Clearly...

I am not very good at blogging.

To be fair, though, I've had two relatives die within less than six weeks, I've had short stories due for my fic class, and I've been trying to get to the gym more. I don't even have the energy to blog about what's going on in my life, because it's (a) depressing, (b) boring, or (c) both.

I'm finished with chapter nine of deAngelis... sort of. I decided, after finishing revising the ninth chapter, that this book has got to be written in third person. It just has to. Jim Butcher and Kim Harrison do really well with first-person narratives, but I just haven't figured out how to do it, yet. My main characters are always full of spark and life and personality, but the supporting "cast", if you will, of my novels just isn't doing what I need it to do, and that's because I'm spending more time with my main character than I really need to be. So it's back to chapter one and changing everything to third. This should only put me a couple of weeks behind schedule, although I can tell you right now I'm not going to have the thing done by May 1st.

(Also, speaking of Jim Butcher, for those of you who haven't read Changes yet - don't be afraid! I know you may have heard some bad things, and while it is definitely going to rock you in ways you may not want to be rocked, the fact of the matter is that Jim isn't doing the things he did in Changes just to screw with us. He's a wonderful writer, and whatever you think he's screwed up, trust him - he's going to remedy it in one way or another. I mean, seriously, remember the out-of-the-blue romance with Anastasia Luccio that all of us were kind of like huhwaitwhat about? Yeah. He was doing it on purpose and there was a reason behind it, and we found that out after a while. So yeah. Calm the flip down, haters.)

I seem to have gained a few more pounds since my last post (sitting at 170 now), but I'm fully committing to my new workout regime, and while I'm not watching what I eat, I'm definitely more aware of it. My sister turned me on to this site called www.caloriecount.com, which is helping a lot both with being able to visualize what I'm doing and encouraging me to be more active in my daily life. It's only been one week since I started this new regime, but I'm determined to make this the one that counts. Yes!

Now for some wonderful internet finds!

I've been craving sushi for a loooong time now, and especially cupcakes (since I've cut down on sweets in my diet... but not entirely cut them out!), so these wonderful little things just made me all giggly on the inside. I will definitely have to try these over the summer! I've never worked with fondant before, but it shouldn't be that hard... should it?

This guy kind of rocks out loud. For those of us who can't WAIIIIIT for some of the films-based-on-comics to come out, this guy is friggin' awesome. All of these are "fanedit" trailers, with scenes, soundtracks, and music spliced together from different movies to make a "trailer" for an upcoming film. The guy has talent, and while clearly they are not professionally done, it is difficult not to try and watch them all in one sitting.

Also, I really really really want this lady to make my next birthday cake. I mean seriously. Hmm. I seem to be thinking about sweets a lot more today than usual.

And, for the last Cool Internet Thing of the day, I just have to point out that I must have one of these.

Did I mention that Adam made me the best shirt ever? It says "Team Edward", but has the blood sigil or whatever on it that you see all over the place on Fullmetal Alchemist. So clearly I am referring to Edward Elric.

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End of Week One

Well, my first week of the Spring '10 semester is over, and it really wasn't half bad.

There was an RPGuild meeting today, we got a couple of new members, both of whom irritate me to the point where I almost snapped at them, but I'm going to chalk that up to be tired and try to let it slide. I'm trying to be a more tolerant person, despite the stress that has been going on. So far it really isn't working.

I'm finding that taking better care of myself is actually kind of fun. There's a weird satisfaction that I get out of sticking to my regimen that I've created, even if it's just making sure that I follow through on every step I've
mapped out for my morning and evening routines. Having all of my things organized under my bed, and being able to see them, is great; making sure I make my bed in the mornings... I love routine. While spontaneity is great, these are the things that I need to be consistent in.

So, had another night at the gym! I almost didn't go, because it was so late in the day (6:00pm), but I knew that if I started sliding now, I was never going to get back to where I wanted to be, so I finally went.

I spent about 25mins on the cross-trainer and did about 2.25 miles, which really isn't bad for me; that averages out to about 5.5mph, which is something I really never managed in high school (although in my defense, I had a gimp leg my junior year). I went a little easier with my weight-lifting, since I did a bunch of that on Wednesday.

