Weekend's Over Wednesday: Mental Marination

Here's another picture of food to wet your appetite so to speak.

In Kissing Jessica Stein, one of the many great quotes from Jessica's girlfriend, Helen, was as follows:

"Don't decide right now, just let it marinate for a while."

 There's been quite a bit on my mind as of late, but before I get to that, I'd like to share what's been happening thus far this week.

Monday

I visited my friends Steve and Seffy on Monday.  Unfortunately, it was very cold outside (of course it warms up the next day too), so even I had a hard time not shivering at 18 degree weather.  I can take the cold, but I have my limits.

One of my new favorite places to eat now is the local Burger King in Warrensburg.  They have options on the menu that accommodate those who are on a low carb diet.  I had three double cheeseburgers without any condiments or a bun along with a side salad without dressing or grape tomatoes.

After hanging out with my friends, I had to go home, because I was having trouble falling asleep that Monday.  For whatever reason, I tend to want to stay awake when I'm off work for the next couple of nights.

Tuesday

I took my work clothes to the Washboard Laundry Mat so I could have clean clothes for the week.  While clothes were washing, I did some shopping and filled up my gas tank.  I returned, put clothes in the dryer, and then went to Muttly's Gun and Pawn to look around.

Pro tip: If you're looking for a cheap place to stock up on anime, a local pawn shop should be on your list of stops to make.

Last night, I checked in on the anime club.  There were some friends that I haven't seen in a while and I wanted to check in on them to see how they were doing.  We had a wonderful time and it was good meeting one of the new officers.

Nate's a pretty cool guy and I think he will make an excellent treasurer.

The cool thing is that the group has been communicating with other anime clubs as well.  This is something that I wanted to see happen, but things happened when I was still in college that prevented that endeavor from being successful.  The organization is in excellent hands.

After the club meeting and hanging out in general, I did a little bit more shopping in the early hours of this morning before going home and falling asleep.

That brings me to this morning.

I have successfully upped my repetitions by two.  That's 33 with the dumbbell and 23 push ups off the wall.  A week from this Saturday, I shall increase everything by three.  The pattern will continue until I can do 100 reps with the dumbbell.

The weight will increase and I'll work my way up to 50 with the higher weight before increasing the weight one more time.  The goal is eventually use all three weights in the entire routine.

From there, I'll eventually increase the number of sets by one for even more muscle building.  Speaking of transitions....

Mental Marination

Like my exercise routine, I'm treading carefully in terms of getting something off my chest.  I won't go into it today, because it's prudent to actually brainstorm the ideas that are floating in my mind and organize them into something coherent.

I'll still work on the website.  After all, I have yet to write the first article (hint: it will mention Piers Morgan).  I'll even do a test podcast.  I have the know how to record and edit audio.  I just need to do the rest, and that plugin for e107 just might do the trick.

In other words, I'll be taking a brief break from personal blogging until sometime in February.  When I return, I'll have something important to say.

• Some may like it.
• Others may not.
• Others may honestly not care.

That's the nature of the Internet.

There's some things that I discovered about myself that explain some things that have happened to me over the last couple of years.  It was quite an epiphany that will be channeled to make myself better than I was before.

Those who are curious will get one hint.  In life it is important to have that great adventure which the individual explores the self as well as their surroundings before everything else occurs.

Allow that to marinate in your mind for a while, and I'll see all of you in February.

Mission Complete!

Yesterday, I said I was excited about the opportunity to get ahead on a few things.  I suppose I have done just that.  The only thing left to do for the time being is to get my oil changed (might do that in the morning) and the gas tank filled up.

The good news is that I'll still have money left over, a good feeling to have.  Things seem to be going right so far in 2013.

There's been a slight change in technological terms at the living quarters.  I recently went to my ISP's new pricing.  Granted, I have to use their modem from here on out, but there's no rental fee anymore.  An added bonus is that it's a DOCSIS 3, which should improve performance.

The utilities are taken care of, and I managed to stock up on a few more food items (low carb of course).  Speaking of food, I've somewhat changed my strategy a bit.  I'll eat the veggies that are low carb as part of the last meal of the day.  That way, I don't have to worry about refrigeration as soon as I get to work.

Thank goodness for canned meat is all I have to say.

Speaking of healthy living, I got a bit of extra exercise today as I moved some carts out of the parking lot towards the end of my shift.  I still took to the dumb bell and off the wall pushups when I arrived home.  Next Wednesday, I'll add two repetitions to what I'm already doing.

