Time Amongst Kleins

I never realized how much I just sit and do nothing. Nobody around here does that by default - that's something you do after everything is cleaned, organized, and put away. By comparison, I live in a slovenly, cluttered hellhole. By comparison, I have tons of extra stuff in my life.
I understand so much more about TheTim when I'm here. It is important to save ideas for things, and then implement those ideas at times - like TheTim'sMom's Xmas decorating ideas in a baggie - she gave me some pictures of stuff to do with large candles - and some large candles with which to do stuff. I just sling candles around and set them on fire. I never think to group them attractively first. Maybe I should. Maybe this is adulthood. Should I care more about this? I think it's awfully swell to at least know about doing this sort of thing.
I get the idea that every item in this house brings some sort of joy to its occupants. When I get back to my own place and look around, I'm going to do some serious declutterization of anything that doesn't give me paroxysms of joy when I look at it.
Paroxysms.
I can't believe that's only the first time I've used that word in this blog.
This is, not surprisingly to those of you who have experienced TheTim, a family of intellectuals. Everyone here yells correct answers at Jeopardy when we watch it in the evenings together in our matching pajamas and cups of perfectly steamed cocoa. (I'm elaborating there, but it really is that Norman Rockwell here and I'm loving it hard.) There are old Games magazines and we had a lovely time sitting around the dinner table after our dinner smorgasbord of leftovers and playing the "Which of These Animals Are Fake?" game. People in this family speak with excellent diction. I am hyper aware of my own grammar faux pas. I can use big words and phrases with the equivalent of doilies on them and it's not out of place. TheTim said something to his Dad, a simple notification of something, and he used no fewer than four 50-cent words in it. I was impressed. I love that sort of thing.
These people are smart and proud of it and I fit right in and that means I'm smart too.

How to Lose Weight: Step One - GET HAPPY

No, really. Get HAPPY. Right now, exactly at the weight you are, step outside of your house and live your life. Go do something that makes you happy. If you have no idea what that is, then you get to go try new things until you find out. If you don't have time because you are too busy doing stuff you hate to do, fix that. FIX. IT. Find a way to learn to like what you have to do, or stop doing what you hate.
Overeating is a symptom of the sadness and brokenness inside you. Overeating, or overdoing anything, is an attempt to make yourself feel better. It's staunching a pain. Find a new way to staunch the pain other than food if you want to lose weight. Note: don't staunch the pain with alcohol or drugs either. Those are bad and they hurt your life. Don't staunch the pain with more pain.

Staunch your pain with friends, exercise, reading, yoga, improv, stand-up comedy, live theatre, volunteer work, learning a new skill, earning a degree, studying something useless that makes you happy like how to make balloon animals. ANYTHING. Get out amongst people and try that. Sometimes just realizing that your own pain truly is paltry compared to that of other people helps tremendously - it's why people volunteer. It feels good to help and it feels good to get to go home at the end of the day and be yourself again with your own dramas that, even if not insignificant, at least they are your own.

So, go out there and find one new thing to do one hour a week that makes you happy. AND find a way to learn to like something you're not big into - like housework. NOW. Do it now - not 5 lbs from now.

No Guilt and Move On.

Xmas Parade, Scrabble, and Sunny Delight

Ate pizza and watched Robot Chicken on the Internets
Packed for the weekend
Put on very warm clothing - including cloche hat and vile, motheaten fur cape.
Got everyone and everything into the car and headed downtown
Met up with Harrod and Hunter at the Magnolia Hotel
I checked in while TheTim parked the car
Waded through about 982 pajama-clad children in lobby due to it being "Cookie Hour"
Went up to room and whined to TheTim about being tired
Met Harrod and Hunter at usual part of Adolphus bar to play Scrabble.
Enjoyed being trounced by last-second bingo by Harrod Blank, King of Scrabble
Enjoyed seeing Harrod much happier thanks to Scrabble game even more
Dragged ass back to room
Slept fitfully until room service arrived at 6:00am with waffle, fruit compote, and yogurt for me, breakfast sandwich with potatoes for TheTim
Dressed and re-packed and headed downstairs to sit in Camera Van with Harrod and Hunter and wait for Cow Goddess
Drove to Fair Park in amazing camera-encrusted van going "OMG! SQUEEE!!" inside the whole time
Got to barn containing art cars and floats, which was next door to the Train Museum where I went with Todd one summer and we almost died from the heat but it was still cool
Lined up cars in order.
Remembered why I love the Cow Goddess.
Panicked a little about running out of gas, but was reassured that all would be well.
(Note: All was well)
Lined up
Paraded
Got 372 "Lego Car!" comments, 422 "Rubick's Cube car" comments and one "I LOVE YOU
MONDRIAN CAR!" comment that is still keeping my heart warm.
After parade, went to Spiral Diner with Harrod, Hunter, TheTim, and Scrabble.
Enjoyed being trounced again by Harrod, aforementioned King of Scrabble
Came home
Bathed and got ready for Blue Yule art thing at the MAC - which featured Cow Goddess as Virgin Mary.
Posed with CG and TheTim
Laughed head off at Hunter as Harpo Marx as an angel
Won $100 of salon service from DV8
Went to Cafe Express with H, H, and T (no Scrabble, but it was mentioned)
Laughed head off at H&H's banter
At one point, Harrod laughed so loud that a couple dining at the back of the room looked at us, Hunter turned towards them and said deadpan: "Sorry about the noise. We're having a birthday." (Note: we were not having a birthday)
Also, Harrod and Hunter got into a discussion about the poor eating habits of Mexicans that they noticed during their extensive travels in Mexico, particularly the Mexican affinity for Sunny Delight. Then, Harrod asked the Hispanic lady clearning tables if she liked Sunny Delight. She said the Spanish equivalent of "Bot Appetit."
My sides are still sore from laughing.
Sunday: groggy all day, went to library and got movie (Marty) and Amy Sedaris book (I Like You), looked at both, and napped and napped.
Got up, ate, napped, then bathed and went to bed.
And here I am.

