The Pursuit of Hotness and Comic Art

My weight: 257 lbs. I was doing ok until yesterday, when I went to a friend’s birthday party. In a bowling alley. It is not possible to find healthy food in a bowling alley. Everything was either fried, or had sausage on it, or both. I only had one portion, no seconds, but I guess that was still too much. And it’s not like bowling is the most vigorous activity in the world. My arm hurt, but let’s face it, taking 3 steps before bowling is not really a cardio workout.

My goal for this week is to exercise for 30 minutes every day. No excuses. I find time to feed my face, so I can find time to move my backside. And I get to use my new sneakers.




Aren’t they pretty? (And yes, I know I need to vacuum the carpet)

In other news, I accomplished goal # 17 Visit the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. They had exhibits of Harvey Comics (Casper the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich) and a really lovely series of paintings about totoro as part of the Totoro Forest Project. (and if you haven’t seen “My Neighbor Totoro”, rent it! It will be worth your time, I promise. )


The real treat was an exhibit of cartoons that I hadn't heard of before, "The K Chronicles". Funny and smart. If you are in the area, take a look.

The Pursuit of Hotness: 1st Post

In spite of all the successes I’ve posted, this has not been a successful project, because I have not only not achieved any progress on this goal, but have in fact gone backward. I refer to:

Goal number 64. lose 100 lbs.

I didn’t list it as goal number 1, even though it was the first thing I thought of when I started this, because I truly do think there are more important and interesting things in this world than my size.

But it seems to be the one thing that a lot of the others depend on. How successful a marathoner can I be if I’m carry 100 plus pounds extra weight? How successful will I be at dating and falling in love (not very, I know this from experience.) Sexy underwear, bathing suits, etc. Not very likely. I'm reluctant to try kayaking because I'm afraid I'll get stuck in the boat.

So I am going to redirect this blog a little. I’m not changing the name, and I will keep posting about festivals, art, cooking, and places to visit, because they are the things that make up “A More Interesting Life”. But I will be making weight loss (aka The Pursuit of Hotness) a regular feature.

So in the interests of full disclosure, the following stats:

Height: 5 feet, 6 inches.
Weight: 256 lbs

Goal weight: 145 lbs
Pounds to go: 111

I’ll post a picture later, when I take one. Wish me luck.

Tomatoes! and an update

I went to the farmer’s market in El Cerrito last week, and nearly hurt myself trying not to buy everything in sight. Such beautiful produce! I just wanted to fill my car and then cook all day.
Instead I contented myself with buying a bag of cherry tomatoes.

I still bought way too much (eyes bigger than stomach), so I made 'Oven-dried Tomatoes'. Very simple, next to no labor, just slice’em in half, moisten with oil and put in the oven on very low temperature until chewy. They make great sandwiches, are nice stirred into a risotto, or tossed with pasta, and they last longer than fresh. And did I mention it makes the house smell terrific?

So, how’s the project going?

#49 See Shakespeare in the park. I say Pericles on Labor Day Weekend in San Francisco. It was a really unique version, They set the play in Appalachia (a fictional Appalachia, one with oceans), and the music was very traditional, ending with “I Am Weary, Let Me Rest”.

#98. Put together a car maintenance folder. Done! I got together all the bills I’d saved and logged them all in a book, which I am keeping in the car. Now when I take the car in and they ask me “when was the rotator gasket last aligned?” and "did you pin tuck the carbeurator flange?" I’ll be able to tell them.

#59. Buy a decent pair of ballroom shoes. I did this in July, when I went to watch Laura compete. They actually fit! (not easy when you have wide feet) I was so inspired that I asked my instructor to include me in the year-end showcase, and we are putting together a foxtrot.

As you can see, progress is being made, slowly. I haven't been paying as much attention as I should. But I am back to updating the blog, and other entries are being planned, even as I type.

Welcome Autumn!

I know it’s a cliché, but I think Autumn is my favorite season. The angle of the light, the way the leaves change, the crispness of the air. It’s all so lovely.

And there are few things better than going to the farmer’s market in fall. I love pumpkins. They are so bright and cheerful.

