Stuff I Keep Track Of – Totals for 2019
I keep track of several things during the year. Here are the final numbers. A brief description of what these numbers mean and their relationship to last year follows. The Chalkboards I keep track of this stuff on a chalkboard. In the past, I’ve used a HUGE chalkboard which took up most of one of the walls in my apartment. Now, I’m couch surfing for the foreseeable future, so I’m using a much, much smaller chalkboard. About 50% of what is on the board is inspired by Being Boss and they’re Chalk Board Method and podcast. Check it out. The Numbers Drawing Days* = 303 days = 83% of possible days (a 32% increase from last year) Workouts** = 170 days = 47% of possible days (4% decrease from last year) Skateboarding Days*** = 56 = 15% of possible days (First year of data collection) Some Background Drawing Days – This was a HUGE increase over last year. The feels great. In particular, I was pushed forward in the last quarter of the month by a former student who had a concert when he reached 1,000 straight days of practicing his violin. I’m currently on 74 straight days of drawing. Workouts – This is the first thing I ever kept track of my workouts since November of 2014. This year was really tough for two reasons; 1) I quit my job and moved out of state and 2) I broke my elbow in a skateboard accident. The job quitting and moving things threw me off my gameplan in a major way that I was not expecting. I just didn’t have the mental energy to get myself to the gym. There was one month were I didn’t go to the gym almost at all. But, I needed to find a way to steady my mind. So, I started counting meditation sessions as “workouts.” This is not a solution that I want to maintain for the long-term, but in the short term, I’m satisfied with this solution. Another thing that made the workouts category interesting is that I broke my elbow on July 31. My workouts, which we already in trouble, took a big hit with that. I did go to physical therapy three times a week and I had about 12 exercises that I needed to do six times a day, so I did count each physical therapy day as a workout and each day I did my elbow exercises as a workout. That really saved my totals in the fall. Skateboarding Days – I was already well behind in my skateboarding goals for the year, but the broken elbow REALLY destroyed my yearly total. I’m only been back on the board 3 times since it happened. Now that I’ve moved to a part of the country with so much snow (Marquette, MI) I wonder how I can get those numbers back up. There is a skate park here, but it’s covered by a 1 1/2 feet of snow at the moment and my understanding is that it will stay that way for the next three to four months. I had an advantage in Chicago in that, while it may have been cold, in February I could usually find a tennis court or stretch of blacktop in Winnemac Park that didn’t have snow or ice on it. In that way I could skate most of the winter. Goals for 2020 Drawing Days – I will be very disappointed if I don’t make it 365 days this year. I have expanded the range of “drawing” a little bit. I’ve decided to include painting and what I’m going to call “intentional photography”. That is photos that I take during an intentional trip to make art. Not photography that I happen to take while I am doing something else. Those can be art, too, but I want to make a discussion between the two so I don’t get lazy. Goal – 365 days Worksout Days – I’m not sure what to do about this yet. I no longer belong to a gym, which is disappointing, but I’m still too unsettled by this move. Hoping to get back to a gym, soon. I don’t NEED a gym, but I find it very helpful to stay motivated. Goal – 365 workouts with 100 of them needing me to go to a gym or some similar place Stakeboarding Days – this is trashed right now. My board is in storage and there is no indoor skateboard less that an 6-hour drive away. I’m not sure what to do about that. Goal – 24 days? That’s one day a week, every week during the warm months. I think that’s a good goal. * Drawing day = any day that I draw. It can be for as little as 30 seconds. ** Workout day = any day that I workout. It can include meditation, physical therapy or yoga. As little as 30 counts ***Skateboarding = any day that I get on the board. Time at the gym working specifically on balance, on a balance board or the flat part of a half-Bosu Ball counts as a skateboarding day. In that way, a workout day and a skateboarding day can be the result of the same activity.