Fwd: Jill and I go parading

Subject: Jill and I go parading

Tomorrow, Jill and I will drive art cars in the Adolphus Children's Parade downtown.  We have to be lined up at 7am, so they're putting us all up in a hotel so we don't have to battle in traffic with the third of a million spectators who will be converging on downtown that morning.  I'm told that the parade is televised nationwide throughout the holiday season, but I'm not sure whether they broadcast it live. Anyway, it starts at 10am Central Time, in case you want to try to find it on TV.

Here's a message that I sent to my co-workers about it...

Love,
Tim

=========================

Here's info about the Adolphus Children's Parade in downtown Dallas on Saturday morning.  Wow, I thought the Turkey Trot was big, with 36,000 people -- but this is 10 times that size!  If crowds and parades are your thing, then bundle up, come on down, and cheer when the art cars go by...

http://listings.guidelive.com/dallas-tx/events/show/88309051-capital-one-bank-adolphus-childrens-parade


Jill will be driving the Mondrian Mobile, seen here in Motor Trend:
http://www.motortrend.com/auto_shows/112_0304_wild_wheels_art_for_the_road/photo_05.html


And I'll be driving the California Fantasy Van:
http://www.motortrend.com/auto_shows/112_0304_wild_wheels_art_for_the_road/photo_13.html


Several other art cars will be there too, including the fabulous Camera Van driven by Harrod Blank himself:
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Cars-artists-obsession-craft/dp/0933621922/

...seen here in my driveway. :-)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yarncar/4127324698/in/photostream/

Test

Is this thing on?

MPIII, numbers, plans

Had a nice workshop last night. I learned a bit about myself and I bonded with someone new who comes from a longform background. That was very nice.

I am excited with how my own little side project troupe is going.

On the weight loss front, I have lost 9 of the pounds I put on over the past couple of week - 7 to go.

Note: I do this by writing down everything I eat, even if I go over my points for the day - and by exercising for a long time, even if not very hard.
Example: a slow chug for an hour instead of an intense run at maximum heart BPM. (Because that might make me die.)

TheTim and I have some lovely plans for the weekend. I hope they go well.

oochie

Yup. My toe is definitely broken. And the tip is just barely hanging on. Bleargh.

Jillprov

I'm putting together my own improv troupe to get together and play and learn things. If you're interested, send me an email.

taxi56@gmail.com

Harrod and Snow

One of our favorite house guests is next door: Harrod.
It's snowing.
Harrod has a lot of stuff to do today in preparation for the parade this weekend.
Yikes.
The snow is coming down in fat blobs that are starting to stick. It really looks cold out there.
2 days ago, I was comfortably running outside in shorts and a t-shirt.
Not sure why that still surprises me. Is there anywhere in the world where it gets cold gradually and then gets warm gradually? I don't think so.
I almost elliptically trained last night, but instead, I ate obscene amounts of curry.
And so it goes.
I do feel thinner than I felt Monday morning, bu for some reason, I'm not going to weigh in until Sunday morning. I just don't feel like judging my day according to that number first thing. I find it's an unhealthy habit - especially when I know the number isn't going to be very pretty for a few days.
I can see that my cheekbones are coming back, and feel less blobular in general, but that has deceived me before.

Awww... wait... Oh yeah! GRAH!

I was sort of grousing to myself just now about how much I don't want to go running in the cold and slimy out-of-doors and then I remembered that the big, lovely elf of a man who loves me very much has provided a very nice elliptical trainer in this house for just such an occasion. YAYAY!!

I even have a MotionTraxx designed for an elliptial workout! RARGH!

On a related note, the treadmill at the YMCA calculates how many calories someone of my weight will burn running at a particular speed for one hour. I discovered that my usual cruising speed - which I can, in fact, maintain for an hour - burns about 600 calories an hour! HOTCHA!

