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[Eric Blank]

I doubt it would be wise to try and take a boat on that crazy flow

[Morrigi]

Well that's unfortunate.

[Sappho]

Second day of no metro transport in the city, but at least the flood is starting to recede. Thanks to flood defense measures, most areas were kept dry. The metro flood prevention system seems to have worked as well, so once the water level goes back down a bit more, they'll open it back up. Today it hardly rained at all and the sun even showed it's face for a few minutes to remind us all what color it is.

I had so much to do today that I had to force myself not to get caught up in my emotions. From the start, I decided I would not let myself get upset today. Keeping in mind that the kids always get more wild when they see you getting upset, I kept myself calm and there were no major problems at work. I had to stay late in the office to make copies of documents and get organized for my visa extension application tomorrow. I'm determined to be so organized and have everything so complete that they can't possibly find a problem with it (although I'm sure they'll manage anyway - they're experts at that). After work I had to visit a "Czech Point" document registry to get an up-to-date copy of the deed to the apartment I'm officially renting (to prove the owner has the right to rent it to me) and then I had to stop at the insurance office to extend my health insurance by another year. As a reward for getting that all done without extra stress (and as compensation for the Taiji lesson I had to cancel to get it all done) I stopped by the bookstore and bought myself a Moleskine sketchbook. I've wanted one for ages and now I finally have one. No excuse not to draw now!

I feel prepared for tomorrow. I have to get up the same time as I normally would for work and get a bus to the city I officially live in (long story). I have to visit the social security office and finance office to pick up documents stating I do not owe them any money, then meet my "landlady" to re-notarize my lease with her (no documents can be older than 180 days for the application). Then I will make my way to the foreigner police where I will wait in line for probably several hours and face the horrible, evil women who will accept my application with hatred and venom and probably find a hundred things wrong with it (which they will assume I did on purpose just to ruin their day). Everyone, please send all the spare positive vibes you can muster.

Spoiler: Tuesday 4.6.13 notes (click to show/hide)

Breakfast: chocolate chia seed pudding (chia seeds soaked overnight in chocolate soya milk, makes a thick, delicious pudding). diluted apple juice and allergy tea.
Snack: A disgusting granola bar, don't even want to know what kind of crap was in it. (Snack was already finished when I ended my parent conference so I missed the real food.)
Lunch: Small bowl of lentil soup. Very small plate of mashed potatoes and baked salmon (there wasn't enough food to have any more).
Afternoon: A Snickers bar on the road while doing errands.
Dinner: Another pita sandwich (same as yesterday but with more tahini). A rice cake to mop up the dripped tahini and yogurt. Allergy tea.
Evening: 2 small slices of toast (Czech bread) with the homemade strawberry-rhubarb jam (unsweetened).

I've noticed today that the more busy I keep myself, the less I feel anxious and nervous. I suppose this makes logical sense, but I've never noticed it so clearly in my own life. Tomorrow I'm going to face a horrible woman who seems to have a personal mission to upset me and make my life difficult. And I'm going to face her without a translator. I should be terrified right now, but I'm totally calm. Why? No time for needless worry. I have to keep my to-do list straight. Today I got all of my documents in very clear order and even made an itemized list for the foreigner police tomorrow (and copies of most of the documents so they don't have to do much copying - they get annoyed when they have to copy something, poor things, having to stand up and walk a few feet to push a button). I spent the afternoon running around the city (with no Metro service) getting the last few things in order. I finally cleaned the bathroom (except the shower) and vacuumed the apartment, and washed all the dishes. Tomorrow I have my morning planned out quite clearly: finance office, then social office, then notary, then foreigner police. Everything is prepared and ready to go. Basically, there's nothing left to worry about. This woman will be a nasty bitch, and I will smile sweetly and give her no opportunity for conflict. A friend gave me some good advice: they're like dogs. Show fear and they will pounce. Smile at them relentlessly and thank them repeatedly for all their time and help, and there will be nothing they can do.

