Becoming Fit

While I'll probably be taking a break from it for a week (or two; more on that later), Tene and I have begun to do something new together.

We've signed up at a gym, and on Thursday finished our final beginners CrossFit course.

First off - I'm surprised the world still exists, since I'm pretty sure me even considering entering a gym, let alone becoming a member, is a sure sign of the apocalypse. But Planet Granite, the gym we're now members of, seems to be completely awesome. It's a climbing gym, primarily, which means there's all sorts of fun rock-towers and the like. I'm hoping to take some classes and learn how to do some rock climbing, as well as looking more into Crossfit and Yoga.

Every Tuesday and Thursday night in January, Tene and I went to the gym and worked out. We learned squats, deadlifts, back lifts, snatches ... played with kettlebells and wallball, started learning how to do pull ups (not surprisingly - I can't even get one, yet), got very acquainted with the rowing machines, etc.

For me: I feel pretty good about it. Crossfit is hard and is definitely a workout, but I've felt good when I've gone and done the workout of the day. I'll admit, the endorphins work pretty well for me for a good hour or two after coming home from the gym.

But I might be taking a break from Crossfit for a week or two - potentially longer. My TMJ is acting up again, and I'm going to attempt a liquid diet to try to help the joint heal a bit. I'm also going in and seeing a specialist, who will hopefully be able to give me some good advice.

As it is, I've taken the highest dosage of an NSAID for about a week and a half (this was a couple of weeks ago), tried to avoid hard or chewy foods for the last month, worn my splint at night ... just generally trying to do what I could to keep my jaw from getting aggravated. Nothing so far has helped for very long, and I'm in near constant pain. I don't know what my next options are - if they include surgery or something else.

So, until my jaw starts feeling better, I'm going full liquid - no more chewing for me - which means that I'm going to need to stick to very low amounts of exertion (I'm going to try to go for a walk every day, but a hard workout like Crossfit seems like a bad idea). I'm also going to talk very very minimally - thinking of going so far as buying a white board to carry around with me to communicate. Like a singer on vocal rest, I need jaw rest.

Three New Girls

Please say "hello" to the three new girls - Freya, Lilith, and Midna. They're girls from the hoarding situation that I adopted through North Star Rescue, or more accurately they're girls who were born after the rescue, from some of the numerous pregnant mothers. Judging from their size they seem to be about six weeks to two months old. As it is I'm going to give them the birth date of December 1. They're super adorable!

400 Sketches

So I decided to challenge myself this year by drawing a sketch every day, and finishing a work every week. I compiled a list of 400 themes to keep me busy. I'll be posting the finished results, potentially once a week, to my deviantArt account.

Rules

• Submit a finalized picture for each theme. Only one theme per picture.
• Place the list somewhere so that others can see it. Update it as it is completed.
• Have the title of the work be the same as the theme. Note in the description that the picture is a part of the challenge series.
• The themes can be done in any order

 Themes after the break.

New Beginnings

I haven't really done anything with my hair since 2005 or 2006. I've just let it grow and grow and grow. I hadn't even trimmed it in a good year or more. So no surprise that my hair was long - it fell to my waist - and was frequently tangled (that's what split ends will do, I suppose - and my hair was full of them, thanks to not being trimmed). It had reached the point that most days I just ignored my hair - pulling it back into a pony tail to keep it out of my face and putting on a beret. Needless to say, it was time for a change.

I've been talking about cutting my hair for, oh, six months? I keep mentioning it and thinking "Oh, I'll get around to it." I've known what I wanted my hair to look like, I just haven't actually done anything about it.

And then I did.

Yes, that's right. I finally cut my hair, and I didn't pull any punches when I did either.

Best part? I absolutely love it.

I know you can't see too well in the picture (flash messed it up), but it's really short, and it flares out all cute (if I style it appropriately, of course). I think my straightener is finally going to get some mileage on it.

Other things that I'm working on, and I guess this is the perfect time of year for it, are a Happiness Project, and being more organized.