And don’t these cherry tomatoes look like candy? I couldn’t help myself, I bought 3 pounds. There will be lots of tomato recipes this week.

Yesterday I hiked Land’s End in San Francisco. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and clear. Unusually for San Francisco, there was no fog. It wasn’t a very difficult hike, though by the end of the 3 hours, my feet definitely hurt. But what a lovely day.

I'm Back!

I was in Houston last week. Did you miss me?

Technically, I was in Sugar Land, but it's so close, it might as well be Houston. Sugar Land is the former site of the Imperial Sugar Company. Once it was cane fields as far as the eye could see. Now it's filled with high tech /oil companies and the place is booming.

I stayed at the Marriott Town Square, which is quite nice. They have strange, split-level desks in their rooms, but still nice. I ate at a restaurant called Japaneiros (Brazilian-Japanese cuisine) which was made even better by my not having to pay for it.

I got a chance to see friends I haven't seen in almost a year, I met other people working in my field, and I got to see my parents. All in all a good trip.

Now, back to real life. Yee ha!!

Alameda Antiques Fair

Diana is the only friend I have that’s willing to get up before noon on a Sunday. She is also quite happy to spend half a day looking through a lot of old stuff. Thank goodness there are other morning people in the world. Who else would I go shopping with?

Antiques Fair is a bit of a misnomer. There were some antiques, but most of what I saw was barely 50 years old, some of it even younger. Fortunately, there was very little out-and-out junk. I really liked these drawer pulls. So much so I wished I was refinishing a bureau, so I would have an excuse to buy them, but no. I had to pass them by. They also glow in the dark, but it was far too sunny to test it.

The variety was impressive. Clothes, china, bakelite bangles, furniture (there was a wonderful Danish modern dining room set I loved, if only I had somewhere to put it) antlers, silverware, even a booth devoted to letters.

We’d been browsing for about an hour when Diana and I noticed a green glass refrigerator jar (Diana likes green). At the same booth we saw some red glass dishes, and on a shelf in the back a set of red, blown glass, water glasses. (6 for $20) They were beautiful. A deep ruby with bubbles and striations throughout. But we took a deep breath and walked on.

We found an adorable cookie jar, mirrors, sunglasses (Diana bought a pair, with green frames, of course) floral frogs, and after about an hour I turned to Diana and said

“I’m buying those glasses.”

She new exactly what I meant and when we got to the booth, the glasses were still there! So now I have red glasses and Diana has green glasses. It was just a glasses kind of day.

This may just be the cutest cookie jar I've ever seen.

Power Tool Drag Races!

Now I can't have a blog called "A more interesting life" and have it all be about fun things like cleaning out my closet and resumes. Sometimes you just have to deal with the boring stuff too.

I am in week three of The Artist’s Way (Goal #61). One of the things you are supposed to do is take yourself on “artist dates” to fill the well and replenish your spirit. In other (less new-agey) words, all work and no play makes Shaw a really bored and frustrated girl.

I found out about the races online and it sounded too unusual to miss. It also seemed like a good opportunity to take some interesting photos. I was right. Enjoy!

The race track. You can't see it from this angle, but there is a huge pile of old mattresses at the end to stop the machines.

Scary clown head, not sure what it had to do with anything, but it made a good picture.



This one was called "War Criminal" the playing cards in the spokes have President Bush, Dick Cheney, etc. Unfortunately, this one just sat there and resurfaced the track when they turned it on.



I'm not sure what this one was made of, but they did tell me that angle grinders were one of the most popular tools to modify.

29 mph was a good speed for these things/tools/mechanisms? I'm not sure what they're called, but they were fun to watch. Even when they didn't go, and just sanded the track.

Now you can't have drag races without a flag girl, can you?

The man in the sombrero is the fire crew. No kidding.

I did it!

I am so proud of myself. I completed the Avenue of the Giants half marathon in almost exactly 4 1/2 hours. I did train, but I was kinda lazy about the training and slacked off on it now and again. But I’m glad I did as much of it as I did, or would never have survived.

