Memorial Day weekend was too short.
I don’t remember staying up ungodly late Friday night, but I do remember not crawling out of bed until noon Saturday.
For the past month or so now, I’ve had acid reflux on and off–seems worse if I have marinara sauce. The cure is to chew Tums or swallow milk, but that’s only temporary relief. Everything I eat seems to go right through me which would be fine if it were a true purge.
Over the past two weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time in the evenings with a co-worker while his family is with his in-laws in California. Our activites have included shopping, ridding up to Tennessee (so he can play the lottery), watching movies (both in and out of theater, mostly in) and just sitting up talking. Of course, getting together late at night also means eating. While I have no intention of blaming my problems on my friend, having someone say “Let’s go eat” several nights a week is not the most helpful thing. It’s been great–I’ve enjoyed the fellowship as this is the kind of thing that I’ve wanted for bloody ages–but all good things must come to an end. His family comes back into town tomorrow.
So Saturday I put in 5.5 hours to bring my total to 50. Then, despite previous conversation about not needing to come in, my part-time job wanted me to make an appearance. If memory serves me correctly, I got there at 2030ish and made $21 (tips + mileage). Not bad for 2.5 hours. All-in-all, I’ve charged for 60 hours this week, but I swear I feel like I’ve put in 120. I must really be getting old.
This is the second weekend I’ve been invited to play Warhawk Saturday after work, and I think I shall continue this social event as the invitation is open-ended. Granted, I’ve never really liked console games or gaming in general–I could never win–but one of the upsides of burning out in college was becoming competent at Unreal Tournament 2004 and later fed a Half Life 2 addiction. But I’m coming around to consoles. If I had the money, I would have long ago bought a PS3 and an HD TV. Being poor has its virtues.
What, pray tell, do you think the agenda consists of after playing Warhawk for a couple of hours? You guessed it, go out to eat!
I’ve been noticing myself slipping for quite some time, but it really got to me the other day when my pants wouldn’t button. They aren’t too short nor are the tight in the legs–I’m simply over-wide. That might sound odd coming from someone who wears size 34 pants, but the fact of the matter is I’ve let myself go far too long. I go to work, sit in front of a computer all day, occasionally picking up hours or putting in extra to make ends meet, then I go home where I relax by reading blogs and news that I didn’t consume at work, watching something episodic and having dinner.
I know that through diet I can reduce my size, something that is top priority. Being hypoglycemic doesn’t help. When you crash, you are looking for the quickest way back to normal. This leads to a scenario not unlike over-correcting for a skidding vehicle, the difference being that you don’t always see the effects (yannow, until your body gives out.)
I also think I have developed slight respiration problems due to the increased weight. I really should go buy a scale to measure just how much of a lard ass I really am. The last time I remember being weighed was when I attempted to join the Air Force three or four years ago. I think I weighed 185 then. I knew I should have dealt with my body then, but youth is wasted on the wrong people.
Reducing size is one thing. The biggest problem here is cutting sugar out of the diet. This will be especially hard because I haven’t been able to stay awake lately…except at night when I should go to bed. It’s like my days of being a nite owl are coming back to haunt me.
Toning up requires something I’ve never actively done in my life: exercise. I’ve avoided exercise like the plague for a number of reasons: I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t know how to use the equipment, I’ll look like more of a fool than I already do. One of the things I have sought for years is a walking track in town but have been unable to find one. (Granted, I didn’t put forth too large of an effort.) The big park downtown does not contain one and it’s not advised to walk where I live.
A co-worker pointed out to me where a track was about a half mile from my apartment. I’ll try that today for convenience sake, but there are other areas I want to try.
My plan is to drastically reduce my caloric intake starting today. I think that if I go to the store and buy certain thinks for a fortnight’s menu, I think I can make it work. I’m sure the first three or four days will be the worst, but if I can withstand the temptation as well as the dropping blood sugar, I should be able to get down to the size I want to be at shortly…assuming I haven’t gained that much.
And that leads me back to Pulse. I always feel inspired to write when I’m in Barnes and Nobel. Furthermore, I’ve always wanted to write there. So after I go walking tonight, I’m going to head on over and give it a shot. The downside is that the only internet access there is through AT&T, so if I want to get online I will need to purchase access. No, I will not sit in the Starbuck’s drinking coffee and eating treats. That would defeat my purpose.
How was the weekend on the whole? Well, I went to see Angels & Demons again yesterday, but I dozed through most of it taking micro naps. Did the same fucking thing today immediately when I came into work and again around 1230. This is getting worse, so if I really think I have apnea and that it’s a weight thing instead of a respiratory thing (i.e. if the weight is the primary cause) then perhaps my attempt to diet will pay off in more ways then one. Feel better, be rested, etc.
Didn’t get in until 0630 Sunday and slept almost all day. Slept until 1030 Monday.
While (like Tom “Puff” Daschle) I’m sadden that I didn’t get to meet dirtyandshaken and onejumpchump, I am grateful that I didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to drive to Chattanooga grumpy and exhausted only to loose an hour off the bat by crossing the timeline. I hate that they got stuck working and being sick and miserable all weekend long. I hope that onejumpchump got what dirtyandshaken has been hoping and praying for for quite some time.
I am taking eight (8) personal days June 28 – July 5. Much like the last time I took a week off, I had big plans to do all kinds of things, but this go around, I know that I likely won’t. I do know, however, that a writing project I’ve wanted to tackle for a little over a year now won’t let go of me and was in fact re-inforced in me last night because of watching Cast Away for the first time in several years. I may bump other writing projects in lieu of this one tonight, I don’t know. We’ll see what I’m in the mood to write once I’m in a comfy chair and have the music flowing.
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ehowton for instance, has 177 userpics. Now that’s a lot. By contrast, I only have 70.
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