Finally, A Job

  It's been beyond stupid trying to find a job in this town. I gave up for a period of time because after every place I applied, called, and emailed, they hardly gave me the time of day before promising to get back to me and never doing so. And most times I checked available jobs, there were two options: Pizza Hut or Home Depot. Not very appealing. I just wasn't that desperate, I don't know.
  My employment status seems to come up in every conversation we have with anyone in our family or close friends at home. I know there's not that much to talk about per say, but do you know how annoying it is to hear "so are you working anywhere yet?" every. single. phone call. If I was, I'd say so pretty quickly, because it's news. But as if I didn't feel like enough of a lazy mooch who can't get a job, everyone had to remind me constantly that I wasn't doing anything.
  So stop the presses! It's finally happened!
  Anyway, I'll stop being sarcastic.
  We went in to this new Greek restaurant for a meal, and somehow I came out with a job. I noticed someone else coming in to apply and decided to give it a shot, honestly expecting to be shot down like everywhere else. But instead I was put on the schedule immediately! So that was really surprising.
  It's honestly one of the best places to eat here, for a few reasons. The first is that people just don't seem to care quite like they do in Arizona. Both the service and the food quality is just lower than expected. It's littered with fast food places, and it's hard to sift through them to find places that are decent. Even when we were recommended some place, we were still disappointed. But at this Greek house I suddenly find myself employed by, the food is handmade and authentic and amazing.
  The job itself is not even close to difficult. I haven't quite gotten a hang of the register, but I had my first table on my first day. I still remember how hectic things got at the resort restaurant, and knowing it will never be like that puts it in perspective. The place isn't even very big. As of now I have a pretty good feeling about it all. I'm still in that beginning crash course paperworking phase, but by next week I think I'll really have a hang of things.
  So that's that...I'm officially a waitressing food slave. But hey, the food is tasty!

More From The Exercise Diaries

  I haven't posted much about fitness in the last while because I felt like I hadn't made much progress. None worth mentioning anyway. But when I compared a picture from today to just two months ago I was so surprised! I knew some of my clothes felt like they had a little more room in them, but I don't own a scale. I still don't want one. I'm not a number and I don't want to get sucked into looking at it every day.  
  But holy crap! This is probably the most progress I've made since I started. It's been slower than I wanted it to be, that's for sure. Though I've been feeling up to more and more and doing things that challenge me, raising the bar all the time. It's about time it paid off. Michael told me this morning that one of the guys in his unit we saw this weekend said I'd lost a lot of weight. I don't think I'd seen him since sometime last year, but it was really awesome to hear.
  This week is the 20th week of my own exercise regimen. I've also been trying pretty hard to eat better. I hardly ever eat red meat and I've been adding tofu to certain dishes. Anyway, this is a recovery week, something I picked up from P90X. Every fourth week I cut out strength training and focus on cardio and core. On weeks that aren't recovery weeks, I dedicate certain days to certain muscles. Last week looked like this:
  1. Fire 45 EZ, Lower 20
  2. Elliptical 37min at Resistance 18, Distance of 1.178 miles, Tone 30
  3. Fire 60
  4. Elliptical for 23min at Resistance 18 0.729 miles, Hiit 20, Abs 10
  P90X Shoulders and Arms, 10lb weights, minimum of 15 reps each exercise
  5. Rest Day
  6. Fire 45, Core 20
  7. Abs 10, Stretch 40
So even though it's taken what feels like forever, it seems I'm finally doing something right. I still have a goal size I'm working towards, and I'm also hoping that going home for almost a month won't totally ruin me. It's easy to eat lots of fattening foods and be lazy. But there's also a lot more outdoor activity possibilities. We'll see how I handle it.

New Ink

  I've been wanting to get matching tattoos with my husband for a while. We keep talking about a ring finger tattoo but we can't seem to come to a firm conclusion, and he isn't sure about getting another visible tattoo while he's in the army. Finally I brought up the idea of the red string of fate. It's said that people who are meant to be in each others lives are connected by a long red invisible string by the gods. No matter how far away or how tangled the string gets, it will never break. It's kind of our promise that no matter what happens we'll be there for each other. So far I've always liked having Mikey in my life since the day I met him, friends or more. I'm happy with how they came out. Simple and cute.

