4000 Questions: Question #27: What do you wish you had started to learn as a kid?

Wow, that's a topic that could go on forever. I guess, right now, I would have to say that I wish I had learned to exercise. I use to ride my bike all the time but I wish I had been on the track team, even if it wasn't for running. Just to be there & force me to exercise. Having said that, I know I would never have done it. It probably would have been much worse than band was. I would have hated the coaches, the team mates, & my parents for making me do it.

When I was going to school at Malta, our PE teacher would make us run a mile every day. I don't think I ever "ran" the whole way. We jogged down this drive way that lead to the parsenage next to the church I attended. If we ran down the driveway then down this hill to the barbed wire fence & came back, that was 1/4 of a mile. We had to do that 4 times before we could go play. At one point, we were out of her site once we went down the hill. Most of us "non-athletic" types would stand just under the hill until we had caught our breath. I know that sounds harsh for children but I really wish I had kept it up. I know though that even if I could go back & tell my younger self everything I know now, my younger self would not listen.

Other things I wish I had learned is: to like writing; there are mean people in this world but their opinion of you matters very little, there will be people who truly like you one day; learning is fun; ice cream is a great once a week treat not an everyday treat; to be a neater person; to cook amazing low-calorie meals; to like & eat less processed foods; water tastes great; etc...

Movie Review: Burn After Reading

Ok, I saw Burn After Reading last night. I had such high hopes for this movie even after watching some of the reviews of it on TV that weren't so great. I thought, "Usually when they review movies, I have the opposite opinion that these guys have.

The movie was okay, I guess. It was different, that's for sure, which can be refreshing at times. I was happy that I had a free movie pass though. :)

There are some really hilarious parts (mainly due to Brad) but the whole story, in my opinion, could have been way better. I thought the acting, especially Brad & George's acting, was really good but the story just kind of fell flat.

This is definitely one you can skip. If you absolutely have to see it, I would suggest waiting until it hit video. I didn't "hate" the film but I certainly don't care to see it again. I'd give it a "D," maybe a "C-."


******** Warning: Spoiler alert, kind of, what I say below is really not a spoiler but I do talk about something that is in the film. **********



Just as a warning, the "F" word was dropped about a billion times (lack of creativity & a thesaurus, in my opinion), there is quite a lot of bed hopping but nothing is every really seen (just implied &, once, heard), there is a scene with a sex machine but it is only seen & not actually uses, & there is some very graphic violence (you actually see a gunshot to the head & an incident with a hatchet). If you are sensitive to language or violence, especially very explicit gunshots to the head, I would strongly recommend choosing another movie.


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Here is Christianity Today: Movies' review of the film.

The following are their discussion questions:

1. What motivates each of these characters to act the way they do? Do any of them have honorable motives? Can we learn anything from characters who behave poorly, who don't have honorable motives?

2. Do any of the characters seem to learn anything? Do any of them change?

3. What attitude toward humanity does the movie seem to take? Is it a fair viewpoint?

4000 Questions: Question #26: What about being a child do you miss the most?

Ah, easy, no responsibilities. No bills, no job, no worrying about money, etc... If I didn't wash the dishes, mom did it. If I didn't wash my clothes, mom did it. If I didn't make dinner, mom did it. If I didn't put gas in the car, dad did it. If the toilet or tub stopped up, dad fixed it. If something broke, dad fixed it. If there was a need, the parents filled it. If I needed something, I didn't have to budget it out, it just magically appeared. I didn't have to go to work, I just sat at a desk all day pretending to listen to a teacher drone on about some war, or verbs, or equations, or some acid that might blow up the room, boring stuff like that.

After getting out into the "real" world, you really realize how much you love school & learning. :)

With a few exceptions, I had a great childhood. I, like most people, took it all for granted.

I read something once talking about how this person who wrote this said he would have developed the progression of life opposite of what it is now. You would start off in a retirement home getting the aches & pains out of the way first, then work for a few years, then truly enjoy childhood, then end his days floating around in a "hot tub." Kind of funny, huh?

Summers, holidays, weekends, & "snow" days were pretty great too, weren't they?

New Blog: Food Journal

I've decided to start a new blog just for my food/exercise journal. I have several friends that do this & thought I would try it out too. I've had a few people interested in what I eat & do. Whenever I'm asked this, my mind blanks out & I'm like, "Um...um...bread?" So, I've decided to see how this works out. It may only last a few days or weeks but we'll see.

