Reflections on the year

This year, rather than set resolutions for things I was going to change, I set up a list of Big, Fun, Scary things to do. And, well, my reach exceeded my grasp in pretty much every area.

A combination of massive life changes, loss of focus, and all-around laziness contributed to the general failure to do many of the things I set up for myself.

This year, in an effort to not fail so horribly, I'm going to do pretty much the same thing, but on a much smaller scale. Rather than 12 items of Big, Fun, Scary, I'm going to put down just 4. A mere third of the items from last year. I figure it'll give me at least a small chance of getting some of them done.

#1 Fitness - this is as much a change as it is a challenge. I'm fatter than I'd like, and it's closing on to 12 years of living with this body and not really liking how it looks. I've got this year. I want to make some serious changes.

#2 Language - Specifically German. I want to take a proficiency test, and try to pass through the B2 levels from Goethe Institute. That would mark me as capable in German, and might allow some new adventures.

#3 Money - My finances suck, and they're going to keep sucking until I figure out a good way to fix them. This year, I intend to look at how I can make changes to the way I view and use money in order to eliminate my debts quicker, and give me more money to do with as I please.

#4 Art - Create more, express myself in new and interesting ways. Get the things in my head out there into the world for others to see.

Starting Off

It's Sunday, so time for kick-off measurements.

Weight: 199#

Body Fat: 28%

Waist: 110cm

Right Arm: 33cm

Left Arm: 32cm

I'm going to take these as my starter measurements. Right now, I'm not concerned with my chest, hips, calves or thighs. They're aren't going to be tracked.

In exactly 10 weeks, the new year will be upon us. That's still enough time to make some changes. I am going to set modest goals for now. Once the new year sets in, then I will review where I am and where I want to go.

For weight, I'd like to knock off a mere 10#. 1 pound per week. A change in diet, plus some extra workouts should do it.

Body fat, I'd like to reduce by 3%.

Waist, I'd like to lose 5cm, but in the arms, I'd like to gain 1cm each.

I don't think any of these goals are unreasonable in the amount of time I have available.

Stats and such

Just covering some basic body stats and light goals.

Weight: 200# (more or less)

Body Fat: 22% (estimated)

These are the main factors as far as weight are concerned. If either goes down, then I'm doing something right.

As far as goals go, I'd like to get down to somewhere between 175 and 180. So, 20 to 25 pounds of weight as my "to lose" goal.

My arms are 34cm and 35cm (left and right). I'd like to grow at least 1cm in each. Modest goals, but good ones.

The method for attaining these goals is still being worked out.

Just not getting it.

Seems that I'm just not getting it.

I've been on and off and on and off for so long, I think I've worn a groove into my mind about how fitness is supposed to be done. Which sucks, since it's not the way things should go.

I have been pretty good the last couple of weeks, hitting the gym pretty regular (but not really regular). I've been needing to get some real schedule and routine happening, and I'm not getting there.

On the plus side of things, I did work the SS stuff until I hit a plateau (which I'm working through the reset and rebuild part now). On the negative side, I'm afraid that vanity may start to hinder my progress.

It's been on my mind lot lately that I'm not looking very good. And that kind of thinking wears on me pretty badly. It's not that anyone is saying it, but I get little things from people that make me thinks that they're thinking it. And of course, I say it to myself - in my head.

So, of course, it wears me down. Which sucks in the long run.

My current bit of vanity is around my arms. I'd like bigger arms. I know how to get them - focused exercise regime targeting the arms. But, I have concerns that really hammering my arms will leave them too tired to do the SS workouts properly. I'll be hindering overall growth to further non-functional, yet physically attractive - growth.

It's not a good plan, but I think I'll probably succumb to vanity.

The other bit is my weight. I'm still hovering between 195 and 200 pounds. A bad spot mentally, since I'd hoped to be far under that point by this time of the year.

The main reason I'm still in the same spot is a lack of discipline. I eat like crap, and I know it. But I don't do anything about it. I just keep doing the same wrong things.

A big part of it has to do with the fact that while I'm unhappy (and occasionally bothered) being the weight I am, at the same time, I'm not dissatisfied enough with myself to kick my own ass into making the necessary changes.

When I hit the 200 pound mark, then I get myself going again, and by the time I'm down to 195, I feel relatively good enough about myself that I just stop trying anymore.

I could be 180 pounds. I know this. It would take a small amount of discipline, but not that much. It would mean me not eating cookies and not having chocolate every day, but I think I could do it without really inconveniencing myself too badly.

So, if I want to weigh less, and I know how to do it, why aren't I already doing it? I'm not sure. And that's been plaguing me all year. I just don't have the internal motivation to really keep me going. I know there's a weight plateau for myself at 195. Rolling out of it takes an effort. And just below that is another one at 190. Rolling out of that takes more effort. But once I'm out, the weight can drop cleanly off until about 178-180. Getting there would be the best thing for me.

I know that I need to stop whinging on about it and just start going. Once I get in there and get it started, the rest will fall into place. And by the time the end of the year gets here, I'll be in a better mental and physical spot.

Book 10

Book 10 was "First Amongst Sequels" by Jasper Fforde. I picked this up because it was cheap. And I wasn't expecting much from it. The story, in general, reminded me of the style used by Terry Pratchett, except that it was literary based, and not fantasy based.

Overall, the story is good, if a bit confusing, as it is apparently book four or five in the overall story series. I will have to maybe try to pick up one of the earlier books. On the plus side, the story stands on it's own, and you don't seem to need to have read any of the other books to have the ability to follow along with this one.

Looking at the date, and the low count of books read this year, I have to wonder if there's going to be much chance of hitting my goal from the start of the year. Perhaps - is the best I can say, but I really doubt it.

Days 80 and 79

Both days 80 and 79 were rest days. Not much more to say about them other than they were most welcomed - and I ate too much on both days.

Days 84, 83, 82 and 81

Ok. I track my weight daily, but will post about it weekly. Wednesdays.

I am counting down the days instead of up, in hopes that it will motivate me as I see the numbers shrink.

Day 84:

Warm up - Run: 5 min @ 4.2, 10 min @ 5.2, 5 min 4.0, cool down

Bench press: 1x10x45, 3x10x65

Incline Dumbell Press: 3x12x20, 1x6x25, 1x5x30, 1x2x35

Shoulder Press: 2x10x45, 1x8x45

5 min Rowing

Day 83:

Warm up - Run: 15 min @ 5.2, cool down

Low Row: 3x12x6kg

Lat Pulldown: 3x12x6kg

Chin up negatives: 2x5

Dip: 1x5x110 assist, 2x5x120 assist

Day 82:

Bike ride in

Warm up - Run: 15 min @ 5.2, cool down

3x12x30 preacher curl

3x12x4kg tricep pushdown

3x12x10 dumbell curl

3x12x22.5 overhead tricep press

3x10x30 reverse grip preacher curl

3x10x10 tricep kickback

Bike ride out

Day 81:

Bike ride in

Warm up - Run: 15 min @ 5.2, cool down

1x5x45 Squat

3x5x95 Squat

1x5x105 Squat

1x12x60 Glute machine

3x12x90 Seated Toe Press

3x12xOrange Medicine Ball Squat Thrust and Overhead Press

Bike ride out.

Fresh again.

I've joined a gym in the area, and am kicking off things again.

Current Weight: 189#

Belly: 103 cm

I have a single, simple goal right now. Lose the gut. That means I want to get down to 170#. I'm giving myself 12 weeks (84 days), starting today, to do so.

84 days, 19 pounds, means I am looking to lose just 1.58 pounds per week. Totally reachable.

Should I reach this goal early, I will pick a new goal within that timeframe. Essentially, I will be chasing Athalos and his new start of P90X.

Progress will be posted. Things start today.

