Forced Blogging and Egotism

I really do not feel like writing right now, but I am making myself. It is part of my self-prescribed Program for Improvement.

Today I went to the doctor and had a heavy dose of liquid nitrogen applied to the bottom of my right foot. Unpleasant. My foot hurts so much right now that I am blaspheming sixties bands, but hopefully the nitrogen will have the desired effect and I will be able to run again soon.

The other effect of the pain is that I had absolutely no consumption discipline thereafter. It did not help matters that we went to the taqueria in San Marcos after the doctor, and then to a zombie game where there was vodka and pretzels. Apparently, I eat/drink when I am in physical pain as well as mental. That is something to keep in mind.

So that all sucks.

However, last night (I think; time is sort of blending together at the moment) I had a rather fruitful conversation with one of my colleagues (former?) from the history department. She told me that I should present at the conference in the fall. We are not good enough friends for her to lie to protect my ego, so I am presuming she actually finds my contributions to society worthwhile. As much as I try to eschew narcissism, it really is nice when people say nice things to me, especially about my work.

Since I am in all likelihood not going to be able to walk tomorrow, I may well actually work on that paper. Or programming. I am still not sure I have the mental wherewithal to think too hard about the paper at the moment. Though, at the very least, I ought to thoroughly read all of the sources I still have not read before the college discovers I am no longer enrolled and I have to turn them all in.

Success!

I went to trivia tonight and drank but one beer. I am pleased with myself. Leprechaun Dry Cider apparently is 152 calories per pint. That puts me at 1175 calories for today. That is a little low, but I did not really move around and I do not feel hungry. The important part is that I drank ONE drink, not four, and I am quite pleased with myself.

Tomorrow's plan is to do a partial Stalinist purge of the office, to get to the gym fairly early, and then to spend some time in the sun. I hear vitamin D is good for avoiding the rickets.

Well, the first round of this blog obviously went well...

...I am happy to say, however, that I did graduate. Last year. Whatever. Here we are, summer 2012, and I have several new goals:

• To not turn Amber's cat into tamales.
• To not turn the dog (my graduation present from Amber) into tamales.
• To LOSE ALL THE WEIGHT. Grad school was hell on my health.
• To keep my nails fabulous.

Graduate school really was hell on my health. I gained a stupid amount of weight, my hair started falling out, I could not eat nor sleep like a normal human being. Just since May, I have been much happier and have noticed improvement in my overall demeanor and comportment. I am also no longer sliding into alcoholism.

I am, however, horrifically out of shape and overweight. However, I have been eating mostly salad for about a week and a half now, and I purchased a cranky pasta roller, which means that when I do eat tasty pasta, I will have burned off at least some of the calories in the making of it. For the first time, I am also actively measuring my food instead of eyeballing it. Hopefully, this will give me a better sense of how many calories I am actually taking in when I log them on MyPlate.

On the exercise end of things, I have started riding my bike again. I am not doing it as much as I did when I first lived here, mostly because I felt like my lower half was going to detach itself at my hips, but I am easing into it. Tomorrow (which, I have been saying this for a week), I am joining the gym near my house. It is cheap, and I like lifting weights, so we have determined that it is worth it. Hopefully, they will have a scale there; right now I have no earthly idea what I weigh except that it is very clearly far too much.

I have hung up my old jeans on the wall in our second bedroom and will be looking at them for inspiration. I hope to fit into them in five months' time (which is to say, approximately Thanksgiving).

Things which are going to trip me up include: laziness, wine, cider, wine, wine, french fries, and wine. I like wine. However, as I said, I feel less inclined to drink all the time now, so hopefully that will help. One problem is that I am a social drinker, and I am with friends sort of all the time. My best friend and I are also both really into The Saint cider from Crispin, so that probably does not help either of us.

I am resolved to update this at least every other day and to log all of my food ever, and I am posting a link to this on Facebook so that everyone will know what is happening and can keep me accountable. Weeeeee.