Day Three - Sucess!

I'm starting to see some success in my Wii Workouts. I couldn't believe when I did the standing knee pose that I got 100 pts on my balance. I felt pretty successful, since a four days ago I couldn't get anything over 80 pts. It was a great feeling. Even though I took a rest from it yesterday, I think exercising everyday that I'm able to is really going to strengthen my posture and my wrists. I'm noticing less pain after typing for long periods of time, and I'm noticing my stamina is starting to improve.

I know four days isn't a big successful achievement, but doing an hour every day for that long is a lot more than I've ever done. I've never felt a real motivation until I started realizing that a hurt wrist and bad posture means early retirement for court reporters in the profession, and never reaching that big 200 WPM goal for students. I even added some Wii Bowling and Donkey Kong bongos in as a reward. The Donkey Kong racing really takes the wind out of me. Its harder than it looks.

I don't have as much time to blog since I need to hop in the shower. My mother and I are going to head down to Target, and nobody wants to smell my after-workout pits. ...Sorry, excuse the image.

I'll come back and write more later after practicing on my machine.

Day Two - Exhausted

I'm absolutely exhausted right now. Last night my area of the valley got up to 50 MPH winds, and I couldn't get a wink of sleep. I decided to read to see if that would calm my mind down enough and it didn't. At 1 AM in the morning the power went off and stayed off until the morning. It was wonderful stumbling around in the dark a few times. I thought about writing another blog entry during this time, but even though I have a netbook I depend on the family router and WIFI.

I'm getting ready to get into practicing at the machine after a weekend off, but part of me wants to take a nap. I'll probably practice getting some weak spots out of my writing and take a nap then. Sometimes after writing for a while you wake up and those concepts are drilled in. I probably got less than 3-4 hours of sleep though last night due to the wind and extreme noise, so I'm just going to write from hardcopy. I still have my theory book, and I'm planning on keeping it for a while.

I'm going to write from my book and try to get perfects all the way down the sentences I choose. If I don't get them perfect I'm going to start all over again. No more miss and go with the asterisk key; I'm a bit trigger happy when it comes to fixing my errors. I should be depending on getting it right the first time. When I get a set of perfects I'm going to print them out and stick them in a binder. Later on I can go back and read the steno.

I'll probably read the perfect steno sheets on our trip Thursday. We're heading out to Monterey to have a nice family lunch. I'm looking forward to eating some smoked salmon, or some yummy clam chowder. The weather is supposed to be a bit cold, so I'm going to dress warm and hope for the best. Wish me luck.

As for exercising I'm going to give it a beak just for today because my body is just too tired from last night being so insomnia stricken. I'll start back up tomorrow, unless somehow I get a second wind. I doubt I will. 

Nev'a-After Theory

So I'm Nev, and I've finally passed through six months of court reporting theory. I am looking forward to getting ahead with my 60-80 class. I am already getting into 80 WPM takes. I have spring break away from school, and I'm starting to notice some fatigue in my wrists and in my body. I know its bad, and I need a new direction to keep myself going and to prevent burnout. I started watching some videos on MSN the other day, and this one (clicky) really piqued my interest. It gave some pointers for those who truly want success such as I do in the court reporting profession.

"You know how good it feels when you devote your energy to the things you care about, but in order to keep doing everything that matters to you it’s essential that you care for yourself first." ~ Anna Lappe

"The first key is recognition: Check in with your body. How are you feeling? How is your stomach, are there butterflies? How is your anxiety level, do you feel peaceful? If you say no, that you're off the edge, you better do something about it right away. The first step is to check your priorities. Are you giving away time to things that don't matter? Have you left time for things that are important?" ~ Joan Borysenko

"The second thing is friendship. Most of the data on stress reduction shows that we are the medicine for each other...or pets. I've got a couple of dogs even when friends are nowhere to be found if I pet them those dogs my brain hormones change and the stress level goes down." ~ Joan Borysenko

"...The third thing, its gratitude! Can you imagine if you just got up in the morning and list five things you're grateful for, or before bed you think of one thing you're grateful for that you never really thought much about before. It actually reduces your stress, it improves your immune function, and it makes you more motivated for success. ~ Joan Borysenko

"Centering and Meditation is very important for preventing burnout. Whether you sit and meditate, or do yoga or Qi Gong, it brings you into the present moment so you can let go of fear and worry." ~ Joan Borysenko

"Diet and Exercise, you have to eat right and exercise. Nine servings of fruits and vegetables, and lots of whole grains, will change your body chemistry and put you in a much better mood. And exercise is practically a <unknown>, I can tell you that the Joan who goes out for a bike ride, and the woman who comes back are two totally different people. All my cares disappear." ~ Joan Borysenko

I decided to follow these five pointers in my goal to reach 200 WPM in our class. I'm hoping that by including these in my studies I'm going to start improving myself and getting closer to my goals. I have been especially neglecting  myself and my health, so exercising will be a must through this. I'm probably going to get my Wii Fit out again, which is terribly cheesy, but its a good fun start and it has a timer to keep track of how much time you've spent on it. I think by spending an hour on the Wii and its Yoga/Strength exercises, four hours on my machine doing various activities, and focusing an hour a day on writing this blog will help me improve and get myself back in better focus. Hopefully it works, and wish me luck.