Book 7, 8 and 9

Right, no blog posts in ages. And I just haven't been doing much reading. But, in the last three weeks, I've finished off 3 books. None of them are really "new" books, but still, spoilers ahead...

Book 7 was Ender's Game.

A solid book, and a classic of sci-fi. I'd wanted to read it, and finally had the opportunity. Young boy is set up to be the hero of all mankind, but he can't know it. A fun read, but one that gave me a bit to think about.

Book 8 was The Golden Compass.

A book about a young girl who has a great destiny ahead of her - but she can't be told what it is. I'd picked this book and Ender's Game up at the same shop in the fantasy/sci-fi section. I didn't realize how closely their themes matched.

Book 9 was Friday.

This is a Heinlein book. I've read a couple from him, and he's generally good. This one was ok, but left me feeling like it wasn't going anywhere. There seemed to be about a dozen half-plots happening, and none of them resolved into anything. Themes about belonging, the nature of humanity, geo-political strive, mega-corporate control, and others all were passed on at least briefly, but then faded into the background.

The main character is described as "all woman" but comes across as more of a walking sex machine, who believes herself to be dowdy and unattractive - yet still manages to have sex with 3 out of every 4 people.

Overall, the book is ok, but just doesn't come out with anything like a resolution.

3G - Day 24

Weight: 195#

Helping:

Sticking to diet

Workouts

Pull up bar

Not Helping:

Elbow pain

Too many treats in the house

Feelings:

Still stressed. Still working hard at resolving the stress. Gotta just keep at it.

Got a workout plan from a friend of mine. He says that if I follow it for a week and just focus on doing that, I'll see some serious results. I've looked at the plan. It is intense. Breaking down the body by parts and going hard at it.

I've been weight focused, this might be a good opportunity.

3G - Day 23

Weight: 195#

New location means a new scale. I'm told the scale here is 5 pounds light. And it is electronic, but doesn't track fractional pounds. So... weight measures are likely to be at least a little strange for a while. Still, even with the differences, I can focus on just doing the right things.

According to FitDay.com, my BMI is under 28 now... though, I don't really like the way BMI is calculated (I am not a cylinder), it is a reasonable number to use to judge relative changes within a person.

Helping:

Morning run

Installed pull up bar

Walking

Not Helping:

Access to ice cream and snacks and cola

Stress

Feelings:

Generally stressed, but coping.

3G - Day 22

Weight: 196.8#

Feels so good to see a number like that. So close to where I should be this week (at 195.8#). Down is good. Happy for it.

Helping:

Biggest Loser

Not Helping:

Cookies

Feeling:

Scattered and confused, but more frequently empowered. I feel like I can make a change, and like I can get things done.

Book 7 - Legacy

Legacy, by Greg Bear, was a cheap sci-fi novel I picked up second hand from the game store in Mannheim.

An interesting read, focused primarily on the ecology of a world, rather than on the technology of the world. In fact, most of the technology was pretty low tech in the main novel, but that was more setting than anything else.

The story had a good flow to it, and, being in English, I could power through it without needing much in the way of down time or breaks. It helped a lot that I had pretty much 8 uninterrupted hours to read.

The book is apparently a prequel to another book, Eon, which I may need to try finding. There's a few books on the reading list right now, and hopefully I'll get to them soon.

The Rules (as I see them)

Rule 1: Life is big.

Life, on the whole, is massive. Bigger than I am. Bigger than I will ever be. No matter how much I grow or change, or how far I stretch myself, life will always be bigger. Always.

This is not an excuse not to stretch myself. To not try to reach the boundaries of life. It is because life is big that I have the ability to grow, to stretch myself large. To reach beyond where I am now and into new areas of what I may become.

It is this freedom to grow that is the great gift that life provides me.

Rule 2: All things come in cycles.

Look at anything in the world. Anything in life, and see that there are cycles. A beginning, a middle, an end. And after that, a new beginning, starting the process over again. Never the same, never quite identical, but similar. This process has gone on forever. Before I was born, and long after I am gone.

The repeating cycles allow me to predict some of what may come. To learn from the past to improve myself in the future. To use others as an example for my life, and for my life to be used as an example by others.

Rule 3: I am me.

To be honestly and earnestly myself, I must strive to live my life in a real way. I must strive to be whoever and whatever it is I wish to be.

There were other forms of me before this one, and there will be other forms of me after this. Each of them was, is and will be me, in their own time. As different as each me might be, all of them are me, and all of them are true, so long as I have, do, and will live truly.

Rule 4: This shit is not my shit.

I must recognize the boundaries between myself and others. I must live within my own life, and let others live within theirs. I cannot make someone different than they are, only suggest. And in the same way, they can only suggest to me what they would like me to be. I must take what they suggest and consider it. If it is good and of value to me, then I may incorporate it into myself, adapting and changing who I am. If it is of no value, then I must discard it.

The problems another person may have with my life, may not be the problems I have with my life. So long as I live truly and honestly, and so long as my life does not harm others, then I am not bound to what they think is right or wrong. Their shit is not my shit.

Rule 5: Stop fucking around.

Life must be lived. Life is a thing of action, of motion. A life standing still is no life at all. A life adrift is a life that is watched, not one that is experienced. I must exercise a will and engage in action. I cannot be idle and wait for life to come and invite me to join in. It is far too short for that.

3G - Day 21

Weight: 198.6# (total loss of 3 pounds)

Waist: 107.0 cm (total loss of 3 cm)

Been busy running about here and there, back and forth. Spent 2 days and 2 nights in France, specifically Paris and a place outside Paris near Disneyland. Then in Germany for two nights, packed and ready to leave again. London, England this time. 5 days, 4 nights.

I walked a lot, took nearly a thousand pictures, and ate from restaurants and food joints.

Day 8 was the last time I did a weigh in and check in. Tomorrow is when I should do the next one, but it will be far too busy then, so I bumped it up a day. Compared to then, I'm down a half centimeter in width (and fitting into my size 38 pants), and I'm down 0.6 pounds. Not a great loss overall, but nearly 2 weeks without any form of workout, and still making a minor loss, that's great.

I'm back on track now. The flight tomorrow will set me off kilter for a while, but I'll be back on again before too much time has elapsed. And I am going to be working my ass off (literally).

Watching Biggest Loser Australia has really put me in an inspired state. Seeing what some of the contestants can do really does inspire. Yes, they have a massive support network. Time for them to do nothing but exercise and eat properly. But, don't I have all that as well? Especially now, when I'm unemployed, yet fiscally sound enough? I think so. I can make the change I want to. I am empowered to do so by the force that is me.

3G - Day 10

Weight: 200.4#

Weight stable, Which is actually good since I ended up eating badly again today. Was tired, so I went to be before doing anything physical.

Helping:

Biggest Loser

Not Helping:

Chocolate

Feelings:

Rapid alternation through depressed, annoyed, excited, frustrated and discouraged. Also, I need to really work out what "Not Fucking Around" means, otherwise it's just words.

3G - Day 9

Weight: 200.4#

Up again. Feeling bad about it. Ate too much again today. Lotta roast chicken. Way more than needed. Plus fries. Why do this to myself?

Stop. Fucking. Around.

Helping:

Miss M kicking my ass

Biggest Loser inspiration

Not Helping:

Bad food choices

Eating said bad food

Feeling:

Frustration, depression, disappointment. Gaining sucks. Being in the 200+ again sucks. If it sucks so much, why do I make the decisions? Trade what I want for what I want right now. No. Bad me.

3G - Day 8

Weight: 199.2# (change of -2.6# over last week; total of -2.6#)

Gut: 107.5cm (change of -2.5cm over last week; total of -2.5cm)

A bit disappointed that I didn't go down in weight on weigh-in day. Up by 0.2# (again). There seems to be a pattern developing of going up by 0.2, and then down by 1. Which comes up as a 0.8# loss over two days. 0.4 per day average is good, but I'm striving for 0.52 per day. To get there, I have to start putting out more effort. Both physically, and in diet.