According to my calculations, by keeping up with the pattern for increasing reps, I'll be doing 50 of them with the dumb bell by March.

Once I hit 100 reps with the dumb bell, I plan on increasing the weight to 20 lbs.  At the higher weight, I'll start with 15 reps and work my way up to 50 using the same pattern described in previous posts.  The fun part will be when I increase the weight to 30 lbs.

At the highest weight I'd be willing to work with, the starting point would be five reps.  Working my way up to 25 would be what I refer to as quite a challenge.  If I can meet it, then another crucial step would be taken.

It would involve using all three weights in a sort of pyramid fashion.  I would start with 10 lbs at 100 reps, go to 20 lbs at 50 reps, then to 30 at 25, back to 20 at 50, and finish off with 10 at 100.

I'm guessing that won't happen until at least the end of this year.  More likely, 2014 would be the target time period.  Either way, I'm working my way towards improving myself on the physical level.

However, I also recognize that physical appearances never tell the entire story.

Tanya Slade wrote an article for my website about an individual named David Elmore Smith.  With help, he lost an extraordinary amount of weight.  The problem was that he put it back on due to internal issues as well as external issues.  Thankfully, he's trying to get back to the good point in which he was at.

In addition to taking care of himself physically, he's also sought psychiatric help as well.  Those interested in following this individual might want to check out his YouTube Channel.

I'm getting to know myself better during the whole process.  One of the things I'm going to reveal at the moment is a very important key to understanding who I am as an individual.

I may take my time when it comes to many things in life.  When I'm fed up enough with a particular situation, I'll do everything in my power to change it.  That's why I was able to find my current living quarters on the first try.

I was tired of living in a dump.

There will be more revelations as time goes on, especially regarding a couple of mini vacations that I'll be taking (one in February, and one in March).  I'll have something very important that I want to discuss when I arrive at my first one.

In the meantime, the dishwasher is in drying mode, so I better go turn the water off (it connects to a faucet).  After that, I'll definitely need to go to bed.  Have an awesome day, everyone.  :)

Weekend's Over Wednesday: Getting Ahead for Once

Though I go back to work tonight, I'm excited.  Yes, I'll have to endure eight hours on the clock of a large retail business.  However, I'll have been paid by the time I clock out at 7 AM CST.  This is no ordinary payday.

It's a chance to get ahead on a few things.

Normally, I use one payday to cover rent and a couple of important things at or near the end of the month while using the other to cover utilities and other expenses.  This month, I'm getting paid three times because of how the calendar works out.

In order to move into the place I currently reside in, I had to make some sacrifices and borrow some money to take care of expenses from moving out of the old place.  When it comes to debt, it's easy to get in, but it's hard to get out.

Thanks to some maneuvering of my own at the end of 2012, I was able to position myself to actually get ahead on a few other consumer debts that I have.  One of them will be a credit card that I had when I was in college.

It's long since expired, and I did not even bother asking for a new one.

The cool part about an expired card is that it's easier to pay off since it can't be used for purchases.  The income tax refund I get this year will solely be used to pay it off the rest of the way.  Any remainder will be applied towards other consumer debt.

If I play my cards right, I'll hopefully pay off at least three of my consumer debts this year.  If I'm really fortunate, I might pay off even more.

How I'm Reducing Expenses

I don't eat out anymore.  After all, that would wreck the eating habits that I'm trying so hard to adapt to (low carb).  That alone has allowed me to save money for other things such as paying for utilities and other expenses.  I bring my own lunch to work and all I drink is water.

I also don't drive or do more laundry than is necessary at the moment.  I had enough money to do a little bit more laundry this week.  Next week, I might take the opportunity to do even more.

Doing What Needs to Be Done

I will need to get an oil change on my car soon.  I'm definitely going to use this payday as an opportunity to get the oil that I prefer.  I may also begin budgeting for obtaining parts for a tune-up.  I know I had a parts store print out a list of items I'll need in order to get that done.  If I can't find it, I'll have to go back and ask again.

Unfortunately, cleaning up the living quarters didn't happen like planned.  I'll see what I can do in the next couple of days.  I visited a couple of friends yesterday, and the friends I was planning to visit will happen this coming Monday instead (four day weekend for them because of the next holiday).

The Slow Climb Begins.

We progressed through our routine tasks at work faster than anticipated.  I even ran celebration merchandise before lunch.  After lunch, I moved some ice from one machine that makes it to another that doesn't.  One of the added tasks involved pulling impulse merchandise off the shelf so each shelf could be cleaned.

