Making a birthday present

I have been thinking about what present I should prepare for my sister. She is not into flowers and arts. The latter is not her cup of tea. what I have been making is not what she is really impressed with. I don't like to buy presents. it is so easy and it is tricky too.

I did not think about it a lot until nearly the end of the day while I was teaching my niece- her daughter. Suddenly, I had a brilliant idea; I called it the November challenge and I told the girl. She was really into it. I felt so good.

while I made it, I realized that I wanted to finish the list of stuffs I want to do a day. She did the same.

and here are our lists of challenges- things we have been struggling to keep up.

I did it today. She made it too and she promised to add "working out 15mins "tomorrow. Her brother said he wanted to join. I really hope he commits to it. We will see.

The last challenge thing for me was to go to sleep before midnight. Now it is about time. I gotta go. Good night.

Day 2- 2/11/2021.

I have changed a bit and committed myself to do 10 challenges a day. Two things are pretty tricky, namely teaching my niece and nephew. The enthusiastic girl of yesterday came home after today's class and cried. She said she was too tired. After that, she hung out with two boys coming for dinner and she did not say she was tired at all. After dinner, she spent more time, playing with her big brother and the boys. I was preparing my plan B. Adding two and three things on the list to do in case they could not make it. Fortunately, the boy came up to study with me for 40 minutes. we listened to one track, did the homework and he left. He said he was still thinking about what he wanted to challenge himself as a present for his mom's birthday. I called my niece up but her mom said that the little girl needed to prepare for tomorrow's exam. I am a bit disappointed. If the parents did not want to commit to studying but to the school report, it would be very hard to expect changing mindset from the kid. I really hope my niece coming up to me. She has imagination, yet she has a problem with commitment. i don't want to quit, even I might end up doing these challenges alone. .....

finally, she came. we managed to complete her challenge at 11: PM. So did mine about teaching her.

Day 3:

I have become super busy because my list of challenges is full. My sister and her husband will be back to work soon so I am not sure how I could keep it up later. But thanks to the list, I have been more focused. Three days suddenly seem very long in a sense of many days ahead I have to take these challenges but the day becomes shorter.

I am sad that the kids have become less enthusiastic. But the good thing is that they show up and try to make it done.

Finish Day 3!

4/11

the list of challenges reminds me to optimize my time and focus. I want to do more than I expect and I want to beat myself up each day. Consequently, I feel good but also do not have much free time to surf the internet, watch films. even talking with friends, I have to make it brief too.

34 new cases are found here. the tension has started and we could feel it in our dinner. two hours later, my sister left to work overnight tonight. collecting samples to test covid. It means there will be more cases found. kids will start learning at home from tomorrow.

I prayed for the less crazy operation and I could make my trip to Hanoi after this challenge.

My niece has not been very enthusiastic. I am worried. the challenge of teaching them is really a difficult one. but we have managed to make it done.

5/11/2021,

I am supposed to present today at a conference so I am a bit anxious. My schedule is very tight. I am afraid that I could not complete all of it. I am also afraid of the presentation too. I have zoom fatigue but it is also the computer I used as no camera, I felt a bit awkward talking behind the screen.

Anyways, I have finished all the challenges, including the workout. I made it 20 minutes and worked with the kids too. I even cooked dinner and lunch. I feel a bit tired and a bit sad. The hormone is talking, I would blame.

I am writing it while listening to the second last presenter before my turn. My niece is not very energetic but she did her challenge in a very funny way. It made me laugh. She wrote ten short sentences. It was easy that she could make this until 100 sentences a day. I will talk to her later tomorrow. She has to invest more time and thought. Her brother got the first covid shot today. the Pfizer vaccine. He seemed distracted when we studied together too. I hope after my presentation, probably at 11:PM will finish today. while I washed my hair. So much hair loss. I thought about our love. Seemed like my hair. falling down everyday. I wanted to remove all of them, but I still feel attached. I am not ready to let them go. ...