Helping:

The run

Workout

Not Helping:

Streusel

40g bag of pretzel sticks

Mini chocolate bars

Feelings:

I said I'd be happy with any loss 2# and over per week. And I am happy, but I'm still a bit annoyed that I didn't make the 3.6# loss I'd been hoping to achieve. I'm a bit surprised that the gut shrank 2.5cm. That's a full inch down in a week. I'm down to 42 inches around, which isn't great, but is at least a number I've been at before. I'd like to get down to 36 around, as that's a size I think I can deal with. 6 inches in 5 weeks? Given this week's results, it's possible.

I do have to cop to a bit of discouragement this week. Got a comment from a friend which said "don't worry so much about the weight." I know they really meant that I should focus on just eating right and exercise, and the weight will take care of itself - but it was still a bit discouraging to hear. Keeping my weight in mind reminds me and keeps me focused.

On the uplifting side, I got some motivation from Biggest Loser Australia. The question "Have you done everything you could do?" was asked. And I have to look at myself and ask that same question. Have I done everything I could do? Or am I giving less than I should.

I earn my body.

3G - Day 7

Weight: 199.0#

Was happy to see my numbers down from yesterday, but a bit disappointed they weren't down more. I know running burns less than biking, and I didn't do much else to boost up the total burn.

Still, I'm heading downward, which is a good direction. Hoping for a loss again tomorrow, but I'm taking a break from the biking and running to give the legs a recovery day. No other exercise happening either.

Weighing in, photos and measurements tomorrow morning.

Helping:

Did not go get a pastry.

Not Helping:

The last of the bread pudding.

Feeling:

Frustration. In general, but at least in part with not keeping up with my high-end loss rate. Happy, that things are moving downward.

3G - Day 6

Weight: 199.8#

Surprised to find my weight managed a 0.2# gain. How is this possible? I don't know. I checked it after the official numbers, and was much happier with the number I got then, but I record my weight just once per day. Whatever comes up is the number. Hoping for a nicer number tomorrow.

New photos in 2 days. New gut measures then too.

Helping:

Ran again.

Did not go get a pastry after game.

Not Helping:

That damn cake.

Seeing the scale go up instead of down, even if I know the numbers day to day aren't the essential bit.

3g - Day 5

Weight: 199.6#

Gut: 108.5cm

It's the midpoint gut measure. Weekly measures on Wednesday, but Sunday feels like a good day to take stock.

According to calculations, I'm right on track for the weight. Yay me. Now to keep it going.

There's still a bit of time today, debating a walk or run, though neither of them feel like a great idea. Was walking earlier today, and my knees are a bit bothered. I'll probably do some arm work instead.

Helping:

29km bike ride today, even a slight hill.

Not Helping:

Cake. Still too much of it about, plus there's bread pudding now.

Feelings:

Happy to be on track. Frustrated at the continued presence of baked goods. Trying to make sure I eat enough, but not too much of anything. Hunger hasn't been a problem, but I've been wanting something creamy all day.

3G - Day 4

Weight: 200.8

Helping:

Went for a run today. Only 15 minutes, but it's a start.

Not Helping:

Meant to get in a bike ride, didn't happen.

Feelings:

Feeling ok, not great, but ok. Wanting to lose the gut for sure. Slight increase in weight from the previous day makes me worry a bit about being able to keep up the 0.52# per day decrease. It's a tough go. Any backslide just means that much more effort. By day 5, I need to be down a total of 2.6 pounds. It feels like a very big amount.

I still think I can do it without resorting to starvation tactics.

Update Note:

I have to re-think the math here. I've been using the day of 3G to think about how many pounds down I need to be. That's not quite right. I have to use the day minus 1, since day 1 is just me reporting my initial weight. So, I need to be down 2.08 pounds on day 5 to be on track. That means 199.7 or lower (and my scale only reads in 0.2# increments, so 199.6 would be best.)

3G - Day 3

Weight: 200.4#

Helping:

Didn't eat too much today.

Not Helping:

Mostly had cake to eat and other desserts.

I did a couple push ups, and meant to get on the bike or out for a run. Neither happened, so tomorrow, I get those done.

3G - Day 2

Weight: 203.0#

Helping things:

23km on the bike today, around 1 hour 15 minutes total.

Photos of self on FB.

Not snacking in the evening.

Not Helping:

My mom commenting that she doesn't mind how chubby I might look.

Feelings overall.... a bit down. Posted the startoff photos on FB, and got comments that pretty much said "wow, fat." Really stings to hear. But, that was part of the point. If I can just keep up with things. Get the workouts going. Get the diet going, then there will be progress. Progress they can see. That I can see.

3G - Day 1

Well, everything started with me being 201.8#, and 110 cm around the gut. I'm tempted to say "belly" but I feel that "gut" is going to give me more impetus to get it gone.

Helpful things from today are really limited. Rainy, so I wasn't out, and being in all day meant snacking on stuff. Ate a huge bowl of chocolate cereal, which isn't helping the cause any.

General feelings are hopeful that I can do this. 12 pounds in 6 weeks shouldn't be that difficult to do. Hard, of course, but not "difficult."

I have an image on one of my computers that says "Earn your body." I've been reading that as I earn the body I have. If I eat too much, I earn the fat I carry around. If I work out, I earn the muscles I gain. What I need to do is decide which body I want to earn, and then work towards that.

Here's the rambling part:

I have a desire to be fitter, and a desire to be less heavy. Desire has never been the issue.

I know how to be more fit, the necessary steps to take, the various modes of working out and applying stress to my body. I am familiar with a variety of routines and plans and workout styles. I know how to lose weight. The process is as simple as food energy in minus total energy out equals change in overall weight. Simple. I know which foods are good for me, and which aren't, and I know that anything in too great a quantity becomes bad. I have the necessary knowledge - or at least a firm enough grounding to start things off.

I have the ability to be fitter. My body works, there's no major injury preventing me from doing what needs to be done. I have the capability to do the work required. I have the funds needed to buy good food, and to make sure that I eat only good things. I have the space to do physical workouts, a bike to ride and shoes to run in.

I have done these things before. I have been consistent with workouts, so that I have gained strength and muscle. I have been diligent with my diet so that I have lost a significant amount of weight in a reasonable amount of time. I know it is possible to be less heavy - I've been there before. I know I can be more fit. I've done it before.

So I have to ask myself, again and again. Why am I not consistent with working out? Why am I not consistent with my diet? Why do I allow myself, again and again and again to get back to the weight and fitness levels I find myself now? I know the effort it takes to shift this mass of crap off of me. Why would I ever let myself put it back on?

Why should I need the input and support of others to convince me to get this gut gone? Again! It should be enough for me to just look at myself. To know that this isn't the body I want. This isn't the way I want to look and feel. And especially since I know that it doesn't have to be like this. That I can change it. I can make it different. And it's not going to be hard to do.

Just get started, get it done. Do the work, and tell about it when it's over. Decide, then act.

Get the Gut Gone - or 3G.

Once again, here we are. Me, feeling too fat for my own good, and resolving to do something about it.

June 1st has come and gone, and I meant to post something like this yesterday, but we're here now, so we post now.

6 weeks from now (the 1st, that is) is July 13. I expect to be travelling back to C-town around then. I'd like to be weighing in at significantly less than I do right now. Right now, I weigh in at about 202 pounds.

My goal is to weigh 180 pounds, but my low goal is 190. 12 pounds in 6 weeks? Totally possible. 22 pounds in 6 weeks? If I put in the effort required, I can do it.

Because stating a desire to lose weight actually seems to make my body lose some weight, I'm putting the desire out here to the public. But, since stating the process I'll employ makes me feel like not doing it, I'll leave the how part out.