It is with another blog service, Vox. I'm just testing it out. I absolutely love Blogger (aka Blog Spot) so I'm definitely not leaving it. The only reason I signed up with this other site is I was trying to leave a comment on one of my friend's blogs & it wouldn't let me unless I was a member. Stupid site. That is pretty much the reason why I left Xanga in the first place & now, here I am, doing it again with another site just like it. I obviously did not think this one through, did I? So, I joined & thought I would try it out for a while & see how it is. If I end up not likeing it much, I'll move it over to Blogger & update you guys.

I currently use SparkPeople.com to track my food & exercise but I don't think it is that accessible to the general public so I'm going to try this.

Anyway, I'm just listing the foods with the calories out beside it. I update it throughout the day so if you go there during the middle of the day & it looks like I haven't eaten anything, it is because I haven't finished it for that day. Also, keep in mind my nutty schedule. I will put a total of calories at the top when I am finished with that day.

So, if you're interested, enjoy, if not, that's fine too.

Society's view on what is healthy

I was reading a blog entry on SparkPeople.com today. It is talking about an interview with Keira Knightley on David Letterman discussing her fitness regimen.

The main part of the entry discussed a part of the interview where David Letterman asked Keira what her reason for joining a gym was since she looked so fit. She went on to explain to him that she was finding it difficult to climb the stairs to her apartment in her building.

This all sounds very innocent but this is how society views what is healthy & what is not. "If you are thin then you must be healthy. If you are fat you must not be."

This just is not true.

For example, I know a fitness guru (I love using that word, hehe) who is as thin as a rail but has some pretty sever health problems. She told me that she is really bad about not getting in her cardio (I imagine this could be dangerous with her particular health problem, so she probably is wise to be careful).

I have another friend who is young (about 22, 23 yrs old) & very thin who has to take medication due to high blood pressure.

Both of these people appear to be in great condition, ie they are thin. However, they both have health problems & pretty serious ones at that.

Although I am still very overweight, I am in the best shape of my life. No, I'm not claiming to be "healthy" by any means but I am certainly healthier than I was. I've dropped over 40 lbs, my blood pressure has gone from border line high to approx. 115/69, my resting heart rate has dropped from about 80 - 85 to about 65 - 70 (60 is considered physically fit/atheletic), I don't get out of breath just walking around, the list goes on.

I have one friend that was running 3+ miles easily even when she was well over 200 lbs & another who weighs about 130 & can't even run for a whole min.

I guess what I am saying is our society views health based on what a person looks like & not on their physical ability. I can certainly understand why this is. It is typically the truth. I would say a good 90+% of overweight/obese people are very unhealthy & not physically fit. However, I would be willing to say another large percentage of people that would be considered thin are also very unhealthy & physically unfit. I believe Americans in general are unhealthy regardless of their size.

I'm not sure what my point or message is here, I just found this entry interesting.

More on the tobyMac Concert in Dec.

I so want to go to this thing. I wonder how much these "Dance Flo'" tickets cost. Probably too much for me. :)

Today

Ok, so I'm not headed off to bed just quiet yet. Let's get real. I'll probably procrastinate for another hour or so.

Anyway, I thought I would tell you a bit about my day. First, at work last night the hospital bought us pizza. Ok, now this would normally sound like a nice thing to do, especially for the night shift who gets shafted on just about everything, but, don't these people know I'm trying to eat right & loose weight?! Didn't they get the memo?! It is a conspiracy, I know. They are try to sabotage me, but it won't work! Ok, so maybe it worked a little but I didn't go crazy. I did have 2 slices. I have estimated it to be about 300 calories per slice, so that's a total of 600 calories. That's okay though. I've done very well today on my eating. I've only had approx. 1290 cal. today & I'm about to go to bed. I try to keep my cal. range between 1200 & 1400 most days. Some days I get less but I very rarely go over that. I may have another snack right before bed but it won't be more than 100 - 110 calories, so I'll still be within my range. The first slice of pizza was okay but I decided to have another later. After that second piece, I did not want another. I just wanted it to go away. I don't know if it was the grease or if I had just had enough or what but I felt like crap afterward. Blech!

