Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Biggest Loser

TEACHER EDITION



 So every year at my work after the first semester they do a biggest loser contest. Every school in the district (including the district office) gets a team together with 8-12 people. There are weekly weigh-ins done by each school's nurse and it lasts for quite awhile. I have tried to be apart of it the last two years but was sick on the day the invite went out the first time and then next time the team filled up instantaneously and I didn't want to be on the "miscellaneous" team with three other school's teachers.

I got in this year with the school I am at. I'm actually quite excited. While I don't have that much to lose left (like..10 lbs? I'm really close to my goal) the fact that I could enable a bunch of us to win some money? Hey, I'll play those odds. I'm already in the midst of weight-loss why not try for the prize?

I am somewhat worried though. I had an exchange today which was, albeit funny, I'm concerned that this will be a continuing trend.

Secretary talking to Head Biggest Loser Person: I want to join!
Me: Yay! I've joined too!
Secretary: What do you have to lose, a leg?

See? Yes it's funny but it is the kind of comments that I get that start to eat at me after awhile. I get the same thing when I turn down a treat at work because it contains dairy (of which I can consume NONE of)  lots of side commentary of "THAT must be why you are so skinny." Um, no. I'm more fit because I eat right, treat myself only occasionally and kick my bum exercising and running. Please don't diminish my successes because you feel bad about yourself.

Speaking of running I am progressing quite well for my marathon. I was sick yesterday but did my 5 miles of hill and speedwork in good time today. Tomorrow I'll be heading over to Tempe to run 9 miles on the trail around the lake. Really hilly, no cars. I'm really pushing the hillwork these last few weeks before I taper. I'm up to an 18 mile Sunday this weekend, but 13.1 of those miles will be the half-marathon I'm running. It's the PF Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Series in AZ. So I'll be running those 13, coming home, running five. I might be slightly insane. Ah, well.

Marathon Countdown: 38 Days until the marathon.



Sunday, January 8, 2012

Super Smash Sisters

A few years ago *cough* 2003 *cough* I drew a picture I titled "Super Smash Sistah's" It contained all the female characters in Super Smash Brothers for the GameCube, a game that totally owned me and my brother when we both lived in MI under my parent's roof still. We loved this game. Here is the picture  I drew back then:

So I finally got off my duff this year after a 6 month hiatus of focusing on on nothing but work and the comic art-wise and I drew another Creative Grab Bag card and I drew "Design a Poster" well since I am going to be at two comic conventions this year with a table it would be nice to actually have something to SELL theoretically. So remembering this picture I decided to revisit this idea and make a "Super Smash Sisters" poster using the female characters in Brawl, which includes now zero-suit Samus. Here is my final result:
Super Smash Sisters by ~SyntheticPlatypus on deviantART

So, I'm thinking I've improved a bit, yes? 

If you would like to purchase a poster from me please contact me through comments or e-mail.

Friday, January 6, 2012

No More Netflix

The Hub (husband) and I decided to, a couple months ago, cancel our subscription to Netflix. Now, this was not because of the absolute stupidity of the people in charge, it wasn't because of the price hike, it wasn't because there was nothing good on it, no it was because watching television was sucking the life out of us.

I would come home from work, wait around for the Hub to be done working, maybe exercise, kind of throw dinner together, and while we ate we would sit on the couch and begin the netflix. We had all sorts of stuff on our instant play and we watched our way through seasons of Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and so much more. We would finish eating, throw the dishes in the washer and then sit down again and continue watching. Until we had to go to bed. Wash, wince, repeat. This was my life. Downtime on weekends would be spent watching movies.

We would discuss and dream about a time without Netflix but we were reluctant to give up this luxury. We don't have cable, we don't buy DVD's (not anymore, I will do a post on my mini-quest with minimalism eventually) and we only have rabbit ears for the TV that don't work well. To get rid of Netflix was to forgo television itself. Could we do it? Did we want it bad enough?

Looking around the house and at ourselves we found things being neglected, our dog for one, laundry, fixing things, putting things together, dishes, our hobbies, and ourselves. We sent back our last disk and hit the cancel button.

We haven't looked back.

Let's start with some unimportant things... my dishes are getting done (they are still the biggest pain ever and I wish my morals would allow me to buy paper cups and plates to throw out but I just can't do it!) laundry is actually being put away when clean, my garage has been organized and cleaned, and the bar my parents bought for us, I put together myself (Hub helped at the end holding the doors for me to screw on, thanks Hub!). I feel as if I have time to actually get things done, Hubby actually cleaned out a lot of the detritus from past projects that was in the yard, even going so far as chopping wood. There is still more out there but every week it gets more and more cleaned out.

As for our hobbies and ourselves, things are going so much better. I have been working on the webcomic more, I've even started drawing my own things again slightly, and I've been a lot more active physically, with training for a marathon. I'm running three days a week and I'm trying to do something else at least two of the days I don't run. I also became a meet-up planner for the Geek Girls here in AZ and now plan something fun at least once a month. So I am also more social because of this! I'm also reading, I have two books I'm currently reading and just finished a graphic novel series. Das Hub is also improving himself trying to get a business started on the sidelines and is working out with me and rollerblading with me when I run. He's also playing Skyrim (and loving it). We also go on walks with the dog. We cook more too.

So as you can see we filled our time with LIVING, not just numbly sitting on the couch as the box spewed entertainment at us.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not condemning Netflix at all. I have bought my parents a year subscription for the past three years, they love it (my dad especially, he was telling me all about the near Oscar winning film: "Hobo with a Shotgun"). My friends all have Netflix or cable and if there is truly something I want to see, like "True Blood" then I ask a friend if I can come over and we make it a social experience too. So Netflix works for a lot of people, television works for a lot of people, it just doesn't work for us. Not having it also forces us to think of additional things to do, like today I was bored and didn't feel like drawing, didn't want to go to the gym, and didn't want to read...so I went on a two hour bike ride. I could have zoned out in front of Netflix if I had had it (and most likely would have) but I chose to take a relaxing bike ride instead. 

To each their own I guess, but I make it no secret that I'm glad we made the choice we did. I haven't regretted it for a second. I'm accomplishing so much more now than I thought was possible and I'm so happy and proud of myself because of that. Netflix was inhibiting me from achieving my goals and making that decision to get rid of Netflix allowed me to see how important the goals are to me. So I'm just going to keep on going until I have accomplished all that I have set out to do and then do more.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Back to the Blogging Grind

Hello Non-existent reader world!

I miss blogging terribly and have decided that I am going to start again with renewed vigor! I have so much to say and so much going on that it's hard to focus on WHAT exactly to blog about. To get readers it seems I should just choose a singular topic essentially and blog about that. That seems boring to me a bit. I have a life of varied interests, hobbies, and plans that just to pick ONE topic would be leaving out 98% of the rest of my life. I want to blog about what is important to me, why it's important to me, and how I incorporate it into my life.

There is just so many things that I love to talk about and want to share...

such as (and in no particular order):

Exercise and Fitness
Healthy Eating
Working as an Art Teacher
My own Arting
MirrorWorld
Married Domestic Life
Geek Girls
Travel
Living in Phoenix
Scarves
My new Origami of the Day Calendar!

and much much more!

So I'm going to be blogging again and if I ever actually get readers we can have discussions in the comments about what you want me to blog about more of or discuss why these things I talk about in my blog are important (or unimportant) to you.

Here's to a new year of following my many passions!