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.