  This one was all for me. I've been entertained by lip tattoos. I love what people choose to put there. It's something others won't see unless you want them to. I chose this phrase from a tv show I like, honestly. Archer. It's hilarious. I thought it was also a fitting phrase because I tend not to have a filter when I talk. It's my danger zone, and I don't care what you think.
  Pain wise, the toe hurt so much more. Getting my lip done was awkward for sure; the artist stuck a paper towel in my mouth to dry it out and had to get a pen to finally work in order to make the outline. Some parts of it I didn't feel at all, others I definitely did. Mostly it was just strange. The string I wanted done as soon as possible and cursed loudly all the way through it. But they're done! I'm proud of both of them.
  The only issue is inner lip tattoos don't always stay. It's a strange spot; they can often rub away just in the first few weeks. I'll just have to wait and see if I need to get it touched up, and if I do, if it'll be worth getting done over and over. Of course, it can also go the other way, and it may stay forever.
  I plan on getting a tattoo when we visit home as well later this year, but I'm not sure what. Tattoos are so addicting!

Letters R and S

R – Respect

86. How do you show respect? When I don't argue and I go out of my way to do what I'm asked.
87. What can someone do for you to lose all respect for them? Not much, honestly, if it personally affected me. It depends though. It might just take a conversation and an act that counteracts whatever made me lose respect for you. But in most cases I never really gain it back.
88. Do you respect your teachers, parents, and other authority figures? If they seem intelligent and confident, yes.
89. When you are disrespectful to your parents, what is the punishment? Used to be I'd be grounded, get my cell phone taken away, wouldn't be able to go to whatever party or friends I was invited to.
90. If someone is mean to you, are you mean back or do you kill them with kindness? My first impulse is to be mean back. But now I stonewall, meaning I don't do anything and just let them wear themselves out.

S – School

91. If you are still in school, what grade will you be going into? I don't even know anymore. I haven't been in school for a while. I'm at a strange point in my life where I'm not sure what I want to do.
92. When will you graduate high school/college? Couldn't say.
93. After high school, what did you do/are you planning to do? I originally wanted to be a therapist. Now I'm thinking about being a fitness instructor. Maybe I'll do both? No idea.
94. Do you like or hate school? What do you like/hate about it? I actually like school. It's just enough stress (usually) to motivate me.
95. Have you ever been suspended, expelled, or dropped out of school? I guess I kind of stopped going to college. But only since I moved to Oklahoma. I left my last school with notice and did it right, I didn't enroll and abandon it. I've never done that. 

   Stole this from Tumblr. I feel like there can be a fine line between judging someone and losing respect for them because of something they did, but I have a hard time respecting someone who can't be strong enough to respect themselves. Obviously I don't judge race, sexuality or religion, but I'm just so disappointed by people who can't seem to leave a situation that makes them unhappy. I know it can be hard, especially if it's something you're comfortable with/incredibly used to; change is scary. But if you're unhappy and can't seem to fix it, why force it? I can't stand seeing people just letting themselves be unhappy because they think its some kind of sacrifice just to have something stable. Find the strength to walk away, because you know you deserve better.

  That's my blurb on respect for the day.

February via Instagram

Classic Valentine's Day treat/Hubby bought me my favorite flowers/Our own s'more station at a restaurant in OK City

  I don't know why but for some reason February really zoomed by me. Michael doesn't agree, but I think it's because this month was actually fairly eventful for us, and you know what they say about time and having fun and whatnot.

My first buffalo sighting/The Parallel Forest/A really sweet spot to relax

  This month I admitted to enjoying Oklahoma a little bit. We finally made a friend who has been showing us the sights and introducing us to new people. We had a great Valentine's Day weekend. Finally, we got out to see the nature side of Oklahoma, too. Of course it all involved driving away from the town we live in, because even the locals admit it's not a great place.
  We went a little nuts after the tax return and bought a ton of camping gear because, and I am SO GLAD to be saying this, we are officially going to Supai in May! The leave packet is in and we will be in Arizona for a few days short of a month and it takes a lot of strength to push down the excitement until it gets a little closer.

