you say that's exactly how this grace thing works
The post-novel ennui is ebbing. And given that Dragon Age has developed an unfortunate habit of crashing during bossfights, that seems like a good set of signs that it's time to start exerting a little more personal discipline. I'm still giving myself the rest of the month off from writing--March 1, I need to get seriously busy on the next Shadow Unit episode, and also on the revisions for Shattered Pillars--but between now and then, frankly, I have a bunch of reading and even some TV I'd like to catch up on. The great cauldron of story won't make soup if you don't dump in ingredients--and twitter does not make the doughnuts, as the saying goes.
Also, I want to reread Range of Ghosts before I revise Shattered Pillars. Because that would be smart and stuff.
I saw a sketch for the Shattered Pillars cover at Boskone, courtesy of Tor's Irene Gallo, and... I think Book 2 is likely to live up to Book 1.
So it's time to start more rigidly circumscribing my social media habits again: I think I'll give myself an hour a day for unabashed fucking around on the internets, such as reading the science news and the nerd blogs and playing Scrabble on Facebook (like you do), and then I will do something productive with the rest of my time. It's been relaxing not thinking too much, but it's starting to make my brain itch.
The stuff below this line may be triggery to some people, as I am about to talk about exercise and diet.
So I haven't actually taken off any more weight since my trip to the Midwest, but I have managed to maintain--despite Boskone and ConFusion and a killer freaking plateau and extensive travel. I'm back on the moderately stringent Discipline, and I've switched from Fitday to SparkPeople for most of my exercise and food logging needs. SparkPeople's relentless rah-rah attitude annoys me, and I prefer, quite frankly, the Fitday interface in a lot of ways as it permits more precise logging of activities and actually tells you what your calorie burn for a day is, rather than just that from exercise... but SparkPeople nags me to drink water and floss my teeth, and right now it turns out I need the reminders. And SparkPeople makes tracking food easier, with its user-maintained database and recipe thingy and the way it breaks stuff down into meals--I find it's pretty easy to plan a day's food in advance, and stick to it.
And I would be lying if I said the point system wasn't motivational.
One thing I enjoy about the Discipline: it turns eating into a kind of resource-management game ala Sim City. "So, how can I manage to have chocolate today, and still stay under my calorie goal?" One thing I don't enjoy about it is constantly being somewhat hungry, even when I have just finished eating. But hey, thirty-five pounds or so and I can probably go back to the luxury of a maintenance diet.
And being slightly hungry isn't so bad. The world is full of people for whom never quite getting enough calories isn't exactly an option.
The good news is, I really enjoy my food these days. And if it doesn't taste good, I feel free not to eat it, since I know the calories count anyway. And while I haven't been losing *weight,* I've been noticing more muscle definition, especially in my thighs. Beyonce, here I come.
I'm up to running a little over five miles in about 68 minutes, which makes me extraordinarily happy. Being ninety pounds lighter sure as hell makes running up hills easier. I think once I'm at my goal weight, I'm going to see if I can find places to do a little trail running. The Quabbin Reservoir isn't so far.
I've been keeping up on the yoga, too--although I haven't been climbing in over a month, I mean to fix that on Saturday. We'll see how much I've lost. I miss it so damned much.
I know I'll be back to being terrified the first few times, and there's that issue of losing the grip strength in my hands--but I have been keeping up on my upper body work, and my balance is still good. Technique comes back fast, and in a few days of climbing, the confidence will be back too.
Walls! Walls, dammit! Need more walls.
Also, I want to reread Range of Ghosts before I revise Shattered Pillars. Because that would be smart and stuff.
I saw a sketch for the Shattered Pillars cover at Boskone, courtesy of Tor's Irene Gallo, and... I think Book 2 is likely to live up to Book 1.
So it's time to start more rigidly circumscribing my social media habits again: I think I'll give myself an hour a day for unabashed fucking around on the internets, such as reading the science news and the nerd blogs and playing Scrabble on Facebook (like you do), and then I will do something productive with the rest of my time. It's been relaxing not thinking too much, but it's starting to make my brain itch.
The stuff below this line may be triggery to some people, as I am about to talk about exercise and diet.
So I haven't actually taken off any more weight since my trip to the Midwest, but I have managed to maintain--despite Boskone and ConFusion and a killer freaking plateau and extensive travel. I'm back on the moderately stringent Discipline, and I've switched from Fitday to SparkPeople for most of my exercise and food logging needs. SparkPeople's relentless rah-rah attitude annoys me, and I prefer, quite frankly, the Fitday interface in a lot of ways as it permits more precise logging of activities and actually tells you what your calorie burn for a day is, rather than just that from exercise... but SparkPeople nags me to drink water and floss my teeth, and right now it turns out I need the reminders. And SparkPeople makes tracking food easier, with its user-maintained database and recipe thingy and the way it breaks stuff down into meals--I find it's pretty easy to plan a day's food in advance, and stick to it.
And I would be lying if I said the point system wasn't motivational.
One thing I enjoy about the Discipline: it turns eating into a kind of resource-management game ala Sim City. "So, how can I manage to have chocolate today, and still stay under my calorie goal?" One thing I don't enjoy about it is constantly being somewhat hungry, even when I have just finished eating. But hey, thirty-five pounds or so and I can probably go back to the luxury of a maintenance diet.
And being slightly hungry isn't so bad. The world is full of people for whom never quite getting enough calories isn't exactly an option.
The good news is, I really enjoy my food these days. And if it doesn't taste good, I feel free not to eat it, since I know the calories count anyway. And while I haven't been losing *weight,* I've been noticing more muscle definition, especially in my thighs. Beyonce, here I come.
I'm up to running a little over five miles in about 68 minutes, which makes me extraordinarily happy. Being ninety pounds lighter sure as hell makes running up hills easier. I think once I'm at my goal weight, I'm going to see if I can find places to do a little trail running. The Quabbin Reservoir isn't so far.
I've been keeping up on the yoga, too--although I haven't been climbing in over a month, I mean to fix that on Saturday. We'll see how much I've lost. I miss it so damned much.
I know I'll be back to being terrified the first few times, and there's that issue of losing the grip strength in my hands--but I have been keeping up on my upper body work, and my balance is still good. Technique comes back fast, and in a few days of climbing, the confidence will be back too.
Walls! Walls, dammit! Need more walls.