The Paradox of Work for a Creative Person.

I hoped to do some more outlining on Karen's comic on the weekend. I got no drawing at all done, but instead read a library book: The Coming First World Debt Crisis (all about how a global economy built on debt is immoral and unsustainable—published 2006, just before the GFC credit crunch, so quite prophetic also).

Which just goes to show that whatever you do for your job is "work", and anything else is a pleasant distraction.

Nocturnal leg cramps

Twice in the recent past, I've woken up from my sleep with these incredibly painful leg cramps in my calves. The first incident was pretty bad, bad enough to make me groan aloud in pain. The second incident didn't last as long, thankfully. Both times, I think it's just affected my left calf, but I'm half asleep at the time so I'm not too sure.

I wondered if it was caused by me not stretching enough (I usually don't stretch after my weekday runs, but I try to on the weekend).

With good ol' Google to the rescue, I tried to pinpoint the cause. Basically, no-one knows what causes them, but there are certain factors.

I ruled out mineral deficiencies because I eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegies, and I take a multivitamin and mineral supplement. I'm definitely not pregnant (you can trust me on this one). It could be over-exertion (but I do take a rest day from exercise once a week). I think it is more likely dehydration, because I often wake up thirsty (to the point my lips are cracked).

So to prevent nocturnal leg cramps, I will:

• continue to eat lots of fresh fruit and vegies (I'm eating all the stuff websites recommend anyway, such as bananas, oranges, tomatoes etc)

• drink lots of water before bed (downside: will have to get up in the middle of the night to attend to the call of nature)

• Stretch my calves before I sleep.
  

One website did suggest that those who are more muscular seem to have more leg cramps. Woot! I'll take that to mean I'm more muscular now than when I didn't have nocturnal leg cramps!

On a more serious note, I hope it's not a sign of something dire.

Two new series on jelssie

For those of you who haven't seen me in a while or don't read my personal blog, I joined Jenny Craig right before Christmas last year because I knew I had to lose weight. And I have. And I've got a few kgs to go.

When I first started, it was all about losing the weight. But now, I've realised it's more than just that. It is committing to a healthy lifestyle and all that it entails. So even though much of what I want to say relates to weight loss, I am careful in how I use that phrase because:

1. In my case, it's not just weight loss, but fat loss that I'm really after.


2. I want to remind myself it's not just about the weight, but about being healthy in mind and body, and how that makes you feel.

I've learnt a lot during the whole process and I'd like to share with you some of those things. I was most surprised by how much mental stuff and mental change goes on when you're committing to a healthier lifestyle change. I introduce to you, the two new series:

Fight the binge!

The first series I am calling Fight the binge! As I examined why I was living an unhealthy life, I learnt that I have a tendency to compulsively overeat or binge eat. Here I want to share the mental changes I'm making in this area.

Healthy Life/Mental Changes

In this series, I want to talk about the mental changes I needed to make to reach my goal of being healthy.

These two may overlap at times. I hope the things I share will be helpful!

Procrastivation.

I think I have previously mentioned "Productive Procrastination", when you get really productive and do a whole lot of little things you have been putting of for ages, as a way of procrastinating away from something else. Procrastivation goes one step further.

I spent most of Saturday afternoon not studying for my PTC exam, but instead hanging up pictures and other hooks, fixing my curtain rail, washing and packing my new tupperware, washing and storing away summer clothes and other chores. Finally I thought "I should go for a jog." Ah-hah! At this point, I realised that I didn't really want to go for a jog, and I became more motivated to study—I used PTC study to procrastinate away from jogging! I used one nasty job as procrastivation to do another another nasty job!

KESC 12 - GOLDEN TOWER!!!

Hooray! our time has come! 6.15 pm on Friday 4th June, at the delightful Golden Tower. We might sing happy birthday to jelssie, to mark our first anniversary of blogging.

Why I don't buy a drink.

I like water. It is free, functional and fluoridated. It is zero calorie. What better drink is there? Green tea comes a close second for health, chai latte is my latest obsession for yummy. But water is the best.

I always feel a bit pov when I ask for water at a restaurant, because it makes me look stingy and unadventurous, like I'm too cheap and I'm not gourmet enough to buy a glass of wine or a bubble tea. That's partly true, but also water is the best.

