The Goings-On Of Life

It's been a few days since I've posted here, so I figured it's time for an update! My weekend with Megan was great :) We made the most of it and managed to make a 2 day trip feel like much more. I think we got a total of about 6 hours of sleep the whole weekend. But I'm all recovered now. The plan is for her to come down for a real trip in a couple of weeks and she'll probably stay for about a week. The bed feels empty again now, and I'll have to adjust to that, but I'm left with a smile on my face from our visit.The 10:4 challenge officially ended a couple of days ago, and unfortunately I did not meet the 10 pound goal, but I'm still proud of myself. I lost 8.6 pounds, which is more than I've done in quite some time! In fact, since Katrina (now a little over 2 years) all I've done is gain weight. So to lose any weight at all is awesome. Carl has given me a chance to redeem myself though the RIP5 Challenge! This one is to lose 5 pounds by October 31st. Weight now is 187.4 pounds. So the goal is 182.4 pounds by October 31st. The 10:4 challenge did lead to some healthy changes for me. I've started drinking a lot more water and juice instead of cokes all the time. I've also cut back on the fast food, though I could definitely cut back some more still :/ In fact, if I just stopped eating fast food all together for these 2 months, I know I'd lose the 5 pounds...but I know I won't, so I'm not going to set unrealistic goals. I'm just going to be more conscientious than I've been!

The RIP Challenge has been so much fun, and it's only day 4! I kicked it off with Rob Zombie's Halloween on Saturday. I absolutely loved it! Halloween is probably my favorite classic slasher flick. Halloween and Halloween II are both excellent in my book. I'm even a big fan of 4 & 5. I'm also a huge fan of Rob Zombie's films. House of 1000 Corpses and The Devils Rejects are some of my favorite horror movies since the 70's and early 80's. When I heard he was doing Halloween, I got so excited and it was better than I expected. Warning! This film is not appropriate for those who are easily offended or do not like gore. I saw plenty of people who brought their children, I guess expecting just another horror movie (not knowing anything about Rob Zombie obviously), and they all walked out after the first 5 minutes of dialogue. Zombie did a great job with this film. The first half explains the origins of Michael Myers...the creation of a serial killer, his home life, his mental illness (some sort of dissociative disorder), and makes the movie believable...instead of just some supernatural horror movie killer, he's human...we actually feel for him, for the horrible childhood he has and for his illness. The second part of the movie is an almost exact replication of the original Halloween, but with a few twists, modernized, and with the more believable background story that we now know. I loved it!Just in time to be the mascot of the RIP challenge, I received my little purple poppet in the mail today :D He (I've decided it's a boy) is very cool and came with one of these little hands that I've been seeing and have been wanting! Here he is posing with Dracula that I have really been enjoying. It's such an atmospheric read, and even though it's hot as hell in New Orleans right now, it's managed to fool my brain into believing that it's Fall.

Tomorrow is a day of all things job related. I have a meeting with my licensure supervisor in the morning. She sounds really sweet over the phone, so I'm looking forward to meeting her. Then I have to start all of the paperwork and do the drug test and all of that fun stuff. My very temporary start date is September 24th, but that's subject to change. It all depends on paperwork going smoothly and my licensure paperwork being filed quickly...which in Louisiana post-Katrina..."quickly" isn't a word that's heard very often.

I missed short story Sunday this past weekend, so I'll be playing catch up next weekend. Regular blogs should now be back on the schedule.

10:4 Check In, Nice Editors, & Accomplishing Things

I just realized that it's time for a 10:4 Challenge check in...actually, yesterday was check in time but I forgot. This month wasn't so good, but it wasn't so bad...I lost 2 more pounds! Could've been better, but hey, there's still 2 more months left and I'm less than 2 pounds away from successfully completing the challenge which is to lose 10 pounds in 4 months. Of course, I could be much more successful and probably could've lost all of the wait by now if I didn't do things like reward myself for losing 2 pounds by shoving a donut down my throat...but hey, old habits die hard...