It’s a beautiful walk. If you are going to do a marathon, this is a wonderful place to do it, because not only are you walking through one of the most awesomely beautiful forests in the world, it’s shaded almost the entire way. Beautifully cool and no sunburn!

I chatted with people along the way. There was a married couple who were playing word games to pass the time and keep their minds occupied. Another couple from San Francisco who received a flyer to go for a walking tour of Tuscany one day before getting the flyer for the Avenue of the Giants, and decided it was fate. I walked most of the way with a lovely lady named Dee, who runs a sports medicine clinic and was also by herself. Like me, none of her friends wanted to do it.

After the race they hand you a medal, clip your timing tag off your shoes and let you stagger off. Parking is limited, so I ended up parking in a dry river bed, and in the final walk from the finish line, over rubble and ruts was just cruel, because by that point you swear you can feel the texture of every pebble through your shoes.

I drove to my motel in Eureka, and slept for 4 hours. I felt great when I woke up, and then I made the mistake of trying to stand. Ow! Ow ow ow ow ow. I was enormously hungry by that point, so I did get up and slowly creep to the car and to an Italian restaurant. (Linguini w/ clam sauce, and it was good).

This was only part of my vacation. I took a total of 10 days off, ½ of which were spent exploring California, and the other half at home, doing things I’ve been meaning to do for a very long time. I’ll go into more detail in my next post, but for now, I just want to revel in the accomplishment.

Morning's at Seven

I have a confession.

I am a morning person. I am one of those happy and alert people who smile before 8am without coffee. (I know, it's utterly obnoxious.)

I once spent an incredibly boring vacation with two non-morning people. I would get up, at 8:30 (which is sleeping in for me) have breakfast, go see something near the hotel and then park myself in the lobby with a book until they woke up (noon). Then we would all have lunch. This is a way to really annoy your fellow-travellers, because not only are you alert and happy, but you've gone sight-seeing without them.

But now I'm being punished for all my morning smugness. Since moving to the far edge of the continent (California) I have to take part in international conference calls, that are always on Paris time. Today I had to get up at 5am to listen to a hour long presentation on safety procedures.

Safety Procedures are good. I am all for safety - but 5am is not morning. 5am is still night. Morning starts at 7. 6:30 if you stretch it. but 5 is too early, even for me. So I am yawning my way through the day, and hope to get through my workout without falling asleep on the treadmill (Which would be very unsafe, maybe I can say making me get up at 5am is inherently unsafe and they should reschedule the meeting for a more civilized hour, like 7.)

In other news, I have completed #96: Update my Career Networking Profile. This is essentially a resume, and I hate writing my resume. I find resume's painful to write (unlike rambling blog entries) and put them off as long as humanly possible. I've been meaning to update mine since 2003. I know, not the move of an upwardly mobile career-woman is it? But it is done, which means I don't have to do it again for at least a year! Yippee!

A wild weekend

I had an eventful weekend. My friend Laura introduced me to her friends Sonya and Kirby, who were visiting from out of town. Sonya had a list of places she just had to go, so we went to a few of those and a few she hadn’t heard of and a good time was had by all.

I’m a bit tired from being out so late, but it was worth it. (I usually start nodding off around 10:30, so getting home at 2-3 am was a big change for me.) The only thing I’d change is I wouldn’t eat so much. I simply cannot eat that way anymore, and I think the oil/butter content at Crustacean could easily have been cut in half without any adverse affect on the food. It’s not that it wasn’t good, but it was greasy. I felt heavy and ill after eating it.

For me, the highlight of the evening was Café Cocomo, a salsa club. I love to dance, I love salsa, and I love live music. I have to go back, maybe regularly. As a way to burn calories, it would be a lot more fun than the treadmill.

I also spent some time taking photos, as you can see. The frog just fell out of my screen door when I went out on the patio to water my plants. He may be tiny, but he’s fast. I tried to move him to get a better shot, and he just took off.