Here is a blog I found where someone compares the worst non-water drinks. Given the choice between a bottle of sunkist and 6 ice-cream sandwich oreos, get me a glass of water and I'll eat those oreos. That's what it's all about! Value for calorie intake. Delicousness and Nutritiousness per calorie. I like to EAT my sugar and fat. Beware the empty calories, and drink water.

On wearing gumboots

It never ceases to amuse me how many comments I get when I wear my gumboots on a rainy day (granted, they are bright pink and that's probably where most of the comments stem from). To me, it seems like the most logical, practical thing to do on a rainy day, especially if you dislike cold, wet feet (which I assume most people would, but hey, you never know).

Sydney isn't a very rainy city (except for one week in winter), but when it is, most people resort to umbrellas. They don't think about their feet. The only people who wear gumboots seem to be little kids or employees at your local fishmongers.

Gumboots not widely available either. Sure you can get them seasonally at the department stores, but they tend to be a fashion item rather than practical rainwear.

Here are my tips for buying gumboots:

• If you want practical, sturdy, less likely to slip and leak gumboots, go to a proper shoe store or camping disposal store. My pair are Bata Shoes. I bought them from a shoe shop in Katoomba for about $30. This is a fantastic price for a great product and I wear them whenever it rains
  

• If you're after fashion, I think you will tend to find a lower quality product at the cheaper department stores. I don't know what they're like at Myer or DJs. I bought my first adult gumboots from Billabong. Never again. Honestly. What would a surf brand know about gumboots? Mine leaked and cracked. I got wet feet from them, and they were a bit slippery. I chucked them out in Katoomba right after I bought the pink ones.
  

• Think about how you want to wear them. Do you want to be able to tuck your pants into them? If so, make sure you pick on that is wide enough for your calves and pants. Do you want to be able to splash in puddles? Perhaps pick calf high ones over ankle ones.
  

My tips for wearing gumboots:

• Check the forecast for the day. If there's a possibility of warmer or sunny weather later on in the day, it is worth carrying a pair of flats. You feel like such a fool for wearing gumboots if it's hot and sunny in the afternoon.
  

• If you're wearing them to and from work, make sure you have a pair of shoes to change into at work. Gumboots retain heat so your feet can get hot and sweaty if you wear them all day.

• You may wish to put comfortable lining in the sole if you plan to trudge around in your gumboots a lot.

How to beat cravings. mmmmm.

Apparently cravings are visual. When you crave pie, you imagine pie and you physically want some pie. Some psych study or other has just proven that if you stop imagining pie and visualise a rainbow or something, the physical craving disappears! (Whereas hunger is not visual; you can be hungry and not crave anything.)

I had an opportunity to put this into practise on Anna. I waved some pear and raspberry bread at her at lunch time. 2 hours later, she was craving it. I helpfully suggested she imagine tulips, bay windows, or deserts. In the end, she got the song 'My favourite things' stuck in her head, and that flood of images distracted her pretty effectively.

A gentleman would

Upon hearing a lady ponder about braving the pouring rain and gusty winds in order to fetch a skim chai latte 20m across the road, a gentleman would offer to complete the task for the lady. Should the lady accept the offer, the gentleman will keep his word and fight the weather for the latte.

Such a gentleman is my boss :)

Watch out for the milk!

Me: "Ooh! There's milk in the fridge!"

J (not Jess): "Oh no, don't have it! It's expired."

Me: "Oh, you are a true friend."

A true friend will tell you the milk has expired before you drink it to your detriment.

Assertiveness

It is our pleasure to introduce Georgina in her first guest post for jelssie, on the topic of assertiveness. Over to George!

My Jelssie friends, some confuse assertiveness as always getting your own way. But it is no such thing. Assertiveness is politely, with appropriate tone, stating your own position, so that either a compromise or some form of decision can be reached.

I would like to show you the assertiveness progressive line:

Passive aggressiveness>>>>>>>>>>>Assertiveness>>>>>>>>>>Aggressiveness

You can see that on the left is passive aggressiveness. For example, you are upset that you were left to clean up after church after everyone else left. You say on facebook: "Grumpy because I had to clean up by myself". Do you see how this is stating your position, but it is being the victim? "Ah, poor me, so hard done by". And it's not likely to help next time. The people who you are aiming at reading your post will simply get grumpy at you, after feeling guilty (if they're not sociopathic, that is).

