went out for veggie sushi for dinner.  The veggie sushi was the best veggie sushi I've ever had!  I can't wait to go back to that restaurant again.

So yay for failing to have a bad birthday!

Day 66: A Walk

Today, I planned on going for a walk in my boyfriend's new neighborhood.  It is very big and has lots of wildlife, such as deer, birds, bunnies, and turtles.

Result:  I didn't go for the walk.  Why?  Basically because I was too lazy to!  It wasn't raining, and the weather was fairly nice.  Now that I look back on it a week later, I think to myself, "I should have taken that walk."  But in the long run, one less walk in my life is not going to kill me.  So it's over and done, no biggie!

Day 65: A Book Club Meeting

Today, I had planned on going to a book club meeting for a new book club that recently formed, centered around Time's 100 Best Novels, or something like that.

Result:  I ended up not going.  Three dozen people were scheduled to attend, and I have a difficult time imagining a meeting with that many people as being fun.  I don't thrive in big groups of people, ESPECIALLY when it's people I don't know.  So I'm okay that I didn't go.  I didn't have time to read the book anyways :-)

Day 63: Thinking Man Tavern

Today, I ended up going to Thinking Man Tavern (a non-smoking bar/pub in Decatur, GA) with some friends.

Result:  I didn't have a good time, and I let myself be in a bad mood.  There were people that that I don't know that well, and for some reason, especially when it comes to females, I have a hard time feeling comfortable around people that I don't know, especially if I'm with a group of friends.  I've realized that I sometimes get jealous and am scared that my friends will stop being friends with me so that they can be friends with the other females.  I know it's stupid, but I just sometimes wonder if I'm easily replaceable.

I really need to work on being okay with both myself and people that I don't know very well, especially when it comes to hanging out with friends.

Day 62: Plyometrics

Today, I did the P90X Plyometrics workout.  I've done this workout several times before, but for some reason, I had a difficult time doing the exercises this morning.  It's a really intense workout.

Result:  I wanted to give up about 20 minutes into it, not because I didn't want to do it, but rather because I didn't think I COULD do it.  So instead of quitting completely (there was still 40 minutes left to the workout, and I was determined to do the whole hour), I let myself take a little longer water break, and I brought my intensity down.  It's tough for me not to be judgmental of myself when I'm exercising, but I know that I truly did the best that I could.  So I'm still proud of myself for doing this workout today.

Day 61: Entrained Attention

Today, I participated in a study at school for my cognitive psychology professor.  By participating in the study, I get 10 extra credit points.  The study involved me sitting at a computer terminal.

 There were several trials.  Basically, the first set of trials involved you looking at a specific spot on the computer, then a letter would flash, and then there would be a green or red dot.  If the dot was green, you click the left mouse button.  If the dot is red, you click the right mouse button.

For the second trial, it was the control trial.  You did the same thing, except instead of letters, there would be a flash of light around the fixation spot.

For the third trial, there would be 3 flashes of light, and then you respond when you see the green or red dot.

Result:  I wanted to give up during the first trial.  It was difficult to keep staring at the fixation spot, which was in the middle of the computer screen and did not move.  Plus the flashing of the letters, one of which was L, confused me.  It was difficult not to press the left mouse button when I saw L.  But I pushed through it and finished the whole thing.  I pushed the wrong mouse button maybe 5 times, and each time I did, I said "Damnit!" out loud, which was kind of embarrassing since there were some other people in the room.  And I wasn't too pleased with my reaction times during the whole trial sessions.  But I finished it, and I'm glad that I did.

Day 59: Tijuana Garage

Today, I went to Tijuana Garage, a Mexican cantina, in the Little Five Points area of Atlanta.  I went so that I could play trivia with some friends.  I had never been here before, so I really didn't know what to expect food-wise.

They had a really decent vegetarian section (that means that they had more than 4 choices).  Several of the choices were types of tacos.  I decided to go for it and try two very unique tacos--the Georgia Tofu Taco (which had BBQ sauce) and the Luau BBQ Tofu Taco (which had pineapples and some BBQ sauce).

Result:  Holy crap they were good!  The sauce was kind of hot/spicy, which I usually don't like, but it tasted really good with the other ingredients in the taco. 

I am definitely looking forward to going to this restaurant again :-)  And the trivia was really fun because the guy doing the trivia was able to use tv's throughout the restaurant, so he showed various clips and the questions and answers.  It was a really cool way to do trivia.

Day 60: Her Fearful Symmetry

I loved loved loved this book.  I read the last 100 pages yesterday because I wanted to finish it so that I would know what happens.

Result:  I hated the last paragraph.  Hated it.  It just seemed to ruin the whole story.  Okay, so basically I didn't like it because it didn't end how I would have liked it to end. 

Part of me wants to resolve this so that I can like it.  Another part of me doesn't care that much because I read so much, soon I won't even remember the book that well.

 I think I'm going with the second option.

Day 58: Darts

Today, I went to Manuel's Tavern with some friends to watch the Academy Awards.  During commercials, some friends were playing darts.  My boyfriend had said that he was good at darts, so I decided I wanted to play darts for a little bit.  But I was afraid that I would miss or that I would suck or embarrass myself in front of my friends.  But I gave it a shot anyways.

Result:  I was freakin' awesome!!! I did way better than my boyfriend lol.  I am glad that I decided to do it :-)  I got a triple score and even a 25-point bullseye.  And all of my other throws were over 10 points.  So yay!