To give me some serious motivation, I'll be tracking a couple measurements and making a few public declarations:

Weight - tracked daily, recorded on fitday.com, and posted here on the blog. Once a week, I'll post up a number on Facebook.

Belly - I've got a ruler in cm, which means a lot more precision overall. Rounding up to the nearest cm. Tracking it weekly, since changes here aren't likely to happen on a day to day basis. Maybe twice a week, but I'd expect it to be roughly weekly. This number will get attached to the picture.

Photo - Again, weekly, when I take my measurement. It'll go on FB, under a new photo album I will call something like 3G.

Feelings - How I'm feeling about everything. Blog posts mostly, but potentially also some FB posts. What I eat may end up in here as well. Done as a sort of "helping", "not helping" kind of thing.

Workouts - I'll record anything done as a workout here as well. Just to let me track what I'm doing.

There's 42 days. To make my goal, I need to lose somewhere between 0.29 and 0.52 pounds per day. My scale isn't that accurate, so it's 2 to 3.67 pounds per week (I'll settle for 3.6). I can do this, I just need to focus on it. Make it the priority.

May 5

A starter workout today. Really not much at all:

superset:

3x20 "air" shoulder press

3x20 lateral raise

3x5 push up, 60 seconds rest

3 attempts supported handstand (5, 8, 10 seconds)

3x5 dip

stretching

Thoughts, and such.

Ok. The diet thing has been off and on. More on than off, but this is about the point where I start to falter. Must remind myself of the good progress so far, and not fall into the habit of thinking that I'm doing great, so I can slack off. No. I can't. Now is when I must go harder.

I seem to have hit a first plateau, and the way to get through it is to change things up a bit. Stricter diet, or additional exercise. Given that my exercise numbers are practically at 0, I feel exercise is the better option right now.

I've got my gym membership, but that's limited, and soon to run out. Will be working through with bodyweight stuff. Been thinking of posting on BWC again, simply as a self-motivator, and also for ideas.

At present, things really are body weight only. I don't really have much access to weights or a bar (though there is a bar here, there's no place to use it).

With that in mind, I'm looking at the basics. Biking, walk/run, and simple at-home exercises.

I'm looking to put up a first challenge for myself. Push ups. I haven't done them in a while. So I want to set a simple goal, with a short timeframe. Something I can achieve without needing to push myself into injury.

My current timeframe is 6 weeks. Enough time for 3 consecutive, quick 2 week goals, 2 consecutive, quick 3 week goals. Plus a single 6 week goal.

2 Week Goal (May 5 - 19): Push Ups: 15 consecutive.

3 Week Goal (May 5 - 26): Yoga Headstand: 30 seconds.

6 Week Goal (May 5 - June 16): Burpees: 1..5..1

Bike ride

25Km on the bike today. About 2 hours total in the saddle. Legs are a bit tired, but good overall. Gotta remember to drink more water along the way.

Had an intention to go to Lorsch and back. Total of about, oh, 15km each way. Missed Lorsch since I was navigating by dead reckoning, rather than by maps or anything else. Went to Huettenheim instead, and then headed back from there. Overall, pretty lost the whole way along.

Nice ride though, good temperatures, though I did have to fight the wind several times.

Right. It's go time.

I've said it before, and I say it again. It is time to get things happening. Time to get started, again.

In one of my recent posts, I asked myself, what's different this time? What will make this a success? I said I wouldn't start again until I had an answer. And I think I may.

What's different this time is that I will be doing both things. Diet and fitness together. I've done diet alone, and diet with half-ass fitness. It's done me some good, but nothing that lasted. I've done fitness alone, and fitness with half-ass diet. And I've done half-ass diet with half-ass fitness. That one didn't do much at all.

This time, I'm gonna do them both. Fitness I can do. I have a gym membership. I have a bike. Getting outside shouldn't be a problem.

Diet is always the bigger issue. I get a bit too concerned about things when I count calories. So that option is out. And I'm over generous with simple portion control. Likely, I will be using fitday.com to do some rough calorie estimations for me. Something to keep me both honest, and also to give me a grounding of where and what I am eating.

I like keeping records, so I'll be tracking weight and calories on a day to day basis on fitday.com. At least until I feel that is undermining my efforts. Since I will be trying to build up riding distance, I will be tracking rides on mapmyride.com as well. Hopefully will do a bit of light running as well, though I do not know if I have good shoes for that here. I will have to check.

Right now, I'm keeping the goal simple. Weigh less. Specifically, down to 185. Timeframe, 14 weeks, starting immediate. Aggressive schedule, but I think it is still possible.

Athalos: I know you read this now and then. Permission granted to kick my ass into gear.

What's different about this time?

That is a question (more or less) that was asked on the xweighted site back in January. What is different about this time around? What will make this time different, so that the outcome (failure) will be different?

At the time, I didn't have a good answer, and thus far, that lack of an answer has proven true. Nothing has been different. And nothing has changed.

So, with my mind a-whirl on the idea of maybe, finally, kinda, sorta, losing some weight, I am forced to ask myself this question. And forced to give myself an answer. Without one, there is no sense in declaring an intention to lose weight.

Desire simply isn't enough. There has to be intent. There has to be will. There has to be committment.

Hopefully, I will have an answer for myself soon.

Amused

My Tuesday morning classes are supposed to be discussion-based. Everyone is supposed to show up, and talk about the trials and tribulations of working on their projects. Occasionally display the different parts of their project that have been going well, and maybe the parts that have been behaving poorly. I have to say that the idea is great. But the buy-in has been really low. A lot of students haven't gotten around to starting, or even choosing a project yet. And of those that have, there is only so much progress that they can make in a single week. Which leads to the class feeling really unfocused. Today's amusement came in the form of one of the "lost" student's presentations. They chose to present a possible idea for their project. But, the wording and structure put it forth as if they were the ones doing the research. It was about databases. Which just happens to be an area I understand. I throw out some questions, and really sort of wonder about what they are hoping to do in less than 2 months time on a difficult topic. Later, when it is my turn to present, they fire some questions at me. I was talking about implementing caching within my application, but they misunderstood what I was saying. As if I were talking about developing caching as a project. So I was a bit amused by it.

Deciding for myself

Been ruminating on the thought that I am an adult, and that means I get to decide what that means.

It's something I've known for a while, but haven't been very active in applying. Lately, though, with the way school and life are, it seems like a really good idea.

I've applied it twice in the last two days, and I'm happy with things thus far. One was to buy myself something I've wanted for a while - even though others have said it wasn't really worthwhile.

The other was to stop doing something I was no longer enjoying. I was doing it out of a hope for money, but I'd rather spend the time doing something I like than something I don't. Even if I won't get paid for the stuff I like.

43 folders?

Been doing some reading around the Getting Things Done mentality. Part of the whole simplify my life stuff I've been reading. I'm not entirely sure I'm really ready for 100% productivity commitment, but I could certainly work on upping my productivity.

One of the concepts I've run across is this thing called 43 folders. Basically, a system for organizing the near future.

You get 43 folders. 1 for each month of the year, and then the other 31 folders represents days of the month. No month has more than 31 days, you see.

So, you take the folder for the month you're in, and load it with the remaining day folders for the month. And the rest of the dates go into the following month (if the current month has less than 31 days in it, the extra day folders just get set aside.

With the folders set up, you now start putting stuff in them. For the day folders, you put in notes on stuff that needs doing on that day. For the month folders that don't have any day folders, you put stuff in there that needs doing on that month.

As you come to a day in the month, you pull the day folder, empty out the contents and get to work getting them done. With the folder emptied, you put it into the next month.

The process seems simple enough. I could probably make it work. But I would rather not have 43 actual, paper folders to handle. There's a certain charm to the lo-tech option, but I'd rather have a program or something similar that I could work with instead. Maybe something online that I could access anywhere I had an internet connection.

