I'm really happy with how my schedule is right now. Its taken a long time, but I've finally created enough structure in my life to be comfortable with not having a regular daily schedule. Prior to this I often had a hard time figuring out what to do with myself and got depressed as a result.

My coaching client calls are condensed to Mon/Wed during the day and Tues evening, instead of being spread out with one call here and there over the week. I'm doing one practice triad with other coaches/week on Tues or Thurs, getting together with friends for computer work days for a few hours a week, watching Tovar during a lot of the time that isn't scheduled, and since I don't have firm commitments Fri/Sat/Sun,its easy for me to get away for things like the coaching and Sofia workshops occasionally.

My schedule will get fuller shortly. I'm doing my last bit of school work for Support Network on Friday, so I'll be allowed to start sitting in on calls after that, preparing to take over a phone line on my own as soon as I feel comfortable to do so. My intent is to take two three hour shifts/week: one on Tuesday and one on Thursday.

My exercise schedule is filling out too. I'm seeing a personal trainer once/week, going to start weekly yoga classes, going swimming once/week with laughingstone, and I'm checking out a belly dancing class next week: At the yoga retreat we were all dancing around at the end of it, and Sofia thought that I had a natural gift for belly dancing and that it would make a great yoga for me.

My new personal trainer works entirely on the floor, as opposed to my first trainer, who mostly had me on machines. I'm liking this a lot better, although to be fair, my first trainer had a lot less options since my knees were worse before the surgery. Which reminds me that my knees do seem to have gotten better! They still don't like things like stairs or biking, but I haven't noticed them getting irritated without instigation lately.

My sleep has been amazingly awesome lately. I recently started on the ADHD drug Provigil. The main effect it has is to make me more alert. When I first starting taking it I freaked out because I thought it was making me manic: sleeping less is a classic symptom for me. However, I experimented with getting off and on of Provigil, and it was consistent that I went back to sleeping a normal amount when off of it, as opposed to mania, which ramps up steadily with less and less sleep.

So once I was pretty sure that Provigil wasn't causing mania, I started taking it daily, as the psychiatrist recommended. I've been sleeping about 6 to 8.5 hrs/night since then, as opposed to my classic 9.5 hrs, and I've been more alert during my waking time. My theory is that since I'm more awake during the day, I'm sleeping more solidly when I do sleep now, and therefore need less of it.

We'll see, the experiment hasn't been going on long enough that this sleep stuff isn't just a fluke, I've gotten excited about thinking my sleep schedule had improved before, and nothing has stuck prior to this. I'm excited because even an hour more/day is a huge deal, plus being more functional during the whole day. The other thing that could go wrong is that I'll probably build up a tolerance, making these great effects might go away with time.

He transferred clubs from Sunnyvale to Mountain View. It was a no brainer for me to switch, because he's an awesome trainer. I asked him how many of his other clients switched over with him, and he said all of them. Now that's loyalty!

I've been gradually losing weight, I think I've lost about 9lbs since starting in November. Which is pretty good given that I haven't really modified my diet much. I think I might have gained back some weight over these past couple of weeks with getting back on Risperdal and the 4th of July holiday goodies, but I seem to be back on track now :)

I believe that this upcoming year has a theme for me: uncovering.

I recently started both personal therapy and with a personal trainer. Both estimated about a year for getting in shape. And in both cases, I feel as though my goals are to get rid of excess. I'm finding that happiness comes from digging through and getting rid of the crap covering up my ability to be happy, in the buddhist sense. And, I'm aiming to lose roughly 40lbs of weight to uncover a healthier happier body.

xleste's moving out also felt like it was marking an end of an era today. Patri and I checked it out, and counted that she stayed with us for roughly nine months. That time was a huge period of growth for both she and I. It felt like we were partners, and I loved how we would talk. She also saw and supported me in ideas where I otherwise felt I was alone. It was wonderful to have my intuition supported, even complimented. I've felt for awhile that I've had a sharp intuition, but didn't have it acknowledged to this extent, despite much seeking.

I am happy to see the way she left though. She's in such a better place than she was when she moved in. I like to think of it as a butterfly exiting her cocoon ;)

This year, as with the last, is going to be hard for me. I'm continuing full throttle on the personal growth, and losing one of my strongest supports, but gaining two new ones with the therapist and trainer, so I have strong hopes for me and my team ;) And, I hope that with all this work, that I will eventually be able to have some big impact on the world. I know I'm not there yet, but I'm feeling new optimism that the dream that I'd given up so many years ago may yet come to fruition.