NaNo, Day 3

Couple things, before I get into NaNo stuff.

First of all, just watched the Stargate: Atlantis episode, "The Shrine." It was pretty great. Of course, I'm biassed, considering that McKay is my favorite character, so I always love episodes that are centered on him. "Tao of Rodney" is another one of my favorites (and, actually sort of an opposite to this one). But anyway, just felt like sharing a Stargate fangirl moment. I wish that I'd gotten into this series -- well, franchise -- earlier. A couple years ago, Pat and some other friends got me into it. We've watched through all of SG-1 (including the movies), we're currently in the last season of Atlantis, and then I do want to watch Universe when we're done, even though I've heard mixed reviews on it.

Secondly, I went to the Y today for the first time in a while. I've been really slacking the last couple weeks. Actually I could probably go on for an entire blog post about that (and perhaps I will at some point) but today I finally got back to it. Eight-minute runs (3 of them), with two-minute walks in between. I'm slowly working my way up, obviously not running any marathons any time soon. But if eight minutes doesn't seem like much, keep in mind that earlier this year I couldn't even run for a solid minute before needing to take a break.

And now . . . NaNoWriMo! I managed to write 10K words on Day 1, got another 5K yesterday, and 5K today. So, three days in, and I'm 40% to the official goal. I plan to do another 5K day tomorrow (halfway!), and then I'll be slowing down a bit.

Even though it's frowned upon, I did edit a small portion already, to make it suitable for posting on my NaNo profile, at which point I decided I might as well share it here too.

~~~

Summary:

Jennifer Adams is in the Witness Protection Program, but she doesn't remember why. Her only clues are intense, vivid dreams, so strong she could swear they were real. When she starts seeing these visions even when she's awake, she's forced to consider the possibility that her dreams are actually something much more significant.

Now Jennifer is the subject of scrutiny by people she doesn't trust or understand, and suddenly she must question everything she thought she knew about her past and herself. Determined to uncover the truth, she discovers a lie more shocking than she ever imagined.

~~~

Excerpt:

Jennifer walked down the steps leading away from the building. Caught up in her thoughts, she didn't see him until they had nearly collided. When she saw the face of the person she'd almost run down, she froze.

There were small differences. The kind of minor changes you might expect from someone having aged through his twenties. Subtle lines in the face. The hair was styled differently, shorter than she remembered it. But the curve of his jaw, the angle of his nose, the light in his eyes -- it was unmistakably him.

The man from her dream.

He was staring at her just as intently as she was staring back. This wasn't a random person she just happened to run into. "Mina." His voice caught as he spoke.

"I'm sorry?" She wasn't sure that she'd heard him correctly, or that he was even speaking English.

The man didn't respond, just kept looking Jennifer in the eyes, more intently than she would have liked. Curious as she was to compare the face before her with the one she'd dreamed about the night before, she averted her eyes, suddenly very uncomfortable.

"I wasn't watching where I was going. I'm sorry," she said again. She made a move to step away, but he reached out and grabbed her arm. Jennifer quickly shifted from discomfort to panic.

"Mina, wait."

"My name isn't Mina!" She jerked away from his touch, and grasped her purse more tightly, knowing full well that whatever the man wanted from her, it wasn't her money. She took a couple steps back, and felt a momentary and slight relief that the man stayed where he was. Her unease, however, didn't subside for long. His eyes remained focused on hers, and his lips were two thin lines, pressed together in . . . frustration? Confusion? Anger?

Jennifer quickly turned and began walking away.

"Wait, please," the voice called after her. "I just want to talk to you."

"But why? I'm not who you thought I was." She didn't turn around, and quickened her pace.

"You're lying," he said, more urgently, and Jennifer felt her heart beating faster as his footsteps echoed her own. "I know you recognize me."

It was true, she did. Not from any real memory, but from her vivid dream this morning. If Dr. Talcott was right, it might be a suppressed memory from the time surrounding the incident.

And that meant he was dangerous.

Putting a Price on Nostalgia

Just a few days left till NaNoWriMo. I will NOT be staying up until midnight on the 31st so I can start writing as soon as November begins. I thought about it, considering there's really nothing I need to do on Tuesday, and I thought it might be fun, but I'm just not a night owl. So, instead I'll be going to bed as usual, and then waking up bright and early on Tuesday to get started. (Lucky for me, "bright" and early on November 1st sounds a lot earlier than it really is.)

I'm hoping to knock out 10K on that first day. As I said, I have nothing else on the schedule that day, I'll have the apartment to myself for the majority of it, and I definitely think it's doable, especially considering that I have a really clear idea of how the beginning of the novel is going to go. This will be the most I've ever written in a single day . . . assuming, of course, that I succeed, and I really see no reason why I shouldn't.