This little piece of information today, that keeping busy keeps away the panic. My natural instinct when I start to feel like life is getting to me is to withdraw, to relax, to rest and recharge my batteries, but in fact this might be completely counter-productive. Instead of planning as much time as possible to relax, I need to make sure my to-do list is always full.

[Sappho]

Wow. Today has been a truly excellent day. I'm already home from my trip to where I officially live for all my visa paperwork. I visited the finance and social offices to pick up the documents proving I don't owe them any money. The people there were friendly and helpful and it only took a few minutes at each place. I had extra time so I grabbed some bread and broccoli spread from the supermarket and enjoyed that in the park while I made my first marks in my new sketchbook. Then I met my "landlady" to re-notarize our lease. The last time I saw her was two years ago, when I hardly spoke a few words of Czech (she doesn't speak English). She was absolutely blown away by how well I speak now. We had a nice conversation and she kept complimenting my Czech, even going so far as to say I barely have an accent - that I don't quite sound native, but she would never be able to guess what country I was from, which is an enormous compliment. While we were at the notary's office waiting, the notary could hear us from the other room, and when he came out with the papers he made a point of complimenting me on my speaking ability and good pronunciation. On top of all this, the sun was out and it was warm and pleasant outside for the first time in far too long.

So I was flying pretty high when I got to the foreigner police office. I took my number, got my papers ready, took out my novel, and barely got through 3 pages when my number was called. I went in, feeling a few flutters of nervousness, and was delighted to see that the miserable old woman who normally handles my file was not there. There was a new girl, quite young and while she didn't smile, she was pleasant enough. We barely needed to speak, I had my documents so organized. She took them one at a time, logged them on the application folder, told me it would probably be ready within a month (a month! last time it took 10!!!), and that was it. I enjoyed a pleasant walk back to the bus stop and a quiet ride back home. I have the rest of the day free, until Taiji training at 6 in the park. I'm going to take a shower now, make some lunch, and try to get my metal recycling down to the recycling center while we have such lovely weather. I also plan to head to the park early before the training starts and play with this sketchbook for a while, as long as the weather stays nice.

Spoiler: Wednesday 5.6.13 notes (click to show/hide)

Breakfast: Bowl of plain yogurt and peach baby food, with a few piskoty mixed in and soaked until soft. Allergy tea. Green tea flavored with a little of the strawberry-rhubarb syrup.
Snack: 2 slices of toast and half a roll from the supermarket with various seeds in the dough, dipped in supermarket deli "pomazanka" (spread) made from mayo, broccoli, onion, and ham. Bit of storebought green tea (sadly I forgot my fresh stuff at home).
Lunch: Tricolor pasta with asparagus roasted in olive oil and garlic (sooooo good). Cup of green tea with the homemade strawberry rhubarb syrup (from now on I'll just call this "syrup") and a bit of honey.
Dinner: Stir-fry with veggies, noodles, tofu, sesame oil. Allergy tea.

By the way, I'm still keeping my daily notes. Another goal for today is to enter them all into the computer rather than scanning the little papers, since they're a bit messy and probably hard for others to read. Also, I haven't been noting it down, but I've been taking 1500 mcg of the B12 each evening for about a week now. I certainly feel better than I did before, although it's difficult to say if it's due to the supplement or not, since other things are changing in my life as well. Notably I'm trying to keep away from sedatives, including alcohol, cannabis (I used to use a small amount regularly to help me sleep), and medunka (Melissa) tea (also for sleep). I'm sure this is probably contributing to my clearer head, as are my set goals which help me focus and my active decision to not get upset at work. Stress causes so many problems it's a wonder anyone ever figures out what's going on in their heads.

[Sappho]

Juchu! (That's Czech for Hooray!) The metro is open again today. Some stops are still closed, but I'm able to get to work without any difficulties (and without leaving home half an hour early). What's more, the weather is still pretty nice. It's not really sunny today, but there's no rain and it's quite warm (about 20 C). The kids are relatively calm and work has been fine so far. To top it all off, the beautiful coworker I'm absolutely in love with is in a good mood today and I'm feeling rather flirty...

