Maybe I just miss biking specifically

Wordle 543 3/6

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Yesterday morning, in addition to what I wrote below, before she got up I helped T. get ready for a holiday party at work by baking cinnamon rolls from a kit. I had a long to-do list for the day, so I was kind of stressed. But the trip to drop the kid off at school and T. off at work was uneventful, other than talking about why bedtimes are so hard. Maybe we made progress? We have a plan that might help a bit.

Work was fine. Two meetings, but I was just listening in on the second one. The first one was our team meeting, and most of the discussion was just following up on something minor from the biweekly report, and preparing for my travel. I'm taking a few days vacation soon, but I'll also be in another time zone even when not on vacation, so there was planning. That not-ideal response to an email turned out to be manageable.

As for my to-do list, one part of it was stamps. I walked back to the same post office as yesterday but they didn't have festive holiday stamps anyway, so that was annoying. Picking up the comforter from the dry cleaners was uneventful.

Another part of it was to make progress on Christmas shopping. T. has said she wants tickets to Hadestown. I tried to get them online and by phone but didn't want to deal with Ticketmaster. Principles aside, apparently I would have had to either install an app or log in on a Web site to actually use the tickets? No mail or even email option? Ugh. So instead I physically went to the theater like a savage. Seriously though, I biked, and I'm glad I did. More on this in a minute.

Apparently Ticketmaster is still involved with the tickets somehow, but at least I was able to talk to a person, and don't have to log into anything again if I don't want to. After that I went on another stop, to the Eastern Market area. To another post office, and this one had holiday stamps, although it took 20 minutes to get through the line. Then to the library to return all the many things we have checked out. Then to get a haircut. Not technically required before we leave but it was time. Then to the store next door for just bread, and then home.

By the time I got home from that it was around 5, later than planned. I quickly finished something at work and then drove to get the kid and T. There was also a PTA meeting. It was in the school's gym, with a lot of kids playing while their parents tried to attend the meeting, so it was raucous. I had planned to cook dinner, both for fun and to use stuff up, but there was pizza at the meeting, so we had that plus just some finger food at home.

Musing

I'm glad I ran those errands by bike. Driving might have been faster, but probably not much considering traffic and parking, and the exercise and fresh air was nice. The theater was downtown. I haven't been that way by bike in a long time. Level terrain and I could get up to a decent speed when not actually stopped at a light - not racing or reckless, but faster than the route to the kid's school. It was invigorating, and maybe not just in the physical sense. Round trip, 6.94 miles. Not exactly strenuous exercise, but still overdue, and of a style I miss. 

And despite being stressful, the day didn't feel bad. I didn't enjoy a lot of what I was doing, but in between the stressful bits I felt good. Weird. When I compare it to a day the past few days, which were busy in different ways, my mood was much better. Was it the light exercise before and during the work? The fact that the work was varied and actually productive, unlike much of my job or kid-related activities? Generally better sleep lately?