September Update

I’m happy to report that I have lost two pounds!

I’m not doing so well at curbing my unhealthy foodstuffs. There’s been a lot of social events this month, and hence a lot of drinking. Luckily it’s only been about one a week, but still. I feel slightly guilty. Guilty enough to stop? Not sure. But at least I’m keeping up the exercise part of the bargain.

I’m doing things the right way this time and easing into the rowing machine. I have a tendency to jump into things headfirst and either injure myself or burn myself out. So I’ve been slowly working my way up with the rower. Eight minutes, ten, fifteen, and today I did twenty. I find it’s way easier if I have my iPod with me, as I’m not just listening to the timer click. I haven’t put together a good workout mix yet, though, so I just had my ‘pod on random. Here’s a song I do NOT recommend you listen to while working out, because it will either weird you out or make you laugh so hard you can’t concentrate on what you’re doing: the Crucifixion from Jesus Christ Superstar.

My dance teacher has also recommended that we start working on our stamina, since dancing in so long of a show takes a fair amount out of you. This point was well illustrated on Saturday. The new workshop is working on two Spanish folk dances, instead of straight up Flamenco. The first is the Jota Aragonesa, which winded me completely in about 15 minutes. The other is Chotis, but I don’t know much about it except it’s a court dance, and the guy’s main job is to stand there slowly and turn without looking like he’s turning. Like a ballerina in a jewelry box. If there are any male dancers out there interested in learning an EXTREMELY easy dance, we’d love to have some dudes.

Jack is extremely hyper and keeps jumping up on the computer, and then running away, and then coming back, and so on and so forth. I still can’t handle how cute he is.

Oh dear, I’ve succumbed

Despite the huge pile of yarn in my closet, and half finished projects, I have decided to participate in the Lion Brand Crochet-a-long. The pattern is pretty easy, and it may make a nice gift when I’m done. Here’s hoping I actually finish it, and it doesn’t just add to the pile. I actually got my hooks out last night to pass time when I couldn’t sleep. It felt good to create. So yeah. Now I’ve become extremely boring, talking only about yarn and cats. ACK.

2008: The year without – September!

In August, I gave up three things: desserts, nail biting, and text messaging. Honestly, text messaging wasn’t that hard. Sure, there were a few times where I just didn’t feel like talking to a live person, but I either just did it, or waited. There’s nothing that says you have to immediately call someone as soon as you’re able.  You can wait until you actually feel like talking to the person. Or, conversely, wait until you’re near a computer and simply email them.  I even turned off Dodgeball, and I don’t think I’m going to turn it back on. If I want my friends to know where I am, I’ll tell them myself. I hope they extend me the same courtesy.

The fingernail biting was difficult for the first few days. I hadn’t realized my tendency to stick my fingers in my mouth while I’m driving. I dug out an old charm a friend had given me: a simple amethyst circle tied to a circle of small beads. It was smooth, and cold, and I walked around for several days playing with that instead of my cuticles. Until I broke it. Oops. But by that point my nails had grown long enough that they looked good, so I was spurred on with the “oooh look pretty girl hands!” mentality. I’ve even had to cut them!

And then there were the sweets. I didn’t fare too well on that one, but I will say that when I did indulge, it was high quality products. For example, after walking into a pole, I made myself feel better with a freshly baked gingerbread cupcake from Miette. And it only happened a handful of times. I’m starting to really appreciate the quality over quantity. Sure, a Snicker’s bar sounds good in the middle of the afternoon, but I’d rather have this handful of nuts now and some olive oil gelato later. Olive oil gelato, by the way, is fantastic.

I hadn’t really thought about what I wanted to deny myself this month as I was distracted by a new development. My dance teacher announced that she wants us to mount an entire show for ourselves the first weekend of October! Of course, there will be multiple announcements as the date nears. But my first and worrisome concern is that I put on my tried-and-true costume and found it to be more than a little snug. So with firm resolve I announce that September is the Month Without These Extra Ten Pounds.

Of course that’s easier to say than to do, and just proclaiming that I’m going to loose that won’t make it happen. So how am I going to do this? I’m revisiting some of the things that have made me feel healthier in the past, and also thinking about quality vs quantity. No fried foods. No sugary snacks. No desserts unless they’re fancy and small. More vegetables. Curb the drinking*.

I anticipate our rehearsal schedule will be severe, but as a boost, I have borrowed my mother’s rowing machine. Last night I made it a total of eight minutes before being completely exhausted. Of course, it was eleven at night and it was dark and I couldn’t figure out how to adjust the tension, so I was probably cranking along way higher than I should. Not too much soreness, yet. I’m sure that’ll change.

