For the longest time, I’ve been wanting to take a road trip across America, particularly after the completion of a Grand Event; graduating from college or something like that. But, since I have yet to actually complete college, and the only Grand Event that’s going to happen in my life soon will be the marriage of Emmy, one of my best friends, sometime this year, I figure after that will be a good time to go on the Great Cross-Country Road Trip. She, myself and our mutual friend Mary are shooting for 2012 or 2013, since we will all be in better financial situations by then, or at least that’s the hope.
Who: Me, Emmy, Mary
When: Late spring/early summer 2012/2013 {April, May or June}
Where: Cahokia, Illinois; Mt. Rushmore, Keystone, South Dakota; Yellowstone National Park, Montana; Four Corners Monument; Grand Canyon, Arizona; Roswell, New Mexico
How much to save: $2,000 {$1,000 each for ourselves and an extra $1,000 for emergencies}
How long to travel: 1 1/2 weeks or 2 weeks
We had planned to also go to New York on this trip, but since I’m coming from New Hampshire, and both Emmy and Mary live in West Virginia, I think me flying down to them and us leaving from their homes, like we did in 2008 on our road trip to Kentucky, would be easier and better in the long run. It’s already going to be a long trip without adding New York onto it.
I would like to go back to New York City one of these days, though.
So, taking a page from MK's blog 'Fat Club' {which I follow but am not a part of}, I've decided to follow the ladies and actually start losing some of this horrendous weight I have on me.
As of the other day, I was 206 pounds. While not as bad as I thought it would be, I was still horrified that I'm still in the 200 lb region. I haven't been "thin" since elementary school, and the "thinnest" I ever was in high school was around 150 lbs. That's not "thin" for my height {5'6"}, but I looked pretty good at that weight. I started losing weight in 2007, and the highest I was was 172.
In short, for right now, I'd like to get back to 172 by February. 34 lbs in 3 months. I think I could realistically do this. And safely, since when you lose weight slowly, it stays off {or so they say}.
What will have to happen, though, is I have to cut my caloric intake. I'm not sure how much I eat on a given day, but it has to be a lot. I plan to eat about 1300 calories a day, and thankfully Progresso makes delicious soups that are anywhere from 90-140ish calories. So, just by adding more soup to my diet, I can make this doable.
Another thing that has to happen; I have to exercise again. I have to either join the gym down the street or make use of the exercise bike/machine in the kitchen. Work is going to make it hard to exercise regularly, especially with the holidays coming up, but even if I don't join the gym, I could do at least 30 minutes a day.
MK and Mara did 5 reasons they want to lose weight. Here are mine:
1. I want to be back into a size 12. Or even a 10. 2. I want to feel attractive to the opposite sex. 3. I want the stretch marks on my body to leave. 4. I want to be healthier all around. 5. I want my rings to fit again!
In short, I want to look like this again: I think starting a food diary will help a lot with this. Looks like I'll be obsessed with calories! Woo!
5 Biggest Celebrity Crushes {for the moment, at least}.
1. Jason Sudeikis
2. Chris Marquette
3. Robert Downey Jr.
4. Jensen Ackles
5. Tim Roth
5 Songs I Can’t Stop Listening to at the Moment.
1. Telephone- Lady Gaga 2. Take It Off- Ke$ha 3. Bulletproof- La Roux 4. Uprising- Muse 5. Strut- Adam Lambert
5 Favorite TV Shows.
1. Supernatural 2. The IT Crowd 3. Lie to Me 4. Law and Order: SVU 5. Fringe
5 Your Dream Future: 1 Job/2 City/3 Car/4 Spouse/5 Pet.
1. Writer 2. London, England/Manchester, NH 3. '67 Chevy Impala 4. The right guy for me 5. Cats!
5 Things that Always Cheer Me Up.
1. Watching a movie 2. Chinese food 3. Buying a book 4. Getting paid 5. Roleplaying
Top 5 People I Want to Punch in the Face
1. Lindsay Lohan 2. Paris Hilton 3. crazy Muse fans 4. Wincest shippers 5. Michael Cera
5 Favorite Actors/Actresses.
1. Kate Winslet 2. Judi Dench 3. Cate Blanchett 4. Phillip Seymour Hoffman 5. Tim Roth
5 TV Shows You’ve Seen Every Episode of.
1. M*A*S*H 2. Firefly 3. Red Dwarf 4. Arrested Development 5. Avatar: The Last Airbender
Put Your iPod on Shuffle-What are the First 5 Songs that come up?
1. Rocket Collecting- Milla Jovovich 2. Hysteria- Muse 3. Fistful of Sand- The Bravery 4. Swete Sone- The Mediæval Bæbes 5. Wouldn't Mama Be Proud- Elliott Smith
Hmm, well, it seems my promise to once again not neglect this has been broken. Life gets in the way, okay? I can't just jump through hoops for people and post all the time. Even my LJ and my food blog have been suffering thanks to the schedule I'm on.
My weekdays are thus: -7:15 AM: Wake up, get dressed, grab something quick for breakfast -8:15 AM: In Starbucks in Greenbelt for my additional, or second, breakfast of a tall hot chocolate and a blueberry scone/Mallorca sweet bread/plain bagel with cream cheese, while I read a large book to wile away the minutes -9:15 AM: Clock into work -9:30-9:55 AM: Unload the stock truck -10:30/10:45-11:45 AM: Put out stock onto sales floor -11:50-12:30/1:30 PM: Unload boxes -1:30-1:45/1:45-2 PM: 15 minute break -1:45/2PM: Back to work hanging clothes -2:45: Put out clothes onto sales floor -3 PM: So long, suckers!
