Normalcy

.... at least in a relative sense. 

The magical 2 week interval has passed and, sure enough, I feel like my normal self again. I've trained every weekday this week and last, and if anything, I appreciate it now even more than I did in August. Having to go without it again for the short break we took really drove home the point that this is a necessity for me, and I will do what I can to protect and preserve it for as long as possible. 

I am still restricting myself to my quarantine pal, and I think he is similarly grateful to be back. We have settled into a good routine together, and he's been very diligent about finding my bad habits and the holes in my game and exploiting them, giving me incentive to explore and implement some fixes. There are definite advantages to rolling consistently with one person - you begin to anticipate each other's moves and look for ways to defeat them, leading to some innovation with regard to preventing or countering those defeats, and so on. Another advantage is that, when you switch partners every 5 minutes, you want to bring your A-game to each roll. In our current situation, we are free-rolling for the last 30 minutes of class, just with each other, so we are more able to mix things up, experiment, get out of the comfort zone, try something different. We've been good about communicating with each other and supporting each other's progress, and we've already noticed a lot of growth in ourselves and each other. I'm extremely grateful to have been the one he approached with his "crazy idea."

Other than constantly chasing down enough sleep, I have felt really good about the structure of my days. It sucks to get out of bed at 5:15 am, but by the time I get to the gym, I'm awake and happy to be there. We've been hanging out and talking with the coach after class, which is always good. One insight from Atomic Habits is that you are the average of the 5 people with whom you spend the most time. I am always better when my coach is one of those people, as I admire his no-bullshit perspective on life and work and training and family very much. He is a good person to have in my head. 

When I leave, I stop at Panera for my daily (still free) giant iced coffee, which is waiting on the shelf for me when I arrive. I go home and either shower or soak in the hot tub, then leisurely get ready for work with Savageman. We leave around 9 on most days. I work until 3 or 4 on most days, and I don't eat while I'm there, so it's just the iced coffee until I get home. I'm still hitting the treadmill for a mile or two before I eat.  I am still a runner. When Savageman gets home, he usually has food from the nursing home - they've been taking very good care of the employees and feeding us very well while also supporting the local restaurants. We take the dog for a 1-2 mile walk and work on his social skills. We talk primarily about our work day and the political situation. Our conservative neighborhood is full of Biden/Harris signs, which gives us hope, as the news of the current administration has been drifting into dystopian nightmare territory. 

At night, we've been binging a show - currently The Americans, which is very good. I talk to the boys online while we watch, but not so much with my other friends lately, as they have been busy with their teaching and research. The Guru came home last weekend and we spent Saturday together. He taught me some topology / abstract algebra stuff and I gave him an indoor food smoker for his birthday. I miss our frequent Zoom math marathons from the spring, but it's a lot to ask of him, and I haven't had a ton of time to keep up my end between our lessons. When I do find some time to work on mathy things, it's been linear algebra, which I like very much, although the topological stuff is fascinating as well. Accumulating these tools and then seeing how they are applied in different areas of physics has been challenging and fun, so I will keep at it, especially when the weather is more suited for curling up in my sweats on the couch than being outside. 

For now, the weather is still summery, but comfortable. The air conditioning is off, but the days are still warm and pleasant. This is my favorite time of year, and I'm trying to keep my focus on things that I enjoy - much of which is outside. Tonight is Friday, and I will be grateful to catch up on some sleep this weekend after the 4-5 hours I've been getting during the week. 

It's a good normal for now, given what we're dealing with. Much gratitude for all that is going well.