Spoiler: 6.6.13 notes (click to show/hide)

Breakfast: Allergy tea, diluted apple juice, toast with homemade jam.
Snack: Slice of dark bread with seeds, small amount of veggies. Two store-bought seed-covered "bread sticks" (like fat pretzels). Green tea with syrup and honey.
Lunch: Leftover stir-fry from last night.
Afternoon: Big handful of wasabi peas.
Dinner: Large portion of homemade french fries made in lard, lightly salted. Pita sandwich (same as the other day).

Also, it occurs to me that I ought to be tracking my allergies as well, to see if the tea and/or low sodium diet are helping. I'll list my symptoms as well as the status of the eczema rash on my left leg which has been there for years and I can't seem to get rid of it. (I wash it with Selsun Blue shampoo during my daily shower, the active ingredient of which helps with eczema, then put vaseline on it when I get out of the shower. In the evenings if I remember, or if it's particularly itchy, I rub it with olive oil. Very rarely I put steroid cream on it, if it's really out of control. I do my best no to scratch it though sometimes it's too itchy to resist.)
Morning Allergies: Dry, sore eyes, slightly itchy. Dry throat. Rash: Red, bumps quite prominent. Not particularly itchy.
Afternoon Allergies: Same as morning. Rash: Got really itchy for a bit, rubbed it with olive oil and it felt better.

Evening update: I'm feeling on top of the world at the moment. About an hour ago the cat decided that the cable connecting the left speaker to the right, which has been there over a year, was his arch nemesis. He pounced on it so hard that the plug broke - the connector broke off inside the jack. I tried to get it out but it only went further in, and the plug wouldn't work. At first I started grumbling that I'd have to buy a new set of speakers (it didn't seem worth buying a new plug and splicing it onto the cable, which is hardwired into the speaker and not easily replaced). I felt that way for about ten seconds before I decided there must be a way to rig it to work - all that was missing was a metal connection from the jack to the plug. So I rolled up a bit of aluminum foil and jammed it in the hole, then shoved the plug on over it and duct taped it down. Works like a charm. You can call me MacGyver tonight, friends.

EDIT: I have finally gotten my information in the computer. The easiest way I could think of to do it was to use Word. Obviously Excel is better for spreadsheets, but I want to be able to put 4 separate tables on a page to print out, and Word makes that much easier to organize, although it isn't super convenient to enter the information. Basically, Word makes it easier to print, while Excel would make it easier to manage the data in the computer. I will probably do an Excel version as well for storing the data, and eventually just use the Word version for printing out and carrying in my pocket.

So now I have all these tables in the computer in a Word document, but it's really difficult to read and due to all the tables and special formatting I'm having a hard time getting Google Drive to display it properly. So if anyone is interested in the current charts, here is the Word document. I'll work on getting it more internet-friendly soon. (I hope this link works ok - can someone please test it for me and make sure you can download the actual Word document here, not just view it on Google Drive?) https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2DGqVenpQgvSl9KMEJsMEVHbnM/edit?usp=sharing

Starting on 4.6 I started keeping more careful track of things, using values from 1 to 3 to judge the intensity of certain states. I'll make a detailed list of what these numbers mean soon, particularly to go along with my next point:

I will get into this more tomorrow probably, but I've decided I'd like a control to compare my data to. In other words, who wants to track their physical and emotional state for a few days? It would be greatly helpful for me, and it might be interesting for some of you to pay attention to these things and understand yourselves better. I know it does me a lot of good to look at things this way! I'll get my notes further organized and post some more information tomorrow, but it would be great if anyone could announce their interest in trying this out. I would take whatever you are willing to give - ideal would be at least 3 or 4 days, tracking every hour, but of course if you just want to do it one day, or two, or every few hours instead of hourly, whatever you can offer would be helpful. Here's the blank chart in Word doc format in case anyone wants to print it out and carry it around and see how it goes (again, please let me know if the download works properly): https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2DGqVenpQgvZm5wYnd2Qy1Xc3c/edit?usp=sharing

[Vector]

Sure, I should probably try something like that for my own sake.  I guess I'll see if I can't try starting tomorrow?

