Enough Is Enough

After waking up today with the usual post-exercise fitness muscle soreness, I've finally decided that enough is enough.  I've signed up for SELF magazine's Drop 10 challenge on their website, even though my goal is for more than 10 pounds, but it pretty much helps you get to your goal, whatever it is.  Tracking the amount of food I'm eating, and I'm currently sitting here trying not to gorge myself on chips.  Because I can put away a bag.  They've also got these workouts that are really simple, but man, do they make you feel the burn.  I did....I think six or seven of the moves and burned over 100 calories in just under 15 minutes.  I don't have any barbells, but I do have a set of resistance bands, and those pretty much did the trick for the moves that used barbells.  FYI, did you know that just adding a resistance band/tube to squats (like standing on the bottom and holding the ends in your hands) can make the squats a little harder?  It's awesome.  With the food diary calorie tracker, I can even still squeeze in my guilty pleasure mocha frappuchino for the night. :)  I'm honestly going to try to keep this up, because right now I feel pretty awesome.  I didn't get any cardio in, which is the real fat burner, I guess, but it was too lateto get to the gym and back in time for class by the time I realized I hadn't done cardio.  I might see if I can get my Kinect to work in my room and get some in either now or after class.  Hmmm, now's good.  I'll be too lazy after class gets out tonight. :P

Another Week Flown By

My plan to go see the Hunger Games this past Friday wasn't without its hiccups, but I ended up seeing it nonetheless.  Originally, I was going to go see it at 12:15 at the theater on Firetower Rd. The stupid ECU bus sat at one of the stops for literally 5 minutes.  This wouldn't have been a problem if there had actually been people getting on the bus, but no one was there!!  Then, I accidentally turned on to G-ville Blvd at about 12:13 and basically said, "screw it, I'll just go to the theater on this street." I knew there was another showing sometime pretty close after, and sure enough, I got there in plenty of time for the 12:45 showing.  I even had time to use the restroom, grab popcorn and a drink (which was also my lunch, btw), AND scout out a seat toward the front and in the middle. And those seats are awesomely cushiony.  The theater wasn't packed.  It was an awesome movie. Life was good.

Of course, I had to go steam burn my hand Saturday night on a popup bowl of popcorn that split past the plastic to where I couldn't see it.  Kept ice on it for awhile before I decided to go digging through the giant first-aid kit my mom bought me, where I found the perfect little wrap-around bandage for burns with a cooling pad on it <3.  Life was good.

And we're full circle back to Monday.  It's my group's last workshop tomorrow, and I am so nervous about this story.  I loved it until I re-read it and started cringing. I'm already editing.  I left out a word!  A whole word!  I know I'm not perfect and everybody makes mistakes and we're all only human; I just had to get that out of my system.

And now I have to get back to editing/commenting on stories and reading the stuff I'm supposed to be reading for tomorrow. Life is....on the positive side, if not "good."

That Was Interesting....

This past weekend being a "light homework" weekend, I pretty much shoved everything to the side and sat down to finish reading the Hunger Games, which I started over spring break but put down because I forgot I was in the middle of another book.  Finished it in about three hours.  Maybe four.  Luckily, when I was out earlier in the day, I bought Catching Fire.  Started it Saturday night before I remembered I had to be up early Sunday, and reluctantly put it down.  Finished it Sunday afternoon.  Bought Mockingjay yesterday after class and read it.  They were awesome.  I'm still working out my feelings toward the characters and the whole rpemise for the stories, but I don't want to put any spoilers out there from me yet.

I managed to finish my Keeley/Jasper waltz mini-story and work on the piece I was actually submitting for my class.  Got about halfway through before turning the computer off for lack of inspiration.  Started working it out in my head and I realized it only had three possible endings: C1 kills C2.  C2 kills C1.  C1 and C2 band together to get rid of the people trying to kill them both.  Sounds very Mr. & Mrs. Smith-like, but it really wasn't.  But I had a stroke of brilliance that somehow managed to (I think, anyway) combine the first two options.  Kind of.  It's hard to explain.  Then I decided that the character in the end ends up being the head of the organization I've created that my NaNo novel and, eventually, Keeley's novel, are both involved with.  This was all after I turned off my computer, so I furiously tapped out a short note on my iPod, finished it up on Sunday, and edited yesterday.  Story's submitted now.