* I was going to give it up completely, but between the birthdays of my best friend and my mother, I would have been miserable. And I wasn’t drinking on mother’s day, so there’s no way I can miss mom’s birthday. Besides, we’re going to St. George’s! So maybe once a week, and only one or two.

2008, the year without: August! (for reals)

So the caffeine ban didn’t really stick. It’s less than a week later and I find myself having delicious, delicious caffeinated sodas. I missed them, it’s true. I do seem to have broken my coffee-when-I-get-to-work habit, though it’s been replaced with a mint-tea-when-I-get-to-work habit. I think I just like drinking something when I get to work.  As for the laptop in the bedroom ban, I think I’m going to keep that one. I like keeping the bedroom a quiet, serene place, and the laptop totally disrupts that. Sorry, boyfriend. I know it breaks your wee heart.

So it was my birthday last week, and I was very busy hating the days at work*, and loving my evenings. There were dinners, there was bowling, there was plenty of drinking. What there wasn’t was a lot of thought about what to give up in August.

Trevor and I had a VSC** about this a while back, wherein he completely questioned the whole experiment and made me feel about as deep as shallow puddle. He expected me to really stretch myself, massively changing my lifestyle. And while that wasn’t entirely my goal (what the hell IS my goal, anyway? I should write about that), he did give me some good things to think about. But probably not this month, since I’m already five days behind.

So what did I finally decide? I had some interesting ideas. But I think, finally, that August will be the Month Without Desserts (+more). I do love some sweets. A Milky Way bar in the middle of the afternoon. Birthday cake. Pudding. And I’ve noticed that in the months I’ve been denying myself, especially foods or drinks, my consumption of such things increases. I’m giving myself one out, though: fruits and cheeses, while considered desserts, are safe. Because goddamnit***, fruits and cheeses are important.

What is this (+more)? I was intrigued by Oz’s suggestion of giving up text messages. I don’t constantly text, but I do use it often. And I remember saying earlier that I was interested in using the phone for what it was made for, talking. So this month, I’ll read texts, but I will not send them. I will instead call people back when they write me.

On top of that, I’m going to make a serious attempt to not bite my nails this month. I had quit years ago, but this last year saw the return of bitten ends and gross hangnails. I need to remember that people biting their nails is disgusting to watch. And that I don’t know what’s on my hands, even though I wear gloves all day and wash them all the time. I need to go out and buy another nail file, obviously.

And that’s enough of that.

* It was the magical week of “Mace does everything wrong.” Except that I didn’t do everything wrong, I was just wasn’t doing it the best way, and while I got very mad at myself, I realized later that a certain amount of that was “no one told me the right way.” Which then made me all weirded out because I thought that maybe I should just KNOW this stuff. But then I remembered that I’ve only been here five months, I was doing something for the second time EVER, and sure, it’s common sense and second nature to the people who have been her for seven to twenty years. Gah!
** Very Serious Coversation
*** Sorry, Kevin.

2008, the year without: August!

Dear Readers, I need your help.

I was so busy turning 31 last week that I forgot to find something to deny myself.

PLEASE HELP!

Thanks,

M.E.

Caving into Coke

So today I caved. I had worked at a Girl Scout Day Camp* in the morning. Then lunched with my mother, then dragged my butt into work. Sitting at my desk, all I could do was stare at a computer screen while time ticked by and I felt worse and worse about the large amount of work I still needed to do in lab. I was so wiped out, I was ready to just put my head on my desk and cry and nap at the same time. I knew a simple solution, but was trying SO HARD not to buckle.

I swallowed my pride with that Coca-Cola.

But I’ve gotten through 75% of my work, and while I still have at least forty five minutes to go, I know that I can make it through. I’m a little disappointed in myself, but I’d be more disappointed if I shirked my responsibilities.

Unrelated: someone ended up this blog by searching for “be a badass.” This is the best thing I’ve seen all day.

* Details on that later.

Only five days left until AIDSwalk

I’m sure most of you, my readers, have gotten at LEAST two emails from me about my favorite charity event, the San Francisco AIDSwalk. It’s the only time of year I ask people I know for money, and though I’ve been pretty bad this year about returning the favor (procrastination, mostly, not apathy), it would mean a lot to me to get your donations.

Living where I live (not only in San Francisco, but on the edge of the Castro), AIDS is still a very prominent problem and concern. So far it’s avoidable, but not curable. I believe in the programs this walk supports. I believe they can make a difference. And I believe that you are willing to help.