(PS: I do the imaginary friends thing, too)

[Sappho]

Great! I gotta run to work now but I'll post more information on my lunch break (about 5 hours or so from now).

EDIT: OK, I successfully downloaded and printed the blank forms from the work computer, so everyone (who has Word) should be able to print them. If anyone wants a PDF version just let me know. I recommend carrying one in your pocket during the day and filling things in as you notice them, then either scanning in the paper if you have a scanner, or else typing the results in through Word. Once I have a functional Excel version I'll make that available for data entry. If anyone has a better suggestion for how to share the data, I'm all ears!

Specific information for filling in the chart: In the top-left, put the date. Bottom left (large box) is for the weather. In columns you are not awake for, or forget to fill in the chart for whatever reason, just put a line through them (or tint them gray if entering in the computer) so they don't get counted. For the rest of the chart, fill in the appropriate value for each time (no need to fill in boxes if they do not apply).

Drowsy: 1-3, with 1 being slightly sleepy, 2 being would really like to lie down and sleep, and 3 being hardly able to stay awake (or even that you fall asleep without meaning to).

Energy: 1-3, with 1 being slightly more energetic than usual, 2 being pretty pumped, and 3 being manic or hyperactive.

Fog: 1-3. This refers to "brain fog," a specific feeling of cloudiness in your head and inability to connect to the world. If things feel far away and sort of fuzzy, you probably have brain fog. It's the same feeling you get if you have swollen sinuses, such as during a sinus infection. 1 is mild, 3 is severe.

Conf: 1-3. This refers to general confusion, mild to severe. This can be recorded even if there is a good reason for the confusion (like a physics lecture or something), but justified confusion should only be at 1. 2 and 3 are reserved for when you're confused without a good reason.

Focus: 1-3. This is not *ability* to focus (that comes later). This refers to how focused you are on what you're doing. Mark this down if you are engrossed in a task or particularly focused, even if you can't control the focus.

Irr/Ang: 1-3. Irritated or angry. 1 is slightly angry (but with a reason), 2 is moderately angry (or slightly angry with no good reason), 3 is enraged (or moderately to severely angry without a good reason).

Anx/Pan: 1-3. Anxiety or panic. Same rules as Irr/Ang.

Calm: Just mark this box if you are feeling calm. I use a dot, you can use an X, whatever you want. Entered into the computer I just put a 1 for consistency.

Mem: +/- If you notice an unusual strength or deficit in memory, mark it plus or minus. This one can be hard to track, so just make a mark if you happen to notice you've forgotten something you shouldn't have, or remembered something you didn't expect to.

Conc: +/- This is your ability to concentrate. Same rules as memory.

Halluc: 1-3. Any kind of visual or auditory anomaly gets recorded here. 1 is blurring, seeing slight trails on moving objects, seeing something out of the corner of your eye that turns out to be something else, etc. 2 is seeing things out of the corner of your eye that turn out to be nothing at all, warping or moving of stationary objects, significant blurring or trails. 3 is fully seeing things that aren't there, hearing voices, etc.

Depress: 1-3. Depression. Put 1 for justified sadness, 2 for feeling more "down" than is justified by the situation, 3 for severe feelings of depression and/or hopelessness.

Euphoria: 1-3 Same rules as depression. So far I've only been marking this for feelings of happiness stronger than are justified, but starting today I'm going to change it. 1 will be happy for a good reason, 2 will be happier than is justified, 3 will be truly euphoric (like on a drug).

The long boxes on the bottom are for notes. Anything you think is relevant or important can be recorded here.

