I was never a fan of online message boards. The ones I'd looked at were always filled with fights, trolling, and really bad spelling, so I never bothered to post to any. I barely even paid attention to them. Then I started reading some journals, and one day, they announced a new forum. I wandered in to check it out, and was happily surprised. Funny people! Smart people! People who could spell! I registered, and started posting, tentatively for a while, then more often. Then the chat room came around, which was all new to me. I'd never even thought about going into a chat room, but figured I'd give it a try. And I've loved it ever since. I've met some people who mean a whole lot to me there: Claire, Josh, Jeff, Byrne, Sara, Stef, Courtney, Joanne, Plaidy... the list is too long to name them all. I've been lucky enough to meet a lot of them in person, and develop good friendships. Hell, I'm dating one of them. I knew the boards wouldn't last forever, that the expense and strain of running them was just too much, but still, the end is sad. I'll miss it. I'm worrying that I'll lose those connections I've made, and that would make me very sad indeed. I'll miss Pagina, the nonsensical chatbot, who spoke such profound wisdom as "Cheeese. Weeeeasels. Cheese weasels!" and who I always pictured as a Sim. And now I'll have to actually do work during the day, instead of furtively reading the boards. Woe.
This morning, I woke up feeling not groggy and cranky, as I normally do, but surprisingly well-rested. I yawned, stretched, looked at the clock... 7:48. Blink. 7:48? It should say 5:30. I normally leave for work at 7 o'clock, so much swearing and flailing around ensued. I got dressed while frantically calling work, hoping a coworker would answer the phone. I'm the one who opens the library, and the only other person there in the morning generally isn't anywhere near the phone -- even when he is, he doesn't answer it if we haven't opened for the day yet. Eventually, he did pick up, and I explained that I was going to be very, very late. I got to work at 10, instead of the usual 8:30, and found my boss waiting for me at the desk. Uh oh. She turned around, saw me slink in, and burst out laughing. She pointed out that I'd never been late before (barring train breakdowns) and that I must have really needed the extra sleep, and that I didn't need to worry about it, she wasn't upset. Whew.
In other news, I've now lost 25 pounds. Happiness! My formerly too-tight jeans are now ridiculously baggy in the legs, and the waistbans is getting loose. I'm glad I never throw anything away, because I can wear some of my old shirts that had gotten too tight. This pleases me. The three-day wekend also makes me very happy, even though it's supposed to be rainy all weekend. Good excuse to spend the majority of it napping, I think.
And now, the Friday Five:
1. What brand of toothpaste do you use?
Crest Multicare Whitening. I like it.
2. What brand of toilet paper do you prefer?
Scott tissue, because it lasts forever. My roommate buys Charmin, which I hate, because it's just too... fluffy, I guess, and the rolls run out in about two days.
3. What brand(s) of shoes do you wear?
I have so many shoes... my favorites are my Doc Martens (black, 12-hole, very comfy), my Dansko clogs, my Dansko sandals (both are deeply comfortable. The sandals really, really make my feet smell, though. I'm sure you're thrilled to know that), and my Converse All-Srats (black, low top). I like my Teva sandals a lot, too.
4. What brand of soda do you drink?
I don't, very often. I'm all about the water lately. When I do, I like Diet Vanilla Coke, or Diet Sprite.
5. What brand of gum do you chew?
Eclipse. That's Wrigley's, I think. I chew a lot of it at work, because I get paranoid about my breath. That's the one brand I've found that has flavor that lasts more than three seconds after I put it in my mouth.
Oh, and this makes me very happy indeed!
As of this morning, I've lost 20 pounds. In 3 weeks. This mystifies me. Not that I'm complaining. My formerly too-tight-to-wear jeans are now comfortably loose. My formerly loose jeans are threatening to fall down at inopportune moments. I can see my collarbones, and there are muscles beginning to show in my arms. I like this.
And now, a Friday Five:
1. What drinking water do you prefer -- tap, bottle, purifier, etc.?
I honestly don't care. I use a Brita pitcher at home, because it takes the chlorine smell out of my tap water, and makes it nice and cold. We have a Poland Springs cooler at work, and I drink most of my water there -- I keep a liter-size bottle at work, and refill it during the day (on my way to the bathroom, usually. Drinking lots of water is good, but I feel like I live in the bathroom lately. Ahem.)
2. What are your favorite flavor of chips?
Ooooh, chips. I miss chips. I like plain ones -- the Cape Cod brand are the best, but I also have a weakness for Pringles. No chips for me, alas.
3. Of all the things you can cook, what dish do you like the most?
That depends on my mood. I make a good omelette, and right now, I'm liking the curry stir-fry I made the other night. I play with cooking too much to have a favorite.
4. How do you have your eggs?
Scrambled, if they aren't in an omelette. I like scrambled eggs with some garlic, salt, pepper, and cheese. Mmmmm. Fried eggs gross me out for some reason.
5. Who was the last person who cooked you a meal? How did it turn out?
Um... probably my mom, in January. Knowing my mom, it turned out good. She's a good cook. No one has cooked for me lately but me. Woe.
I'm awfully sleepy now -- I think I haven't been sleeping well, since I wake up very tired every morning. I don't remember any bad dreams, or waking up during the night, but I know I'm not rested. So, off to bed I go.
