Day 25 - Quite Random
I'm at work, per usual where I spend my time on my blog. I'm really considering paying for a year of upgraded Bear because I think it'd be so rewarding to connect with others. I don't know how much traction my blog posts would actually get but it'd also be fun to personalize it more to me and be able to add media! (Although I don't know how often I'd really use this feature)
I've been having trouble recently overcoming my fear to go to the gym and not because of the other gym-goers or even the germs (one would think this is my biggest deterrent if you know me at all), but because I have a fear of letting myself down. I haven't been to the gym in quite a few weeks regularly and when I was going on a more regular schedule, I was having bad workout after bad workout. I didn't realize how negatively the bad after bad time would affect my brain and comfortability with going and not expecting the worst. I know it sounds silly but when you're already doing a hard thing and it's gearing towards bad time and time again, it can really begin getting to you. Anyway, I went a couple times last week and both were decent workouts, so I really just need to overcome the doubt and worry and push through it. But this is hard to do right when waking up in the morning when already hardly having enough motivation to muster myself out of bed and it seems like that's about the only time that will be able to work right now.
I also recently have been educating myself on tea / brewing tea and realized that different brewing temperatures affect different variants of tea differently and to avoid a very bitter aftertaste, it's important to brew green vs black vs herbal at different temps. For example, green tea is best brewed at 175-185 Fahrenheit and black tea is best anywhere from 200-212 Fahrenheit. I don't have a tea kettle right now so I can't set my water to any specific temperature while warming it in a pot BUT I do have a food thermometer, so that will do! I'm excited to test this out and see how the flavors are affected. I also know there are some theories surrounding the amount of time the tea leaves are brewed for; thus, I suppose I have more research to do.
On the topic of books, I recently finished Ocean Voung's book titled "On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous" and Phillipe Besson's memoir (or not), "Lie With Me." You can find out how I felt about Voung's book here: Day 24 - No Plot but in regard to "Lie With Me" which was translated by Molly Ringwald, I really enjoyed it but felt there was a lack of depth. Due to the conciseness of the novel, I felt that there lacked character development and I didn't quite feel as much as I was hoping to. I really only felt for the characters on the last page or so which I don't necessarily enjoy. I also felt that Phillipe Besson just felt a bit removed from his characters and story in a sense that it all just felt less emotional than anticipated. I suppose I did have fairly high hopes because of certain reviews I'd seen but in regard to it being a tragic novel, it definitely was but not in a way that truly touched my heart. I do very much appreciate the fact that many speculate this was in fact more of a memoir from Besson and was also dedicated to the real Thomas Andrieu. That specific detail is incredibly touching to me.
Other than that, I don't have all too much to update on. I'm interested in making some seashell crafts because I did find and bring home a decent amount of shells from our last trip. I've come to the realization I don't love seashell decor, however, so I'm half-considering making some crafts as gifts. I found an inspiration picture of a pile of shells (hot-glued together I presume) with a larger shell on top to create a space for a tea light candle or some jewelry even. I thought was a unique shell craft because usually I just see shells in shadow boxes or picture frames which I think are pretty, but just not my thing.