Microwaveable (or Microwavable?) Fish

That's right. This morning I woke up and, like the true Japanese that I am, had microwaveable fish. You just take the plastic tray with the saran wrap and nuke it for two minutes. And there you have it, a nicely golden, fully-flavored fish. For convenience, you've really gotta hand it to them Japanese food scientists.

[Actually I'd meant to have it for dinner last night, but I forgot to defrost it. And it's got two servings! So I'm having some for lunch before my Chinese final (for which I should be studying).]

Last night and the night before I fell asleep on my couch and woke up in the middle of the night just to move to my bed. Man, this unproductivity business is blowing my mind...

[Photo: Is there fish in Lake Ontario?]

The Art of Sleep

I have been sleeping in a bed consistently since the night of Thursday, March 15. I don't remember about the night of the 14th. I might have slept in a bed that night, but it's too long ago now for me to recall.

For a while at the beginning of the quarter (and even last quarter) I was doing all right with treating my body well—good sleep, good food, good exercise. (OK, well, that third one might be a fib.) But then my time management skills that I was attempting to develop shriveled, after which I had to throw them out the window. Hence, many nights spent sleeping on my comfy couch instead of in my even comfier bed.

But I have to be honest: I'm not young any more. I can't live like I used to live when I was an undergrad, falling asleep on my futon (rather than in bed) with my door open, my residents wondering whether they should wake me up or close my door. (They really were a considerate bunch.) I have to actually sleep more comfortably to get good sleep, so that I am energized and refreshed to start work again in the morning. Ah, the predicaments of aging—need for labor (?) without the able body (?) to produce it.

And of course it's not just sleep. I have to get back into my cooking routine, so that I don't use my lack of time as an excuse to eat like I am on an episode of Chopped every night. (Actually, if I even get around to playing the Chopped game, rather than making do with whatever is lying around, that is one of the better nights.)

And whereas my walking and almost-regular stretching don't hurt, I probably should make sure that my bones don't crumble in the next six years or so. More calcium, more strengthening. Time is always, always ticking...and I suppose, with our (healthy) bodies the only things we have to live by, we have to take as good care of them as we can.

[A side alley in Downtown Toronto...it was foggy, and the setting sun was eerily brilliant...]

Neck pain...

I am starting to believe that maintaining the right posture will enable me to make productive use of my time. I am also starting to believe that it will make my neck pain go away.

I'm trying to make better use of my time this year, though so far it's been a real hit-or-miss. But last night I stayed on campus until about 7 PM (on a Friday!)...now, that seems like a relatively productive thing to do, don't you?

Of course, it doesn't help that I was sitting in my office crying because I was watching an incredibly moving movie (no pun intended) on which I have to write a composition for my Korean class. Though now I wished that I had watched it with subtitles...

But really, what counts as productive use of time? If I work all day and not play at all, is that productive? If I read all day but don't produce a single word of writing, is that unproductive? Ah, the standards of measurement...

Yesterday as I walked to school, I really felt like Spring was starting. I did! The air really did feel that way. I even took a picture of a tree on my way to school because I looked up and saw how pretty it was. (It was much prettier in real life...) But I can argue that stopping in my tracks and looking up at the sky is an unproductive use of time...because I could be getting to school faster and producing more work (whatever that means). But...being caught by surprise by something beautiful that had, in fact, always been there...isn't that the real productive use of time?

[I really do think that sitting at the table to maintain a good posture will prevent me from falling asleep (like I do on the couch)...so yes, posture = productivity.]