Spring Fever

Successes

• I brought lunch to work 4 out 5 days
• I have not bitten my nails (but I going through an alarming amount of gum)
• I cleaned out my filing cabinet
• I have taken my vitamins for 5 days straight.
• I have a plan for my vacation in May
• I paid 300 dollars on my credit card debt

Failures

• I only biked to work once this week.
• I have only done 1 out of my 3 scheduled running workouts
• There are still 3 overflowing boxes of books in my living room

I always thought I had stumpy fingers, but with nails on them, they look slimmer, more tapered and feminine. It's amazing what a tiny little change can do. There may be something to this nail business.

I am proud of myself for getting more organized. Clearing out old things so there is room for the new to grow.

Maybe it’s Spring Fever, but I feel itchy, jumpy, I have a need to go do something. Something different. Something active. Something creative. But I have no idea what.

Things that have crossed my mind:

• Glass blowing
• Learn to paint
• Climb Mount Tamalpais
• Tango lessons in Buenos Aires
• Quitting my job

I don’t know. I haven't found anything that really fires my imagination. Something that screams "You must do this!" to me. I'm open to suggestions.

It will be worth it

Yeah, I'm sitting in a bag. Your point?

I’ve done 12 miles this week, and will be doing a 7 mile “brisk” walk on Sunday. I did a 6 mile walk last Sunday. The walk itself wasn’t bad, though my feet started to hurt towards the end. I was actually feeing great when I finished. In a good humor, smiling at the world, and why not! I’d just walked 6 whole miles! I was so proud of myself it was ridiculous. One hour after the walk, I was exhausted. I felt like I hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in a week, so maybe I haven’t come quite as far as I thought.

My endurance has definitely increased, after my first (3 mile) workout, I had blisters all over my feet, and I was wiped out. Now, 4.5 miles on the treadmill doesn’t even phase me. (Yesterday, I even tried walking backwards for a while – I’m such a daredevil) I may die of boredom, but I can do it. The 6 mile walk on Sunday, I enjoyed most of it, it’s after the walk I’m having trouble with.

I’m also hoping to pick up a little speed, or it’s going to be a loooong walk in May. I will finish the race! I would just like to finish it before they start pulling the finish line down (that would just be embarrassing)

But while I’ve improved my cardiovascular fitness, moving more in the last month than in the previous 3 combined, I’ve actually gained weight! How can this be? Easy, instead of having a cup of soup, or something sensible after my workout, I’ve been rewarding myself for doing so well. Don’t you want to kick yourself sometimes?

Old habits, (like rewarding myself with food) will have to be done away with. I’ll have to find a post workout reward that does not involve calories. Any ideas?

Laying the groundwork

I know. It’s been a month, not a week. Bad blogger! Bad! bad! But if you’re not used to doing this, it takes a while to get into the groove. I truly admire some bloggers that manage to have fascinating, funny journals, and post 3 or more times a week. Where do they find the energy, time and motivation?

Anyway, back to my quest for a more interesting, and well-organized life. Is that a contradiction in terms? There is a perception that messy people are more interesting. Is tidiness inherently dull? I’ve watched some of Oprah’s “Save me from my clutter” shows. They astound me in the sheer wastefulness of it all; how can someone get to the point that they fill an entire 3-car garage with stuff? Do they just get distracted?

Ahem. I have a tendency to self-distraction, and tangential thought, just in case you hadn’t noticed, so back to the project. In the past month I have made about 2 square inches worth of progress on the needlepoint (#41), it’s going to be beautiful when it’s done.

I have been doing well on not biting my nails for the past two weeks (#35), they are short, but they are actually there.

I’m in a bit of a quandary on #12. I wasn’t specific enough, so do I want to save 3 months of net salary? or the gross amount? It’s a significant difference: almost $2,000 per month in taxes and payroll deductions. And I want to get started on house and car funds.

I’ve registered for #70 (the ½ marathon) and am doing the training schedule. I’ve become better acquainted with the treadmill at the gym than I ever thought possible.

Interesting will have to wait until later. Once I’ve got the boring, dependable stuff done, I will be better able to enjoy/finance the more interesting plans on the list. Very soon, I promise!

Progress is slow . . .

