I Have to Keep Reminding Myself . . .

Posted on 7 January 2011 | Leave a comment

that if I lose one pound each week this year, by this same date next year I will be 52 pounds lighter. I think the reason I never lose the weight I want to lose is that I get discouraged because it doesn’t come off as fast as I want it to come off. This year, though, I am trying something new. I am trying to mingle my weight-loss goal, my running goal, my creative-endeavor goal all into one fancy collection of pictures and short blips about my days. Each day I take a new picture and write down what I eat, how I feel, what exercise I’ve done, and what I’ve read. Once the year goes on a little more, I’ll put a link to that other stuff from here.

My eventual goal is to make an art project out of the whole experience, but in order to do that I need to get a decent digital camera and fast. So far, I have only taken pictures with my cell phone and Photo Booth, because those are the technologies I have, and neither device takes really good pictures. Although, my cell phone takes as high of quality photos as the camera Becs and I previously purchased for over $300. Maybe it was only $200, but at any rate my cell phone takes a similar quality of photograph. Oh, the strides technology makes in 6 or 7 years!

I hope my exercise regimen holds out, because by the end of this week I will have run 15 miles, walked 7 miles, rowed for twenty minutes, played racquetball for 60 minutes, and worked out with my new medicine ball for 40 minutes. And eating healthy has helped out quite a bit, too. I like it when I don’t cheat; I didn’t even cheat and get a Mister Misty (I can’t bring myself to call them Arctic Rushes!) at Dairy Queen last night. I feel great! I feel like a million dollars.

Now, just to keep this up for the next 51 weeks!

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Posted in Fat, Food, Running

Last Day Before the Long Haul

Posted on 4 January 2011 | 2 comments

Today is my last day of freedom before the long haul to Spring Break. Sometimes I am sure you think, She hates her job. I don’t hate it; in fact, I love my job. What I don’t love is the 8 to 4 regularity of it. I don’t love being in the same room for five hours, teaching similar things for those five hours. I also don’t love grading. Not one little bit. I love the look on a student’s face when she finally understands what we’re talking about. I love the letter from parents telling you that you are making a difference in their child’s life. And, I love the way you feel at the end of the day, like you’ve just helped 113 students get a little bit smarter. About English. About themselves. About the world. About life.

I told my mom yesterday that I am pretty sure I need to pastor a church. I would love it if the Methodist Church would just get rid of their ridiculous homophobia and ordain GLBT pastors. I’d be the first in line to sign up for candidacy, but I can’t live the lie that is what the Methodists expect of their queer pastors. I need to pastor because I love talking with people about God’s love, I love hearing about what people are going through, I love trying to work with people to reach a common solution. The facet of pastoring that’s freeing is that you don’t have to put values on people. And, actually, you are specifically called not to put values on people, unless you are helping them to see how God has so much more for them in their lives than what they are currently experiencing. I think I mean that you are called to help people see their shortcomings, but also to help people see how God is already there waiting for them, to make them more perfect. I love this quote from Rob Bell: “A fresh new word has been spoken about you and you are actually pulled into a better future.” That’s what I want to bring to people. You aren’t who you were; you’re in the process of becoming.

As far as wishing that the Methodists would change, I suppose I can poop in one hand, and wish in the other and which do you think will fill up first?

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Posted in Queer, Religion

You Are Beautiful

Posted on 3 January 2011 | Leave a comment

I met some friends at Peppy Grill in Indianapolis the other day. What a different place in the middle of the day! Instead of the gay men coming from the Metro and the club kids coming from other hot night spots, there was a random collection of blue collar workers, professionals, families, and semi-homeless or homeless people. I suppose it makes perfect sense that Peppy’s would appeal to different types of people. They serve greasy-spoon diner, also known as down-home, food at a very low price. My friends and I had way more than we could eat and our bill was only $30. We also had about three hours of excellent conversation.