The opposite end of the scale is aggressiveness. You may yell directly at someone, as I am prone to do, when you're grumpy because they never clean up, and the house is always a mess. This is also a mistake. Not only does it affect your relationship in a bad way, you look ill-mannered and nasty. Not what a Jelssie reader wants.

In the middle is assertiveness: Stating your position politely, without blame, and asking for change.

Instead of on Facebook (passive aggression) or yelling (aggression), you state:

"I feel upset when I clean up by myself after (event). I would like you to help me next time". The key elements are the I statement: "I feel (feeling) because (behaviour you are unhappy with) and finally what you'd like to change.

A final example happened to me 2 years ago. I went to the hairdresser and asked for them to lighten my nearly black hair. They said it would take several hours, but that I would end up with lighter brown hair. After 6 hours in the chair, 3 bleachings, my hair was orange - burnt orange. Then they coloured it, twice, with the brown dye and it was still orange - slightly brown orange. I had to go to a wedding, and I'd been there for so long, that when they said "Do you like it?" I said "Yes". (Passive aggression, because inside I was seething).

I went to the wedding with this awful hair, and the next day woke up and looked in the mirror. I was so angry and frustrated that I wanted to yell and scream and go and inflict bodily violence on the hairdresser, because after 6 hours, and $300 (!!) the hair was awful. (This would be aggression my friends). Instead, I rang up the hairdresser, and I said "I was in yesterday. I am not happy with my hair. It is orange." They said come in, and they fixed it (another 2 dyes). That is assertiveness.

FYI: FYE

Most of us are familiar with FYI (for your information). But sometimes, we like to share little snippets of info to encourage each other. So I propose a new acronym:

FYE

For Your Encouragement!

You could use it this way e.g. "FYE: Susan thought your sermon was an absolute ripper on Sunday. She found xyz particularly striking".

So take FYE into the world and encourage people!

Roll up for travelling.

Here is a very useful method for space-saving in suitcases, or drawers and closets or storage bags, etc.

Instead of folding towels, and stacking them in my shelf, I fold them in half lengthwise and then roll them up. Laziness? Yes, but also more efficient when you need to pull one out, you don't have to lift the whole pile.

When I pack my backpack for a weekend, I also sometimes roll my clothes - to prevent fold lines, mostly, and it is very quick.

Well, here is a tutorial on how to pack a carry-on bag for 10 days away. Aside from the fact that nobody needs that many swim-suits, her technique is amazing. She fits an extra 30% in with rolling compared to folding. I've seen this article linked in a few places and I think we all need to give it a burl for our next holidays!

KESC 11 review: Tea Inn

Despite our love of Eat Street Challenge, there was a lack of enthusiasm about Tea Inn leading up to last Friday. Everyone has been there, we know all the food tastes the same despite all the MSG, it's a cheap fill with asian movies on the TVs, and the restaurant is like a cafeteria, blue and yellow.

Having low expectations, five challengers met just after 6pm and examined the ENORMOUS menu. There are 700 or so things to choose from. Jess ordered shan dong chicken and dumplings and Elsie ordered seafood noodles, and Jess K, Sharon and George got a 3 person banquet. The banquet is, unlike most banquets, very good value, with bubble drinks and steamed veg, and the chosen meals: honey chicken, beef black bean and shan dong.The food was actually quite nice! Not the best in town (there were little bits of broken bone in my shan dong, and it was not garlicy enough), but not as bad as I remembered in the past. There is a lot of it, and it's still pretty cheap. The banquet is an excellent feed and was around $11 each. The mains are about the same price, and you can save half for leftovers.

It was a solid 3.5 out of 5. We reckon a lazy susan wouldn't go astray.

From the email archives.

From: Jess Green

Sent: Thursday, 7 May 2009 11:58 AM

To: Elsie; Anna

Subject: "I want diversion!"

I complained to Anna just this morning.

And then I read this on Challies (while having a little diversion break after briefing ads.)

"The compulsive search for diversion is often an attempt to escape the wretchedness of life. We have great difficulty being quiet in our rooms. … Cyberspace may be the greatest temptation yet offered to humanity to lose its soul in diversion." This was written 12 years ago. Before even Twitter and "ambient awareness".

Oh no! I knew there was some underlying danger and I was about to form a theory, but this guy beat me to putting it into words.

[from the days before jelssie, when all our profoundness was in private emails. jelssie turns 1 year old tomorrow!]

How to restore power after a blackout

The power went out this morning, as I pottered around, preparing for my day. For the whole of my life, whenever we've had a blackout or power's been gone, I've always just waited for it to come back on again.