• Deltoids, biceps, lats: 3sets/10reps/15lbs
• Pecs, tricepts, deltoids: 3sets/12reps/10lbs
• Hamstrings, glutes, quads: 4sets/10reps/35lbs

I didn't do abs today because some jackass was sitting on the machine and texting, and I wanted to get to the commons and get a sandwich for supper before they closed. I spent some time chatting with the other people from the Guild while I ate (I ended up getting a quesadilla instead of a sandwich, because of the difference in lines... I hate waiting). Kevin said that he wanted to see if a group of us from the Guild could form a work-out support group, because obviously, since we're RP-ers, we are stupidly out of shape. I welcomed the idea, although I tend to prefer working out on my own so that I can go at my own pace and do what I want to do. We'll see how well it all works out.

I actually managed to find a scale and figured out how much I weigh. It's a little - okay, a lot - more than I thought it was, but that's what I get for not taking care of myself. Currently I weigh in at 166.5lbs. Usually that would depress me, but since I'm working hard at trying to lose weight and not willing to give up, I'm just going to stick to my plan and be positive.

At any rate, there's not a whole lot going on this weekend. Tomorrow morning I'm going to yoga, and my mom might be coming over to bring the pictures that Adam and I had taken a week or so ago. I have a short story to write for Wednesday, and some crochet to catch up on - if I don't finish Alek's scarf soon, I won't get it to him before it gets warm again!

So here's me signing off and saying good night.

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Workouts and Ramblings

So it really wasn't an earth-shattering decision for me to start working out or anything. I mean, I've been failing at it on-and-off again for the past couple of years. Over the past six months, two people have been convinced that I was pregnant because of my physical appearance, and Alek discovered (to our dismay) that he can no longer pick me up and swing me about in greeting anymore.


I'm not sure exactly how much I weigh anymore, although I'm willing to bet it's somewhere in the ballpark of 160lbs. People tend not to believe me, mainly because I dress in a way that more or less hides the weight, but the fact of the matter is that I am five-foot-two and I am about twenty, maybe thirty pounds, overweight.


It's not really a New Year's resolution or anything, this has been something that I've been struggling with for some time now. However, since it's a new semester, and I've always had the tools to get rid of this excess weight, I decided that I would go at it while my resolve was still fresh. (Come to think of it, maybe that's why people always come up with these resolutions around New Years?)


So, my goal is to get my weight down to 135lbs. Tomorrow, when I make my trip to the gym, I'll check and see how much I weigh. I really don't want to know - part of me is afraid that it's going to be more than 160lbs, but I know I really can't be that overweight. Can I? Oh well, I'm going to try and stop worry about it, because I'm finally starting to do something. I managed to lose ten pounds in high school just by changing my eating habits, surely by exercising daily and watching what I eat again, I can get back to where I was at - sort of - when I graduated high school.

I also plan on attending the 10am yoga class on Saturdays, to try and get some activity into those days. Every Saturday I will post my weight and how much exercise I got that week. 


Aside from my body-image stuff, I've been continuing to scribble in my writer's notebook, trying to figure out where I'm going with Otaku. I did finally torrent a copy of Welcome to the N.H.K., which is a little weirder than I thought it was going to be, but then again, that goes for most manga/anime things that I encounter, with the exception of Fruits Basket (don't even ask me what I though FLCL was going to be like...). I had a chat with Yuko, who lives in my dorm and is here on a student visa from Japan, and she was explaining to me what the Japanese otaku are like and how they are viewed in Japanese society. It was a very good chat, and just convinced me even more that Yuko is probably the sweetest girl I have ever met in my life who wasn't about to join a convent.


I'm hoping to get my hands on a decent MP3 player that I can take to the gym with me, it's kind of lame having to listen to the radio station that everyone on campus thinks is "awesome", because let's be honest, my playlist consists of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, The Offspring, MIKA, Cake, and UVERworld, with a sprinkling of Sting in there, along with some Backstreet Boys, Tonic, and one song by Jet. Obviously this really doesn't pertain to most of the demographic to which I belong. I think my cousin has an MP3 player that she doesn't want anymore, I may ask if it's still up for grabs.


Speaking of The Offspring, I've been listening to their most recent album, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, and it's not nearly as bad as Adam made it out to seem. Yeah, obviously it's not the same as the music they've been making for the last, what, twenty-five years? But Dexter Holland has been wreaking havoc on his vocal chords for a long time and he just can't do anymore what he did on Smash or Americana. To be honest, I think I actually prefer this to their earlier stuff, although of course you gotta do the classics, I would be pissed if I went to a concert and they didn't play "Come Out and Play".


At any rate, time to work some more on the scarf that I'm crocheting for Alek (I swear, at some point I will post pictures!) and watch some cartoons. Did you know that crocheting for an hour will burn 100 calories? For me, at least.

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