SITREP*: 20 things to do in 2012

ok, so we're 3 months (or 1/4) done with 2012, meaning that i should probably be at least 1/4 done with my '20 things to do in 2012' list. uh oh... here's how i'm doing:

1. Finish knitting the scarf for my mom - in progress
2. Get an awesome job that i love - starting job search
3. Learn how to coupon
4. Practice my Spanish
5. Start learning French
6. Travel to a foreign country i haven't visited yet - Turks and Caicos!!!
7. Write poetry/fiction
8. Make something (scarf, quilt...)
9. Take pottery classes
10. Take a class in photoshop
11. Get an apartment
12. Make artwork for the apartment
13. Visit Annapolis
14. Visit Monica in Charlottesville - trip planned for May (no dates yet)
15. Visit a state i haven't been to before - see map below for options. it's looking like new jersey and kentucky are only ones within driving distance...
16. Volunteer at least 6 times (1 so far: March 10th, Kenilworth-Bandalong Litter Trap clean up)
17. Read at least 12 books for fun - 15 so far: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay, The Missing Person's Guide to Love, Dracula, Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician's Gambit, Castle of Wizardry, Enchanter's End Game, Guardians of the West, King of the Murgos, Demon Lord of Karanda, Sorceress of Darshiva, Wuthering Heights
18. Consolidate, organize, and get rid of excess stuff - happening slowly but surely
19. Pay off grad school loans - in progress (saving takes a while!)
20. Lose 20 lbs (current weight: 170; goal weight: 150): in progress (last weigh in: 166lbs)

ok, so i've finished 2 so far (i REALLY underestimated how many books-for-fun i'd read this year!), and i'm in the works of completing a few others (#1, #2, #14, #16, #18, #19, and #20). i guess that's good progress?

*SITREP = short for situation report, which is military speak for "update me" or "what's going on?"

USA part 2

apparently i have been to oregon and ohio, and i totally forgot that i *just* went to colorado last year... duh!

uhhh, i seem to be missing a large chunk of this country...

i was looking at my "20 things to do in 2012" list recently, and one of them, you might remember, is to visit a state i haven't been to before. well, that got me thinking... which states have i *not* been to before? i found a blank map of the US on the internets, and i highlighted all the states that i can remember visiting.

mom/dad/lindsay/eric - am i missing any? i feel like i have to have been to wisconsin before, but i can't remember ever going there. and did we stay in nevada on our RV trip? or oregon? have i ever been to new jersey? new hampshire? vermont?


(states that i've flown through or driven through don't count; i actually have to have stayed a night there.)

great success!!!

so i weighed myself today, and i'm down a total of 4 pounds in the last month. hooray!!!

starting weight: 170lbs
current weight: 166lbs
goal weight: 150lbs

despite my relatively whiny post below about how hard losing weight is, i think i need to amend my outlook. in a way, of course, it is hard. it takes hard work, and lots of motivation, but most of all it just takes a lot longer than expected (especially compared to what you - ahem *i* - expected at the outset). so i think that the hardest thing is going to be maintaining all the motivation. but for me, that's where weighing myself every few weeks helps: progress makes me want to KEEP GOING!!!

so, hooray!!! i'm 1/5 of the way to my goal!!!

losing weight is a b*tch

so, it turns out that everything about losing weight sucks. i was really hoping that not changing my diet one iota (i LIKE cheese! and carbs!! and WINE!!!) and doing ~3 relatively easy work outs each week would melt the pounds off. but it was not to be. i tried that for a few weeks and made absolutely no progress...

did you know that ONE POUND EQUALS 3500 CALORIES??? so to lose just 1 lb/week (which is the max amount deemed safe by the medical community), you either have to reduce your food intake by 3500 calories/week (IMPOSSIBLE), burn an extra 3500 calories/week (IMPOSSIBLE), or somehow combine the two strategies so that the end result is 3500 calories not eaten/burned (possible, but not fun). obviously, i'm doing the latter. here's how:

1. 4 hour-long cardio workouts at the gym/week (600+ calories burned per workout) = minimum of 2400 calories burned per week through exercise

2. this leaves me with 1100 calories per week (or approximately 150 calories per day) that i need to NOT consume

the workout part of this plan is not so bad. for my 4 hour-long cardio sessions, i go to the gym every saturday and sunday, once during the week at lunch (approved by my superawesome boss), and once after work. if i'm feeling super-motivated (rare), i'll tack on a weight lifting session after cardio or i'll go another day of the week to get one in. i don't know if this makes me weird, but once i'm at the gym i actually really like working out. it's the getting my butt up and going to the gym that's a challenge for me. also, last week i went to the gym on friday, saturday, AND sunday, and became so exhausted that i could barely function. i need to not do that again...

the food part is less fun. even having to reduce my intake by less than 200 calories/day gets annoying. what i've done so far is eliminate alcohol (it's been a loooooong 3 weeks... SIIIGGGHHH...), avoid eating anything when i'm not actually hungry (but snacks are so delicious... SIIIGGGHHH...), and eating less of dinner. i've been doing this strategy for 3 weeks now (although i have allowed myself a few treats here and there). last time i weighed myself (March 1), i had lost 2 lbs. i'm planning on weighing myself again this thursday, and i desperately hope that all this is paying off. keep your fingers crossed for me.

Joseph Kony, giant douchebag extraordinaire

Ok, here's my take on the KONY 2012 video [posted below]:

Joseph Kony has been committing atrocities for more than a quarter century, so I'm REALLY glad that this video is raising awareness about him. BUT, the problem and the solution offered in this video are over simplified... There's a lot more to it than just training the Ugandan military (especially since the LRA doesn't just hunker down in Uganda, they're also active in the DRC & Sudan). The video also doesn't mention that members of the Ugandan military have been accused of atrocities, so maybe just training them isn't the best (or only) solution. Anyway, bottom line, I love that Kony and the LRA are getting so much negative attention, but we also need to be cautious of oversimplification. And with that, enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc