2week #11 Spencer's Review

This 2week was initially my idea and I persuaded Tom and my girlfriend it would would be a good one.

The result: FAILURE. I failed, and badly. This was by far the most challenging 2week to date. Cold showers? Piece of cake. No sugar? Easy.But Carbs are LIFE for me, it turns out. After 4 PM I convinced myself and my girlfriend to eat hamburgers, pizza, and desserts at night. She tried to protest in the name of the 2week but the call of the powerful carb was just too strong and we both succumbed to it in the end. Out of the 14 nights of 2weeking I failed 4 of them and the other 10 were miserable.

I take responsibility for the failure of this 2week and I hang my head in defeat. The night carbs beat me soundly. I will definitely enjoy my nightly carbs in the future, but I'll try to eat just a little bit less in remembrance of these two god-forsaken weeks.

2Week or too weak?

Weak End

2Week #11 May 17th - May 31st: No Carbs After Four

We're doing another dietary 2week this time around. You always hear how terrible carbs are- Atkins asks you to stop eating them completely.
In this diet you aren't supposed to eat and carbohydrates (breads, cereals and the like) after 4 PM. The original diet plan is reviewed here and gets a 7 out of 10 from a diet review site http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/diet/reviews/no_carbs_after_5pm.htm

There's supposedly a full diet plan in a book out there, but we're not into that. Just the Carb Curfew. We actually got this idea from two Brit friends of ours who have sworn by it.

Happy 2weeking, maybe we'll see a difference after 2 weeks?

Tom's Review #10 - Write it

I enjoy writing and I find that it can be an enjoyable and sometimes cathartic experience. I don't have a great ability for staying on task when I write, and I find myself either providing way too much detail or wanting to blurt out information in list form. I tried writing a few things, the most notable being about subculture in Taipei. I enjoyed fleshing out some ideas, but at the end of the day it was all over analytical with no real narrative or direction. I enjoy short stories a great deal, but I think I'm far away from writing my own. I guess like with everything, I just need more practice. I hadn't written for a while, and it was nice to reignite a little spark in this area.

My schedule has been in so much turmoil lately that I found myself not able to complete the 2Week every night. I came to the realization that I need to plan out my 2Weeks better - If I want to keep 2Weeking then I need strategy. Some plan of action to better commit myself to this project that I feel strongly about. Possible 2Weeking planning form on the way.

2Week or Weekend?

Weekend

2week #10 Spencer's Review

I like to write, I enjoy the process of writing. I've had a few ideas of sci-fi short stories kicking around and I finally got the chance to put one of them on paper. Fact is, I always tell myself how good a writer I could be and that writing a good book would be easy. It always seems like something is easier before you actually do it.

I wrote my story about "genetic memory" whereby people in the future could look at your genes and retrieve memories about your ancestors. It was supposed to be about a galactic civil war in which the main character ends up being saved by his enemy. His grandkids down the line are then forced into servitude for the family of his savior as a means of political reconciliation. Sounded great to begin with but my story couldn't hold a plot line. I kept deviating from one futuristic idea to the next. A host of unbelievable characters and three or four flashbacks later and I could tell the story was doing the oozlembird.

So, my dreams of becoming a famous writer without really trying died along with the story about three days ago. I diligently worked at it for about a week and a half and then put it down like a dying dog. Oh well. My ideas need more time to incubate... that's my excuse. Maybe sometime in the future I'll try to resurrect it.

2Week or too weak?

Weak End

2Week #10 May 3rd- May 16th: Write it, Creatively

This is a simple 2week of self expression. We have some great ideas kicking around in our heads with no motivation to put it into writing. So, we decided this 2week will be dedicated to penning our creative thoughts. Be it sci-fi stories, fiction or autobiographical this 2week is about inking your ideas and letting the creative juices flow!

The Challenge is to try to put at least 20 minutes of concentrated effort into creative stories on a daily basis.

Who knows, maybe we'll put up some of our stories for feedback from you other wonderful 2weekers. And vica versa? It would be cool to see yours as well.

2Week #9: Tom's Review

Upon setting out on this 2Week, we knew that the process of training ourselves to lucid dream would last much longer than two weeks. I found myself really getting interested in the subject. The idea of testing one’s own reality and completing memory exercises to practice really appealed to me. My favorite part of this 2Week was the Prospective Memory Training where you memories a list of cues for each day, such as: see a red car, hear the telephone ring, handle money, etc. When you see these things, then you test if you are dreaming. You are basically helping your brain build up its memory for responding to cues you have previously memorized. Truthfully, I never went through a day remembering to test myself at each cue, but I would like to keep this training up for that very reason.

I did well keeping a dream journal and reading the book during the first week. But the second week, I was swamped with work. When you don’t get enough sleep, the amount of dreamtime is severely reduced. My dream journal is embarrassingly sparse. I would like to continue doing this 2Weeks and see where it takes me because I believe it has been very worthwhile.

2Week or 2Weak?

Ongoing

2week #9 Spencer's Review

Controlling your dreams. Talk about the holy grail of imaginary parties and experiences. Initially I really put my all into this 2week. I read the book, did the mental gymnastics and visualized success. Did I get a lucid dream? Sort of. More like half way lucid. Or I might have forgotten. Either way, it was cool to try.

Here are some top (G-rated...) quotations from my dream journal . Please note I wrote these in a sleepy stupor directly after waking up:

1. "I think there were zombie rats, which we were fighting. But I can't fully remember."
2. "Dreamed I owned a set of lizards that lived inside a rock wall at my elementary school. Tried to take them out for a Show & Tell. Mommy was very upset with me... had fast multiplying lizards of all sorts - Both looked like hedgehogs."
3. "Joined a small posse of raiders headed by Bob and Favrell. Had big sticks, had to salute and call each other names."
4. "Groups of people wanted to extend hands across the desert, a line of people across the desert by holding hands."
5. "Recurring image of acid politics"
6. "Teaching in a post-apocalypse, Hedgehogs teaching little kids w/ Kristin - none of them remember anything, kids turn into hedgehogs"
7. "Getting a comb by being hit by a bus."
8. "At a scouting conference in a hick-town... then I got to the conference where these thugs start killing people. They get shot and blown up, my left molar is killing me and it's split down the middle, need to see a dentist.
9. " 'Healthcare' shower had a 'seduce' function. Talked to Gran about going to Kowloon."

From the above few quotations you can already see that hedgehogs are one of my dream signs. I'll continue searching for more as I go on. I'll be keeping my dream journal by my bed far into the future. Hopefully I will begin to actually lucid dream; but re-reading dreams is fun as it is.

In sum, I loved this 2week. On a number of occasions I turned over after waking up and was too lazy to write down my dreams. I could have been better at it, but for the most part I think I deserve a 2week complete!

2Week or too weak?

2Week Complete