Sure, my part is small. I just take a lovely walk through Golden Gate park with some of my favorite people. What’s impressive about the walk itself is how many people show up. That means something. It means that every person there wants to make a change for the community, for the country, for the world. And that moves me. I love looking at the pictures of the hordes of people. I get a little teary.

So, yes. Please support the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (and a host of other worthwhile groups) and make a donation. You can even donate through Paypal! If online isn’t your thing, contact me personally and we can work something out. Or, even better, you can come walk with us. It would mean a lot to me, and also to my community. Thank you.

July is hard

So I never realized how much caffeine I consume. When I really sat and thought about it (and I did), I had a cup of coffee in the morning, and a soda some time in the afternoon, either with lunch or in that lull around three in the afternoon. It really doesn’t seem like that much, but yet once I stopped I HAD A HEADACHE FOR THREE DAYS STRAIGHT. Ouch. Nothing major, but just enough to be a near constant annoyance. Luckily it’s now gone, as is the complete zombie feeling that went with the first two days. I’m almost glad the Styx concert was rescheduled, because it was on day 2 and I don’t know if I would have made it through.

We got all the way to Saratoga before finding it out that Styx had been rescheduled, as the renovations to the Mountain Winery were behind schedule. I had just been on the winery’s site that day, making sure my directions were correct, and I must have completely missed the notification about the delay. You’d think they’d have it in big yellow and red letters on every page. Now I have to wait until September to get my Styx fix. Ha.

2008, the year without: July!

I would say the month without a credit card was a rousing success. It’s nice to know that I can survive, hell throw a HUGE ASS PARTY, using only cash. It just meant that I usually had large sums of money on my person, which tends to make me nervous. But sometimes I would keep different amounts in different wallets. I think in the future I’d like to use my credit card for large purchases, and maybe gas (which I guess IS a large purpose nowadays), and try to use cash more.

So July is going to be double duty. First off, I’m tackling something that I’ve become rather dependent on in the last few months: caffeine. I could easily blame the late-night boyfriend for this one, but the truth is, I’m a big girl and I can go to bed whenever I want. I just don’t. There’s also the whole enjoyment of coffee in the morning for me: I come to work, I get my coffee, I sit and read my email and news. This morning I tried it with herbal mint tea. This may work. The big test will be about three in the afternoon, when I usually have a soda when times are rough. It’s really too bad that most caffeine free sodas make me gag (except for root beer. Damn, now I want a root beer).

As for the second bit, it’s something I’ve lifted from kfan. I’ve had a long standing rule about televisions, phones and computers in bedrooms, but recently, they’ve snuck in. I think someone might call before I fall asleep, I leave my cell phone on my nightstand. I’ve taken to watching Venture Brothers tucked in, and my laptop is found on the floor next to the bed more nights that I can count. This is NOT helping me sleep. I stay up late, saying “Oh, I’ll just check this one more time” or “I’ll just play one more round of Scramble.*”

So, to sum up, July is the month without caffeine and the laptop in my bedroom.**
* This is nearing a serious addiction. I’m serious.
** There is an exception. I really mean this on school nights. Trevor and I have a long-standing tradition of watching Infomania in bed together on Friday nights. I’m not willing to sacrifice that. But not during weeknights!

2008, the year without. June!

I celebrated my triumphant return to booze with half a bottle of champagne with brunch, and then two glasses of wine when I got home. After a rather sudden nap, I awoke to find myself incredibly nauseated, which was only relieved by vomiting. Yay booze! I’ll have to reintroduce myself to moderation, obviously.

On the whole, though, not drinking is a good thing. It was easier to wake up in the morning (except for that last week, for some reason, but I suspect it was unrelated to this project), and I never had to worry whether or not I could drive. I remembered that dancing sober is just as fun as dancing drunk. I think the hardest part, really, was explaining the whole thing to my friends, who often looked at me like I had grown another head.

It’s been pointed out by several people that all these omissions so far have centered around food. One person even went so far to call it a diet, which was never the goal of this experiment. So it is time for a different kind of crutch. June is the month with no credit card.

I’ve noticed in the last few months that my usage has skyrocketed. I blame this mostly on finally having a card that gives cash back, and because I am terrible about having cash on me. Plus, I’m going out a lot more than I ever have. I’m pretty good about spending only what I have, but I’m curious: will I continue to keep enough money on me to get by?

I’ll still be using my ATM, of course. That’s money I know I have. And there are one or two bills that go directly to my card, and I’m not going to purposely make things difficult just for Netflix and KQED.

What material items can you not live without?