In other news, my 10-year reunion has finally been scheduled, and I will most definitely NOT be attending. I was kind of up in the air about it anyway, since I already see a good chunk of my high school friends fairly regularly (most of whom weren't even from my graduating year), and I'm FB friends with most other people I hung out with, so it's not like we've had no contact. There's only really a handful of people I'd be interested in seeing, and of course no guarantee they'd even be there. Not to mention I don't really feel like I've accomplished anything since graduating, which is maybe a stupid reason not to want to go, but I know I can't be alone in that.

Anyway, I just got notification that the date and venue are set, and the price is $50/person. So, $100 for both Pat & I to go. To something I wasn't sure I wanted to go to anyway. So . . . yeah, skipping that. There'll be other reunions, and maybe I'll feel differently in 5 or 10 or 15 years.

Or, ya know, next year, when it's time for Pat's reunion. Though that will be more his decision than mine.

It's That Time Again . . .

Time to make one random post and then disappear for another six weeks, you ask?

Fair question, but no. Time for NaNoWriMo!

I didn't participate last year. I wanted to, but I really didn't have any good ideas, or at least not any ideas that I was excited about. Actually about a week before November started, I had one pretty much handed to me, that I thought had promise, but I just couldn't get into it.

This year, on the other hand . . .

Well, first of all I actually logged onto the forums when they relaunched (every year in October, they wipe the site clean and start over again, to get ready for that year's NaNo), and it was exciting to be swept up in it from the beginning. There was a lot of extra excitement this year, because they switched over from one kind of forum host to another, so everything's even newer and shinier than normal. (It's also causing a fair amount of bugs, but mostly minor inconveniences and features that haven't been implemented yet.)

So, I started looking through a series of novel ideas I had stored away, things that never got very far into the planning stage. At first I thought I'd give last year's idea another go, but quickly decided that if I couldn't get excited about it then, I probably wouldn't get excited about it now. So I looked instead to the ideas I'd had and filed away during those nebulous periods between NaNo's, when the ideas come in small, strange glimpses, but there's no real push to do anything with them.

One idea from this list really jumped out at me, so I went with it. Got quite a bit of planning done for it (more than I've ever done for any project before), and then decided to set it aside for these next couple weeks so I don't get burned out on it before I even start writing.

So, in regards to that 6-week gap . . . I'll probably be posting a bit more frequently with updates. And I'll probably continue posting a bit more frequently even AFTER NaNo, since I'll have gotten into the "writing zone" again.

And then somewhere around January I'll probably go back to a more sporadic schedule.

Update on Pat: very busy at work, lots of overtime, not a lot of down time. So, that's why you haven't seen him around recently. I, on the other hand, have no such excuse.

Social Networking Overload

I've always had a Facebook account, pretty much since it was first introduced at my school (back when you had to be at a valid school to sign up). I also had MySpace, for a while, but since most of my friends were on FB, that was the one I primarily used, and I eventually deleted my MySpace. I think. Actually, it might still be out there, but I really haven't used it since graduating college.

Well, recently I decided to try the new Google+. It seems cool enough. As far as the social aspect, it basically does the same thing, just in different ways. I kinda like the "Sparks," which is basically just a Google news search for a particular subject. So, instead of "liking" a page on FB, you basically create a custom news feed on any subject you want.

But the thing about social networking is, the "best" site is the one all your friends are using. Because, it's not that I like G+ any better or worse than FB, but even if I thought it was by far the superior option, it wouldn't do me any good if only two of my friends are using it. So . . . I check my "Sparks" regularly, and occasionally post a status update. I guess time will tell if it ever gets more use than that.

Yesterday, I finally broke down and created a Twitter account. I didn't jump on the Twitter bandwagon years ago, mostly because I had this misconception that it didn't do you any good if you didn't have a smart phone. I guess whenever I saw people using Twitter (in real life, or on screen), they were always accessing it via their phone, so I just assumed it would be pointless for me, with my standard little 12-button flip phone.

So anyway, I finally created an account yesterday. I'm currently following 19 people/organizations. I also, surprisingly, have 12 followers, only 3 of which are people I know. When I first signed up, Twitter "recommended" a bunch of people for me to follow (even though I had NO reason to follow any of them) so maybe I ended up on people's lists and they just clicked me for the sake of clicking me. /shrug I don't quite get it.

In addition to people I've never met, I'm also being followed by a few organizations I have no interest in. Maybe they just start following everyone they can in hopes that those people will follow them back? Again, I don't get it. But if @cellulite__info and the Plastic Surgery Channel want to follow me, I guess I have no control over that.

