Reflections

 I forgot to mention a few things but my health concerns were consuming for a while there and I’m just now finding the time to reflect on some things.

First off, it’s been a year since I’ve moved to the new house. There were some challenges. The windows and baseboards are not all properly sealed so we got ants and ladybugs over the first winter. For the meantime, we’ve been treating the yard and spraying preventatively and haven’t seen them around. We’ll still need to seal and I may do that in the next month or so but it’s not a huge issue. The cracks don’t leak hot or cold air so they’re superficial gaps.

Another challenge is that the new house is on a main road so the traffic is much noisier. However, I invested in some really comfy earplugs (Happy Ears; definitely recommend!) and I sleep like a baby, no matter how much traffic is outside.

I was also upset that the nearby Hog Rock Cafe burned down around Thanksgiving and the owners bought the space next door, supposedly to rebuild. It was a noisy venue that attracted a lot of traffic and I do NOT want to live next door to that. Fortunately, there are stricter noise ordinances so close to these residences and there are churches close by that are not quick to approve liquor licenses. As much as I hope they can rebuild, I don’t want it next door and hope they simply lease the space to quieter shops and look for a business area more suited to a bar/restaurant venue. It would be awesome even if they decided to go the food truck route. I’m sure they could even lease picnic areas to draw a crowd to better spots for events. They aren’t allowed to rebuild where they were (I think being a historical building, they got to break a lot of rules but the same doesn’t apply to new structures), but I think this is a good opportunity to be enterprising and rethink the format. They do still cook at the VFW up the street so the passion really seems to be with the food and I’m positive they can make it work another way.

I don’t think the fasting alone is responsible for my increased energy and better moods. I started taking L-Tyrosine and Dopa Mucuna after seeing claims to benefitting ADHD and neuro health. Although I’ve also read that one actually reduces the potency of the other (oops) after one day of trying them together, I had no bad side effects and really felt better. Could be a fluke, a placebo effect, but I’ve continued to take them together and they seem to give me energy and better moods without damaging sleep.

I also decided to do some ketone urine testing while fasting and learned that by the end of a 36 hour fast, my ketones are higher than they need to be for weight loss (by quite a bit). Even if the strips are inaccurate and always read high, this reading would still be over the .5-3 reading that is beneficial for weight loss. While I may still do rare three day fasts for autophagy, (like every 3-4 months rare) I’m actually going to do two 24 hour fasts this week and see if the ketone zone stays where it’s most effective. The fasting app I use did do some rough calculations early on and indicate I  might reach ketosis sooner than most.

So I do have some genetic benefits after all, I just happened to have bad instincts for a long time. It took genetic testing and blood tests to be able to pinpoint things (like digestive sensitivities, high fat tolerance but low carb tolerance, sodium resistance and high caffeine tolerance). However, it’s very encouraging to be able to better pinpoint what habits actually work so I don’t stay in a frustrated loop, unable to figure out what to try next.

I think I mentioned finishing one of my dolls. I don’t have the prettiest picture of her but I’ll throw some pics at the end. It’s still a giant pain in the ass posting pictures on the mobile version of this blog site. I’d love to eventually post some staged shoots but I still need to finish her bodyguard and would love to be able to photo them together.

I’ve only been picking at projects this week but my dad has been sick so I’ve stepped up to keep house and keep my nephews consistent with school. Very busy and tiring but rewarding, but my own good health has made a huge difference.

Oh, going back to the fasting for a second, I wanted to point out that I am reducing my fasting days rather than extending. It’s usually our knee jerk reaction that when a plan isn’t working, we need to do more, but I find it very important to note that sometimes you need to do less. Eating disorders and other serious health problems can come from the instinct that our efforts aren’t ‘enough’. I don’t always know the right questions to ask when I hit a roadblock but, by chance, I stumbled on ketone testing while fasting and got some valuable insight. While the longer fasts can lead to better autophagy, the better health pursuit is still weight loss right now. Aiming for 165 is an overall health priority. I don’t need to lose more weight than that for purely health reasons so I can return to extended fasts more often when I get there. I’d like to see a consistent 1-2 pound loss a week, no more and no less, so shorter fasts may be in order. However, having tried daily 16:8 or 20:4 fasts that were awful experiences for me, I would still like the sort of eat-stop-eat experience rather than constant time or calorie restrictions.

I know I should probably do separate blogs since I’ve strayed from the writer/author theme on this for at least two years but I’ve tried separate blogs and I neither stuck with them nor was able to keep them more organized. I’ve given a huge wealth of writing information I’ve learned and tried, advice always framed to help you find what works for you and not assume my way works for everyone. Instead, I decided the creative chaos can live in one spot. Because my interests come in these big block phases, separate blogs would often get neglected for the months or years I pursued something else and more often than not, my very few readers just want to easily follow my cohesive journey. I may rebrand this from Unconventional Author to Unconventional Creations, something more cohesive to the many journeys I’ve taken, but I’m not sorely in need of new projects for now. I would like to finish my smaller projects before taking on more ambitious ones.

Graphic design… I haven’t lost any of that knowledge. I haven’t been clogged up with clients and mostly do small free projects but I am always quick picking up the reins and churning out sleek and sharp projects. I still use all of the programs focused on in college and haven’t gotten rusty. On occasion, I have very specific unique needs and learn new things quickly and retain them very well. Sometimes I program Actions so a task I might want to use again is a click away. 

Really, I love how my brain works when I can harness it. It’s not conventionally organized but there’s a method to the madness that gets me where I need to be and never feels like failure. Or at least failure isn’t the end and I press on to success.

Now any and all pictures I’ve promised…