OK so that's all of it. I appreciate any submissions that anyone wants to offer, and I'll do some real analysis comparing different people. The thing I'm most curious about here is how different I really am from others. I think we all assume that our experiences are generally unique and "no one else would understand." I'll be interested to see how differently people fill in these forms, and if there will be any significant similarities. Thanks a lot to anyone who helps out!

[Sappho]

Spoiler: Friday 7.6.13 notes (click to show/hide)

Breakfast: Bowl of yogurt with homemade jam and some piskoty. Allergy tea. Diluted apple juice.
Snack: Czech bread, veggies. Green tea with a bit of syrup and honey.
Lunch: Small bowl of vegetable soup with barley. Boiled potatoes, stewed carrots, minced meat (not even sure what kind, probably pork) wrapped in cabbage leaf (all provided by school).
Snack: Czech bread, veggies.
Dinner: Pre-made "Mexican chicken" sandwich from the supermarket. (I had to run straight to meet my friends in the park, no time to cook.)
Evening: Too many beers. (5 or 6 I think)
Allergies: Main symptoms not bad, but rash terribly itchy and irritated all day. Used anti-itch ointment, oil, and steroid cream at various points, but it never really stopped itching all day.

I'm slowly getting over my hangover from last night. The girl keeps messing with me, flirting then going cold, all in one day. It's making me a little crazy. Got very drunk with friends until 2 am then home to bed. This morning, felt awful, but fortunately I came home before doing any serious damage to myself.

It's interesting, actually. Used to be I would sit around all the time thinking of all the things I should be doing but couldn't motivate myself to do. Now I seem to be developing the habit of keeping busy. Around 11 am today I decided I'd give myself an hour to recover a bit more before doing all my responsible grown-up things. But immediately after deciding that, I did the dishes, started the laundry, picked up the living room, and vacuumed the apartment. Then I sat down, wrote out my invoice for my boss, and sent some other messages, paid my social security for the month, then did administrative work on the thread for my current adventurer succession game in the community games and stories forum. Then I figured I had earned a lie-down and nap for a while, but instead of that I took a shower and read a few chapters of my book. What has happened to me? Amazing that such a big change can happen so quickly, simply by writing down and keeping track of your emotional states and activities for a while.

The thing is, we all rely on our memories to inform us when making decisions. This made me happy, I'll do it more. This wasn't enjoyable, I'll avoid it. But our memories are clearly not as accurate as we believe them to be. My memories are definitely colored by my present emotional state. Writing everything down like this makes me realize things I never would have otherwise. When I spend a chunk of time playing video games, my happiness and energy go down. When I get angry at work, the kids get more difficult to deal with. When I feel too tired to go to training, but go anyway, I always have a nice time and feel better almost immediately. It's right there on the paper. Very easy to evaluate the problems when the information is organized like this, and make clear decisions on how to change them. So far it is working quite well. I'm making better decisions for myself and feeling better as a result.

I'm going to call the Cleaning Habits experiment a success for now, though I'll keep an eye on myself and see if I really do maintain things this way.

Spoiler: Saturday 8.6.13 notes (click to show/hide)

Breakfast: Toast with homemade jam. Allergy tea. Sports drink for rehydration (plus lots of water).
Snack: Pita sandwich (same as before).
Lunch: Sukjunamul (Korean bean sprout dish) with rice. Cup of coffee with chocolate soya milk.
Evening: Allergy tea. A few chocolate cookies. (No appetite for dinner.)

Allergies: Main symptoms ok. Rash moderately itchy but not as bad as previous day.