They're More Like Guidelines Than Actual Rules

(Posted this on my SparkPeople blog this morning, but I figured it was worth sharing here as well.)


I'm going to post a picture below, that may be a bit disturbing for some people, because it's a picture of an obese person. I know my friends will be understanding, but out there in the real world, well . . . we all know the kind of stigma associated with being obese. So, here it is . . . you've been warned . . .







Wait, what?! She's obese?!


This was a picture of me taken yesterday. I weighed in at 169.5 lbs. My Wii Fit tells me that my BMI is 30.04. A few tenths of a pound away from being, no longer obese, but merely overweight. I'm finally there! And I'm ecstatic! (I know I don't look it in the picture, but really, I am!)

But come on, seriously? I know I've made this argument before, and I'm certainly not the only person who feels this way, but . . . SERIOUSLY?! I know my body is far from perfect. There's still fat layered over all the muscles I'm slowly developing, some areas more than others. I'm definitely not at a healthy weight yet. I'm not saying I am. But is this really what obesity looks like?

Apparently so.

Again, not to downplay a serious issue, but if half of the "obese" people in the country look like this, than this obesity epidemic isn't nearly as bad as everyone's making it out to be. Let's focus on the underlying issues -- lack of nutritional awareness (or caring) and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle -- and not worry so much about the actual statistics. Because not everyone who is "healthy" is really healthy. The lifestyle that has brought us to this point doesn't JUST affect the obese -- we should ALL be trying to make healthier choices. And I wish that there was a little more focus on THAT, and a little less focus on the end result, which is different for everyone.

Sure, all these things are related, so if "the obesity epidemic" prompts more people to start making positive changes, then that's great. The issue I have is with being labeled. By a doctor, an insurance company, or just a voice in my head, that says I won't be healthy until I reach 140 lbs because that's what the BMI scale says is healthy.

Like a friend reminded me last night, that scale is more a guideline than a rule. But it's a guideline that causes a lot of people an awful lot of grief.

I just keep thinking of a Dr. Cox quote from Scrubs: statistics mean nothing to the individual. I know I'm leading a healthy lifestyle. My body hasn't quite caught up yet, but after treating it badly for the last 10-15 years, that shouldn't come as a surprise. The fact remains that I AM making healthier choices than a good chunk of the population. And yet, based on the picture above, I am having serious doubts that I can lose another 30 lbs doing what I'm doing. I'm not saying it can't be done. But, without taking extreme measures that I'm just not willing to take, I may never be "healthy." I'll just be one more overweight person in the world, at least according to the statistics.

So, I guess if there's one point I'm trying to make here, it's this . . .

Screw the statistics!

I will continue to make healthy choices and live my life. It's all any of us can do. If I make it to "healthy," then great. If not, I just hope I never have to deal with people who treat the guideline as a rule.

My wife is awesome!

The title pretty much says it all, but I'll expound on that here. Over the past 6-7 months, she's been really watching how much she eats and getting a lot more exercise. Those are the 2 categories I'm focusing on for this post.

On the exercise front, I'm probably close to being in the best shape of my life. Yes, that's right, I said "I". As a result of Charleen getting more exercise, I've been getting more exercise. People who have been around me for a while have probably heard me say, "I miss Gym Class". Well, it's true. As soon as I hit college I started to notice that I just didn't have the endurance that I had in high school, and I realized that the main thing missing was my daily exercise from P.E. As college went on and I actually had to devote time to studies (read Jr and Sr projects) things got even worse. Then I started working...my exercise dropped down to zip.

Fast forward to 5 years later and I am now hitting the Y 3 times a week and riding my bike 1-3 times a week. I have my wife to thank for that. As most people know, having a partner to work out with can make all the difference in keeping you accountable and continuing to go. I don't know for certain, but I think in the past two months, I've skipped only 1 workout. The next scheduled day, I was right back at the Y with Charleen. So, for being my reason to go to the Y, even on days I don't really feel like it, she is awesome.

On to food! Charleen is awesome for a few reasons regarding food. First, she has been doing fantastic with watching what and how much she eats. We used to eat out quite a bit and when we didn't, we ate a lot of boxed dinners which are horrible for you. This leads me into number two which is that she is cooking most of our food. She's gotten (much to her surprise I think) to be quite the cook and has been experimenting with a lot more foods, but most of what we eat at home is now mostly made from scratch. Third, she's gotten me to start watching what I eat a bit more. I'm still at that point in my life where I'm not being told by a doctor to watch what I eat, but I'm sure in another 10 years or so, I'll be a bit more restricted on what I can and can't eat. Cholesterol/blood sugar issues run in the family so I may as well try to get a bit of a head start on eating a little healthier.

