As I sit in a sleepy daze at my desk this morning I am contemplating my week ahead. I don't have a ton of things on my plate, but there is enough to do that I will be kept busy every day. I like to write out a little weekly schedule so that I have a little less anxiety. It is nice to have the visual plan so that I don't feel too overwhelmed if a planned task or fun activity gets missed as I can often find time later in the week to fit it in. This schedule is also where I write down anything I have to do at a certain time that isn't quite as flexible. A few things each week would fall into that category and this week is no different. Asher and I are bringing my car in for an oil change tomorrow, and we will do our weekly grocery shopping afterwards. Instead of being off on Thursday this week, I will be renewing my level 1 first aid certification. It's not mandatory, but I have plans to take the kids to the hockey game Tuesday night, and I have my own hockey game to play on the Thursday night. Many of the things that find their way onto my weekly schedule are there somewhat unnecessarily. No, I am not going to forget completely about my game Thursday night if it isn't written down. What the sheet stops me from doing that had driven me a little mad over the period of my adult life was my habit of continuously going through my mental to do checklist. I would do this all day every day and often it would distract me from enjoying the moment that I am currently in. For example, rather than be racking my brain trying to remember what it is I have to do the next day just that the list exists is enough to stop me from mentally created the list which in turn doesn't allow me to focus and/or enjoy whatever it is I am currently doing.
I can't tell you if my life changes much without "the list" but at this point the habit has become too engrained for me to chance it. I feel out of sorts if that lists isn't written up on the Saturday or Sunday. I am usually overly ambitious when writing the list, and I am proud of myself if at the end of the week the essential things have been done or attended and at least some of the optional things have happened. One of the reasons I started to do this was because I would go through my 3 days off without having done anything really. Nothing had been done that I could point to and say, "See! I did something!" Asher coming along has made me much more of a go getter in my downtime. Gone are the days when I would just zone out on the online poker tables, or watch numerous sporting events all evening only later stopping to wonder where the time went. Don't feel bad for me. I'm not filling my schedule with arduous tasks and endless chores. They are in there too, but the main point of the schedule is to make sure we don't miss Strong Start, or swimming, or skating, or the library, or the hockey game, etc. I also feel quite guilty when I skip things that are for the kids, and the visual browbeating that the schedule provides means that we miss stuff way less often then we might without it. Busy is a good thing, especially when you have a pint sized sidekick that nearly without fail will go along with every idea you come up with. There is really something special about how revered I am by the little guy. I don't want to let him in on the secret and spoil the fun. Let Asher go on thinking that I am really cool.
Despite having a fulfilling life with days consumed by fun and commitments, I still find the time to watch plenty of movies, read fairly regularly, and also to keep up on a handful of sitcoms that Sheila and I both enjoy. I'm going to keep today's post rather brief, leaving off with an unsolicited look into what I have enjoyed this year in the form of movies, television programs and books.
Books I Have Enjoyed This Year
1) Paddle Your Own Canoe (2013) - Nick Offerman
2) The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared (2009) - Jonas Jonasson
3) Looking For Alaska (2005) - John Green
4) The Gambler (1867) - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
5) Trainspotting (1993) - Irving Welsh
6) The Kite Runner (2003) - Khaled Hosseini
7) Will To Live (2011) - Les Stroud
8) The Fault In Our Stars (2012) - John Green
9) The Girl Who Saved The King of Sweden (2013) - Jonas Jonasson
10) Up, Up and Away (2014) - Jonah Keri
11) Poor Folk (1846) - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
12) An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth (2013) - Chris Hadfield
Best Movies of 2014 (In My Humble Opinion)
1) Gone Girl - director David Fincher
2) Chef - director Jon Favreau
3) Snowpiercer - director Bong Joon-Ho
4) Guardians of the Galaxy - director James Gunn
5) The Lego Movie - directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
6) St.Vincent - director Theodore Melfi
7) Big Hero 6 - directors Don Hall and Chris Williams
8) Cold In July - director Jim Mickle
9) X-Men: Days of Future Past - director Bryan Singer
10) Neighbours - director Nicholas Stoller
11) John Wick - director Chad Stahelski
12) Godzilla - director Gareth Edwards
13) Captain America: The Winter Soldier - directors Anthony and Joe Russo
14) How To Train Your Dragon 2 - director Dean DeBlois
15) A Walk Among the Tombstones - director Scott Frank
16) 22 Jump Street - directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
17) The Amazing Spiderman 2 - director Marc Webb
18) 300: Rise of an Empire - director Noam Murro
Movies of 2014 That Sucked (That I Sat Through)
Sin City: A Dame To Kill For
If I Stay
A Million Ways To Die In The West
Lucy
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Albums I Am Currently Listening To
Ed Sheeran - "x"
Omar Souleyman - "Wenu Wenu"
Run the Jewels - "Run the Jewels 2"
Pink Floyd - "The Dark Side of the Moon"
Passenger - "All the Little Lights"
Born Ruffians - "Birthmarks"
Langhorne Slim and the Law - "The Way We Move"
Duck Sauce - "Quack"
Avicii - "True"
Old Crow Medicine Show - "Carry Me Back"
The Steeldrivers - "The Steeldrivers"
Ozomatli - "Ozomatli"
MO - "No Mythologies To Follow"
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 - "Many Things"
Sheppard - "Bombs Away"
Spoek Mathambo - "Father Creeper"
Watsky - "Cardboard Castles"
Weird Al - "Mandatory Fun"
Iggy Azalea - "The New Classic"
Ariana Grande - "My Everything"
2 Chainz - "B.O.A.T.S II: Me Time"
Naughty Boy - "Hotel Cabana"
Mr. Scruff - "Friendly Bacteria"
Meghan Trainor - "Title"
Maroon 5 - "V"
Major Lazer - "Guns Don't Kill People ... Lazers Do"
Lindsey Stirling - "Lindsey Stirling"
Ab-Soul - "These Days..."
Afrojack - "Forget the World"
Alexandra Stan - "Cliche (Hush Hush)"
Amos Lee - "Mission Bell"
Asher Roth - "RetroHash"
Bad Boy Bill - "The Album"
Bastille - "Bad Blood"
Beyonce - "Beyonce"
Booka Shade - "Eve"
Ellie Goulding - "Halcyon Days"
Foster the People - "Supermodel"
Goat - "World Music"
Gotye - "Making Mirrors"
The Grascals - "The Famous Lefty Flynn's"
The Howlin' Brother - "Trouble"
Imagine Dragons - "Night Visions"
Jai Paul - "Jai Paul"
FKA - "Twigs EP2"
Disclosure - "Settle"
Diplo - "Express Yourself"
Die Antwoord - "Donker Mag"
Del Mccoury Band - "The Promised Land"
Daily and Vincent - "Daily and Vincent"
Deadmau5 - "while (1<2)"
Collie Buddz - "On The Rock"
Classified - "Classified"
Eliza Doolittle - "Eliza Doolittle"
K-Os - "BLack on BLonde"
Kaskade - "Atmosphere"
Kidstreet - "Fuh Yeah"
Knife Party - "Haunted House"
Lecrae - "Anomaly"
Lorde - "Pure Heroine"
London Grammar - "If You Wait"
Morcheeba - "Blood Like Lemonade"
Mr. Vegas - "Sweet Jamaica"
This isn't a complete list of my current favorites but all of the listed albums I have listened to recently, and would recommend. My tastes are all over the place, but I tend to listen to upbeat stuff when it fits my mood, and more somber stuff when I am digging it. I'll be back to add more when I have access to my master collection.
Have a great week all! Hi Sheila! and Ed!
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