Needless to say, we'll have plenty to do Monday morning.

When I got out of work, I noticed the following on the ground:

I took the photo in my car from my Galaxy S2.  What little snow fell on the ground had frozen.  Not only did I take my sweet time getting to my car, I chose not to rush out of the parking lot as well.

I suffered one broken limb a few years ago.  I don't intend to have anymore for the rest of my life.

Exercise Upgrade Complete

I added a measly one repetition to my workout routine.  That's 31 with the 10 lbs dumb bell for the biceps and triceps.  For pushups off the wall, 21.  A week from this Wednesday, I'll be adding two more.

If I've learned anything in life, it's that one shouldn't hurry too much.

So I'm making my way up that hill slowly but surely.  I'm no Hare, Road Runner, or Sonic the Hedgehog, but I'll get there all the same.  All in due time.

Return of a Weekly Ritual

Tonight's my Friday.  I have Monday and Tuesday nights off.  For quite some time, I wouldn't have much to do on either day unless it was the third Tuesday of the month.  I might have a reason to be really excited for the weekend this time.

The campus anime club has moved their meetings to Tuesday nights.  So I might be visiting campus once a week.  When the weather becomes consistently nice, I'll definitely be walking.

The extra exercise couldn't hurt, and it would be awesome to see the group again.  Plus, I'm wanting to get back into anime.  :)

Pondering a Few Other Things

It's occurred to me that if move my main desktop into my bedroom, there would be more space in the living room.  A TV could be set up for video games and movies.  From there, other strategic rearrangement could take place in order to eventually acquire a couch that's in good condition (preferably for free).

Who knows, that table could even be replaced with a coffee table after that large old school TV goes bye bye.

Such a rearrangement would take place slowly but surely.  In other words, one piece at a time.  Shifting gears a bit, I looked at my paystub online.  Needless to say, I'm glad New Year's Day qualifies as a holiday where I work.

Extra money always helps.

I'm going to be more prudent with this week's pay.  After all, there's an opportunity to catch up on a couple of things.  I also plan on working on my website some more.  Perhaps a test podcast can be recorded so I can make sure the podcasting plugin is working properly.  Now that would be cool.  :)

I better get this posted, so I can go to bed soon.  I plan on hanging out with a couple of friends.  It's been too long since I've done that.

(...and I have laundry and some more cleanup at home to do.....)

I have a good feeling about this week.  :)

Yay Saturday.

I was moving much better at work than I have been in quite some time.  It's like this lead weight was taken from my legs and my speed improved drastically.  It sort of reminds me of Rock Lee from Naruto when his weights are removed from his legs while fighting Gaara.

What a world of difference it makes

Hopefully, I'll get to a point of feeling even more amazing in the near future.  My body's still adjusting, but I know it will get used to the changes I've made in due time.  In the meantime, I've got some things I want to talk about today.

Admiring the Work So Far

My website is nearly 100% complete.  I just have to figure out how to use the podcast plugin, and I'll be good to go.  I'd like to start doing a weekly podcast that would start out at half an hour or so.

It doesn't need to be overly exciting.  It just needs to mention the stuff that will be normally covered.  I'm also trying to decide what to do for this year's first issue of the digital magazine.

Just one step at a time.

Social Networking Non-Woes

In a prior entry, I noted that I was blocked on Facebook.  My curiosity screaming to scratch the itch of knowledge, I did some research and discovered this nifty tidbit.  It mostly relies on old conversations via chat/messaging, but one can find out if a person simply deleted/deactivated their account or if they simply blocked them.

Speaking of conversations, I took it upon myself to delete some old ones.  It's in the past after all, and I might as well free up my inbox  a bit.  While I'm at it, I just might remove that Android Facebook Messenger App.  It's been a bit buggy.

For example, it doesn't always have the most up to date profile pictures of other Facebook users.  That can create an awkward situation when one decides to message another about that My Lil' Pony avatar when it might not be that person's latest profile pic.

Oh, the app apparently listed a person who I suspected had blocked me as "Facebook User" and being "online."  That was a big giant fail on Facebook's part.

And yes, I submitted a bug report.  I'm not the type of guy that would take advantage of such a bug, but others might.  Seeing as how the report was submitted several weeks ago, I'm going to make the dangerous assumption that the problem has been fixed by now.

Either way, I may just remove the app as the Facebook app itself has improved its messaging feature.  A standalone app just for chatting doesn't sound necessary at this point.