I did day 3 of week 3 of the C25K program. This has definitely been the hardest week, with the doubling of running time to a bad case of posterior shin splints to my right calf muscle killing me the last day or so, but I got through it. Not only that, today was much easier than day 1 of this week. It was far from easy but it certainly wasn't as bad. I may repeat this week, though. From most of the forums I've talked to people on about this, most people seem to have the hardest time going from W3 to W4. Apparently, the total running time is greatly increased on W4. I haven't really looked that closely at it & I'm too lazy & tired to check it out right now. Anyway, I may try it on Tuesday & see what happens & decide from there.

That brings me to my new schedule. In one of my recent videos I posted what my new exercise schedule would be but I think I'm going to change it up just a bit.
What I'm thinking now is:
Mon - elliptical &/or maybe a spinning class (I haven't gotten the guts yet but I nearly did went in on last Mon, maybe I'll dare it this week)
Tues - C25K &, maybe, elliptical
Wed - strength training with trainer & elliptical
Thur - C25K &, maybe, elliptical
Fri - strength training with trainer & C25K
I may also do some light strength training at home, on my own on either Sat, Sun, or Mon.

The thing about the spinning class is that I really think I will like it & I know it is a heck of a workout. However, when I peaked in the class on Mon, everyone in there were quite fit. That kind of scared me away. Not to mention, I want to show up early in order to get a bike in the back but away from the window too & there are only 1 or 2 of those. I would love to talk to the teacher first but I probably won't. I also doubt I will be able to stay the entire hour that the class schedules for. I know people come & go in those classes but I would like to have a quick get-away in case 911 has to be called.

On to another subject...shopping. I tried on some jeans last weekend (I only had 2 pair that fit) & they kept falling down so much that they were uncomfortable, so I ended up putting back on my other pair that seem to be just a slight bit smaller. Anyway, I decided it was time to find a new pair. I didn't want to spend a ton of money so I went to Old Navy. I found a pair I liked & grabbed a 16. I found another style & grabbed a 14 in them because there were no 16 & just because I was curious. I tried on the 14's first. They actually came all the way up & buttoned & zipped. They actually weren't uncomfortable at all. So, yay! I'm almost a 14! I didn't get them because I didn't like the style (I totally had a ghetto booty going on & I really don't have booty at all). As I was headed to the checkout counter, I saw some more styles. I grabbed a 16 & 14 in them & ran back to the dressing room. I hate trying on clothes so you know I was really curious. Anyway, neither pair fit. I got the 16's up & buttoned but they looked like they had been painted on me. Why is it stores can't get it together with their sizes? Anyway, I bought the 16 in the first style that I tried on & I love them. I haven't been this size in at least 5 - 7 years. Another exciting aspect of this trip was the jean's tag said $34 but they rang up for $21. Booya! Oh, yeah, I'm loving the savings.

After, getting the jeans, I decided to run over to the mall & get some new running shoes. I have falling arches & really need some arch support, especially when running. The pair I had were just some $30 - $40 cheepo New Balance (I know they are a good brand but they also put out some cheap crap) with absolutely no support or cushion. No wonder I've had a problem with shin splints. I ran into Lady Footlocker first & the pair (Nike) the lady suggested they did not have my size in so she brought me a pair of Nike's in their new style, Shox. Ok, so I know they aren't exactly new but I've been out of the "fitness loop" for, oh, I don't know, ever, so they are new to me. I really liked them at first but told her I wanted to check another couple of stores before I decided. I walked down a bit to the Champs store. I was looking at the Shox while I waited to be helped. I noticed that the base under the "shox" was a thin piece of hard plastic. This looked very cheap & I just knew the first rock I stepped on would render them useless. I told the salesman that I needed a good running shoe with a good arch support. He suggested the pair that I was originally looking at the Lady Footlocker. He then told me that they were way more durable than the Shox. I ended up with the shoes he suggested. I love them but I've never spent so much money on a pair of shoes in my life. $102 by the time tax & everything was added in. Aaaaarrhhh! I knew I needed them though so I practically threw my credit card at him. I wore them out of the store & love, love, love them. I told my dad that I felt like sprinting through the parking lot. I may have to try them out tomorrow. I wasn't planning on running but I kind of want to see what the difference will be like.

So, boo on pizza, yay on the rest of my diet, boo on screwed up sizes, yay on 16s & a new pair of pants, boo on spending a lot of money, & yay for new shoes. Later. It's bed time.

FYI: I ate exactly 1400 calories for the day. Not bad for a day with real, full calorie/fat pizza, if I do say so myself.