All together?

I have been debating myself over Twitter for a while now. On the one hand, it seems like a reasonably useful way to get a quick note out to the masses. On the other hand, do I really have much to say in short notes to the masses?

I'd have to say, that no, I really don't have much to say to the masses that I can get accomplished in just 140 characters. Besides, I already have a Facebook account, use this blog here, and email. That's three major areas for communicating with others.

Email is my targeted messaging. I know the person I'm sending to, and they have the option of reading it or not, but I know they'll at least be notified that I sent something.

The blog here is my open post to the world at large - even if they don't know I'm here. I do try to post as if I do have readers, though I know I'm clearly not consistent enough, and ultimately, the blog is a vanity device.

Facebook lies between those two extremes. People I know can see what I post there, but not everyone will bother to take a look at what I have to say. It too is a vanity device, making me think that other people really have an interest in what I'm doing in my life. For the most part, I'm sure that's not the case. There's likely to be a couple of people out there who really care, but the rest of them just don't. And that's ok. I like to think that's the way things should be.

After all, you can't have hundreds of really close friends. You'd never have time to spend with all of them.

One of the potential advantages of getting onto Twitter is giving my outgoing messages some additional partitioning. Personal stuff here, professional stuff there. That sort of thing. But, I don't know if I really have enough non-personal stuff to say. And really, the professional me and personal me are a lot closer together than they have been in the past. What I'm doing professionally right now (school) is pretty tied into the personal life I'm living at the moment.

So, for now, I think I can live without Twitter. What I have right now works well enough.

Living with less?

One of the threads of thought floating through my mind over the last half year is the concept of minimalist life. Living with less. Fewer things means less time cleaning, searching, or maintaining the things I own.

There are a number of blogs out there about clearing out clutter, and living more simply, and there are a number of blogs about paring life down to the bare essentials. A few about living with as little as 100 things.

I have rolled these ideas around in my mind for quite a while.

Coming to Germany, I was forced to reduce my posessions in a repeated cycle of choosing fewer and fewer things I could take with me. On arrival here, my personal possessions consisted of a couple laptops and other hardware, some clothes, a lot of Warhammer and Warmachine stuff, a collection of DVDs a few books, and a couple of things which held some significance to me.

Since arriving, I've kept pretty close to that list of stuff (though I have acquired more books and models). Of the things I actually own, the list isn't much greater than it was. But, I've been put in charge of more things, simply by association. The shared items of the house (furniture, dishes, etc.) fall under the domain of things I need to maintain and keep in working order. (The Germans simplify that into the simple word: Ordnung.)

I should very much like to take on the task of simplifying the world around me. Reduce the number of owned items, if only to give me fewer things that need cleaning. But, I don't feel like I am really in control of the shared items. They simply aren't mine to decide what to do with them.

I like the concept posed by minimalist living. I just don't know if I could make that work in the environment I am in.

Book 6: Harry Potter und der Kamer des Schreckens

I have finally managed to finish off the second book in the Harry Potter series. In German. Buoyed by my impending completion, I went out and bought book three: Harry Potter und der Gefangene des Azkaban.

I do like the Harry Potter series. Enough that I am enjoying my re-reading of the books. The language is about on par with where I am for reading, and the story is straightforward enough to follow along, without being so confusing on who and what is happening.

I've been enjoying it so much, that I have decided to use the books as a grounding for learning some French. In that spirit, I ordered book one, Harry Potter a l'ecole des Sorciers (sorry, no French accent marks available on this keyboard). I will use the French version as my bathroom book, and the German book will be my on-train book.

My overall book reading goal for the year is looking grimly unlikely. 100 books in English. No problem. 100 books in a combination of English, German and now French? Given that I am 3 months into the year and only 6 books done, it doesn't look good.

Book 5: I Shall Wear Midnight

I haven't been keeping up with most of BFS stuff lately. It's been a bit busy. Still, I have been trying to keep on top of a few things.

I Shall Wear Midnight, by Terry Pratchett has been my bathroom book. That is, it is the book I read while I am in the bathroom. Which means it takes me quite some time to read it.

It is a story about Tiffany Aching, set in the Discworld. I have a lot of affection for both Mrs. Aching and Discworld. And it is very well done.

As always, his writing is enjoyable and light, and can be read in either a quick, single sitting, or spread out over lots of shorter reads.

I have yet to find a Discworld book I didn't like. Recommended to any and all.

Book 4: Der Blutgott

This book was my "on the train" book. Pretty much the only time I read any of it was while I was travelling from place to place. Of course, this means I got sleepy and fell asleep on it time and again. That also means it took me a long, long time to get through the whole thing.

For a book supposedly about the blood god, it doesn't really get around to it until almost the end of the book. I was hoping for a lot more story on the blood god himself, but mostly got a big battle in a huge city. Sure, battles are great - and the Soul Drinkers (Seelentrinker) marines were well portrayed. Their struggle to battle for the Emperor, even after excommunication was intriguing. Would be interesting to build up a force of them.

The story itself, wasn't much more than expected from a story about marines. Battles, both large and small. Lots of things blowing up, and lots of things getting shot at quite a bit. Personally, I had a lot of issues keeping track of the many characters. Something about similarity of name, purpose and the German dialogue structure made things harder than it should have been.

Still, for an in-world fiction, it's not too bad.

Gym, issues, pushing through

I have been going to the gym. But each deviation from the schedule causes me to have to push myself again to go there.

I went in the mornings all last week, and other than the first time, no issues. Then, this week, I had a schedule swap, and I've been going in the evening instead. Means I had to push myself along again to get there.

I get the same excuses all the time from my brain. Too tired, too late, too hungry. None of them are good, or even reasonable excuses. The whole point of exercise is to make me tired. And it can't be too late to go to a place that never closes. And too hungry? I can eat after! Suck it up!

Still, it's a bit of an issue with me and self-motivation. Takes some kicking, and some effort just going there. But once I'm there, it's all business.

McFit

Totally pleased with this gym. Open 24/7 (have yet to test if that is true or not), and stocked up with all the things a gym-goer needs. There are two locations near me. One in Käfertal, and one in Almenhof. There are some differences between the two locations, but they are almost entirely limited to building layout.

In either gym, there is enough cardio (Ausdauer) equipment to let a good number of members work at the same time. There is a lot of machines. There are at least two of most machines, and sometimes three or more. For those few machines where there is only one, there does not seem to be high demand.

If this was all the gym had, it might be enough to make me go. Weight machines aren't my favourite, but the open hours is helpful. Of course, the real clincher is the gym has a well stocked free weight area. No lifting cages, but enough racks to fill in the gaps for most exercises. The only thing I have missed about the lack of a cage is that there is no good place for a deadlift spot. So far, deadlifts seem to be something that is just done near a rack. No proof of that, though, since I have not seen anyone do any deadlifts.

I am slightly thrown off by the metric weights. While they come in 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10 and 15 (maybe higher values too), they are clearly not the same as pound weights. I was used to adding a pair of 10s to the bar to go up in difficulty, but with kilos, it isn't the same thing. It's much more like throwing 25s on the bar. Much harsher.

So, I have to pay better attention to the weight I grab from the stack.

I have been enjoying the gym so far. Hopefully my day off won't throw the process out of whack.

Is it bike time yet?

All winter long I have been thinking about my bike. Getting back out there and riding. I guess I did a good job of getting myself interested in riding the bike last year. Even if I did wuss out after my big overnight trip.

But, I digress. I have been looking forward to biking season around here. Of course, in Germany, every day is biking season. But, for me, biking season starts once the threat of snow is gone, and the weather doesn't require a coat, mitts, hat and scarf. We are nearing such conditions now. With luck, it will be reasonable riding weather sometime this week, maybe this weekend.

McFit

Hit the gym yesterday and today. Just gotta keep it up.

