Truth

I need to be a man and admit it: I avoided WW today and did not weigh-in. My "plan" (and I guess I use that word lightly at this point) of eating the same but exercising more was a bust at both ends.

I ate more and exercised less. So I simply did not want to weigh today.

How did this happen? Thanksgiving, for one. I ate with friends and devoured some ham, mashed potatoes, and rolls. I then brought home leftover ham which I ate like it came from the last pig on Earth. And there was the cake -- homemade chocolate cake. I brought home half of it or more with intentions and instructions to take it to work on Monday. By the time Monday rolled around, I had eaten so much myself that there wasn't even enough to take to work.

And exercising every night? Well, that just didn't happen. I won't even attempt any excuses.

What's next? I don't know. I am hoping I can finally really truly get back on track and have some progress or something positive to report after next Tuesday's weigh-in (which as of now, I do plan to participate in).

Life happens.


'God! What is your childhood trauma?!'

More Movies

No need to ask what I did on my vacation ...

No Country for Old Men -- Quite good. Even with all its violence, this was a very quiet, meditative movie. Funny at times. Distinctly Coen Brothers-y. Unusual (some might say unsatisfying) ending.

Beowulf -- Entertaining movie, but odd. The animation needs to be perfected; it can be so realistic at times and then silly looking at other times. Great "popcorn" action, but I couldn't tell if some scenes were being played for humor or to be taken seriously.

The Mist -- Total B-grade movie, but fun. Some good scares, some good gore. I must say the ending was audacious and really twisted.

'I don't fancy spending the next month trying to get librarian out of the carpet.'

Dance Dance Revolution

I've been hiding something from my dear reader(s) because of the embarrassing visual it creates, but I need to come clean.

I dance every night for exercise. I put on one song and dance like a crazy person alone in my computer room until that song is over. And I'm not talking about the white-boy shuffle -- I'm talking full-on hip action, arms flailing, head rolling, jumping, kicking, dancing ...

It is fun because it just cracks me up; I know how insanely ridiculous I must look. And it is GREAT exercise. Honestly, after dancing to a 3-1/2 minute song, I am panting like dog. I've started with one song with a goal of eventually moving to two, three, four ...

I would recommend it (but only to be done in complete and total privacy)!

'So many body parts, so few bullets. Let's begin with the knee caps. No fun dancing without them!'

Dreams turn into Nightmares

I can't even get away from the horror that is dieting in my sleep ...



I was dreaming of happily sitting in a dark theater getting ready for some movie to start, and I pull out a huge, sweet, moist honey bun. I was just unwrapping it as my best friend Allison comes out of nowhere and sits in the row behind me. She very annoyingly keeps leaning over my shoulder to see what I'm doing, so I am forced to hide my honey bun until the movie is over.

Once out of the theater and away from Allison, I pull out the honey bun again only to find it dried out and crusty.

Damn ...



'So. Who do you kill for fun around here?'

Please Won't You Be ... My Neighbor

Living in a neighborhood is an interesting experience, especially for a socially awkward person like myself. I don't really know my neighbors or visit with them or communicate with them at all.

So am I just insane to think what appears to be a kind gesture on the surface is actually slightly threatening and malevolent? One of my neighbors (and I don't know which one) likes to "help me out" with yardwork.

Most recently, I've had some tree limbs that hang over my driveway and sometime scrape the top of my Jeep as I pull in. I came home yesterday to find about half a dozen of the lowest-hanging limbs cut off and laying in my driveway. Now, was this done out of kindess? Could be, but I think not. I think I have some anal neighbors who didn't like the way it looked, so they decided to take matters into their own hands. Similar things have happened in the past with some other limbs, with a patch of weeds by my mailbox, with my garbage bin, etc.

It is starting to irk me ...

'Xander, if you ever decide to go, I want a warning. You know, big flashing red lights and one of those clocks that counts down like a bomb in a movie? And there's a whole bunch of colored wires and I'm not sure which is the right one to cut, but I guess the green one and then at the last second, no, the red one, and then click, it stops with three-tenths of a second left, but then you don't leave. Like that, okay?'

Sad State of Affairs

It isn't pretty, but I do keep my promises. Here are my ups and downs over the past month or so.

I was down 46.6 lbs by the week of October 2. By October 16, I had gained 4 lbs. I lost .4 lbs for my October 23 weigh-in and lost an additional 1.2 lbs by October 30. But then this week (Nov. 13), I had gained 5 lbs. YIKES. So that's a total gain of 7.4 lbs since early October. Not good.

So as I mentioned last night, I'll be keeping my diet basically the same for the next week/10 days, but will be exercising each night. We'll see how that works.

That's it for now!


'Boys, if you don't knock it off, I will pull this car over, and you can just walk to your painful deaths from here.'

New Plan: Part I

I have some kind of mental block against bringing my WW booklet home, so I'll try to remember that tomorrow. I really do want to get all caught up as far as recording my losses and gains over the past month.

Anyway, I don't think I'm going to make any changes in eating until after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, BUT I am going to force myself to exercise each day from now until my next weigh-in to see what effect exercise alone has on my weight. That's the first part of my plan, and then I'll take it from there ....

Wish me luck!


'A guy slayer would be badass. Like if there was this ninja, a guy slayer would be like, "you may be silent, but this'll shut you up." Hai-ya!'

1 lb forward, 2 lbs back

Ok, I am now officially going full-speed in the wrong direction. I have gained nearly 5 lbs over the past two weeks.

