The experiment continues

[clevermanka]

The headline to the article is ridiculous because GIFs are already a language as far as I'm concerned (and I know I'm not alone), but this article about a project on GIFs at MIT is pretty fucking cool. Thanks, redheadfae for the link! Perhaps alas, I didn't find the actual survey very interesting. The emotions/reactions I got (shame, relief, pride) didn't match at all with most of the gifs I was shown, so I kept clicking the "neither" option. Not very exciting. I got bored. It was fun to see the different gif options, though.

I know a few different people who are trying to incorporate some sort of mindfulness/meditation techniques. Here's an article that has six quick and simple exercises on mindfulness. I especially like the one that focuses on a natural object. Maybe I need to get a fake plant of something in my office. I would love to have some of those teensy little succulents but I'm pretty sure they require some real sunlight. Oh, hey, maybe my salt lamp would work!

After hearing my complaints yesterday, Dr. Khosh said to resume the progesterone supplement. I took my first dose as soon as I got home last night. Let's hope I see the results as quickly as I did last time. My sleep is actually getting worse. Couldn't fall asleep until well after 11:00 last night, woke at 3:00, and slept only fitfully until 6:00. I got up, intending to call in sick to work, but couldn't find my phone. The twenty minutes of rummaging around downstairs woke me up sufficiently to just go ahead and get dressed.



My inability to fall asleep was especially frustrating because I skipped the gym last night because I was so tired I had concerns about my ability to safely throw weights around. I forced myself to stay awake until 9:30, but then as soon as I lay down, bang! Wide awake. I'm so tired I can't sleep. This happens after I reach a certain level of insomnia and it's a major bummer.

I'm keeping up with the kettlebell challenge, though, and they're getting easier. This morning I did my first 100 in sets of thirty. And that's with the 35lb bell! At work I can do fifty swings in a row with the 20lb bell. I still space them out because doing fifty every hour will wear me out. But if I'm feeling particularly spunky, sometimes I'll do fifty instead of twenty-five and just not count the extras. Yesterday was my first day to successfully eat a tad more than normal, too. So I'm seeing progress in some areas. I TAKE MY VICTORIES WHEN I CAN.

Speaking of victory, I'm gonna leave you with this image I saw on Tumblr.



You're welcome.

Comments

[1-rhiannon-1.livejournal.com]

Oh damn, that's not happy! I really hope you get results PDQ so you can get some sleep! This not sleeping well thing is not ok :(

I agree - GIFs are already a language. They express so much that mere words can't!

Hooray for making progress in the kettle bell challenge!! Woot!!

OK that pic is kinda adorable :D

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

OK that pic is kinda adorable :D

ISN'T IT JUST?

I love wiener dogs. I'd never own one (or, really, any dog), but god it makes me happy just to look at them.

And I really hope you get some sleep soon, too, bb.

[sherwood21.livejournal.com]

1) GO YOU. You are so awesome for getting better at your kettlebell swings!! And I'm so glad you're being able to eat better!

2) I am sorry for the insomnia. I hope the supplement helps you get some decent rest. :(

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Thanks, bb! And lookit that, it's almost time to eat again!

[kazoogrrl.livejournal.com]

You just reminded me that in a dream the other night I was mad because someone used my salt lamp as a candle holder and it was full of wax. In real life I don't own a salt lamp.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I got mine for xmas! One for home, and one for my office. I have my reservations about the actual health benefit claims, but they sure are pretty.

[kazoogrrl.livejournal.com]

Do you have an example of yours? I follow this boho home blog and now I want one for diffuse accent lighting.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Mine look like this (http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/p/wbm-himalayan-ionic-crystal-salt-lamp-5-7lbs-1-lamp/bw-1018?sourceType=sc&source=FG&adGroup=40-60&keyword=BW-1018&cm_mmc=Google+Shopping-_-Product+Listing+Ads-_-40-60-_-BW-1018&gclid=CIOSiu-Mkr0CFUcV7Aod81QATQ&gclsrc=aw.ds#.UyL_84Wi3To).

[kazoogrrl.livejournal.com]

Nice, thanks!

Re: too tired to sleep

[kazoogrrl.livejournal.com]

You are obviously turning into a toddler. ;)

Re: too tired to sleep

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Or a peri-menopausal woman.

Re: too tired to sleep

[kazoogrrl.livejournal.com]

This is what I have to look forward to.

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

Sleep issues suck. This is what I get for all that "time for sleep in the grave" bravado when I was younger.

I'm glad I found you a fun site. :)
Me, too.. gifs for disgust did not express disgust at all, closest they got is portraying things that ARE disgusting.

I'm sending that pic to at least two doxie-owners I know.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

This is what I get for all that "time for sleep in the grave" bravado when I was younger

Ha! Better than being cursed with kids just like you, eh?

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

Preach it, sistah.

Hm,.. there's a thought.. is this what we get for not enduring the "baby awake/loss of sleep"?

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I don't think so. My mom says she doesn't know a single post-menopausal woman who has regular sleep. Child-free or no.

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

:(

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

I'll look forward to reading that article and blissing out on communication codes and such. I think GIFs are a way of communicating through visual metaphors. Did you ever watch Star Trek: The Next Generation? There was an episode where they encountered a race that communicated entirely through metaphor. Saying something such as, "like Darmok and Jalad at Tenegra," pre-populates in the minds of people acquainted with the metaphor all sorts of things -- the situation, tensions, actions taken, outcomes achieved, historical judgments, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmok

This is what GIFs remind me of, because it's a shared vocabulary within the culture of a fandom. Like, if a person hasn't ever seen Thor and doesn't know about the character of Loki and how Tom Hiddleston has embraced it, then the GIF of him hanging out the window of that limo means very little. And if you don't read Hyperbole and a Half, then "GIF all the things!" doesn't carry the same weight. But I'm overanalyzing now, and that's the sort of geek I am.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

I did that? RAWK.

A quote from the article: A quote from the article: Without knowing the stories behind the metaphors, the Tamarian language remains indecipherable.

[djangodurango.livejournal.com]

We have a new sales director in our office now. We are a computer repair company and supposedly he has years of experience not only selling computer services, but also running them himself.

And yet somehow, he had no idea what a .gif was.

Or rather, he knew what they were in 1996.

He was completely ignorant of the greater quality of .gifs since the days of people linking their email addresses through jerky, three frame animations. He had no idea that .gifs were so easy to make now, at such good qualities, that people would chop up entire scenes from movies just to post them on Tumblr. And of course he has no clue about people using images at all, let alone .gifs as prevalently in communication these days.

"The file sizes are so large!" you see. ".gif's just slow webpages down and annoy users!"



A man who supposedly worked all his life in computers had no clue that there had been advances in the technology of animated .gifs over the last 15 years.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

A man who supposedly worked all his life in computers had no clue that there had been advances in the technology of animated .gifs over the last 15 years.

Ya know? If I'm honest (and when am I not honest), this surprises me not at all. There are few people stodgier and less apt to acknowledge change than the people who've been in an industry/subculture/whatever for most of their lives.

Also? Totally adding that GIF to my reaction folder. Edit: I titled it "sideshow side-eye."

[pointoforigin.livejournal.com]

.gifs are a really cool way of adding body/face language back into text-dominated communication. Buut that's not why I love them. ; )

An army of dachshunds shall never be defeated! Nor shall you, as long as your kettlebells o' victory are swinging!

I hope the progesterone helps.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure it's already helping. I've had seven hours of sleep two nights in a row since I started taking it again.