Weigh In Time (Part 1)

So, we had our first official weigh in for the weight loss challenge.  I lost 4.6 pounds since the initial weigh in (last Wednesday).  Not to bad of a start to the challenge.  Now the key thing will be to continue loosing the weight while not gaining any of it back.

I can't say that I did much to loose the pounds, other than got sick.  I was able to talk myself out of picking up several sodas through out the week, which I don't keep in the house for that very reason.  The next hard step will be to continue to hold on to that willpower and say no to things that I shouldn't have.  This means continuing to cut back on sweets and how much soda I drink.  (For those that say I should cut it out completely, that isn't going to happen so don't harp me on it.)

The other part of my plan to keep the weight from coming back is to get more exercise into my life.  Since I work 2 jobs, heading to the gym is not an option plus it is an expense that I really can't afford right now.  Every day I do not work my 2nd job, I plan on working out in my living room either on the Wii or using one of the 2  workout videos that I have.  I want to try to do at least 30 minutes on those days.  On the days that I do work both jobs, I have a little workout sheet that challenges me to do a certain amount of planks, crunches, squats, and push-ups every day, with every 4th day or so being a time to rest.  Ideally, I want to do one of each of those challenges but I will settle for doing two on the days that I work both jobs.

So, here is hoping that this week's success is a good sign of things to come.

Drawing Down

This past Halloween, I got together with friends to participate in a Samhain ritual.  It was to be a decent into the underworld to confront parts of yourself and your past, a time to reflect, then a guidance back up to the world of the living.  I have not been one of the key players in a ritual before, just a participant.  This particular ritual was involving deities I hadn't worked with either.

I won't go into the exact details of the ritual but the basis of it was that you had to go through 3 portals while heading into the underworld before you spoke with the goddess.  You were then escorted to an area to reflect on what you were told and you had to wait until you were guided to a spot where you could make your return to the land of the living.  Part of this process for those who were leading the ritual was to "become"  the deity that they were given.  This is known as "drawing down" which is when you are inviting the spirit of the deity into your physical body and to occupy it for a certain amount of time.  Many people could consider this a possession of some kind, but I've never thought of it that way.  To me, a possession  is an invasion, an occupation of your body without your permission.  With a drawing down, you are entering into a partnership with that deity.  And the partnership is different with every person and every deity.  None are alike.

With me, I was inhibited by an individual that I came to call "the handmaiden of the goddess".  I never knew her name but she was an important individual in the scheme of things.  She guided the souls to the meditation place and retrieved them in order for them to return to the land of the living.  In my experience, she was a gentle aspect, not forcing my consciousness away.  I was allowed to remain, to be a silent witness to everything.  Aspects of it now are rather fuzzy since a mortal should not be completely privy to everything a goddess says & does, but I do rememeber her being a gentle, yet firm personality who was very polite when she spoke, especially when she was speaking to her mistress.

After it was all said and done, I welcomed the experience.  It left me rather tired but yet I felt that I had gained wisdom, not only about myself but about the nature of the universe.

It Is For Your Own Good

With the new year upon us, it is time for people to start making those new year's resolutions.  We all do it, even if we don't say them out loud.  According to statisicbrain.com the top 5 resolutions are:
1) Loose Weight
2) Get organized
3) Spend less, save more
4) Enjoying life to the fullest
5) Staying fit and healthy

Any of these sounding familiar?  And according to the same site, 45% of Americans make new year's resolutions, although it didn't say what the percentage was of people actually keeping them.

I will admit that my "unspoken resolution" is the 1st one on the above list.  (Hey I didn't say it, I just wrote it so it is still considered an unspoken resolution.)  And since I work at a school, they are doing a a weight loss challenge.  It costs $20 to enter and you are weighed in every Friday.  At the end of 13 weeks, a winner will be chosen based on the percentage of weight lost.

Now, I will admit that this will be a challenge for me.  My weight is definitely not where I would like it to be, due to lack of exercise and my veracious sweet tooth.  However, it is something that I need to do.  Heart problems run on both sides of my family and weight induced diabetes runs on my mom's side.  Plus it would help my lower joints tremendously if I could loose some of the weight and keep it off.

Why am I telling you any of this? I do plan on documenting my experience in this challenge.  Maybe someone will see it and it will encourage them.  Maybe it will act as a reminder to keep trying.  I'll share my weight at the start (194 pounds) and at the end, and hopefully, there will be a good change in the numbers.