My flatmate emerged from her room and flicked some switches on the mains/switchboard (whatever it's called) and power was restored.

Oh. my. goodness. Is that how you restore power? How can I be nearly 30 years old and not know this? I do have some vague recollection of flicking switches on the switchboard when I lived in Cracks on Kennedy, but I can't remember what for.

This is another reason why it's good to live with people other than family: you learn stuff!

Raw vegies not your ideal snack?

When you're thinking of a healthy snack, you can't go past raw vegetables. But I have always disliked the idea of eating raw carrot or celery sticks as a snack. Partly because I've always preferred a carb option (or a fatty option!) over a vegie option, but I suspect it's mainly to do with my Chinese upbringing.

You see, I never grew up eating raw vegetables unless it was part of a sandwich filling or it was mung bean sprouts plonked on top of a bowl of steaming noodle soup. I distinctly remember as a primary school kid and even as a uni student being amazed by people who would eat tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers raw and whole. As a snack. It weirded me out.

Thankfully my palate has changed somewhat and I am able to enjoy raw vegies outside of a sandwich e.g. sugar snap peas, mini roma or grape tomatoes. They do make a great and affordable finger food with yummy dips and spreads.

So if raw vegies as a snack aren't your thing, but you still want a healthy snack, I have an unremarkable suggestion: cook 'em. Sounds pretty obvious doesn't it? The idea came to me as I came home after work one evening, ravenous (actually, that sounds like most evenings), ready to devour something, anything! before dinner was ready. There were some cold roasted vegies in the fridge and to my surprised, they tasted quite good cold. There's no way I would have eaten raw vegies as a snack instead (not without a main meal) - that just doesn't appeal to me. But cooked vegies? Yum! To me, even cold, steamed broccoli tastes great. Way better than raw. Plus cooked vegies are more braces friendly.

If you have a sandwich press, you can also cook your vegies on that. I've cooked carrots this way, with baking paper covering the cooking plates, and they are delicious.



So if you're put off by the idea of raw vegies as a snack, I still say give it a go. You might like them after a while. But if it's not working for you, try cooked vegies instead.

How to dry your wet sneakers

Emma and I were chuffed to be part of Carl's autumn beach run at North Cronulla this morning. Conditions were great, and the ocean breeze was warm (you should join us next time!).

However, we got wet sneakers in the process. I mentioned to her how I'd have to use the hairdryer to dry my sneakers before my run tomorrow morning. She told me to stuff my sneakers with scrunched up newspaper instead. The newspaper absorbs the water from the sneakers. What a great way to save on electricity. I'd suggest you change the newspaper on a regular basis (maybe hourly?), so you can be constantly absorbing the moisture from your sneakers.

If you don't have the time, go the hairdryer. Of course, a hot, sunny day would be ideal to dry your sneakers, but if you got them wet outdoors, it's likely to have been a rainy day.

Cheater's kimchi

I don't know about you but I go through food waves, where I just want to eat a particular dish or food all the time. In the past, it's been smoked salmon and fresh white bread sandwiches, or I've wanted Hainan chicken rice or sashimi/sushi every time I've eaten out. Lately, it's been kimchi and eggplant. I don't know what it is, but I want to eat both of it, a lot.

Kimchi is a great winter food. Sure it's cold, pickled vegies, but the heat from the spiciness really warms you up. Plus, since it's vegies, it's a lot healthier for you than Nigella's chocohotopots as a winter comfort food (though the occasional Nigella dessert wouldn't go astray).



If I were Korean, I'd probably make my own, but as it is, I buy it for $5 per 550g tub. Considering I can finish a tub in four days, this starts to become a treat food at this speed of eating.

Perhaps I am going about eating kimchi the wrong way. Instead of eating it straight, perhaps I should eat it the way I consume cordial or apple juice: diluted. I could extend the kimchi by steaming or stir-frying plain Chinese vegies such as Chinese cabbage or choy sum, and make my cheater's kimchi with a ratio of 50:50 real kimchi and plain vegies. Kimchi is pretty strong stuff anyway, so adding a few plain vegies will extend it a bit and help me get more bang for my kimchi buck.

Old dog. New tricks.

If one describes oneself as an old dog unable to learn new tricks, don't be fooled. Don't underestimate such a person. That person's bag of tricks may be impressive enough.