Workout yesterday was the standard weight lifting stuff. Squats (20kg+bar), bench (20kg+bar), then 3x2 assisted chin ups.

Workout today was a program available at the McFit. A 2-day split program. It goes like this:

10 minutes warmup on treadmill, low speed (5.2kph) and 2% incline.

3x15 Leg press (35kg) superset with 3x15 Leg curl (35kg)
3x15 Incline dumbell press (6kg per hand) superset with 3x15 Chest pulldown (35kg)
3x15 Captain's chair leg lift superset with 3x15 Laterial raise (4kg per hand for 2 sets, 3kg per hand for last set)
3x15 Straight bar pushdown (25kg) superset with 3x15 dumbell bicep curl (4kg per hand)

10 minutes on recumbent bike

Quite happy with myself. Now I just need to eat, and get some sleep. Workout again tomorrow.

3EUR days 7 & 8

I'm sticking with the 3EUR Experiment. I had 0.05 carryover from day 6, and didn't spend any money on day 7. This was possible because I stayed with friends. So, I didn't need to buy food for myself there. I'm there again on day 8, which left me with 6.05 in the account.

I did some shopping today, though. I bought some chicken schnitzel, 100g of chocolate (0.35), and 6 baguette style Brotchen (also 0.35). The chicken was discounted, which got me it for cheaper than I'd expected. At the end of the day, I'm still left with 3.27EUR.

That will roll over into tomorrow.

A couple of things have come up in my mind since the last post.

First, I had planned to go out to a friendly meetup on day 7. But, I couldn't decide whether I would have to count any food bought there against the 3EUR limit. On the one hand, it is clearly eating out, which is covered by the experiment. On the other hand, it is almost like school, which is exempt. In the end, I didn't go, so I don't have a good answer for it.

Secondly, I'm starting to feel like the experiment is inauthentic. In some ways, I was looking at the experiment as a real experience. Working from a limited budget (with a hard limit), and preventing myself from overspending within the month.

I did say I could take advantage of free stuff, but I find that I'm doing that quite a bit. Eating food from friends instead of things from my own kitchen - even when I have enough for myself and have planned a meal for myself. This strikes me as dishonest. I mean, would someone really living with extremely limited funds be able to rely on friends feeding them day after day? I don't think so. Not without coming off as a huge mooch.

So, the whole experiment is starting to ring pretty hollow to me. Which bothers me, and I'm undecided on whether or not it should. On the one hand, I'd like the experience to be authentic, and on the other hand, this is the reality of my life. It's quite possible for me to eat several meals for free each week, with no significant drawback or backlash against me. So, why not take advantage of it. Maybe I could view that as supplementation via soup-kitchen or something like that.

3EUR Experiment

The easy days of day 3 and 4 left me with a balance of 9.19 going into day 5. And, unfortunately, that kinda went to my head. A miscalculation saw me purchase 9.28 worth of groceries.

I hadn't worked out a proper process for overspending. I hadn't expected to. But, I figured that a positive balance carries over, so a negative should do as well. Ultimately, the budget being drawn against is for the entire month (90EUR total), so really, an over-expense comes from that pool of money.

Thus, today, on day 6, I was working with 2.91, instead of 3.00. I managed to make it up though, and spent only 2.86, leaving me with 0.05 carryover for tomorrow.

One of the things I've realized in the short time I've been doing this experiment is that I really don't give enough thought to what I've been spending on food before now. Every time I think about getting a snack or something from the shop, I have to remind myself that it'll count against my food budget. That were I really limited in the total money I have to spend, that I'd be seriously hurting myself later in the month because I wanted something sweet early on.

The other thing I've noticed is that I have to do a lot more meal planning now. I can't simply go to the store and buy everything I might need for a meal on one day. I have to ration it out, and buy things that I can spread over a couple meals, or buy things today so that tomorrow I can buy the rest of the ingredients. Living limited requires me to really consider what I need, and avoid that unnecessary items.

BFS: Writing for January

One of the 12 goals of Big, Fun, Scary 2011 is to write more. 250,000 words this year, in fact.

To accomplish this goal, I need to write an average of 20,834 words per month. That's 685 words per day. 685 words a day is not that much. The real difficulty is simply writing each day.

Over the month of January, I managed to write on just 16 days. That's a tiny fraction more than half of the days. Fortunately, I managed some 18,781 words in those 16 days. Just 2,100 shy of the goal. I'll have to do a bit better next month, so I don't fall farther behind.

More of the Experiment

Day 3, Saturday the 30.

No shopping today, nothing spent. 0.19 from yesterday, plus the 3 from today leave 3.19 for tomorrow. No shopping happens on Sunday here, so that'll be another 3EUR and will have monday starting with 9.19. Lots of cash there.

To be sure people know how I'm surviving, all food today came from the family. That's free, so it's perfectly valid. I expect tomorrow's food to come the same way. Soon, the majority of my food will not be free.

The 3EUR Experiment

I had a strange notion hit me recently, and like most strange notions, I felt compelled to at least explore the possibilities of it.

This notion was born of the practical considerations of my living expenses. The apartment I am in has me thinking about food, possessions and usage of space. Given the limited space available to me, both for furniture and for food and, quite frankly, everything else, I need to make sure I'm maximizing this limited resource.

Since space for food storage is so limited, I am going to be practically forced to buy groceries on a daily or near daily schedule. Anything bought needs to be eaten relatively quickly, since there is hardly any place to keep it.

That line of thought has led me to consider that I could easily overspend on food, simply by buying things that are unnecessary or expensive. While I do not have a fixed food budget, I feel that implementing one is probably the best way to help minimize my total monthly costs.

So, I began thinking about budgets. I started thinking about spending per month. Then, spending per week. Eventually I came to ask myself: How little per day could I spend and still survive comfortably?

After some thinking, the number that came to mind was 3 Euros. And thus, the 3EUR Experiment was born.

An experiment like this in Canada, at the same dollar value (about $5), would be difficult. Potentially possible, but hard. But in Germany, the basic staple foods seem to be far cheaper. I think it is possible.

I've laid out a few ground rules for myself.

1. The experiment applies only towards my food and household budget. This includes any consumable item (any item expected to last less than 1 month with daily usage) . It does not include things like my water and power bill. It also does not include school or travel expenses. It does include any evenings out or fast food.

2. I'm free to take advantage of the generosity of others, as well as any free items I can find.

3. I am limited to 3EUR per day, and any unspent money will carry over to the next day.

I kicked off the experiment on Thursday the 27th. Of course, by the time I started it, I already had some consumable items (both purchased and found) for the apartment. In the interests of being fair, here's what I already had on hand:

1L orange juice

400g extra hot chili powder

100g sharp paprika

2x125g bar soap

500mL shampoo

125mL toothpaste

1 razor with 2 replacement blades

250g strawberry cake snacks

3 rolls toilet paper

part of a bottle of hand soap

750mL chili oil

On Thursday, I started with 3EUR. My purchases included:

1L milk 0.50

2 bananas 0.36

1Kg sugar 0.65

500g raw rolled oats 0.35

200g cottage cheese 0.49

For a total of 2.35, leaving 0.65 for tomorrow.

Since it was the first day, I was looking to get enough stuff in the house to be able to handle breakfast for the next day at the least. As well, I wanted to start setting up some staple foods that would last me for a while. Thus, the sugar and the oats. The milk should also last me a couple of days. With any luck, I'll be able to build on this, and get some more cooking staples together.

On Friday, I started with 3.65EUR. Purchases were:

1L sunflower oil 1.49

300g cottage cheese 0.89

loaf of bread 0.49

500g cream cheese 0.59

Total of 3.46, leaving 0.19 for Saturday.

With luck, I can save up some cash over the weekend, so I can make a few of the more expensive purchases on Monday.