Hey. Hi. I never update anymore. But that's not really news, now is it? I have excuses -- I've been going to the gym pretty much every night after work, and when I get home, I just want to eat dinner and collapse until bedtime. Not so good for the journal-updating, but hey, I've lost 18 pounds in less than a month! I know that will likely slow down once my body gets over it's shock at all this healthy stuff, but it's making me happy. I like that I can see a little bit of a difference -- my face has thinned out, and the jeans that were uncomfortably tight last month are now perfectly comfortable. My favorite jeans threaten to fall down when I wear them. I'm amazed by how easy it's been -- I thought the major diet change was going to be a problem, but I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything at all. I made a passable Thai vegetable curry on Monday -- the recipe needs tweaking, but I liked it. My only real problem is getting myself to the gym every evening -- I'm fine once I get there, but on the long T ride home, I just want to take a nap. I'm averaging six nights a week -- weights and treadmill Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and just the treadmill on Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Thursday seems to be the day that I need to go to the grocery store after work, which sucks up enough of my time that I can't go to the gym too, and that's okay. I'm trying not to get too obsessed -- when I tried dieting and/or working out before, I got into scary eating disorder territory very quickly. I would convince myself that I couldn't eat for days at a time, and that I had to work out for two to three hours a day. Crazy. So, I'm trying to avoid that now, and so far, it's working nicely.
And what else is new... I found a spider trying to build a web all around my back porch last night. I think the little fucker was trying to make a meal of me. What he didn't plan for was my broom-wielding skills, or my big stompy shoes. I think I scared it off, but if I go missing, come look for me? And bring a big can of Raid, just in case.
Jeff was here Sunday -- we ate lovely Thai food, and tried to tour Fenway Park -- they weren't doing tours, but they were having a Mother's Day thing where, for ten bucks, we could go in and walk around the field and such. We walked all around the field, sat in the dugout (and got our picture taken), and checked out the seats on top of the Green Monster. It was very cool, except for the part when I remember how often the players spit when they're in the dugout, and wondered aloud if they'd washed the floor, ever. Jeff doubted that they had, and I decided I didn't want to be standing in athlete spit, thank you very much. I forgot my digital camera, but we did buy disposable cameras, and many photos were taken. If I ever remember to develop mine, and get access to a scanner, I'll post them.
After Fenway, we went to see X2: X-Men United. I had already seen it, but wanted to see it again -- the first time, some bimbo sitting behind me talked through the whole thing, so I missed a lot. I adore that movie. I loved Nightcrawler deeply, and of course, it has Hugh Jackman. I'd pay to watch Hugh Jackman floss. My only gripe was that he isn't shirtless often enough in the movie. Ahem.
After that, I needed to get home to call my mom and my grandmother for Mother's Day. Jeff dropped me off, and there was some smooching, which was nice indeed, and I'm not saying another word about it. Heh.
Other than that... work is busy. I'm tired. I think I need to go to bed.
My arms, they are sore. Also, I have not updated in ages. Sorry. The soreness and the not-updating are for the same reason -- I joined the gym down the street last week, and have been faithfully going every night, except tonight, when I decided to take a break. It was cold and drizzly, and I needed to go to the grocery store, and my arms feel like they might fall off at any moment, so I took tonight off. I'll go back tomorrow.
It's all part of the must-lose-weight resolve I mentioned in my last entry. I've been doing well with it so far -- I've lost ten pounds since then. I've stopped eating meat -- I'll miss my kick-ass beef stew recipe, but red meat just makes my stomach hurt lately, and I've been considering cutting meat out of my diet for a while now anyway. I'm avoiding sugary stuff, bread, and such like that, and drinking a ton of water. We have a water cooler at work, and I have a nice liter-sized bottle that I refill and carry around all day. I've even managed to substitute the water for my usual morning Diet Coke without any remorse. The gym was offering a good deal, so i signed up. It's a nice place, and the people there are all very friendly. The guy who runs it sent me a hand-written thank you card after I joined! Weird, but nice. I had an appointment with a trainer, who showed me how to use the weight machines, and gave me a lot of good advice on working out. So, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I go do the weights (I am a pathetic weakling at the moment) and then use a treadmill for 30-45 minutes. All other days, I just do the treadmill or a stationary bike. I'm actually really enjoying it. I think some switch in my brain got tripped when I hit 30, and I decided all this stuff was fun. Either that, or I've lost my mind. Added bonuses: I don't have nearly as much trouble sleeping now, and my anxiety attacks have all but gone away. Good side effects, those. And I swear my pants were looser on me today. I'm enjoying all this enough that, hopefully, I can stick with it. I'd like to; I'm very tired of avoiding looking in mirrors, and having a hard time finding clothes that fit, and being embarrassed by how I look in general. I doubt I'll ever be skinny, but I would like to be a reasonable weight, at least.
Work has been warm and stuffy, since the ventilation system has been off for two weeks while they repair the air conditioning. We prop the entrance doors open, but it doesn't do much good. It will allegedly be fixed next week. But then, that's what they said last week, so I think they're lying. Rat bastards.
Jeff was here last Saturday -- we were supposed to go do the Fenway Park tour, but it poured rain all day, so we watched movies (Signs and Spirited Away, both of which I liked a lot) and had sushi instead. He'll be able to visit more often now, which is a happy thing. He also managed to cheer me up from the vile, evil, horrid mood I was in when he arrived -- I had, minutes before, been doing dishes. I was washing my favorite giant glass stock pot -- a pot that gets very slippery when it's wet. I picked it up to wash it, and it slipped out of my hands, fell into the sink, and shattered all over the place. It also took out three of my roommate's dishes. Argh. Luckily, the glass all stayed in the sink, and the roommate didn't care, because he got the dishes for free anyway. My mom even said she'd replace the pot -- she gave it to me in the first place. We already have a trip to the Corning outlet store near her house planned. But I liked that pot, damn it. I was already cranky when I broke it, and that just pissed me off completely. But I got over it very quickly.
My mind has just gone completely blank, so... um... yeah. I'll shut up now.