Life Updates – April 2018

If you imagine my “funemployed” life as basically eating, walking Pippa, laying around, and working out, you wouldn’t be that far off… especially because with my wonky ankle, I’m not going to Girls on the Run these days. But it’s been a while since we talked about everything going on, so let’s do that.

Funemployment

I’m getting better at having free time. It’s not exciting, and maybe not the most practical thing to be good at going into adult life, but it’s an interesting sort of discomfort to grapple with. It’s (sometimes) easier now to say, “I’ll read a chapter of this book and bake something before I take Pippa for a walk,” instead of, “I’m just going to sit here and freak out about not being the most productive human in the world.”

Baby steps.

Invisalign

I think I mentioned in passing that I have Invisalign trays, but I didn’t ever say why or how that’s going. So, I had braces from about third through sixth grade, and those were followed by bonded retainers. The top retainer was super small and never a big problem until it broke right before I left for Europe last fall. The bottom retainer had to be removed maybe a year or two after it was first put in because a fun side effect of Ehlers Danlos is excess plaque in your mouth no matter how much you brush or floss, and I totally couldn’t clean around the retainer.

Well, when my orthodontist removed that retainer, he didn’t give me anything to replace it. Usually, when they take out bonded retainers, you get removable ones to wear at night. But nope.

The combination of being human and having lax connective tissue means that in the past 8 or so years, my bottom teeth have shifted a lot. I went back to the same orthodontic practice (different doctor since mine had retired) to get my broken top retainer removed and replaced with a removable one, and asked what he would suggest I do about my messy bottom teeth. He said Invisalign, and the rest is history.

I guess the correction I need is pretty mild in comparison to what Invisalign is usually used for, so for me it should be about a 20-week process, and I’m on the fourth week now. I like it way better than braces (duh?) and I’m glad I’m doing it. I mean, it’s not like my bottom teeth are super visible, but it makes me feel better to get them straightened out and know I won’t be worrying about them continuing to shift or getting weird and crowded.

Playoffs

Le sigh. The Blue Jackets lost Monday night. It was rough, but also not even that close. If we’re talking honestly, I’ll tell you that even when they made the playoffs, I didn’t have a lot of hope for them to win the first round. What can I say? They’ve been the underdog as long as they’ve existed. Then, they stumbled into winning the first two games of the series… and promptly lost the next four. Mostly, they looked like we could hang with the big kids, but there was nothing to push them ahead.

It’ll be a lot less convenient for me to go to games next season, since I’ll be a little farther from downtown and also won’t be able to just hop in the car with my dad and use his free parking. I also realized that I’m kinda okay with this. I love the atmosphere occasionally, but asking me to leave the house at 6:30pm always feels like a big demand. Plus, crowds and the people who act like they could do better than the guys getting paid millions to play professional hockey bug me. And the last few games, I’ve left with shoes so sticky I could’ve been at a frat party. I’m good with a nice TV screen and a couch.

Yoga Teacher Training

Haha. I just said getting me to leave the house at 6:30pm is a struggle, but I’m possibly going to be doing that a few times a week. I found out a few weeks ago that there’s a relatively nearby CorePower that’s doing teacher training extensions this spring, which is what I ended up backing out of in winter quarter of my third year because my school schedule was too full. They’re also running a Yoga Sculpt teacher training at roughly the same time, which sounds fun. I mean, 18+ hours a week of being at CorePower, but fun. You know.

I also might just do the Sculpt TT because it’s the more time-intensive of the two and will thus be harder to work around my future work schedule, and save extensions for later. Who knows? (Well, I need to know by next Tuesday, but that’s nearly a week away.)

I was originally not sure if I’d do either because if the Blue Jackets made it to the second round of the playoffs (priorities), then I would only have three free nights a week to go to games – and those might not even be the nights of the week they were in town. I don’t think I could call up the NHL and explain that I needed the games in Columbus to only be on Monday, Thursday, and Friday.

But on Monday night they made it easy on me. I just need to confirm with the studio that someone can help me make up a couple of sessions, because I’ll be in Chicago graduating from college. I think it’ll work out – there’s usually some flexibility – but I’m double checking.

Chicago

My mom and I had a lovely few days in Chicago last weekend! We went to some of our favorite spots (Shaw’s, Summer House Santa Monica), tried a new one (Public House was awesome), went shopping and walking around, and met up with Susie and Emmie for brunch! It was great.

Summer House Santa Monica is now the official caterer of my graduation party, and we bought one of all their cookies to help us figure out what we’ll order for dessert. Honestly, the ones that stood out are freaking fab (umm salted chocolate chunk and the oatmeal chocolate), and the others are just good cookies. But it was still a good decision.

Dog search

Even if I were to have a roommate when I move out in August, I’m pretty sure I’d want a dog. So, I’ve been casually looking at all the humane societies and shelters around here in hopes of finding one I can get acquainted with before I start working full-time. I’m now pretty sure that I won’t have a roommate, so I’m 100% sure I want a dog. If I don’t find a dog, I want a cat, but I’m less sure about that because it’s been so long since I’ve had a cat. Also, dogs force you to go outside sometimes. Cats are cool to chill at home. I am a cat. I need a dog.

My fave dog so far is another prison dog (Pippa was trained at a prison), but I think I’m seventh in line to adopt him, so I don’t see that working out. Send me good dog vibes. I want another dog yesterday.

The ankle

I now have full mobility and can jump on my ankle with zero pain. And I’m not just saying that because I want it to be true. (Yes, I’ve done that before. Don’t judge.) It actually doesn’t hurt. However, if I press on it in exactly the right place, it hurts a bit. So, I probably won’t be running the Cap City race this weekend out of intelligence and the possibility of hurting it further.

I think that’s all I haven’t told you lately. We’re all caught up!

Your turn:

Did you have braces or were you blessed with perfect teeth?

What’s your favorite workout at the moment? Mine is… anything but running, just outta safety.

What’s going on in your life?