I've started reading Don Quixote. I've started this book several times, but never gotten past the part where he names Rocinante. I don't know why. I like literature. Length does not scare me, nor do old books. I almost sprinted through all 800 pages of Tom Jones. (A really funny read. Overbearing fathers, a beautiful heroine, escapes, chases, mistaken idenities and a hero who can't keep his trousers on; what's not to like?) I read David McCullough's enormous biography of John Adams cover to cover. But Don Quixote just sits on the shelf, mocking me.

This time, I've gotten as far as the village priest torching the old man's library. It's a scene that is alternately funny and barbaric. Burning a library is a tragic thing, but the priest keeps salvaging the (evil) books.

"This is terrible, depraved stuff, unfit for human consumption - wait I haven't read that one yet!"

Gotta love it.

On the somewhat less geeky side of my personality, I've started training for a half-marathon in May and realized something profound.

Sneakers really have to fit.

My entire life I have avoided wearing shoes. When I was a kid I had very practical reasons: they make climbing trees harder, you can't grip anything with your toes if you have shoes on, there is nothing like cool grass against the soles of your feet and the feel of mud squishing between your toes is wonderful.

I kick my shoes off the second I walk through my front door. (This leads to a front hall full of shoes, but at least I always know where they are.) But because I've never really worn my shoes for long periods, I've never realized how important fit is. Particularly if you want your toes to have skin on them. So this weekend, I am going to buy a really good pair of sneakers.

Week One Progress Report

I feel a bit silly, putting a massive “To Do List” online, but I like lists. I make several lists a week, I have notebooks and diaries full of lists, bullet points and reminders, (Obviously, I'm compulsive.) but only a few of these things ever get done. My hope is that publishing these goals online will give me the added incentive to actually do them.

A lot of these are fairly prosaic, like: #15 sell my books. But if you realize that these books have been sitting in boxes in my apartment’s entryway for a year, even though I trip on them, they ruin the look of the entryway and mean I can’t open the coat closet properly, you begin to see that it is actually a crisis of procrastination. I've got to do something to motivate myself.

So have I sold the books yet? No. But I’ve done some other stuff!

I have now gone a week without Diet Coke (#14), and I love diet coke. I’m quitting because:

It’s expensive. I figured out that I’d spent roughly $600 on Diet Coke last year. Just think of what I could do with $600 dollars!

I’ve noticed that long term cola drinkers tend to have oddly transparent teeth. This is scary.

It’s environmentally unsound. Once you’ve had your drink, then you have to deal with the can or bottle it came in.

I’ve replaced it with ice tea which is better for me, health-wise, and still provides enough caffeine to get me going. I may save my teeth yet. But I still have 3 weeks and 2 months to go before I finish this goal. I miss my coke! I really do.

I’ve been to the movies (#48) for the first time in a long time, to see Sweeny Todd. Meh. The film isn’t bad, though I didn’t think it was possible to be darker than the original. (It was, and it didn’t help that most of the jokes fell flat.) But, it’s a musical, and while Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter are commendably creepy, they are not musical performers and it shows.

And last, but not least, I tried a new restaurant (#42). Shutters Cafe on San Pablo, near the yoga studio. I've been passing by it for a few months now and decided to go out of my comfort zone, and try a new place. I had a hamburger. My theory is that if a restaurant can make ordinary stuff really good, then their specialties are worth coming back for. A perfectly nice hamburger, but no big deal. I'm going to do more research before the next restaurant.

The challenge . . .

So here's the list. (I'm adding as ideas come to me.) Some are silly, some are fun, some are difficult and some (possibly) life changing. It should be a 1001 days full of interest.

