week one
The week went by well. Slightly more mundane, at risk of being slightly less memorable, yet while I am still fresh off the moment, I do remember feeling very alive during certain bouts of sweet mundanity.
As with two weeks ago, my biggest time spend last week was with friends and family. I devoted 32.2% of my hours on social activities. Some highlights: I attended my weekly class on hand lettering. My two friends and I usually use this as a time to catch up and talk, sometimes too loudly. However, this week's lesson on calligraphy with Crayola required too much concentration to allow for much chit-chat. I made pizza dough and marinara sauce from scratch with my fiancé, inspired by an episode of Giada at Home Season 9. We finally used the food mill gifted to us (for crushing the tomatoes). This effort proved a great snow day moment. I got drinks and fries with a group of friends back in town after the holidays. My face hurt after from smiling too much. I sat freezing in a grocery parking lot, speaking on the phone with another friend going through tough times. I played volleyball with the local regulars, a bi-weekly staple followed by drinks and food at a local pub.
Again as before, my second-largest slice of hours went to personal time. Among my 29 hours spent alone, I used some of that to go to my local public library and check out all the travel books they had on Montenegro. There was only one such book. Nonetheless, this is where we will be honeymooning :) Throughout the week, I spent near 7 hours watching TV, near 4 hours on social media, about 4 hours exercising, 2ish hours reading, and 2ish hours napping. My Pilates workout app is just starting to show results, but I've been fast to counteract it with post-snowstorm laziness.
I am reading my second book by Rick McIntyre on The Reign of Wolf 21. The first book I read of his, Thinking Like a Wolf, made me cry while on the plane home from Wyoming, where we saw two wolves in the Lamar Valley. Reading about the lives of these animals puts my own emotional interior into perspective in surprising ways.
I spent 15.5 hours administering my life. I used a mighty 11 of those hours just for getting ready (for the day, for bed, for going out). That is pretty wild. I spent less time watching TV, but not sure if that is notable.
Compared to last-last week, I did ~2 more hours of research, at ~13 hours total. I increased my share of research time by 1% (now 11%) compared to the prior week (then 10%). There is still room for improvement here. I should time block dedicated focus hours in advance of next week.
Around 10.5 hours, or 9.1% of my time, went to housework. About 4.3% went to wedding planning, 4.2% to teaching, and 1% to miscellaneous work tasks.
My time felt like how a typical week in the thick of January snow should feel. I lived half in hibernation, half in hygge, and wholly, happily unmotivated to do anything productive.