I still have to pick up more cooking staples, like salt and pepper, and other basic spices. But those should be relatively cheap.

Book 3: Moving Pictures

I borrowed 3 books from the library last time I went there. Animal Farm, Maurice, der Kater, and Moving Pictures.

I started and finished Moving Pictures today. Same length, if not more than Maurice, but in English. Clearly, my reading speed is far greater in English.

Like most Terry Pratchett books, I enjoyed it quite a bit. A fun read, with interesting social commentary mixed in amongst the humour.

I tore through this book in about 5 hours of total reading time. If you like Discworld, then this book will be enjoyable to you.

I found I could identify most, but not all of the movie spoofing happening. Which is good, considering how poorly I do at that most of the time. It helps when the movies being spoofed are the older movies. Things I have probably seen spoofed before.

Still, enjoyable read. Quite nice overall.

Book 2: Maurice, der Kater

Book 2 is the first all German book I've managed to read this year. You may be pointing to Harry Potter as being in all German, and it is, but I started that way back last year. This book was started this year. This month, even.

I think I'm getting a bit faster. And I'm understanding it pretty well, but I am doing a lot of in-place translation still. Gotta work on that. And the only way is simply to read more.

The book was pretty good. Terry Pratchett is a writer I enjoy. I do feel that I lost a bit on the jokes due to translation, but most of them held up. When I think about the book, a lot of it is in English in my head. That's because I translated it as I went. But there are some things which still stick out in German. Which I will take as a good sign.

Overall, the book was good. Even if it wasn't quite as involved with the Discworld I know.

I must also say that I'm quite happy that he didn't go with the tried cliche of the two main characters falling in love with each other. At least, not in the head-over-heels kind of way.

Overall, a good book. Recommended, even in English.

Cooking

One of the Big, Fun, Scary items this year is learning how to cook. Now, I can already do some cooking and baking. But, it's mostly the same few simple things. Spaghetti (or variations of pasta, done the same way). Stir-fry, pizza, and I can fry pretty much any meat you hand me.

But I fail on a number of other areas. Like, things that aren't fried. Things that aren't a simple spaghetti. I want to learn to cook better. Which, to me, means I want to learn to cook more, and different things. I want to be able to do fish, steak, and so forth.

I don't need to cook things that are super-fancy, but I wouldn't mind being about to do some fancy things.

I do want to learn to do some healthier options for myself, and by extension, for others when I cook for them.

Apartment again

Right. Been mulling the apartment for a couple days. Move in comes soon. Looking forward to that. Going to probably start with the basics. Keep things simple, you know?

Bed, dishes, required items for food and toiletries. That kind of simple. Even with keys in hand, I expect a full move-in to take me at least a week. I just don't have the ability to move furniture on my own, or it wouldn't be nearly as long.

I've been thinking about decor. And I've more or less come to the conclusion that I can't afford decor. No money for that sort of frippery. As it is, I'll be needing cash just to keep the basics running, like food and bus fare. Beyond that, anything else would simply be an unneeded expense. Doesn't mean I can manufacture a few things for myself. Just means that I have to really think my way through any purchase.

I have been good enough to hold off on picking up any kind of furniture for the place. Until I know how much space I have, there's no sense in putting down any cash on anything "new."

Apartment stuff

So, I've been preparing for the apartment. I made a list. That's pretty normal planning for me. Make a list. Then I can figure out what needs doing, and what's done.

I've got basic furniture for the place. Bed, a small closet, a dresser, chair (or two), and a table (probably). I could use a desk lamp at least. Maybe a floor lamp.

I figure I will need some extra pillows (lots of them), and also some additional blankets. I have a small comforter and can probably take a few of the smaller pillows with me.

I've got a set of speakers and an amp to power them. I'll need to locate a 1/8 to 1/4 male-to-male plug, so I can hook the laptop to the amp. A bit more junk-build than the system I used in Canada, but serviceable.

I may even be able to take on the record player, but I don't know if that's spare or not.

The other week, I picked up some folding boxes to help me organize things, and I'll likely need a few more things to allow me to get the rest organized as well.

My kitchen consists of a sink, some cupboards, and 2 heating elements on the stove. No oven. So, I've acquired a new toaster oven. This, I figure will allow me to do some light baking things, though not much.

Early this week, I made and finished my rag rug for the kitchen floor. I hope it will help.

Today I picked up some tableware. Dishes, cups, bowls, plates, that sort of thing. Utensils too. With a few essential purchases from the Penny outside the apartment (toilet roll, soap, etc) I could move in and live a sparse life.

I expect to stay pretty sparse overall, but I will be adding on things until I can live reasonably comfortably as well.

So far, I've resisted the urge to pick up furniture. There's lots I could do with, but space in the apartment is very limited. I honestly don't have room for much that can't serve a couple purposes. As it is, I am feeling like any furniture I do get will have to be carefully considered in terms of space and placement in the apartment.

Still, I do have a couple of things I'd really like to have. A table. A desk. A plant of some sort. Maybe an end table or something where I could keep a small fish? The space I have is small, and I need to really carefully consider what is going to go in there.

Craft 4: Rag rug

Like the last post said, I was struck with an idea. Sometimes, I follow through on those ideas. This year, one of my goals is to follow through more (at least, you can read the list of goals that way). So, I went out on Monday and bought three cheap bolts of scrap fabric. A total of 6EUR.

I made sure to get stuff that felt good on the hands, since I knew I'd be using my feet on it a bunch. I rendered it into strips, sewed the strips, and then braided all the strips into a big thread. Crocheted the thing with my fingers, and it looks and feels great. I'm really happy with it.

Those of you keeping count might wonder what happened to Craft 1 and Craft 3? Well, I am numbering the crafts by when they are started, and not when they are finished. Craft 3 is a long piece of work, and I expect to need several hours this week to get it half-finished. It'll likely be done in about 2 weeks, but I hope it won't be quite that long.

Craft 1 is also going pretty slowly, as I've run out of thread. Must go by the shops and pick up some more.

An idea for a craft

So, I had an idea for a craft today. A rag rug.

I did a bit of research on it, and generally they were made pretty much any way that people wanted, so I feel that my idea is probably sound.

The plan I have is pretty straightforward, but labour intensive. Here's the idea:

1. purchase 3 bolts of scrap fabric. I'm looking for cheap and light. I'm also hoping to find bolts with a minimum length of 1 meter.

2. render all three bolts into half inch strips.

3. sew all the strips from the bolts together to make a single, long strip of fabric. Repeat this for each of the bolts.

4. roll the strips into fabric balls.

5. stitch the ends of the three fabric strips together.

6. braid the three strips into one very long braid.

7. use the braid as if it were a very big piece of string or yarn to crochet a squared mat.

That's the plan. The efforts come from all of the cutting, sewing, braiding and crocheting work. It's basically four small crafts in one. With luck, the result will be something unique and interesting, and hopefully warm on the feet.

If I get a chance, I'll be looking for scrap fabric tomorrow.

Advantages of living alone

One advantage that struck me today about the prospect of having my own apartment, is that I will be the only person in charge of the food there. Groceries in any form will be entirely based on what I choose to purchase.

This is a good thing.

I have moved before, and at each move there's been some ability to set what food goes into the house. But it has never really been my own choices before (except Ohio). There's always been other people to consider.

In Ohio, I had full choice as well, and that worked fine for the first week or so, after which I no longer cooked and bought nothing as food aside from drinks and ice cream. So, bad on me there.

This time, I am hoping to stick to a much healthier food selection. I will have some drawbacks with certain kinds of food preparation, as I will not have an oven. Hopefully I can get a toaster oven or something similar to do any kind of baking/broiling.

I am considering living a less meat-centered diet. This would probably be a good thing for me, as meat is generally more expensive than vegetables and fruit.