Boyish 80's haircut/Feeling confident

  I also got the balls to chop off most of my hair this month. It was over twelve inches, I checked. (That's what she said, right?) Anyway it was a huge relief and I wish I'd done it sooner! I thought I'd be weepy and regretful but I can honestly say I'm so happy I did it. It literally took weight off my shoulders (you wouldn't believe how thick and heavy my hair was) and seeing someone different in the mirror has really perked me up. Everything is easier without all that hair in the way.

First attempt at the longest cardio class/A really long workout day/Loose pants are fun

     This month has been really good for me fitness wise. Just when I felt like I may be reaching a plateau, I decided to crank it up and challenge myself yet again. This week was one of the roughest so far, and I plan on repeating it. My workouts have been well over an hour and if I'm not satisfied I'll keep going. I tried the Fire 60 class and made it to the end, struggling at first but reaching a second wind and being proud by the end. I'm starting to see some serious results week by week, and I think I can see my goal in the next month or two. When I started working out last year, I was having trouble with a lot of things; I couldn't even do a few pushups on my toes. I've made so much progress, it's ridiculous. I can tell when I reach my goal size, it'll probably be the best shape I've ever been in. I just hope I can keep up good habits while I'm on vacation.

   So even though February had a slow start, it really picked up until suddenly it was Valentine's Day, and now March is just a few days away! I really hope this keeps up. May cannot come sooner.

Warm Bodies; Book vs. Film

  I heard a few months back about this movie coming out, and also heard there was a novel first. Naturally, I ran out to buy it and read it so I could eventually compare the two. Because...that's what I do.
  If you still don't know anything about Warm Bodies, it's a twist on the usual zombie tale by Issac Marion. The main character is in fact a zombie, who calls himself R (since he can't remember the rest of his name) and has thoughts and very suddenly feelings for a living girl after eating her boyfriend's brains. Whoops.
  I thought this story was just adorable. It wasn't like anything I'd ever read before; it was funny and had some heartwarming themes. It's also a pretty short read, around 200 ish pages (hey, I think that's short!) and it's the kind of book I'll be reading multiple times.
  I've heard people babbling about it being somehow related to Twilight, or it's "the new Twilight" or whatever bull honkey, perhaps just because Summit is attached to the film and Stephanie Meyer has a short blurb quote on the book. It. is. not. The writing style is better, fresher, and there are no awful terrible messages about forced/abusive relationships. So let's just not go there.
  I was way excited for the movie. I was expecting them to leave things out and change things, as is the way of book to film transitions, and that did happen. But it was still a cute movie on it's own. It lacked a few things here and there (which I'll bring up) but overall it wasn't a big let down and I still really enjoyed it.
 So brace for spoilers! I'm about to list differences.

  1. There is so much more about the two separate societies they probably didn't have time to cover in the film. The zombies are a little more life like than it showed. They have their own customs. R gets "married" after bumping into a girl and the Boneys decide to pair them permanently. They are even given two children to look after (nodded to in the film I believe by the two kids he passes a few times). New zombies and zombie children are also "taught" how to hunt in a small arena with a live person. This is paralleled by the living society, where people still get married and are taught how to kill zombies at a young age.
  2. The living society didn't block off part of a city in the book as they did in a movie. I think there were quite a bit less of them; they built a small town inside of a stadium. Buildings where constructed out of scraps of other buildings and streets were labeled with pictures instead of words for children who hadn't learned to read yet. In the movie it was this huge area with what was obviously a class separation due to over crowding. The leader had a big fancy apartment, while others lived in tents. Plausible I guess but not sure why the change.
  3. As with most book to films, a lot gets left out or changed about the characters. R's best friend M is actually a huge bearded man, who happens to still retain a sexual perversion and still manages to "have sex" with zombie women. His body parts frequently fall off. They made his development kind of quick in the movie but it makes a lot more sense in the book. Perry is not the jock gone douchebag he appears to be in the film. R eats quite a bit more pieces of his brain and Perry almost becomes a second voice in his mind. He encourages R, roots for him to go for Julie and get better. The memory of Perry dying is unpleasant, but doesn't revolt R into spitting out the piece. Julie is even feistier in the book, but she also takes R to the grave site of her mother and we hear a lot more about her life. Julie's friend Nora is a darker skinned Ethiopian girl missing part of one of her fingers. She is sassy, most definitely, but with more dimensions than her Caucasian film equivalent.

