Well, my legs are back to being sore and hating me.

I went running Sunday. Pretty sure I didn’t mention that. It wasn’t my best run. In fact my time slipped back a bit, but I haven’t been running in two weeks, and I ran up the bridge, the whole bridge. And any run is a good run, since it’s better than no run.

My shin splints are holding up better than I thought they would. So that’s another plus.

Yesterday I started work on the freelance project. Finally. I didn’t get super far during the CRI1 lab. It doesn’t help that I have to work inside of Maya 2013, which at the time I didn’t have on my laptop, so if I wanted to work on the file I had to be at school.

After the CRI1 lab I ended up going back out to Lane Bryant. After the fiasco of Sunday I almost thought about not doing it. But alas, it was a bit of a necessity.

So I ended up going there and had an awesome associate who helped measure me and find pretty much exactly what I was looking for. I ended up looking around at the clearance stuff while I was there, but didn’t see anything that caught my eye.

There was a sale going on, so I only ended up spending $70, which I actually put on credit card that I have for the store. Not that I couldn’t pay for the purchase outright, but I would be in a better position if I could wait until next paycheck.

Once that was done I went grocery shopping. This week is going to be shrimp ‘tacos’. At least the recipe is supposed to be served as tacos. Really I’m having them more as bowls. I made Spanish rice, and then put the shrimp and toppings over that.

It actually came out super awesome. It’s what I had for dinner last night after aikido. I ended up shredding zucchini (because zucchini goes with everything), and cutting up onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes to go with the shrimp and seasons.

Top it off with a little bit of sour cream and some cheddar cheese, and holy cow. It’s amazing. Or maybe I was just super crazy hungry and dirt would have tasted that good.

Either way, I’m looking forward to having it again tonight.

I also cooked some noodles, and set about two pounds of chicken breast to cook in the slow cooker with some mushrooms, onion, and red pepper. That came out pretty good too, though I’m finding that I might not be a huge fan of the texture that meat picks up when it’s in the slow cooker. It’s more shredded feeling. Which is alright, but something I’ll have to keep in mind. I’m not always in the mood for that.

Though corned beef might be a fantastic idea for next week. With cabbage, carrots, and onions… yes. That’s totally going to happen.

Anyway, while everything was cooking I downloaded Maya 2013 onto my laptop.

I was planning on going back to school after aikido, but I really didn’t want to have to do that if I could help it. I knew I was going to be tired and not want to be around anyone.

I didn’t get a chance to set up the program before I had to leave though. I barely got done with the cooking on time.

I made it to the dojo with 10 minutes to spare. Sensei Mike was already there and had me get warmed up. Alejandro, the boy who is usually at the taekwondo class with me, hadn’t showed up yet, but Sensei said that he is normally late.

So I had to start class on my own. Which wasn’t all that bad. I had to run a bunch of laps around the dojo. I was a little worried that my shins wouldn’t be up for it, but the dojo has a padded floor, so it was actually super gentle on my shins and knees.

I also ran for an extended period of time. I think it was about two minutes. Normally I when I do interval running I run for one minute, then walk, then run again, so on and so on, until my running app tells me to stop.

I was proud that I lasted as long as I did. I didn’t stop until Sensei told me to. So I survived that.

Once Alejandro showed up we started learning how to spar. We would take turns attacking and defending.

I need to work on putting more force and purpose behind my attacks. Same with aikido.

I stayed for the Aikido Open class (the advanced class). It was a One Circle Aikido class, which has a higher focus on balance than technique. I guess it’s a sub-set of aikido. It was still pretty cool. And I didn’t mind all that much being the novice in the class.

Judy was there. She was the first person I was partnered with on the class I went to what seems like forever ago now. It was a Monday morning, and I remember I was have serious issues with the thought of having to attack her. It was my second class ever, I wasn’t all that comfy at the dojo, I didn’t know her… Just all these factors going into being super uncomfortable.

Every part of my being was screaming, “This is wrong! This makes you a bad person!” Even though I knew it didn’t.

She took my hands and looked at me and said, “This is hard for you isn’t it?”

I had to fight the tears. It wasn’t that I was sad, just getting overwhelmed and I didn’t know how to channel the emotions.

I said, “Attacking people is wrong.”

“I felt that way too at first. And then I realized that the other person can’t practice and learn if I don’t attack. So by attacking, I’m helping them.”

That helped me so much during that class, and pretty much every class since then. I think that at least 10 times every time I’m at the dojo. When ever I feel myself pulling back or being hesitant I have to tell myself that I’m hurting my partner by not attacking correctly.

Just another thing to keep in mind along with the hundreds of other things.

When I got home from the dojo I started installing 2013 and got that all taken care of. I also poked around at taekwondo apps on my phone but haven’t found one that I like yet.

I ended up working on the freelance project until about 1am since 2013 installed fine on my laptop. That was nice since I hardcore didn’t want to have to go back out.

Once I wrapped up the project for the night I stitched one thread for the tiger cross stitch. I think that’s going to be a new rule that I have.

I might not have hours to devote to stitching every day, but I should take the time to do at least one thread. Little by little one travels far and all that jazz.

It also gave me a chance to decompress from ‘work’, since that’s what the freelance essentially is. Even if it is pretty cool / fun, and something I enjoy doing.

So that was yesterday. Productive and good.

I’ve been in a bit of a slump recently, but yesterday sort of eased it over. I’m not sure if it’s because I was kept busy all day, or if I’m getting back in balance.

I wonder if it has anything to do with taking my vitamin pill since I was horrible about that while I was at mom’s. There’s so many factors that could play into it that I suppose there’s no real way of knowing.

But for now I seem to be back to myself, at least what I feel like is myself. I have drive, and I’m getting things taken care of.

Right now I’m at the Laundromat. I have plans to go to the gym, but I’m going to be late to the spin class. So I’m thinking that I’ll warm-up on the elliptical then do some core work. Maybe some jump rope to work on agility.

I have SAL today at 1. So after the gym I’m going back home to put the laundry away, eat, then most likely head to school. If I have some time to kill I can work on the freelance project since there are some quick things I can tackle.

My goal is to have this rig done by the end of the day. Tre has already finished his, but he had 12 hours to work yesterday, while I opted to do all of my chores and go to the classes instead.

I don’t regret doing that. I think it was the right choice for me.

Well, that’s about it for now. Looking forward to my day which I already have mapped out. Here’s to hoping that life lets me stick to my plans.