On a side note, one thing I was reminded of during this break is the fact that I thrive when I participate in intellectual conversation. The more lost I feel in the midst of it, the better I feel afterward. I get a little lost in what I am learning from friends sometimes, and it thrills me!

Anyway, back to my story: on my way home, I went through the neighborhood around Peppy Grill (Fountain Square) a bit before just settling into the long drive ahead of me. I was pleasantly surprised when I looked up at the top of this building and saw a message, one that I interpreted as being just for me. I wasn’t feeling particularly ugly, but what a positive and lively message of encouragement to be found on top of a building in the middle of a city! I need to purchase a decent camera. I guess that’s on my wish list.

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Posted in Food, Grace, Relationships

A New Year. New Goals.

Posted on 2 January 2011 | Leave a comment

2011. For it’s ability to bring hope and fresh passion to an otherwise apathetic and decaying culture, I embrace the celebration of the new year. I understand that we might experience failures in the new year; we are a fallen people. This is no longer Eden. However, the festivity of New Year’s Eve and the solemnity with which people make vows, create resolutions, and set goals that theoretically will make them better people makes me know that each new year brings restored passion and compassion. There’s hope in the air. People have faith that this year will somehow be better than last. And, we give forgiveness for those failures we’ve previously experienced. Presumably, our goal is to make ourselves better this year. Here are my goals for this year. They’re not much different than last, but they attempt to take what I have been trying to do and to do it better.

  1. Read. Both the bible and other books. Hopefully a little bit of each, each day. Watch less television, even though I already don’t watch much. It’s amazing to me how productive I can be when I don’t watch the television. I will however watch Bones and Big Love.
  2. Run. Every day except Sunday. My goal is to run three miles a day on Monday through Thursday. On Friday, I’ll run two miles, and on Saturdays at least six miles. I also plan to add some other types of exercise. I want to finish two marathons: my own Ivanhoe’s Marathon and the Towpath Marathon.
  3. Eat. Only food I can recognize as food. I want to remain vegan, but I want to narrow this down a bit more and eat only whole foods, such as beans, rice, vegetables, and the like. Cut out processed foods and sugars.
  4. Dissertate. Two chapters. I want to finish two chapters of my dissertation this summer, and I have set forth a plan to make this happen.
  5. Teach. To the best of my abilities. Love each student. Be firm with each student. Guide each student to his or her highest potential. Be more diligent in grading.
  6. Attitude. Change it. I need to work on being more relaxed and carefree. I need to talk less and listen more. I need to remember that I don’t always have to be right. Loving people is more important than anything else. My stress level is through the roof, and I need to remember that the only person I have to please is God. What this means and where this will take me, I don’t know, but I am open to doing whatever it is I am supposed to do. I would just like to know what that is!

I am also working on an art/writing project. Once I get it going and hammer it out, I will post a link to the ongoing project. I am pretty excited about it.

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Posted in Dissertation, Fat, Food, Goals, Gym, Reading, Relationships, Religion, Running, School, Teaching, Vegetarian or Vegan

Earthquake. Cheese Sauce.

Posted on 30 December 2010 | Leave a comment

I was awakened this morning by a miniature earthquake, registering 3.8 on the scale. The bed shook a bit, but it didn’t feel as strong as the one a couple of years ago. That one made the armoire doors bang. This one, for sure, made the dogs and cats go a little bit crazy.

More earth-shattering, though, is my need to create a recipe for good faux-yo-nachos cheese sauce. I found a recipe that was passable, but I think I am going to combine the recipe for plain cheese sauce (from American Vegan Kitchen) with the one I found for nacho cheese sauce. My problem with the one I found wasn’t the texture or flavor necessarily, but more the fact that it wasn’t at all spicy enough. I need my nacho sauce to be HOT! As I said, I am going to attempt to take the parts of each of these that I like and make my own recipe. We’ll see what happens.

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Posted in Vegetarian or Vegan, Winter Weather