YEAR OF INTENTIONAL LIVING

April: Drums

4/1/2017

This month my intension is drums. I have been playing drums since I was a small boy. It has been such a big part of who I am pretty much my entire life and I wanted to dedicate as much time as I can this month to take it even further. I’ll be focusing on practicing new rudiments and expanding out into uncharted territories with experimental jazz and hip hop grooves. I’ll be studying a lot of Ian Chang, Deantoni Parks, and Thomas Pridgen to start. They have always inspired me as a drummer. I’ve been playing out more with my band these days so I am going to be writing new parts to make our show more interesting. I am also giving free drum lessons to friends so hit me up if you are interested.

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MARCH: OFFLINE

3/1/2017

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This month I am choosing to go offline. I am signing out of all social media. Lately it has taken up an enormous amount of my time and I feel I could use that time for things that can pour good into my life and others around me.

I’ll still keep the Facebook messenger app since I am a part of many communities and groups that I still need to communicate with for freelance jobs/events.

I will also continue my creative routine I started last month to finish off many projects. I may have bit off a little more than I could chew last month with some projects but I am determined to complete them. This month I decided to participate in lent. I’ll be going back to my more strict diet I started in January (February I did not stick to it much). So I am going back to giving up sugar, gluten, dairy, grains, red meat, whisky and beer (with the exception of a small cheat opportunity once a week).

Signing off,
Jody Lee

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February: CREATE.

2/4/2017

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For the last few weeks I have had many ideas of what February’s intention would be. I have a lot of projects started and some I want to start so I figured I could take this month and force myself to complete a lot of them. My brother and I have a job animating some cartoons for an upcoming documentary about Ren & Stimpy. We will start production next week. I am learning a lot about woodworking and finish my woodworking class at the Station North Tool Library in a few days. After I taught myself how to use Google Sketchup and Cinema 4D (see image above) I started building a bunch of furniture. After shopping around online and realizing everything I liked was thousands of dollars I decided to create my own furniture. This month I want to refurbish a vintage bar cart, build a lamp, and start building my new entertainment center. I am also writing songs again for my old band Fairgreen and playing drums in my other band The Revived. These are all ways I can be creative while learning and stretching my capabilities.

I will be continuing everything I started last month as I focus on my month of creation while hopefully getting time to update the blog with all my projects.

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January in Review

2/1/2017

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I knew going into this project I would be focusing on my mental and physical health but I had no idea how big a change it would make in my everyday life. I lost 16 pounds in 31 days. Along with my strict diet and going to the gym 4-5 times a week I focused on mini weekly intensions as well.

Week 1: Stretching
Week 2: Routine
Week 3: Meditation
Week 4: Meditation (continued)

I wanted to start with an intension that wouldn't be too hard since I was making some intense life changes already. Starting with stretching was nice because it helped me get ready for running. I ran more this month than I've ever ran before. This condition of my hat post gym is always a good sign (see image below). Stretching was supposed to prep me for a week of yoga but I decided against that later. My next weekly focus was on routine. Back when I was living in Shanghai I had a friend from Baltimore visit me who just got back from teaching in North Korea. Her stories were amazing but something that stuck with me was she mentioned how everyone there had daily routines (not necessarily by choice). But she spoke about how she could easily fit into that lifestyle if she lived there. She herself practices routines and said she would be comfortable with an almost military like lifestyle. Me being spontaneous and always looking to switch things up and always trying something new makes it hard for me to fall into routines. My second week was pretty much forcing myself into a bunch of different routines. Some of which has stuck with me and some have dropped off. Blake told me about Head Space (an app that guides you through different meditations) my first week back in Baltimore a few months ago. I started going through the meditations and noticed a difference in my mental state right away. I could focus more at work, get design jobs done faster and more efficiently, have deeper and more meaningful conversations, and had some pretty important realizations about myself. Meditating is something I will surly be adding to my daily routine immediately following the gym every morning going forward. I wanted to do different weekly intentions but I got really into meditation on my third week so I focused on that another week. I am proud of what I've accomplished last month and am excited to carry everything over into the rest of the year while I am going through new intentions.

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Consistency.

1/16/2017

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With an active lifestyle and eating really healthy in-between cheating last weekend I actually managed to lose weight. I am officially down 10 pounds. In the image above I am the black line and a coworker (who will remain nameless to avoid deep, deep shame) is the green. This competition sure is motivating. I will continue to weigh in every day at work to track my progress. Honestly not ever weigh in alone shows an accurate weight depending on the time of day you weigh in but if can show progress and allows you to see how you lifestyle and decision making affect your health.

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Cheating on the Weekend

1/15/2017

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Yep. Last weekend I cheated. Friday me and the roommates had a cheat dinner. Breakfast burrito, chicken and waffles, homemade pop-tart, beer, and a crazy good peanut butter cake baked by the amazing Helen. Even though all these things were split with other people I did feel guilty eating what I did. This week I wont cheat to make up for it. On a good note I got to spend a lot of time with my Eisley and Rosie over the weekend & it filled my heart with so much joy.

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Road to 200

1/12/2017

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Me and a coworker have a fun little competition to see who can get to 200 lbs first (our weight loss goal is lower than 200). So of course I designed a chart because all the charts online look stupid. Also I lost 7 lbs in 11 days so I'm on the right track!

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Catching Up

1/10/2017

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So about that committing to posting everyday last week thing… Between work, a friend coming in from China, and a trip to New York I got a little tied up. I didn’t make the most healthy decisions in New York over the weekend, however, I didn’t go over board. I just need to hit the gym hard this week. I still feel much better waking up in the morning. I actually am feeling excited as I sit on the train back to Baltimore because I know I will get to jump back into my routine. I am almost as excited as I was to execute a spontaneous trip to Brooklyn (my new favorite place to visit in the US).

Some places that were dope:

Reynard
Brooklyn Brewery
Fette Sau
Spuyten Duyvil
Bakeri
Kinfolk
MoMA (their gift shops were sick)
Shops in Williamsburg (too many to remember)
Central Park helping a 60+ year old Chinese lady (while speaking only Chinese)

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Tired.

1/5/2017

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Today I woke up tired and remained so most of the day. Not sure if it was the groggy weather coupled with the gentle, melodic falsetto of Arron Marsh, or me just being exhausted from working out at 6am five days in a row. I sure hope I find more energy tomorrow. Sometimes you just need to be a melancholy emo kid and grunt out design work at your desk with your hood up all day.

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Health: Routine (continued)

1/4/2017

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Continuing my weekly intention of practicing a routine, I have successfully been stretching before and after my morning work outs everyday. This morning started a little earlier than normal (5:45am) but I still had lots of energy immediately after waking up. I met my friend Ellis for coffee this morning after the gym. I could tell I was able to focus more on the conversation. Even having to be creative and come up with some ideas came easier than normal. My overall mental state has changed drastically.

Maintaining the same healthy eating habits is a huge part of breaking into a routine for me. Olivia has to be one of the best cooks I know and is continuously killin' it with every meal. She is tied with Blake for best roomie for sure. Eating small veggie/fruit snacks through out the day is keeping me energized and feeling great.

These blog posts are also a routine I am committing to this week. I will surly not post every single day during my year of intentional living, however, to get in the habit of posting frequently I'll be doing this everyday during my first week.

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<<Previous

April: Drums

MARCH: OFFLINE

February: CREATE.

January in Review

Consistency.

Cheating on the Weekend

Road to 200

Catching Up

Tired.

Health: Routine (continued)

Jody Lee Oliver

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