I don't work my second job until Fridays, and that's always 4-9. Some days, I drop Mom off at her second job and then go to the gym at my school for an hour {sometimes a little less} and roleplay/watch movies. I also do this on days when she's not at her second job.
Weekends are strictly me time, where I can sleep in and stay in my pajamas all day.
I am thankful for the 3 day weekend I have this time around. Thanks to Memorial Day on Monday, we get no stock truck, so the stock associates don't have to come in. Bliss!
In Other News: *I have yet another celebrity crush to add to the growing multitude of them. Michael Sheen is a god among men, and I try as hard as I can to block out that he was in the Underworld films {though I loved the 1st one for awhile} and the new Twilight movies {JUST...NO}, despite the fact he looks fine as fuck as a werewolf.
Awww yeah.
Normally, he's a talented actor in films such as 'The Music Within' {he plays a man with cerebral palsy}, 'The Queen', 'Frost/Nixon', 'The Damned United' and has guest starred as one of my favorite TV characters ever on '30 Rock'. And through it all, he has retained that charming geekiness.
MMMF
Also, I firmly believe he should be the person playing Bilbo Baggins in 'The Hobbit'. Who can I talk to to make this happen?
*I'm currently trying to save up for a trip to Florida in October for the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. It'll be my 3rd time going to Disney World, and I predict this one will be even better than the last. Chief among those reasons is because it's much less expensive than the last trip, we're flying this time, and because I can drink if I like {I will be}. There was talk about a tequila tasting, in between all the wine and food tastings, so that should be interesting.
*Muse's new song 'Neutron Star Collision' is on the 'Eclipse' soundtrack {3rd in the 'Twilight' series}, and even though the song is legit cheesy and sappy, and I get blinded by rage if I have to recall what it's associated with, I love this song.
And speaking of Muse, I'm seeing them for the 5th time in October, after the Florida trip, in Virginia with my very good friend Davey, who is moving here from Kentucky on June 3rd. We plan to meet them after the show, and I hope we are successful in this venture.
Indeed. In. Deed. Title is from Patton Oswalt's 'My Weakness is Strong'.
General Blogging
Well, despite my best efforts, I have once again begun neglecting this thing. This time letting two months go by before I make a real blog post. When I use my Livejournal {see, Tim, not only Russians and emos use LJ still}, I use it as my diary, and to mainly help me keep track of all the things I do on a given day/week/whenever I update it. As it is, I can barely remember to make a daily post on that thing, so this gets more neglect.
I'm sorry little blogger. As Muse say, this is the last time I'll abandon you.
News/Stuff About Celebrities and Movies/Music/TV Shows/etc. Most Recent Movie(s) I've Seen in Theatres: 'Iron Man 2'
Directed by Jon Favreau, starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johannson {ew}. I don't consider myself a huge comic book fan, and certainly not a comic book movie fan {mainly the Marvel films, since they tend to suck}. Considering what we've been given over the last few years; the X-Men films {awful}, the Spiderman films {alright but not the best}, the Fantastic Four films {never seen, but in my opinion they didn't look that good} and the Hulk films {haven't seen the one with Eric Bana, but I enjoyed the one with Edward Norton}, the Iron Man films were like a breath of fresh air. I absolutely loved the first one and had high to middling hopes for the second one.
It didn't disappoint. The action was great, the dialogue was awesome, especially between Tony and Pepper. Robert Downey Jr. was amazing. He's always good, but he's become a hugely favorite actor of mine. And not just because I think he's gorgeous beyond belief. I liked him a lot in 'Zodiac', and he hadn't even blipped on my radar yet.
The only issues I had were the villain/villains; Whiplash and Justin Hammer. It seemed like they could have just gone with one or the other of them. It was nowhere near as bad as the trifecta of villains in 'Spiderman 3', though. I also had an issue with the inclusion of Scarlett as the Black Widow. She seemed very unnecessary, especially since we never found out who she was, aside from her name.
Those things aside, I loved the movie, and can't wait to see it again.
Grade: A
Most Recent Book(s) I've Finished: The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 2: The Magicians of Caprona / Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones
After starting this book in August of last year, I got pretty far into it, and then promptly set it aside after I started to get busier/started reading other books. Anyone who's reading this/knows me should know that I am a particularly voracious reader. As it is currently, I am reading seven books at the same time.
Anyway, all of that aside, I very much enjoyed this book. Diana Wynne Jones is always put in the young adult section of the bookstores, next to the plethora of teenaged vampire and other supernatural books. And I agree that she is a young adult writer, but she is one of the better and more accessible ones out there today.
The stories contained in the book take place in two of the nine worlds in this universe. Every person has one life in each world, and witchcraft is very common among them, though is it not in every one. Chrestomanci is a title bestowed on an enchanter with nine lives, meaning that instead of having one life in each world, he has nine in only one. This distinguishes him as a very powerful enchanter, and the only person who is able to make sure the magical balance in each world stays as it is.
The Magicians of Caprona and Witch Week, while not as compelling as the two books in volume one; Charmed Life {which got me into Wynne Jones} and The Lives of Christopher Chant, are still good reads, and will keep you interested throughout the story. The characters, mostly children or teenagers, are written well and feel very real. They grow and change as the stories progress and you can see it as you read it.
Grade: A-
Miscellany Funny Picture(s) I've Found:
Patton Oswalt is right. This is the worst Judy Blume novel ever written.
The Song Currently Stuck In My Head: 'Alejandro' by Lady Gaga
Jackie Earle Haley:
Hot Guy Of the Day Bradley Cooper.
Quote of the Day "Hitler was a whiny teenager. He didn't get into art school so he killed all the Jews. And by the transitive property of Math, Hitler is Darth Vader."- Mary
Anything Else I Can Think Of A Video You Need to See: Bill Hader interviews himself about 'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs'