  4. The big finish of the story happens a bit differently than in the film. Julie's father believes R's disguise temporarily and he hangs around longer in their city. It's only during a rainy night when R is thinking about how hungry he is that a guard notices him and R can't help himself. He's just gotta eat the guy, which sets off the alarm after his body is found.
  5. There is a big battle in both renditions. R and Julie do a lot of running around from the Boneys and Julie's father after he realizes R isn't living. But Julie is pretty hesitant to kiss R. This seems like a sure way to get infected. They talk about it before they get cornered and Julie decides "fuck it" and does it anyway. I don't remember them being a pool when it happens, but maybe it does.

  Those are the main differences I can think off without finding specific passages from the book. There are little details left out, the things that don't quite matter as much, like certain things R collected on his plane, or the music he chose to convey his feelings, or what Julie ate when they went looking for food. Picky stuff. It's just really interesting to me to find differences and details in books and their films. If you've seen the movie but haven't read the book, do it! It's fun to see the world expanded and find out new things people don't know unless they've read it.
 

Keeping a Fitness Journal

  When I first started working out last year I started with P90X. Well every video Tony Horton was always saying "now don't forget to write down what you're doing." I was like pff, I'm putting a tally on a white board, screw that. I didn't have any of the worksheets that I might've gotten had I *coughpaidcough* for the physical dvd sets, so I figured as long as I was tracking myself somehow it was okay.
  But once I was getting into Turbofire and decided to create my own schedule, being more specific seemed impossible and impractical not to do.

  Sometimes I think I could be even more specific but that might involve interrupting my workout a little too frequent for my liking. So here are the general tips/rules I follow:
 1. Write down the title of the fitness videos. When doing them for the first time, I usually make a comment about how it was. If I write something like "hard!! had to rest for 2 days from soreness!!" it's fun to look back on when I'm doing the once difficult sequence weekly with no rest day after.
 2. A rest day once a week is perfectly fine, recommended most definitely. Some people don't have time to work out six days a week, so I guess I'm lucky. But if I have to take another day, I'll write down why. I have a pin on my Pinterest that gives examples of when not to workout. Believe it or not, if you have a mild cold (without serious symptoms like a high fever) exercise might actually help.
 3. If I do a workout without a video, I'll absolutely write down the details. The weight used, the exercises and the reps. On my elliptical, I write down how long I was on and the resistance, and I've just started writing down the distance (I knew before that 1 mile took about 33 minutes, so I just related times to that).
 4. Before I even start my workout I make sure the page is open to the right week and I have a pen nearby. As soon as I'm done I write it down. With detailed workouts, I put down my weights in between each exercise and jot down my reps real quick. It only takes a second or two.

  This can be a hard habit to get into, but once you do it really is fantastic. It's a great way to see obvious progress. I also keep my occasionally taken measurements in here. My notebook has no lines, being that its meant to be a sketchbook, and I used to practice writing Japanese in it, so it's a little messy in the beginning. But now I can't imagine not doing it.
 Today I'm starting Week 14 of my personal schedule. You can see from my pictures even in the last few weeks I've been ambitious, stacking more workouts and upping the resistance on my elliptical. Week 13 was pretty rough, in a good way. I worked hard and I felt it for days. I was really happy to take my rest day yesterday. I actually went for seven days and took a rest day on the eighth, so that's probably why I felt a little overworked. Whoops. I've just been literally addicted to it. I feel sort of antsy and restless until I get to my workout, and hours later when I'm bored I might do a short workout on my own.
  I've also stayed conscious of what I'm eating. Sometimes I treat myself, but I've been a lot better at not doing that as often as I used to. I've been told keeping a food journal is a good idea as well, but I think for me personally that might be crossing the line into crazy. I've got great fitness habits and I'm making healthy decisions with food I know I didn't used to. I don't think I could be that person who counts calories and obsesses over every little thing I put in my mouth. It's just too much. I drink lots of water, I eat more veggies, I make good choices. That's plenty good enough for me.

  I hope this was in some way interesting or helpful to anyone wondering whether or not they should do this! Having a fitness journal is a wonderful thing. :)