The biggest food category where I think she's awesome however; is in keeping track of what she eats. Forgive me. I'm going to ramble on just a little bit more. She's been using myfitnesspal.com for months now to keep track of her daily calories. Now, Charleen's a very organized person. There's an episode of Friends where Monica spends 8 hours putting together a binder with possible jobs for Chandler and he ends up picking the first one in the binder. He apologizes for making her waste her time and her response is, "you call 8 hours alone with my label maker wasted time?". That's Charleen. She likes organizing stuff so when she was being so organized about tracking her meals, I thought little of it. Well, I'm trying to do the opposite of Charleen with my weight. I'm extremely light for my height and I could probably stand to gain about 20 lbs, though I'd honestly probably be happy with just 10. Well, I've been doing some strength training and realizing the more I look into it that I probably don't eat enough to promote weight/muscle gain. So this weekend I took the plunge and had Charleen help me start tracking my food to see just how much I'm eating and how much I should be eating. Oh My God!!! I will say here that I'm not nearly as organized as Charleen, but holy crap is that a pain in the butt! I'm still not quite done with getting all of my stuff in for Saturday and today is Monday. So, very long story short. My wife is even more awesome for putting up with meticulously tracking the food she's been eating for the last several months.

Oh and for reaching (and passing) the 40 lbs lost mark. /cheer!!!

Nom Nom Nom

Pat and I bought a grill this weekend (with part of our B3 store credit). It's just a tiny one, like the kind you would take camping, but it's just for the two of us, and needs to fit in the apartment when we're not using it, so tiny is good for now.

Tonight we tried it out for the first time. It smelled SO good! I always love the smell of a grill -- even just the charcoal smelled good, before any food was added! -- but I think it smelled EXTRA good this time because I knew it was OUR grill, and we can now have yummy grilled stuff all summer long, any time we want. This time we cooked up some Andouille sausages. We plan to fire it up again this weekend for hot dogs.

I'm also looking forward to experimenting a bit, once we get the hang of using this little guy. A couple friends of ours brought shishkebabs to the 4th of July BBQ we went to (it was BYO meat) and they looked SOOOO good! I plan on looking into some good healthy recipes that use the grill, instead of just the standard burgers, brats, etc. (Of course, I know Pat's looking forward to that part of it!)

Feel free to share your favorite grill recipes so we have different ideas to try!

The Devil Colony

A new James Rollins book! Hurrah!

Waaaaaaay back here, I gave a quick review of The Doomsday Key. Now, TWO YEARS LATER, the next book in the series has finally been released. It was supposed to come out last summer, but due to various things he had to push back the release date. Which I was fine with. I'd much rather see him take his time to produce a quality book than rush it out and have it be sloppy. But, that doesn't mean I wasn't disappointed to get a new James Rollins book last year. He is definitely my favorite author. Some of his books are better than others, but there hasn't been a single one that I didn't enjoy. As I said two years ago: Dan Brown was my introduction to the thriller genre; James Rollins was the one who got me hooked.

Anyway. I digress.

So, The Devil Colony finally came out earlier this week. I was at the bookstore when they opened at 10am, and finished it at about 8:30 that evening. I rarely buy books, and pretty much never buy one without having read it first . . . but Rollins is the exception to the rule.

It was great, as I knew it would be. Not my favorite in the series, which was slightly disappointing, though I don't know exactly what I was hoping for that would have earned it that title.

Another good thing about this one is that I think the story stands on its own pretty well, moreso than some of the more recent books in the series. Make no mistake, there are references to past events, but nothing that you need to be intimately familiar with. Of course, I personally think the whole series is worth reading (as are all of his stand-alone novels), and reading this one first could make some of the earlier ones less enjoyable. But, it's an entertaining story, if you're looking for something to read this summer.

Pandora

Wow, great streak this morning . . .

Hot for Teacher
Back in Black
One Way or Another
Hit Me with Your Best Shot
Jessie's Girl
Keep on Loving You
You Shook Me All Night Long
Don't Stop Believin'

If only it would have gone to Summer of '69 after that. Or maybe some classic Bon Jovi.

Mini Bookworms

So, I was out for my walk today, and there's a playground that I go by. It was pretty quiet this morning, but as I got closer I realized that it wasn't actually empty. There were two girls there (in different areas so I don't know if they were together or not) and they were both reading. It just so reminded me of something I would have done at that age, heading to the playground with a book in hand after having been instructed to get out and enjoy the fresh air, and then sitting and reading instead of playing.