Yesterday I fell asleep around 6 and was out for a couple hours. No deep sleep, definitely constant dreaming, mostly about my teeth crumbling and falling out of my mouth. I woke back up, played video games for a couple hours, and then gave up and went back to bed around 10.30. As I was falling asleep I experienced significant auditory hallucinations (while still conscious). Voices that I knew could not be real, yet sounded very real. The only time I normally ever experience this is when I've had a significant amount of cannabis before bed, but this time I hadn't had any kind of drug, no alcohol, nothing. Then once I fell asleep there were more dreams about crumbling teeth (they kept shattering in my mouth and I was spitting out tiny shards of tooth constantly - I could feel my jaw clenching and destroying the teeth but was powerless to stop it - I assume I was grinding my teeth in my sleep and close enough to consciousness to be aware of it without being able to stop), plus grocery shopping, work, and other unpleasant and mundane things, until I woke up at 8.30. Maybe it was a delayed hangover. Anyway I feel a bit better this morning.

Spoiler: Sunday 9.6.13 notes (click to show/hide)

Breakfast: Allergy tea. Coffee with a dash of cinnamon and chocolate soya milk. Diluted apple juice.
Lunch: Leftover sukjunamul. 2-egg omelette with stir-fried potatoes and some veggies.
Snack: Pita sandwich (standard).
Dinner: Nice rice with sauteed garlic, shallot, ginger, and chili. Sliced smoked tofu and sliced avocado (these are an amazing combination). Allergy tea.
Evening: Very small glass of whiskey to try to help me sleep (didn't work).

Allergies: Eyes pretty itchy all day. Rash very itchy despite moisturizing after shower.

[Sappho]

Sure, I should probably try something like that for my own sake.  I guess I'll see if I can't try starting tomorrow?

(PS: I do the imaginary friends thing, too)

Let me know if you're starting. In fact, everyone please have a look at the first post, where I've organized my current request under the heading "Volunteers Wanted." If I can get even just a couple of people to do this for a day or two at least, it will be massively helpful for me, and I think it will be interesting for everyone to see how we compare in these ways that we so rarely talk about in our daily lives. Thanks!

[Vector]

Yeah, I'm in the middle of an unusually depressed mood with a clear cause, so I'm going to give this a break until I'm feeling a bit better.

[Pnx]

I just wanted to say this makes for very interesting reading, reminds me of the "I'm a Japanese school teacher" thing. Except with less complaints about steak and people poking fingers in unpleasant places.

The talking to imaginary people thing is something I do all the time too. Though I typically talk under my breath or in my head, I also often narrate posts in my head as well...

[Sappho]

Vector: Fair enough. I'm in a similar situation but taking the notes is actually my way of dealing with it. : ) Hope things work out ok for you!

Pnx: Thanks. Knowing someone is actually reading is very motivating for me to continue this. I might not find the motivation to keep this up if I was the only one looking at it, and then I might lose the progress I've made. It's amazing how big a difference it can make, keeping track of things hour by hour and looking over them later with the benefit of hindsight. And I also talk under my breath, but my lips are moving and I see people giving me funny looks. : )

Here's a perfect example. Today I spent several hours playing the free trial of Civilization V on Steam. According to the notes I made while playing, I felt happy while playing the game and very focused. However, as soon as I stopped playing, I felt terrible. I laid down for a nap almost immediately and spent several hours struggling with feelings of depression and worthlessness (not helped by the fact that it started raining). I felt like my sluggish, miserable old self again, lying there thinking of the things I should be doing with my time but not finding the energy or motivation to get up. I fell asleep for a while and had terrible dreams. Eventually I finally managed to get up for a glass of water, then pushed myself to do some reading for a while until I started coming back to my senses. I was actually considering buying the game, since it's a really good deal this weekend and I did have fun playing it, but it seems pretty likely that there is a direct relationship between the gaming marathon and the crushing depression, so I will keep myself away from it.

I have noticed this pattern before. I can play games for a short while, less than an hour maybe, and still go on about my day feeling good. But once I go over some threshold (it would take more experimenting to find exactly where the threshold is - I might have to try it sometime) it does a great deal of psychological damage to me. And even physical damage - I had a terrible headache and blurry vision for a while after having stared at the computer screen so intently for so long.