Fixing Time

My mouth hurts. I bit a very chewy, very hot burrito and that little nubbin of flesh on the inside part of my gums between my two top front teeth is hurt - I can feel a little bit of skin hanging off it if I hit it with my tongue just right. Ooochie. I hurt it last night and it hurts less today, but it still isn't pretty.

Also, I gained a blob of fat back. I shudder to think how much more I'd have gained if I hadn't run as much as I did. I'm working on losing it again because I really like the pictures of me I took when I was at my lowest weight a few weeks ago.

I'm watching my points - successfully, yesterday and so far so good today.
I took a Yoga class last night that had a fair bit of core work hidden in there. Great instructor. didn't try to kill me like the one I had in the yoga class I took at Manhattanville.
We were required to keep a journal in the Mville class and by the end I named mine "A Journey Into Pain: Why Yoga Is Not For Me." For the final "exam" we had to write up our plans to continue with yoga, and I put that I was going to actively petition the administration at the college to discontinue offering the class there as it posed a very real risk to the health and well-being of the hapless students misinformed enough to take it.

Last night's class didn't hurt - unless you count getting the smell of untold amounts of other people's foot-sweat on my face as injurious. Which, if not for the handfuls of sanitizer I rubbed on my face afterwards, it might very well have been. Now I know why people being their own pads. I had one at one point, but the cat peed on it.

So, I'm eating less, cutting WAY the hell back on caffeine, and suffering through the ensuing caffeine headache today. It drowned out the hurt gums for a while at least.

I woke up once last night - I dreamed Skeeter was being chased by a skunk in the back yard and I had left the door closed and he could not get in. I jerked awake, ready to dash to the door and kill that skunk with my bare hands if I had to.

Food review: Lean Cuisine butternut squash ravioli make a fine breakfast - 4.5 points.

Turkey Trot

Tim Klein took that photo. He also made it all the way through the 5K. Good man.


The Turkey Trot was not what I expected and I came out of it tired and with a slightly lower opinion of my Fellow Man. (And Fellow Woman.) The runners were great and I didn't get any of the horror-story things happening to me like I read in Runners World - no one did a farmer blow over the shoulder on me, no one hip-checked me into a fire hydrant (though, according to TheTim, plenty of people ran into fire hydrants all on their own.)
What I minded most were the people with dogs AND/OR strollers packed with their progeny clogging the road as they slowly ambled their entitled, yuppie way around the streets of this fair city, chatting and sipping Starbucks latte as they went. Those of us with timing chips were forced to step past, and in more than three cases for me - OVER these strollers and dogs on our way.
The race officials asked repeatedly - in print, online, and over the loudspeakers on race day morning, for those with strollers and dogs to go to the back.

I saw a lady trip over someone and go down hard. I heard the thud of her skull on the pavement. I heard her cries. I saw a crowd of people rushing towards her to help, so I kept going. I am honestly surprised that I didn't see more of that, or slam face first into one of the myriad well-trod piles of dog poop that decorated the running route.

I will not be Turkily Trotting again - but I have already run another 5K since then - yesterday afternoon, in fact.

I don't know my time at the actual Trot, but last night I took it easy and just sort of Fat-Girl-Chugged along as I listened to Radio Lab and I ran for an entire hour, just about. 58 minutes and change.

I don't have a hard and fast goal right now other than to undo the damage I did to myself with food over the last few days. That's a pretty good goal. I'd like to get back into a decent size for photographing by the time Bron gets here.

Looka them LAIGS!

Blogger Date Issue

I reverted to a Classic Template (as you can see) and now I have my dates back! And my archives are sorted into months. Yayayay!!

Thanksgiving 2009

Things I did today:
Woke up at 1:00am and could not get back to sleep until 5:30 am.
Woke up at 7:00am and got dressed for 42nd annual Turkey Trot
Loaded into car with Tim, headed downtown, whining about being tired
Ran Turkey Trot - really ran - lots of dodging - very surreal. Also, there is a special place in hell for people with huge strollers and an overblown sense of entitlement.
Where was I.. oh yes - came home, shlepped Thanksgiving feast from Highland Park Cafe and DVDs to Tim's house as while he showered.
Prepared tasty, tasty traditional T-giving dinner.
Watched Polar Express and ate and ate and ate
Went back to my house, turned on electric blanket, curled up underneath it with TheTim and a book. Napped hard until 3pm.
Went to Walgreens on quest to find Sinus Buster.
Found Sinus Buster 2 Walgreens and a CVS later.
Came home, sprayed pepper spray up my nose
Whined hard
Felt astonishingly better
Watched National Geographic stuff with theTim and Skeeter
Gave Skeeter turkey remnants
Ate leftovers
Ate pie
Painted
Blogged
Slept

I'll write more about the 5K, but I'm still sorta tired and weird.

dates?

Where are the gosh-darn dates on these blog entries? Hmmm?