Conclusion

I get to look forward to the first paycheck of the year that doesn't involve paying rent.  I'll get to see how much it dwindles down to after the Social Security Tax has been brought back up.  I'm also going to find out how much I'll need to budget towards car insurance this year.

I should be finding out in a matter of days.

Even more good news.  I'm going to do the wisest thing with my tax return ever.  One of my expired credit cards is going to be paid off in full.  2013 is the year in which I will work towards eliminating personal debt.  I may not get it all this year, but I will make the best attempt that I ever have.

With that said, time for bed.  Have a wonderful day, everybody.

Nothing Much to Say.

I've been at a loss for words at times.  That's part of the reason why I have trouble writing something each and every day.  I spend all that time thinking and when I feel I want to say something or that I should say something, nothing comes out.

It goes beyond writer's blocks.  After all, it could be a Facebook or Google+ status update that I'm trying to do and my mind draws a blank.  It's like all the pieces of information haven't been gathered together and organized appropriately in order to pull off something magnificent.

Except I'm not trying to write a novel.  I just want to do a blog entry.

I really don't have much to say today.  Work was work as usual.  I had a late start, so I couldn't pack my normal veggies for lunch.  I was still able to enjoy what food I did have though.

Speaking of food, I bought a bag of sweet peppers and some cut up portabella mushrooms (among more of the usual low carb stuff).  My change in eating habits has been having an effect on me.  I've had to adjust my belt to be slightly tighter as of late.

I might be able to speed the process up if I manage to increase the use of the 10 pound dumb bell this Sunday.  Right now, I'm working the biceps and triceps at 30 reps.  The plan is to up it to 31.  After five days of doing that (not straight.... I leave a day in between), I'll up it to 33.

Once I hit 50 and can do that consistently, I'll double the weight.

I've also been 20 pushups off the wall.  This Sunday, I'll do 21.  A week from this Wednesday, I'll do 23.

The pattern for upping reps will occur every sixth day.  So on the sixth day, I'll up it by one.  On the twelfth day, I'll up it by two.  On the eighteenth day, by three.  On the 24th day, by four.

For the dumb bell, I'll increase the weight when I can consistently do 50 reps without feeling too much strain.  As for off the wall pushups, I'll simply keep doing them.  I eventually want to be able to do the pyramid style; this is where I would start at ten pounds with a high number of reps, go to 20 lbs at half the reps, 30 lbs at half the reps of 20 lbs, go back to 20 lbs, then back to ten.

When I did that oh so long ago, my muscles could feel it.  It was well worth it.  Now that I'm back on the train, I'll work my way back to that point.  When warmer weather (that's consistent) arrives, I'll be doing more walking as well.

What do you know?  I really didn't have much to say, now did I?

Memories Going through My Head

Work was interesting.  Despite being short handed on the front end, we were able to get our stuff done.  It helps that there's not much customer traffic at the moment due to winter break.  Towards the end of my shift, something began to happen.

I began replaying some moments in my mind.

Towards the end of the month, it will be a year since I experienced a moment that would change my life.  It was that moment that defied my stance for several years.  That defiance made me truly happy.

For many years, I never ever thought I would have a girlfriend.  It just didn't seem to be in the cards for me.

In 2012, things changed.  I would be introduced by somebody else, and from there, things happened.  The relationship would end after four months.

She wants to eventually start a family.  Being a father is not in the cards for me as I don't have the patience for it.

Now that I'm sitting here writing this entry, more memories of the past are going through my head.

Memories of falling for someone and writing a three page letter that never reached them.  The poor lady always kept getting sick or injured each semester at college.  I also have memories of attempting to date other people only to come up short.

I also have a recent memory.  It happened towards the end of last year.  For the longest time, I wanted to write some status update on Facebook that goes something like this:

"That moment when you realize you've been blocked and that it doesn't really matter."

 Perhaps it was something I said via chat.  Perhaps it was something that I had shared and/or wrote regarding current events.  It doesn't matter really.  All that matters is that I was told by the individual in question through their actions that they don't want to associate with me, and they have a right to do so.

Facebook is a great medium of communication, but it's not my entire life.  Whenever somebody, whether it's through their words or actions, screams, "LEAVE ME ALONE!," I simply comply.

What I seem to be looking for in those memories are life lessons to remember.  I find only one.

Take control of your own life and own destiny before a group of people decides how you should conduct your own affairs.

I know I said that yesterday.  I simply decided to apply it to my own life today.  Things are changing, because we all live in interesting times.  Something very important and very interesting is on the horizon, so the prudent thing for me to do is to be prepared.

It's time for me to seize the day and determine my own fate.