I will have to be very careful with video games in the future. It is very easy to get sucked into them. They provide you lots of little psychological rewards along the way to keep you playing, but the moment you take it away, you realize you've wasted all that time and energy on something which has had no real positive impact on the world or your own life. That happiness does not stay. It is very easy to see how real "video game addiction" is. It works on your brain in the same way as traditional drugs. It feels good. Take it away, you feel bad. Have some more, feel good again, though with diminishing returns over time until before you know it you're miserable no matter what, and have destroyed your life to boot. In fact, I prefer to just use chemical drugs rather than play video games. At least going out and getting high can be a social activity with *some* kind of positive impact on your life, albeit with a price, of course. Video games, even multiplayer, are very isolating, and can draw you away from the things that are important in your life until you look up and realize they're gone.

[Mictlantecuhtli]

I use a variety of things and play video games. 

I always feel worthless after a FIFA session, but that's because after years I still manage to get my ass handed to me on occassion and ragequit. I've tried to play less games myself, though. It's a fun activity, but I spent alot of the last 20 or so years playing games. 3-4 hour sessions make my head hurt.

I've also got a very specific annoyance with games that outright show you odds to do things, such as Wesnoth [% chance to hit, % chance of success] because sometimes I feel absolutely compelled to reroll a million times. If there's a 51% chance and it fails 5 times in a row.. I just quit. Maybe I'm a cheater, but skill-based games make me less.. Mad? Exception being FIFA. I think it's why I'm mostly about strategy games, now.

Note: I've been reading, but mostly for flood updates.

[Pnx]

I sometimes have similar concerns regarding video games, I'm pretty much never as focused as when I'm playing a good game, and I don't typically think that playing games negatively effects my mood later on, but I sometimes worry that playing games is negatively effecting my ability to focus on other things.

[Sappho]

The first thing you guys have to know today is I slept for about 3 hours last night and it's almost bedtime again, and I'm praying I'll actually sleep tonight but not at all convinced I will, and I'm really fucking tired and probably quite incoherent.

I believe my reason for not sleeping last night was mostly stress. Stress over work, over finding a new job before next school year, over the girl I'm enamored with who keeps sending me mixed signals and fucking with my head, over my visa, over pretty much everything in life. I suppose it's possible that hormones are starting to play a role, but I hope not, because I should still have at least a week before that should start happening.

Here's all the stuff I ate today.

Spoiler: Monday 10.6.13 notes (click to show/hide)

Breakfast: Strawberry yogurt. Store-bought iced green tea full of sugar and chemicals (overslept, no time to make tea).
Snack: Store-bought whole wheat flatbreads, fruits and vegetables.
Lunch: Leftover rice, tofu, avocado from last night.
Dinner: Remainder of leftover rice wrapped in egg omelette.

Allergies: Not sure what's allergies and what's lack of sleep. Itchy burning eyes, sore throat. Rash not too bad though.

The weekend was really nice but today we had torrential downpours all day. Fortunately the river has stayed within safe limits. Public transport is running okay, no problems getting to work or my job interview today.

Tomorrow we've got a field trip. Which is okay. The trip will take my whole work day. We'll come back, eat lunch, rest, and I'll go home.

I was so fucked during Taiji today that my teacher looked genuinely worried about me. Normally he just makes fun of me for being a wuss. He's trying to help me find work for next year. He's a good guy. He's suggested I could take a training course in how to teach kids Taiji (his girlfriend teaches the course) and get some extra work that way, being the only person doing it in English. It's not a terrible idea, though it could hardly be a full-time job. What I'd really like to do is be an assistant for an autistic kid, at least part-time in the mornings, and maybe keep teaching in the afternoons. No idea what kind of qualifications I'd need though. I have the contact for a center for autism in Prague but I don't trust myself to write them an email in my current state. Also I'm not sure if I should disclose that I have AS, in case they think NTs are better to assist autistic kids...

I have to make some food now I guess, to bring to work tomorrow. might skip it and go straight to bed and just eat whatever slop they provide us at school. I guess.

Here's the funniest thing I've seen all day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=meiU6TxysCg