I got an email yesterday from Edmund Schubert, the editor of Intergalactic Medicine Show, Orson Scott Card's online webzine of fantasy and science fiction! He wanted to thank me for the mention on my blog of the webzine and informed me that Tor will be publishing an IGMS Anthology soon! Very cool! He also pointed me in the direction of his blog which is great, and I think that many of you would really enjoy it. It's called Side-Show Freaks and features essays from many great sci-fi/fantasy authors as well as some great slices of life and IGMS news. Check it out.

Today has been a day of trying to get things accomplished. I went to get my oil changed at the Honda dealership which proved to be such a pain in the ass. It took 2 1/2 hours to get my oil changed...at least I brought The Time Traveler's wife with me, so I got some reading done. Gassed up the car, got some coffee, got a very much needed haircut, came home and applied for 4 more jobs. So I feel like I've at least accomplished something today. Sometimes I just feel like I'm wasting away with no job, but days like today help...I enjoy checking things off of a list. And now back to more reading!

Truly Bizarre Side Effects

I've discovered a side effect to Topamax that is really strange. We're talking Michael Jackson strange here. I can no longer taste carbonation in soft drinks. I first noticed this last night after I went to Burger King. I ordered a Coke with my meal. Before I pulled a way, I took a sip and told the lady that it tasted flat, could she please give me another one. She went on to tell me there was nothing wrong with the Coke, but she could give me something else. So I huffed and puffed and asked for a root beer. That tasted flat too. So I told her. She tasted it from the machine and said it was fine, so I sped off in a dramatic fashion. Now...I noticed that I noticed the feeling of carbonation when the drink hit my throat, but not in my mouth...it just tasted flat when I first took a sip.

So today, I went to Subway with a friend for lunch. I got a Coke there and what do you know, it tasted flat! But once again, I could feel the carbonation in my throat. I don't know if the Topamax killed the nerves on my tongue or what, but it's a very disquieting sensation! Bookfool left a comment the other day saying that she tried Topamax for her migraines and that it made everything taste bad...maybe this has something to do with that. Needless to say, I won't be drinking Coke's anymore for now, because they all taste flat, which will definitely help with the 10:4 challenge! Isn't this one of the weirdest side effects?

A New Kind Of Challenge And A Winner!

Carl V. is hosting yet another wonderful idea for a challenge! This one is the 10:4 Challenge. Here’s the deal. This one’s not a book challenge. It’s a physical health challenge. The challenge is to lose 10 pounds in 4 months. What a great idea! Now I actually have someone to report to which will make me a little more disciplined and responsible in losing weight. I’ll finally put that gym membership to good use. So I’m in. I’ll lose the 10 pounds and hopefully more. The challenge goes from May 1^st (today) through September 1^st. The prize – feeling better about yourself! Can’t beat that. I have a friend, the author of Why Do I Need A Title?, who has lost near 100 pounds since August 2005 and totally turned her life around! So she’ll be my inspiration for this. So, starting weight – 195.8 lbs.

Brandon Mull’s new book comes out today. It’s the second in the Fablehaven series, a truly wonderful series. This one’s called Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star. I’m so excited about it! But due to a lack of money and reading time, I’m going to have to wait a couple of weeks L I highly recommend that any fantasy fan check out this series. You won’t be disappointed!

I got my book in the mail today from Bookfool and I love it! It’s The Tibetan Art of Positive Thinking and looks like something that’s right up my alley! Thanks Nancy :D

And finally, we have a winner for the Mirrormask giveaway! Congratulations to Deslily! I had never read Deslily’s blog before, but I’ve really been enjoying it. She seems to be a big fan of fantasy and a great person all around. Deslily, send me the address you want the book sent to and I’ll get it out to you ASAP. Hope you enjoy it. My email is chrisa511 at gmail dotcom.