I meant meant meant to bring my WW booklet home so I could record all the ups and downs over the past month or so, but of course I forgot it. I will bring it home tomorrow and get my blog completely up-to-date.

I will also think tonight about my action plan and post on that tomorrow.

Guess I'll go have some water and stale bread now!

'I don't talk to people much. I mean I talk to them, but they don't talk to me except to say that "your questions are irksome" and "perhaps you should take your furs and your literal interpretations to the other side of the river."'

Strangers in the dark, exchanging glances

There's something I really love about sitting in a cool, quiet, dark theater with a bunch of strangers watching a movie on the big screen. It is so much better than watching at home on your own TV.

So, that's how I spent about 10 hours of my vacation -- with strangers in dark, quiet theaters.

Here's what I thought (rated via my own patented Hot Dog scale with 1 Hot Dog representing a cold, dry, stale movie and 5 Hot Dogs representing a warm, fresh, succulent movie):

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead -- Pretty interesting storyline, twisty/turny, some good performances. It was a little over-the-top in parts, and I just don't care for Philip Seymour Hoffman at all, but worth seeing at matinee prices or on Netflix.

Lars and the Real Girl -- Really good offbeat dramedy. Great performances, poignant, and very funny in places. I liked it a lot.

Into the Wild -- I saw this early in the week and have thought about it every day since. It was beautiful and powerful. I loved it. And the soundtrack (by Eddie Vedder, who I generally do no like) was so perfect. You can listen to one song here.

Gone Baby Gone -- Another good movie-going experience. Written by the same guy who wrote Mystic River and very similar in tone and content. Boston crime drama. Directed by Ben Affleck with a cast that includes Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris. Enjoyable.

'You're certainly a font of nothing.'

Welcome to the Hellmouth

So I'll also be watching LOTS of Buffy during my time off. LOTS. Daily (or at least yearly) I am asked, "Jason, why do you so love Buffy the Vampire Slayer?"

Well, my curious friend, let me tell you. If you think Buffy is about some ditzy blonde fighting monsters with her nerdy friends, you would be very, very wrong. It is a brilliantly written seven-season-long treatise on what it means to move from adolescent to adult. Creator Joss Whedon said once that the show is meant to convey that "Everybody who makes it through adolescence is a hero."

It is about honor, duty, sacrifice, friendship, redemption ...

Seriously, that is what the show is about. A show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer is about all those things. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love it.

I will try not to turn this into a Buffy blog, but I just have it on the brain lately!

'Do you think I chose to be like this? Do you have any idea how lonely it is? How dangerous? I would love to be upstairs watching TV or gossiping about boys or, god, even studying! But I have to save the world. Again.'

A little R&R

I've got a bit of time off this week and hope to use it wisely. I plan to give a lot of thought to ways I can improve my life/health that might inject a little fun into my routine.

Now, I have an unusual definition of fun sometimes. I have some slight OCD-like tendencies; I just love routine and repitition and marking things on my calendar and then crossing them off when I am done. Little things like that make me happy.

So, I have lots of ideas swirling in my mind. Maybe I require myself to eat a vegetable once a day. Or try one new healthy food once a week. Or eat one completely organic meal once a week (inspired by my friend, D!). Or walk around the building at work 10 times each week. Or walk the dog around the neighborhood each week. Or add one of those anti-cancer foods (blueberries, tomato sauce, flaxseed, nuts) to my diet each month. Or all of the above. Or any of the other dozens of things I could do. Just little "events" in my week that I could mark off when I'm done and wait for them to roll back around the next week.

We'll see ...

I need to start taking a multivitamin also. I don't get nearly enough of the recommended vitamins and minerals because I never eat vegetables and don't eat enough fruit. I'll look into that during my time off.

Stretching too. This guy I saw on TV said 20 minutes of stretching every morning can make a huge difference in energy levels and feelings of peacefulness. Hmmmm ... I don't know about that.

And Real Age Tip of the Day -- I love that. Maybe I can integrate one of those tips into my life on a weekly basis. My Real Age is 38.5, by the way. That's actually better than I was thinking, but still 4.5 years older than my true age. Yikes ...

'That was real manly how you shrieked and all.'

I'm baaaack!

Hello all!

I honestly cannot beleive it has been a month since my last entry here. How did that happen?

On the advice of a friend and fellow blogger, I'm going to start back slowly. No pressure to jump right back in with WW tracking and being serious and all perfectiony.

I don't even have my WW booklet with me, so I don't have any exact numbers to post. Generally, it has been up & down over the past month. I beleive I gained 3 lbs at my weigh-in three weeks ago. Two weeks ago, I lost half a pound. And then last week I lost an additional 1.5 lbs. I'll update the specific numbers later this week after I've checked my booklet.

I'm still feeling unmotivated, although I feel rumblings of a new excitement. I don't know what yet, but I may change a few things and rededicate myself to a healthy lifestyle. I want to take the focus away a little bit from diet diet diet and put it more on a lifestyle that gives me more energy and more health and a longer life. Of course diet is a huge part of that, but not the entire focus.

We'll see ... I'm sure I'll blog more about that as it becomes clearer to me what is building inside my little brain.

Ok, that's about it for today. A friends has started signing off on her blog posts by quoting from books that interest her -- a great idea. She takes the high road with very prestigious authors and books of great depth. I'm going to take the low road and sign off with one of the things that makes me happiest in this world. Buffy the Vampire Slayer! :)



'Oh! Oh, Buffy! Don't cry. I'm sorry I was too hard on you. Sometimes I unleash. I don't know my own strength. It's bad. I'm bad. I'm a bad, bad, bad person.'