And I just got a dazzling, brilliant idea for Keeley's first novel.  About where it ends, anyway.  It unfortunately means I'll have to dive into the world of legal procedures.  I'd honestly rather stab myself in the eye with my pen.  Maybe it's not that bad.  But it does work out some snarls in my storyline and helps me establish a more clarified purpose for the story and the things that Keeley goes through.  But I need to buckle down and make margin notes and comment on this week's stories AND do my linguistics homework before I do anything else.  AND read Oliver Twist and do another chunk of my French homework.  Where did my day just go?

Attack of the Plot Bunnies!

I enjoyed explaining to my friend what plot bunnies essentially were.  After being so inspired by Tuesday night's writing class that I couldn't concentrate on one thing at a time, we were texting and I mentioned finally understanding what plot bunnies were. The plot ideas that multiply like....rabbits, obviously.  But I've finally settled down and started focusing on one specific story I wanted to tell.  It's more of a scene from the novel I started when our class started, but I decided I'm going to submit a normal short story for my last deadline.  Which is starting to breathe heavily down my neck as it's this Tuesday.  But the plot was stuck in my head, and I've decided to write it down before it drives me absolutely insane.

I've got a killer headache right now, and the yelling and screaming outside my apartment is NOT helping.  You have to wonder exactly what goes on that induces people to start screaming randomly in the middle of the night.  Tomorrow being St. Patrick's Day ought to be...fun...with even more screaming than usual.  I can hardly wait.  Yes, that was sarcasm.  Anyways, I can barely see straight, and a beatnik is playing the bongos in my head right now, so I'm calling it a night.  Hey, I updated in a timely manner for once!

Blerg.

I suppose now that spring break's essentially over this blog will probably drop off the face of the earth again.  Sigh.  I'll have to think of a way to keep it up.  The plan so far for the whole jewelry-making thing is to take what's listed in my Etsy shop back with me since I've reopened it, and also take my toolbox and a small (SMALL) assortment of general jewelry-making stuff.  Don't ask me how that's all going to work, because I haven't the slightest clue.

Ever get a storyline stuck in your head?  No?  It's a bit like....waking up and realizing that you're out of coffee, going to work/school and discovering that you were supposed to turn in something important, and being so preoccupied with all of that all day (without coffee) that you forget about your first date in months and then attempt to apologize/explain yourself to the person you've just accidentally stood up.  Exactly.  What do you say?  There's so much TO say, but no way you can possibly articulate it in any way that conveys what you wish to be conveyed. In the manner you wish it to be conveyed in.  Maybe that was a bit too overwhelming of a comparison.  At any rate, you are left frustrated  and stressed and feeling somehow incomplete. And also a bit like you're going to explode if you don't do something about it.

Now, I'm off to attempt to get some writing done.

And With A Broken Wing....

Yep, I've got a slight nondisplaced radial head fracture.  Translation: broken elbow (annoyingly so).  Last week was the Week of Papers.  And when we were running laps on the basketball court in gym class, I possess that innate ability to trip over flat, shiny surfaces (they must be shiny), and I still don't know how to fall correctly.  All I did at the time was scrape myself off the floor and get back to running.  I knew something was off, and I knew my wrist wasn't broken; I actually managed to do a couple pushups before realizing that it was a little more than just a major OUCH from the floor.  Took myself to Student Health Services after class, had it x-rayed, preliminary look saw nothing, but the radiologist found the fracture.  I have a sling that drives me nuts, and unfortunately, it doesn't hurt to type, so I still had to type two more papers :P.  I had intended to get back into the jewelry thing while on break, but I can't rotate my arm back and forth so that's out unless I can do a little stringing without too much pain. 

My brother likes to meddle with making things out of wood, and I've suggested that he start making things and selling them, like on Etsy.  He said he'd thought of it, but I think he's going to need a little push.  I've been thinking about trying to make some wood components, ever since I bought some through FusionBead from someone whose name escapes me.  They were very cute.  I think I'm going to nudge my brother into helping me attempt to make one or two tomorrow. I suggested opening a joint shop with jewelry & stuff made by the two of us, and splitting the profits.  I feel like I keep jumping from one thing to the next, though.  I guess I'm still trying to find my niche?  I don't know.  I also might break out the Shrinky Dinks and some colored pencils tomorrow, too.  Yeah.  I'm bored.  Getting a lot of reading done, though!