January 2005

I need to fidget more. Apparently, according to some research at Mayo, The lean fidget and the fat sit still. In my ever-desperate desire to lose weight (I am currently 55% fat when I really want to be 20%) I've been looking for lots of "secrets" to aid me.

Two days ago I felt at a real low with my weight-struggle. I had gained two kilos in two weeks. I was so frustrated. I'd been trying so hard to eat right (except for that rolled roast on Sunday) and exercise (I was a good girl and exercised at least 30 mins every day), but I *still* gained weight.

This sort of thing is so depressing. Many overweight people suffer from this sort of disappointment. Is it any wonder they turn to fad diets and magic pills and the such? So many "experts" say "eat sensibly and exercise moderately and you'll lose weight. Most fat people know that's bull. If sensible nutrition and sensible exercise was the key, then it would work, but those on the diet train know different.

Sometimes we fat people hate skinny people. Most times we just dislike 'em. We're not talking the healthy-range type people who would bloat up if they lived on a diet of fast food and junk food with very few veggies. (Those are the ones we aspire to be.)

The ones we detest are the skinny-skinnies who can eat anything (and do). We see them sitting in the mall, scarfing a family-sized bag of Cheetos or a large-size fries, their bony little knees crossed, and there is *still* space between their thighs. They chow down on burgers, on potato chips, on pizza, chocolate-coated caramel-filled ice cream onna stick (the ones that costs the same as a two-litre tub, and have the same amount of fat as said tub), and as many gummy bears as their bottomless pits they call stomachs can hold.

Where does it all go? Certainly not to their hips, their upper arms, their chins.

Reasons why we loathe these skinnies:

1. They can eat whatever they feel like, whenever they feel like and not gain weight.
   
2. Because of this, they fuel the junk food/fast food industry.
   
3. Because there is a demand for this type of food, the industry makes more.
   
4. To make sure they didn't miss a single skinnie, the industry advertises heavily, and this is detrimental to the rest of us caught in the crossfire. Any wonder humans as a people are getting fatter?
   
5. Skinny people drive the fashion industry. This is just plain wrong.
   
6. Skinnies make fun of fat people. This is also wrong.
   
7. They put little or no effort into being skinny, thus making light all the hard work the rest of us will have to put in for the rest of our lives to stay healthy.
   
8. And speaking of health, most skinnies are unhealthy, but don't know it. Instead, society puts across that they are, and that that is the ideal. What a load of codswallop.
   
9. They encourage the prejudice in favour of those of the slender butts. Theatre seats, plane seats, turnstyles and hospital bed hydraulics are all designed for the less amply endowed.
   
10. If Marilyn Monroe was at the height of her fame today, she would have been told she was too fat.
    

I will never be skinny. Lean, sure. (Well, hoping to be.) But skinny? Alas, never.

25 Jan 2005

So, if I claim I don't really blog, then why am I doing this? It's an experiment. Right now, in my life, I've only got so much time and so many resources. Frex: I recently had the stupidity to enter a "drawing" for a health club. Through the years you'd think I'd learn by now that any time you saw a "drawing" for a free health club membership it'd be a marketing ploy to get you to come in and become a member. (Oh, I'm sure someone actually wins the six-month free membership, but the rest of us are suckered in the marketing trap.

So now I've been given a seven-day trial membership to this health club. I know a few people who are members. I's reputed to be the most affordable, and it has adequate facilities, that I have seen.

Problem is, I am already a member of a health club and have no intention of switching. I'm certainly not going to become a member of *two* clubs--that's foolishness. So, how do I easily say no, when asked if I want to become a member? Remember, this is a marketing ploy. They don't take graceful "No's" for answers, and either you get talked into something you don't want or need, or you must get downright aggressive (forget assertive, that has some sort of dignity).

My reason for staying with the club I'm at? I love it. I love the vast pool facilities. I love the convenience to work (right next door). I love the gang who work there. I also have a professional relationship with them in that I manufacture their wristband keyholders. (I'll sell them to you too, if you're interested. Ask me for a quote.)

Anyhow, I digress. I only have so much time and so many resources. I don't want to sign up for a genuine blog with all its benefits and connections and then fail to maintain it because I'm too busy doing other stuff. (Frex: I should be working on wristbands instead of typing this. I got distracted because I checked my email to see if my order for snap hooks had been shipped.) This is the same reason I don't volunteer for any project that's not a single-effort job. Anything that requires an ongoing committment from me right now that doesn't involve money is undoable. I've got so little time that it's precious. Anyone who wants more of it than I can immediate offer needs to pay for it.

That may sound worldly, this money-condition I've put on my time, but thing is, if I something I have to do that I can't do with two toddlers underfoot and in my face, if I'm at least getting money, I'll be able to hire a sitter.

My toddlers demand so much of me that I can't consistently commit to something that may have to be left by the wayside (say, an editing project) should my daughters need me more.

All this will change in three years' time. Hopefully by then I will have progressed enough in my career that I can take on something like a regular column or such.

Be proud of me...
I pitched a query for a non-fiction article to a magazine about science fiction. Neat thing, while I was glancing through their archives, I recognised two of their writers are compatriots of mine! Cool.

Second reason for blogging: Keeping a journal is a very good idea. I've got a few: one for the most serious stuff in my life, one for the everyday appointment and the such, and now, this one. Some day my posterity will read this and have a better idea of who I am. This is a good thing.

I just realised: unlike traditional blogs, I have no way of determining how many people are reading my blog (unless I put in a page counter, and I can't be bothered with the coding effort at this time) and there is no way to leave comments. Mixed blessing, that. Still, I am open to dialogue (or not, depending on what you have to say to me), so if you wanna make a comment about a particular things in a blog entry, feel free to email me.

I read web comics. I'm very fond of them. I've been reading Sluggy Freelance faithfully since Pete Abrams originally showed up on Kevin and Kell, Bruno the Bandit and Wapsi Square. I do read lots others (and am fond of Susan Rankin's artwork in A Doemain of Our Own (aside: hers is one of the few blogs I read regularly.) and get a kick out of Count Your Sheep. There's a few I don't like, and a few I can't get into, so I don't bother reading them or mentioning them here. I prefer a certain quality to my artwork and storyline and these don't quite cut the mustard.

And now for something completely different: We're getting tiling through the main living area of our house next week. This means we've got to move some furniture. My filing cabinet: no problem. My piano: somewhat of a problem. My fridge: well... At least I have a place to put the fridge and plug it in while the tiling is getting done (in the front room, next to the TV). To make this transition easier, we will, over the next week or so, eat refridgerable stuff and not replace it during our shopping trip. This means the salad stuff'll have to go, the chocolate in the chocolate drawer (yes, we have a chocolate drawer. Are you surprised?) will have to go (alas, not down my gullet) and I'm wondering what we are going to do with all that meat in the freezer. Have a barbie on Wednesday, I guess. Now, if only I can find a barbie; we don't own one yet. (I know, it's unAustralian of us.)

Just thought I'd mention. I love root beer. It's difficult to get, but is obtainable. I just wish I didn't have to drive forty minutes to snag a can for $2.00 each.