Craft 2

Just finished a crochet hat. A variation on the basic 5-fold hat design done in the round. Done up as a beret, rather than as a regular helmet hat. Added a bit of flair on the bottom, just because I could. Wasn't sure who would end up with it, but it looks like B likes it, so it is hers.

Next project in mind is probably a scarf. I have a rough design in mind for it, though I may start on some leggings next. Had their design in mind for longer.

Apartment hunting

Living now in Germany requires that I register a residence. Where I am currently won't allow me to register. So I need an apartment. The prospect of hunting out an apartment is pretty daunting to me, since the Germans have a lot of rules about how things get done.

I searched out a number of cheaper student residences, but a lot of those are WG (Wohngemeinschafft), which means shared accommodations. While I'm sure I could deal with a shared accommodation, I really would rather not have to share with strangers. It would probably be good for communication and social life, but it also carries the penalties of having to deal with other people.

I searched out a couple of places, and went in today to see one. Tiny. Best I could say for it. I'm mentally comparing it to the place I had in Ohio. That too was a temporary living space, and consisted of a single room, with an attached bathroom. I paid about $600 per month for the privilege of living there.

The space I looked at (and will rent) is smaller. The bathroom is small, but serviceable, and the apartment as a whole takes up no more room than the bedroom I have now. Still, I need a location to use as an address for official correspondance, and also for other official business. Plus, an area away from the distractions of family will do me good when it comes to studies.

Given the size of the space, a TV is out of the question. I simply do not have room for such a thing. Assuming I can locate some internet connection, I should be fine for entertainment. If not, I may need to start figuring out ways to entertain myself that don't involve a computer.

Book 0: Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen

This is a book I have read before. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (alternately titled "and the Sorceror's Stone in the USA). This was the German translation.

I have been reading this book for a long time. A very long time. I picked the book up last summer, and have been making slow progress through it since then. It has been my book that I read on the train here in Germany.

In English, I can read pretty quickly. In German, my reading pace is considerably slower. As a quick comparison the internet tells me that animal farm has a bit under 31,000 words. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone comes in at just under 77,000 (the English edition).

I read Animal Farm in 1.5 hours (that's 344 words per minute).

And I read the English version of Harry Potter in about 2.5 hours.

The German version has taken me months. Admittedly, this is in tiny bursts of 20 minutes at a time. Still, tonight I managed to devote about 1.5 hours of time to reading the last 35 pages of the book. That's a pace that is a third to a quarter that of my English reading rate. Surprisingly, that's lots faster than it was just a few months ago. I'd have been lucky to do even 10 pages in the same amount of time.

I don't have much of a review of the book here. It's Harry Potter. If you accept that magic is possible, and all that goes with it, then the book is a reasonable read, with several major flaws in logic along the way.

If you haven't read the book, then spoilers follow.

The first major complaint I have is with the sport of Quidditch. Not the field, nor the flying, nor even the many balls. My issue is with the scoring. 10 points per quaffle goal is fine. It would be the same as saying that each goal is only 1 point, however, since it's part of the game I agree with. My major disagreement is with the scoring for the snitch. 150 points? For a single ball? Yes, I get that it is supposed to be very difficult to manage. And I get that it is also the signal for the game to end. But to me, the point swing possible with that ball is too great. It means that the only way for the non-snitch-catching team to win, is to be ahead by 16 regular goals.

Given the way the game is otherwise described, I'm hard pressed to imagine a situation where this is possible, short of one team being dead, except for the Snatcher. A more reasonable scoring of say, 15, or 25 points would make the game far more balanced. As it is, the game could, in theory, be won 150 to 0. Which seems like a rather large point spread.

My other complaint has to do with the structuring of the pacing of the book. Yes, the books events happen over the full course of the regular school year. But, they don't need to. There's no reason for Quirrell to wait until the end of the year. He had every bit as much opportunity to take action at the start of the year as he did later in the year. Especially considering the possible use of the Avada Kedavra to get past Fluffy (unless such a curse would be ineffective on something his size).

As well, given the events of later books, it seems to me like Dumbledore is doing things rather stupidly towards the end. When he's called away to London, he decides to go by broomstick. A method of travel he never uses again. Thereafter, in all the books, he travels by some method of instant teleportation. Disapparation, Port Key, or Flue. There's just no need for him to fly anywhere by broom. And even less reason for him not to be able to instantly return to just outside the grounds of the school (or as the final book shows us, to be able to Disapparate directly onto the school grounds - a perk of being headmaster).

Broom flying seems to be a strictly novice way to get around. Especially given the magical ability of the old man.

Anyway, the complaints with the book I can overlook (except for Quidditch, which just irks me). I like the book, I like the setting, I like the characters (at least until hormone-stupid syndrome strikes them). I will probably pick up the next book in the series in German and see how long it takes me to chew through the longer text of that volume.

Book 1: Animal Farm

Amongst the varied goals of Big, Fun, Scary 2011 is to read more. I feel that a read a reasonable amount, but I could certainly read more. Especially in German. Thus, I have set a rather lofty goal to read 100 books this year. I am only counting something as a book if it has more pages of text than illustration, so manga, comics and other such works will not count. I still expect to read a good number of those.

The first book I'm managed to read cover to cover this year is Animal Farm, by George Orwell. The last time I read this book was in high school, as an assignment. The copy I read is English, borrowed from the local library.

I can say that the main reason I borrowed the book is so that I could finally have something to write about for the reading portion of BFS. The book is short. So short that I read the entire thing in under 90 minutes, including a brief break.

I've found that people either love or hate George Orwell. Most of that has to do with whether they discovered him on their own or were forced to read something of his as part of their schooling. Personally, I find him to be a decent writer, but also a bit heavy handed. His use of metaphor in all of the writings I've read of him come back around to the topics of war, imperialism and the oppression of the idiot masses. These are things I can understand, but don't relate to completely. I suppose that makes the book somewhat less meaningful for me, but I'm not bothered by that fact.

The book is, more or less, as I remember. Brief, with an initially large cast of characters that basically dwindles down to rather few characters in short order. The story loses almost all sense of dialogue during the middle portion, and becomes little more than a retelling of history of an emerging oppressive regime than anything else.

There are clear allegories to real-world politics, and had I been alive at the time when the book was being written, I might be able to place country labels on the various farms and individuals in the book. It holds up to some scrutiny today, which suggests that nothing has really changed in politics.

Overall, a very quick read, and classic Orwell. I prefer 1984 over Animal Farm. Both books cover pretty much the same topic, but from a slightly different viewpoint, and with a more relateable character in 1984.

Craft 0 and Craft 1

Crafting is one of the Big, Fun, Scary activities for this year.

Craft 0 is the project I was last working on before the new year. I had hoped to finish it before the first, but that got held up by other things in life. So, when it is finished, it will count as Craft 0. It is a crocheted pair of arm warmers for my oldest daughter. Right now, the craft sits at about 85% completed. I expect that it needs around 3 or 4 more hours of effort before it is done - possibly more since the yarn and needle combination has been more difficult than expected.

Craft 1 is a sewn skirt, being put together by me, for B. The skirt is entirely my design, with inspiration from a lot of places. It's a five-panel skirt, with a waistline piece on top. While I've technically been sewing for more than 20 years, I have to say that I really don't have much experience with it. So, I'm trying to keep things simple. At least as simple as designing a piece of clothing, laying out the design and then sewing it into something wearable can be.

Craft 1 is about 85% complete as well, but needs some heavy modification to make it wearable. While I had done some calculation to make it fit, it seems to have grown somewhat in the making. I do tend to put in a lot of excess when I sew. That's something I'll have to work on. The current need is to put a zipper into it. I had bought a zipper for it when I had originally made it, but it has gone missing. I will need to find a new one, and then sew it in. That means undoing a bunch of work on the skirt, but that's the price I pay for doing things the hard way.