Preventative care: I already took paracetamol. Cause? I got back to the gym today. Hoorah! Stretched my legs out (ow), did some stomach exercises (ow), did some arm exercises (ow) and did the bikes for a strong 30 minutes. My legs felt all wobbly as I walked back home. I am red in the face and I worked up a good sweat. Totally satisfied. And if I don’t get out for a late afternoon walk, that’s fine. I did enough for today.
The reason for such a turn around? Managed a triple header yesterday: hoovered up the front rooms, baked T some marijuana brownies, AND got a good walk in. I felt as ready for the gym today as I could after 4 years (Yikes! Four years!) of inactivity and sloth. Which was not ready at all, but that’s the way it goes.
Saw that our tv system got one or two new(er) shows in to watch so I gave them a try. One was Sanditon. I’ve heard about this show, how it’s become the new period drama from the BBC that’s all the rage. I’m sure it didn’t help that prime began me on season 2 rather than season 1. But how am I supposed to feel about this re-writing of history? Must every 19th century female be portrayed as a feminist when that wasn’t the case? And how are we justified by claiming that people of colour could think to stand alongside their white compatriots as equals? It just didn’t happen. But you wouldn’t know that if you watched tv. You’d think there was no slavery and that black and brown people were welcome into the highest ranks of society without being servants. Isn’t that a bigger load of bullshit than anything else? Can’t we show black women facing real problems that black women would have faced, like being raped by their owners or having their children sold to other owners? These were real issues that affected real people. Not this fake oh the black woman is welcomed by all to high society and marries some duke or baron shit. Isn’t that more offensive than the truth? Isn’t that a higher degree of white washing? I think so. Somehow we were able to come up with an award winning show (Downton Abbey) that showed the upper and the working classes (both white) in one go. Can’t we create a show showing both the owners and the slaves and their interactions to the same degree? Something that would acknowledge all sides of what went on, from the worst to the best. I think we’re more than capable. But we don’t have it and I doubt we’ll see it soon. Now THAT’S white washing.
Tried online old language exams available thru the gov’t site. Was surprised by how easy it was. I just opened up the reading exam and thought I’d take a look at it. I ended up answering all the questions in an area and achieving 100%. My goal is to take a go at the other exams: listening, speaking and writing. If it seems like I can just do it, I’ll sign up for the July exam dates. Dr T tried to tell me these exams were easier than I was anticipating. And if I can spend only 50 euro per exam and have a good chance of simply passing them all or even most of them, well, that’s a lot cheaper than finding some class to get me back to speed. And having high scores on the exams will help me get a job. I know the question of where’s my Dutch at? is my biggest obstacle right now. So I’ll have a go at the old exams online during this week.
No band on Wednesday. Yea! I’m not really ready for it. Haven’t done anything with music. Yet. I’ll get there.
Feeling pretty damned positive at the moment, which is a far cry from where I was just a day or two ago. Two days ago I was having heart palpitations when I thought of job hunting. That I had no chance at anything other than manual labour. That my Dutch was so bad and so rusty and I was out of it I could never aspire to a real job in an office. Today I don’t feel that way. I’ll chalk a good portion up to my endorphins, which are coursing thru my body after my work out. The other portion is just feeling more confident about my language abilities. And I know I can always sign up for one or two of the exams, pass them, and then tackle the other ones at a later date.
And it’s not even close to anything I felt when I had to do the CPA exam. Now THAT was stressful!
Still gotta hit the shower and clean my hair. Ugh. Maybe tomorrow? Today I just want to rest and keep patting myself on the back. Maybe try another exam area later on while T is at his language class.
A word on the ghosts in the house. Have not again had the building front door open of its own accord. And while it startled me when it happened, it was one of the most useful things a ghost has ever done for me. I kinda miss it. There have been bangs and knocks. Nothing out of the ordinary. I AM glad to say that who or whatever was knocking in my room as I tried to fall asleep has given up (sorry for this) the ghost (ha effing ha). For awhile there I coulda set the clock to it (and no, it wasn’t coming from the apt downstairs, it was definitely IN my room). T hasn’t bought more lemons yet, but we are going to get some later today for schnitzel (yum!) and a new batch of Mexican mince (double yum!). So we’ll see if they poop out fast. We plan to use them within 48 hours, so I hope we won’t lose any. No new marks on either T or me. So for now, things are quiet again.
And while I feel fat, and I AM fatter than I’ve been in many, many decades, I’m not THAT fat. This should come off pretty easily. Things like having fresh strawberry and banana smoothies (homemade with no extra sugar) instead of cinnamon rolls should help, too. Mmmm! Summertime. When every fruit is in season and so perfect! I’m gonna eat my fill, as usual. Strawberries, pineapple, bananas, cherries, pears, lemons, limes, blueberries, blackberries, gimme gimme gimme! It’s so easy to make 5 a day during summer. And the veg is just as perfect, just as delicious.
Want to stay on this upswing if possible. I’ll keep going. Keep testing myself, keep pushing my body.
Keep hoping.