Saturday, January 07, 2012

i realize that nothing's as it seems

I've got nothing particularly interesting to report, although today was mostly wonderful because I kept getting emails from the friends and family in response to the shameless self promotion that I sent out about my upcoming book release. Writing is a mostly solitary, lonely endeavor that requires slogging onward even in the weeks/months/years where there is no validation at all, so to be reminded that my friends like me (even if they don't yet know whether my book is any good or not) was quite wonderful.

I got less than six hours of sleep, though, so the pleasure was felt through a grey and misty fog. I woke up in time to eat some breakfast and throw my sheets in the washing machine before driving down to Palo Alto to train with Alyssa -- and it was amazing, but I actually made it there fifteen whole minutes early because I'd promised to meet Jess there and set her up with a week-long trial membership. She's starting work next week at a place near the gym, so I gave her the tour, and she worked out while I trained with Alyssa. As it turns out, Alyssa and I didn't do any workout at all; today was our every-so-often reassessment, and so we did all the measurements and everything before spending the rest of the time talking about my short-term and long-term goals, food and gluten and mealplans, etc., etc. I'm happy with what I accomplished last year, since my muscle mass has increased significantly and my general health and happiness is way better (particularly since I figured out the gluten thing, which could be a gamechanger), but now it's time to put all the pieces together and break through the current plateau.

Of course, it's challenging to think about plateaus and be vigilant about eating my veggies when I just want to sit at my desk and eat trail mix while screaming at Malcolm and Amelia to get their fucking shit together and just let me finish the damn book already. But I digress.

After the gym, Jess and I had lunch at Joanie's -- they must be surprised that I ate with someone else twice in the same week, when usually I go weeks letting them believe that I'm a weird loner without any friends or coworkers willing to spend an hour with me. Then, I checked my mail, got some coffee to wake me up, and sped back to the evil city, where I bought some groceries before coming home with the intention of working. To be honest, I didn't get much done; I should have just slept and/or read a book, but instead I messed around on twitter, remade my bed, and was generally useless. I finally took a break to cook supper, which was half delicious, half disappointing; I made some roasted carrots which turned out deliciously, and also sauteed some onions and mushrooms, and also plated some raw plain spinach (okay, maybe not so awesome), but I failed in the cooking of my steak and ended up with a piece that was too seared on the outside and too rare on the inside. I'm ashamed of myself, but I shall try again tomorrow.

Just as I was about to work again, Terry came home with one of her coworkers, so I spent an hour hanging out with them. Then I came upstairs and intended to write, but instead I started reading "Swamplandia!", which is my pick for the next book club. I like it, but I also couldn't keep reading it right now, because even though it's about a family running an alligator park in the Everglades, it strangely felt way too close to home for me. So I'll have to pick it up again tomorrow -- but right now, it's time for bed. Goodnight!

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