I've simply come to the conclusion that I'm sick of tired of being sick and tired. And so far doctors, in their various forms, have been mostly unable to help me out. So, I'm going to try to take my happiness (or unhappiness) into my own hands, and see if I can't start to feel better about the world.

I have a whiteboard, which I've been referring to as my Scrum Board (Tene gave me the name). It's basically an interactive to-do list. I use post-it notes to symbolise tasks, and they get moved from the "To Do" Column to the "In Progress" Column as I begin working on them, and then go into the "Completed" box once I'm done. I also have a section for things that I'm not quite ready to start on, but that I need to look in to (my "Planning" section). So far it's been really helpful, and I think it will only become more so as I get into the habit of using it. I admit: It doesn't hurt that the post-it notes are all different colors.

I bought myself a sewing machine. I've yet to even unpack it, but I finally did buy one. Now I'm working on making some space in my workroom for it.

I wanted make sure to thank those of our family who sent Tene and I such nice gifts. My dad and stepmom got him some interesting books, and got me some nice photography equipment (which should come in handy soon as I start to take something from the planning stage to the implementation stage). We got some nice dishes from Tene's older sister, and I hope his younger sister and her family enjoys the books we sent (a phonecall from her points to "Yes"). Tene's mother and grandparents also sent us some things, as did my mom and stepdad. So thank you all!

The last big thing is that I'm going to upgrade the cage the girls are in. Having helped a little with the North Star Rescue, I've been able to see the Ferret Nation cages in use - and I must say I'm really happy about them. So, I've decided to get one for myself. Well, almost. The Ferret Nation cages are made, as the name implies, for ferrets. The bars are wider spaced apart than is entirely comfortable, is the main problem I've been able to find. A lot of people at the animal forum I frequent (and the people at the rescue) have discussed wrapping the cages with hardware cloth. I've decided that unless I can find a really inexpensive Ferret Nation cage, I'll instead get the more rattie appropriate Critter Nation cage.

I'm also pretty set on adopting two new girls from the San Jose hoarding case. I know they'll come with their own set of health problems - but I can at least give a good, safe home to two more girls.

Moe

Late into the evening on Monday I went to check on my girls before bed. I found that Moe had the bald patch that you can see in the picture and some bloodied ears. I freaked out, because I wasn't certain what was going on. Moe seemed less active but otherwise normal.

Then I took her out of the cage. She was limping awkwardly - more just ignoring one of her legs than avoiding using it. This seemed odd but not too horrible.

I put her in a separate cage for the night, and checked on her the next morning.

Her limp was more pronounced and she was more lethargic. She wasn't moving much, just laying in her hammock. I decided to take some video of her limp to see what the great folks over at the Goosemoose Pet Portal Rats Rule forums thought. I had previously had a thread about her baldness.

This is the video.




They urged me to take Moe into the vet as soon as possible. So I called and made an appointment - this morning at 7:00AM. I took Moe over to the Adobe Animal Hospital, and met with the vet there. Moe had worsened greatly from yesterday - now almost completely listless, only wanting to be in the darkest corner of the carrying case, and not using either of her front paws. She was off balance and seems extremely confused.

The vet didn't have anything really comforting to say (the official diagnoses of the two vets who observed Moe was "I don't know") and gave me the standard regime of Baytril and Metacam to give to her.

It's my belief from the symptoms I've observed that Moe has a pituitary tumor and has at most a few months to live, and that only if the medication helps. I'm hoping it does - and I'm also hoping that my diagnosis is wrong and the vets are correct; that Moe is far too young to have a pituitary tumor, that it has to be something else, that PT doesn't cause the skin condition she has, and since the two appeared together they must be related, if it is PT that the medication will help and she'll have some happy time left ... but I'm bracing for the worst.

EDIT: Around Sunday (December 5) she began showing signs of an upper respiratory infection. Then, in the early hours of the morning of 7 December 2010, Moe passed away. Her death was not unexpected, but was extremely tragic, and she will be very missed by her cagemates, and by myself.