One week of movement

I thought a short check-in on last week’s Movement Plan was in order.

After a week (given when these posts were written, in fact a little over) and I’ve kept to it, one of each of them. An additional handstands on Friday too. Also some lunch-time climbing.

The start of second week going fine, given there was a long weekend visiting family and travelling defiantly happy that I’ve kept it on.

On the whole a decent start. I’ll aim to keep it going.

Movement Plan

Further to Declining Physicality here’s what I’ve come up with as a plan.

Aim for at least one of each of the following per week:

• Run / Cycle
  • Run around the local park, or the forest park on the way to work
  • Cycle to the train to get to work
• Yoga / Stretching session
  • Basic yoga session most likely for this one, although if I come up with another stretching idea then that might come into play
• Lift some weights
  • The default I’ve used before is sets of overhead squat or snatch & overhead squat. These work the whole body in short order.
• Work on handstands
  • I’d like to be able to handstand, so working towards that at least once a week seems prudent.

Each of them would likely be a 20 to 30 minute activity, and I’ll probably try and get into the habit of weekday mornings,then rest at the weekend. That gives one of each and a bonus of whatever I feel like each week. There’s also dog walking activity thrown in, plus whatever else I end up doing (e.g. climbing).

Photography Update

I’ve been a little lax with developing until recently. It had backed up to ten or so rolls (not counting the really old things I’ve failed to develop). Plus there was a couple of rolls that have been in camera for probably a couple of months.

I’ve managed to catch myself up with developing the recent film at least. The E6/C-41 has also been sent off to be developed, so that should return soon.

I’m going to aim to scan all this and get some prints for the mini gallery over the next week or so. The first scans will be a whole roll, to get an idea of what I’ve got, then select some frames to get printed, and re-scan these better. This workflow seems to work for me, meaning I don’t have to carefully scan all the images on a roll, where many are rubbish (especially rolls of 135, with a lot more images).

Given how far behind I get the easier option is instant film. I’ve been making a few photos with that, some of which I’ve added to the gallery:

I quite like the accidental darkness of the top left, due to thinking it needed more exposure compensation than it did. Conversely the top right probably needed more, but I like starkness of the trees against the sky.

I’m going to continue with this, especially while we’re maybe moving, partly so I can pack up developing kit properly.

While getting mini gallery prints I’ll contemplate another large print. About time I replaced the one I’ve got currently. There’s a couple of thoughts in the gallery I’ve got up. Not sure how I’d get the Instant digitised if I wanted that enlarged, I suspect a flat-bed scanner might be best.

Handwriting (Italic)

My handwriting is historically awful. Throughout my life I’ve struggled with this. I go through phases of trying to improve it, the most successful was an attempt to change to Italic Handwriting.

I joined The Society for Italic Handwriting a few years ago Their publication “A Simple Guide to Italic Handwriting” by Nancy Winters was the one which helped me learn. I am by no means good at it, and need to practice more.

I enjoy a few things about Italics:

1. The acknowledgement that neat handwriting needs to be practical (i.e. quick).
2. The form of the letter is generally clear.
3. The history.

What I need to do however is practice more. I write a roughly daily journal, and use an Italic pen when I need to write in work. However that doesn’t mean I actually “practice” so much as write badly. The practice is on the list of things I need to find to do, and don’t necessarily manage to at the moment.

So here’s a plan. Not quite daily practice (say a couple of times a week). This should consists of actual practice, i.e. sitting down and working on handwriting form.

As ever I’ll report back and we’ll see how it goes. I’ll try to post a sample next time as well, not sure I want to publish the “before” text without at least some progress (but I’ll attempt to take a before photo).

Water: a new, old obsession

Over the holidays I’ve been thinking about boats and water more and more. This isn’t unusual, every so often I go though this. Having grown up on the coast and living in a the middle of the country means I feel a lack of the presence of the sea. I mentioned in Declining Physicality that I used to row. Prior to that I sailed, and only stopped as the rowing took over.

I regularly return to the absence of water activity in my life and think it’s something I should change. There’s a number of avenues that that could take, with a variety of locations and difficulty. Some I’ve thought of so far:

• Dinghy Sailing (racing)
• Wind Surfing
• SUP
• Canoe
• Kayak
• Swimming (probably outdoor, but pool an option)

I had contemplated things with yachts, or dinghy cruising but the distance to the sea and likely cost realistically rules those out. Similarly no mention of getting back into rowing, although that is perhaps the obvious choice given history.

That leave the the above list of things that are somewhat available nearby, and that I might want to try. This isn’t going to be a fast process/decision. I’ll need to decide on time I can dedicate, money I can spend, and how each of them would work with life. Plus give some/all of them a go to see if I actually enjoy it.

I’ll also have to work out how this fits into the thoughts springing from Declining Physicality. In many ways I think that finding enjoyable activities to do is better than “exercise” anyway. It will more realistically then mean having to plan in less exercise sessions, and going and doing things instead.

This has been a bit of a rambling entry, with more considerations and things to think about going forward than actually learning or doing anything. Which seems in keeping with the start of the year in some ways.

Board Games

Given the time of year a post about board games seemed apt. We’ve been getting in board games more recently. Both the childhood classics (Scrabble, Monopoly, Cluedo etc.) and some of the geekier ones. Not that we’re that good at finding time to play them, but we keep thinking we should.

Two player games are at times hard to find, there’s a few around but it depends on what they’ve been designed for as to how good they play. Games for more people shrunk down do not seem as good as games for one/two scaled up. Add to that that it tends to be Cooperative games that we most enjoy, especially if they are designed with a couple for people in mind.

The latest acquisition that we’re enjoying is Assembly by Wren Games, a 1 to 2 player coop puzzling game. We’ve not played it too much, but it seems good so far. There’s also expansions/extensions that will add to the re-playability. Wren Games also have another game out, and more in the pipeline, all of which look interesting.

Any recommendation for games most welcome. There’s a few that sound like they might be worth trying:

• Pandemic
• Forbidden … (We have island, but there’s more)
• Gloomhaven