The project will run from Jan 15, 2008 to October 12, 2010

1. Read Don Quixote (0/1)
2. Go to the opera in San Francisco (0/1)
3. Go an entire year without overcharging my account (0/12)
4. Climb Mt. Tamalpais (0/1)
5. Give blood 6 times (0/6)
6. Have a massage (0/1)
7. A-Z challenge. Visit a place for every letter in the alphabet (0/26)
8. Have dinner at Oliveto (0/1)
9. Have dinner at the French Laundry (0/1)
10. Confirm my beneficiaries (0/1)
11. Pay off my credit card (0/1)
12. Save 3 months worth of salary in my Emergency fund. (0/1)
13. Have 3 physicals (0/3)
14. Give up Diet coke for 3 months (0/1)
15. Sell my old books (0/1)
16. Get a library card and stop buying so many books! (0/1)
17. Go to the Cartoon museum (0/1)
18. Go to the Asian Art museum (0/1)
19. Take vitamins every day for a month (0/30)
20. Try haggis. (0/1)
21. Learn to paint (0/1)
22. Buy a house plant and keep it alive for a year. (0/1)
23. Get properly fitted for a bra (0/1)
24. Buy some sexy underwear. (0/1)
25. Move out of California (0/1)
26. Write at least one letter a month. A real one, not one sent by email. (0/36)
27. Go to a dermatologist and have the melasma and broken capillaries fixed. (0/1)
28. Get a mini-stereo
29. Finish all the pages in my various journals before buying a new one. (0/1)
30. Buy a laptop (0/1)
31. Organize photos (0/1)
32. Take part in National Novel Writing Month (0/1)
33. Make a disaster preparedness kit (0/1)
34. Have a deluxe pedicure when my toenails grow back (0/1)
35. Stop biting my nails for 3 months (0/3)
36. Go to a museum exhibit every other month (0/18)
37. Save a deposit for a house (0/1)
38. See a financial advisor (0/1)
39. Go an entire week without being negative about anybody or anything (0/1)
40. Buy a coffee table (0/1)
41. Finish the needlepoint project I started during the Clinton administration (0/1)
42. Go to a new restaurant once a month for a year (0/12)
43. Learn to Argentine Tango (0/1)
44. Floss every day for 3 months, got to make it a habit.
45. Go out for my birthday (0/3)
46. Use all my vacation days (0/20)
47. Read Moby Dick (0/1)
48. Go to the movies every other month (0/18)
49. See Shakespeare in the park in the summer (0/3)
50. Vote. (0/1)
51. Go back to New York (0/1)
52. Visit the Cowgirl Creamery (0/1)
53. Buy cfls for all my lamps (0/1)
54. Recycle for 3 months (0/3)
55. Figure out what to do with the electronic photo frame or donate it to charity (0/1)
56. Ride my bike to work for 3 months (0/90)
57. Go to LA. (0/1)
58. Have a hot dog at Tail o the Pup (0/1)
59. Buy a decent pair of ballroom shoes (0/1)
60. Buy and drink a bottle of Perrier Jouet for my birthday (0/1)
61. Do the entire Artists Way 12 week course, not just 2 weeks (0/1)
62. Read Sparrow (0/1)
63. Buy a Creuset casserole (0/1)
64. <Lose 50 lbs. (Starting weight 244 lbs) (0/1)
65. Visit my friends in Europe (0/1)
66. See Ireland.(0/1)
67. Volunteer at 12 Habitat for Humanity build dates.(0/12)
68. Take an adult ballet class.(0/1)
69. Learn enough French to actually read Candide in the original.(0/1)
70. Finish the Avenue of the Giants half marathon - May 4th 2008.(0/1)
71. Learn to make a souffle.(0/1)
72. Make a photo book of my New York Vacation.(0/1)
73. Visit Alcatraz.(0/1)
74. Take a yoga cure (0/1)
75. Blog at least once a week for a year (0/52)
76. Learn to make real Cajun gumbo
77. Buy a really hot bathing suit and wear it in public
78. Buy stock in Proctor and Gamble
79. Visit the Winchester Mystery House
80. Save for a new car
81. Get married
82. Collect all 50 state quarters
83. See Spamalot
84. Go to the Grand Canyon
85. Wax my car 12 times
86. Start a Roth IRA
87. Try kayaking
88. Complete a marathon
89. Go to Montreal, Canada
90. Fall in love
91. learn to knit something other than a scarf
92. Fix my horn comb and bone fan
93. Get the amber necklace restrung
94. Start weight training
95. Improve my work skills
96. Update my Career Networking Profile
97. Make a recipe folder
98. Put together a car maintenance folder
99. Get a dining room table
100. Have friends over for dinner
101. Join a choir