Day 11

I took a break from writing for a few days. I figured there’s no point in sharing when there’s nothing really happening.

A couple of interesting things that have happened over the past few days. I went on a hike around the Twin Peaks in SF. It was about 4 miles which is on the farther side of what my knees can currently handle, but hopefully with more outings it’ll improve. I have to say this was one of the prettiest hikes I’ve been on. A blanket of fog was draped across the entire city. And for a a solid mile I was walking in a cloud.

I “accidentally” took a wrong turn and found myself face to face with a coyote. Suffice to say, I ran out of there as fast as I could (I was far away enough).

This week I also cooked myself one of my favorite foods, chicken florentine. I added a side of blanched greenbeans and added mushroom to the sauce. Gosh it is so good. Also look how insanely ripe this mango is!!! I’ve never seen anything like it.

Compared to last week my 15 minute commute by bike has gotten substantially easier. I swear I have not been this active in years. I realized that I probably was not eating enough calories to sustain myself so I upped my food prep for this week.

I’m proud of myself because over the weekend I finished a first draft of a conference paper I’m publishing with my PI. It was painful to put the words on the page but I did it. Now it’s a matter of refining what is already there.

I got myself a visiting library card for the San Francisco library. I was looking forward to this visit since I found out about it. Their ebook library is huge compared to Connecticut’s. Plus I had 0 room for books in my luggage so going to the library is a must.

This week I’ve been reading Ultralearning by Scott Young. I’ve had this on my virtual bookshelf for years. Sometimes I feel that every book has its time. And every now and then that means a book gathers dust for years on end, but when I do pull it out, I’m much more receptive to its wisdom.

I got a couple of other books that I’m planning on reading soon.

• Meditations for Mortal by Oliver Burke
• Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
• 6 Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
• Secular Meditation: 32 Practices for Cultivating Inner Peace, Compassion, and Joy by Rick Heller