Stop & Chat: January 27 - February 2

Another picture of one of the miniature sets on display.

We went to the mall and Itaewon again on the 30th. I took some pictures of the mall and one of the view from one of the crosswalks at Itaewon but it was crowded and I was stressed out so I passed on a lot of picture taking opportunities. At the mall we picked up some small knicknacks to fill in the rest of the space in the box I'm sending home to my family. At Itaewon we stopped at Lush and got some skin products for M. He's been having issues with dry, itchy skin. We got him two body conditioners and a rub rub rub body sugar scrub thingy. There are still quite a few Christmas products on display. We picked up one, the Christingle body conditioner. Our free 'sample' was a full sized piece of the coalface soap.

Magazines and puzzle boxes.

I've been spending a lot of the past week running. Not a simple 10 or 20 minute jog. At the end of the day my runs have lasted 2+ hours. I don't know what is so different this time around about me running, but there's a sense of calm and accomplishment afterwards that I can't describe. That's actually a big reason why I haven't been reading and commenting on a lot of my bloggy friends' posts. Even when I'm done with a run I feel like I can't sit down and play video games. It'd be counter productive. So instead I do some yoga or stretch or walk around the house while putting on a movie or TV show. I took yesterday off from running as my feet were hurting a lot. Today I went back on a short run and my feet felt a lot better. I think my body forgot what it was like to be so active.

Paints and enamels for models and puzzles.

I don't know how much of what I see when I look in the mirror is actual change and how much is a mental view, but I can imagine that line that runs down the middle of your stomach coming down a little further each day.  M says he doesn't see anything, so it's probably all in my head. It's amazing what a change in your mind can do to how you see your body. :)

More display models. These things are just so cool to me.

While we were out, we got me a new keyboard. It's a mechanical keyboard which basically means it's extra clicky clacky. I type really, really fast so if M is ever asleep while I'm playing a game or typing up something I have to make sure the office door is closed to prevent the noise from waking him up. I like this keyboard because it's harder for me to accidentally hit the wrong key, and it's just overall a higher quality build. Plus this one's backlit so when it starts to get dark I can turn on the lights and be able to see my keyboard if I ever need to.

This keyboard was bought at a Korean store, so as a result I have Hangul characters on my keys. Initially I was concerned about getting a foreign keyboard if it was too different from ones I'm used to, but looking at it now and after playing some games with it all of the symbols and keys are in the same location. I just get the added benefit of being able to switch to Hangul if I ever develop an understanding of the language enough to need to type in the language. :)

More mini models! :D

 M is finally doing that several day training period that he was supposed to do last month. After that he'll get one day off before switching to day shift. I'm trying to help him with sleep and eating and anything I can just to make the coming few weeks as easy as possible for him, but there's only so much I can do. It doesn't help that a lot of extra in processing work he has to do is restricted to regular 9-5 hours. In other words, during his sleeping schedule. I feel like he may have to turn to caffeine one of these nights.

A little Noah's Ark.

I'm getting frustrated with putting our items away. I've thrown out a lot of my clothes and I'm sure 90% of what I still have hanging up/put away will be thrown out before the year's end. I just decided that I should give some items a second chance. Anything that is not worn in the next appropriate season will be tossed. I've also gone through my shoes. I love shoes but I don't wear anything besides boots or sneakers, just like I have a hard time wearing a nice skirt or dress. I kept a couple of my more loved pairs for the same reason as my clothes, but I feel like a lot of nicer dresses and shoes will be thrown out come Fall.

I finally organized all of my wax and got it all to fit into the 5 photo storage boxes I bought from Michael's a long time ago. I spent hours organizing our consoles, console games, DvDs, and extra electronic cords that we've compiled over the years. I've finally put together the bookshelf that holds a lot of my game guides and extensive The Sims games collection. I've tidied up the Melmer that I have so that I can put my nail supplies in the top drawer.

I think what is so frustrating about a lot of what I've been doing is the lack of a visible end product. I know that I've put several hours into this project or organizing that particular container, but if someone were to come and visit they could see nothing that shows I have been productive with my day.

Itaewon! Lots of busy streets bustling with cars and people, abundant with street vendors and storefronts.

I know that I've done a lot in terms of cleaning and organizing. It just doesn't feel like it sometimes. Plus, it baffles me that we generate dirty clothes so quickly. Then again, M goes through a change or two because of PT. I go through a lot because of my runs. Sometimes I go through three or four changes of clothing because I'll go out on a 2nd or 3rd run for the day. I've never been addicted to working out, but something about this has become a comfort to me so I keep doing it. It helps that it gets my steps up for the constant Fitbit competitions Mom, Dad and I keep doing. :)  I remember when the Fitbit first came out and step counters/heart rate monitors began rising in popularity. I thought it was silly and there was no need. Now I like having a concrete number that tells me how many steps I've taken, an estimation of how far I've traveled on foot, and how many active minutes I had throughout my day. I still don't care for the heart rate monitors, but I wouldn't be surprised if I pick up one in the future. You never know.

Anyways, I think that's a good enough update on my life and all it's happenings. I'm sorry about how long it takes me to get back to you guys in the comments as well as how absent I've been in commenting on your posts! Seriously. Blame my running. Now I need to get my butt in gear working on that collective Lush haul I've been wanting to post! :)

Have you been taking care of your mental and physical wellbeing? How is it going in your corner of the world?