I just need to remember....it is for my own good

I Hate You But It's Only Temporary

Sometimes in life, we have something that we wish for with all of our heart and soul. It starts as a wish but it grows into something much more than that.  It becomes part of our very being and when ever we see or hear about someone having what we crave, the demon of hate rises.  You never really want it to come but it does.  The hate rises like an ocean wave, getting taller and taller as it approaches the shore, then crashes down with all it's fury, leaving a hollowness behind in your chest that threatens to swallow you whole.

The sad thing about this type of hate is that it is often directed at people that you love and care about.  And when this type of hate arises and is directed at people you love, it makes the hollowness seem that much more painful.  Then you feel like a horrible human being for feeling that way towards a friend.  The cycle of the hatred and the guilt is almost enough to psychologically damaging.

In recent years, this particular hatred has arisen more often than I would like and it is centered around one main thing: babies.  My body has told me in no uncertain terms that my biological clock is ticking.  I have friends that are getting pregnant, having babies and while I am happy for them, when the news first hits me, I can't help but hate them for having what I want so bad.  Then I feel bad for hating a friend, a member of my pack.  They have done nothing wrong but lived their life, but yet they have what I want, what I crave.

To you, my beloved friends, I am sorry for the hatred.  I am truly happy for the blessings that you have and I want to celebrate you.  So while I hate you for having what I want, the hatred is only temporary.  I love you.

And Now the Weather Forcast...

Doing crosswalk duty, especially in the morning, give you a lot of time to think.  No while I could be trying to think up solutions to different problems plaguing the world today, I end up coming up with a possible, and much more amusing, way of telling yo how cold it is outside.

This whole negative temperatures and wind chill factors doesn't really seem to get across to the general public of how really cold it is outside during these Midwest winters.  You could say that it is 10 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill factor of -7 but does that truly tell you how cold it it outside?  I've got a much better way.  Consider a system that tells you what body parts could go numb, freeze or just plain fall off if you were brave enough to step out your front door into winter's chilly grip.  It could go something like this:

Nose hairs will freeze in your nose
Boogersicles (booger icicles) will have from your nostrils.
Nipples will be permanently erect no matter what you are wearing.
Nose has fallen off your face.
Balls will freeze to your thighs.
Balls can now be used as ice cubes in your soda as they now have frozen off your body.

This is just a sample.  It can be expanded to help people better understand how truly cold it is outside.  Think of the lives that it could save

Observations From A Street Corner

To make a few extra bucks, I took a job as being a crossing guard before and after school.  It is a quiet job with lots of time to people watch.  Here are some things that I've seen since I started.

-The majority of people don't seem to know that it is actually illegal to block an intersection.

-It is possible to drive with just the palm of one hand while holding a cigarette in your fingers and your cell phone in the other.

-A lot of people are very interested in staring at their crotches while waiting at a red light. Either that or they are looking at their cell phones.

-It is not just kids that like the little stuffed animals that you get in the kid's meals at fast food places.  Adults like to use them to decorate the back of the car window with them.

-Being in the driver seat makes you invisible to people, which allows you to pick your nose without judgment.

-Sitting at a red light is a great opportunity to make sure that your make-up is looking good.

-Kids will wave at a person that they know and yell their hellos, even if the window is up.  This will often result in a cringe from the driver.

-Bungee cords are an acceptable way to hold loose parts of your vehicle to the body.

(There might be a part 2,3 and 4 sometime in the future)

You Did What?!

A random thought crossed my mind the other day when I licked off some sauce that had dripped onto my phone case.  Right after I did that not too hygienic act, it occurred to me that we truly do some gross things subconsciously everyday.

Why would our brains allow us to do such weird and gross things?  What purpose does it serve in our modern lives?  Was there actually a purpose in ancient times?

We are all told not to put things in our mouths but some how, we seem to forget that.  We will stick our pens, credit cards, paper clips, etc, into our mouth without thinking about it.  We will lick our thumb and use the spit to clean something off a child's face.  Who knows what could be on that kid's face?

And it's not just about the things we do with our mouths.  We touch our noses, our eyes and our ears after handling some not so clean items too.  Apparently, we are out to kill ourselves, subconsciously at least. Or maybe it is an ancient, internal instinct that allows us to introduce small amounts of bacteria into our bodies so that we can better fight off diseases.