the Diva Platform

December 31 naturally invokes feelings of contemplations. What has 2007 been like for me? Have I done well enough?

Travel-wise, it was an incredible year. I literally made my way around the world by traveling to Hawaii, Vienna, and Japan. Japan marked my first time in Asia, and I loved it. The Boy has been asking what our next international trip will be (in the two years we’ve been married, we’ve gone abroad together four times. It’s a shame we don’t have unlimited income because we love to travel so much. For me, it’s all about seeing how other people do this thing call life), but with my job in flux, I don’t know what the next trip will be.

2007 has also seen me finally lose some weight. I have a ways to go in terms of losing as much weight as I need to, but I’m so grateful to the Northwestern Memorial Right Weigh Institute. These professionals are simply unbelievable in how they’ve helped me to lose weight.

And finally, I’ve managed to finally quit a job that isn’t my passion.  I seriously don’t know what the future holds, but for once I’m really excited about it.  I also am seriously lucky to have the Boy totally behind me in this decision (and not really behind, since he suggested it in the first place).

All in all, 2007 has been a good year.  We’ve made new friends and have had wonderful experiences.  2008 looks like it may be even better.  I’m so looking forward to it, and I hope your new year will be good as well!

Remember what I said yesterday about trying to buy fewer books?  Take some alcohol, a couple of Borders gift cards, and a coupon, and the Boy and I are now at home with a stack of new books and the latest Bourne DVD.

Oops.

I did finish a book on the plane though, and it’ll be out of the house soon.  I guess that’s saying something.

One of our Christmas rituals is the Day After Christmas Trip to Barnes & Noble. The Boy gets everyone gift certificates, and we descend upon the bookstore to do some damage. Usually this results in a heated discussion of, “How are we going to get all of these books home?” and “Where are we going to put them?”

This year, surprisingly enough, I didn’t even spend all of the $50 in gift cards I received. Oh, I have books I want to buy. I always have books I want to buy. I just have a problem reading them, as we’ve previously determined.

At home I’ve got three bags of books ready to go to the Newberry Library for their annual book sale. I’m not making a lot of progress on the New Releases shelf, although I have read a few more things. I’m just not spending enough time reading, and it’s frustrating when the number of books coming in still exceeds the number leaving the house (and yes, they’re still coming in). A couple of weeks ago, I said, that’s it, I’m getting rid of books I have simply because “I should” read them. That’ll make it easier to see the books I want to read and get rid of.

Sadly, my shelves don’t even look all that empty post-purge. That was part of the reason for the lack of buying tonight. I only got three books, which wasn’t bad, seeing as how I had five in my arms within a few minutes. I did put two back, partly because I was worried about packing them, but also because I thought I’d hold off and maybe read one for a change.

We had what the Boy’s Mom would call a “Florida White Christmas.”  It rained.  Christmas Eve it rained, and Christmas morning was a bit rainy as well.

This weather didn’t cooperate with our fitness trail schedule at all, leaving me extremely energetic on Christmas Eve.  I was really bouncy all day long, and not even Fit TV could help (no workouts on in the middle of the day; they started right before dinner, which was our big celebratory meal this year).  The Boy had to wrestle me to get me to stop moving.

Christmas Day was a bit better–we did the easier fitness trail, and when it cleared up later, we did the more difficult one (albeit carefully, since the wooden structures and poles were still slippery).  I’m glad we could–having a lot of exercise over the last couple of days has made me feel fitter and stronger.  The hard part will be keeping up this momentum when we go home.

When I was a kid, one of my favorite shows was “Battle of the Network Stars,” which pitted two teams of television stars in various sporting contests, always culminating in my favorite event, the obstacle course. I have an extreme love of obstacle courses, which can be hard to sate, but luckily there are fitness trails. In Florida we’re near the best fitness trail we’ve ever done, and we’re really excited to be able to use it every day.

The Boy and I like exercising on fitness trails because with one workout you can work the entire body. Most trails are put together by corporations who design the trail and structures. The one we like looks like it was put together by ex-military people because it’s chock full of big structures you have to climb over. Regular trails will have balance beams and log hops and vault bars. This one has an inclined wall, an up-and-over wall, two kinds of monkey bars, and a cargo net, among other obstacles. It’s a killer trail, and after doing it for a couple of days, we really feel a difference in our bodies.

I especially like doing it after having lost a chunk of weight. It’s interesting to see how much stronger I am and how much faster I can do the course. Last year, we whittled our time on the fourteen-station trail down to twenty-five minutes. This year, with me 15 or so pounds lighter, we started off being able to do it in about 22. Amazing.

Another difference from last year is that I needed a belt to help me do the wire walk, a station where you walk on a wire while grabbing one above. The wires have a little give in them in order to work on your agility. Last year I couldn’t reach the top wire when I reached the center of the wire, simply because it dipped too low. The Boy had to give me his belt so I could throw that over the wire and use it to help me across. We just figured I was too short for the station.

Fast-forward to this year, and I no longer need the extender. The first time we came to this station, the Boy apologized for forgetting his belt and handed me a handkerchief. I hopped on the station and halfway through, I realized I could reach the wire. Whoa! Last year I needed the belt because I was super-fat. The wire sank too low from my weight—it had nothing to do with my height.

I felt a mixture of disgust and pride. I had needed an extender, like a fat person on a Southwest Airlines flight. Now I was thinner and stronger and didn’t need the help. What a nice jolt of accomplishment to spur me on to become fitter and stronger!

My December Fat Camp visit with the Shrink was originally supposed to be after Christmas. I’d planned it this way because December is full of food and not so full of exercise. Since we spend Christmas in Florida, I knew I’d have time to exercise away extra holiday cheer that found its way to my body.

Unfortunately, I had to reschedule my Fat Camp visit because my Shrink cut back to two days at the Wellness Institute because she’s starting her own practice. So, before Christmas it was. Let’s do the numbers first:

Last month:173.5

This month: 177.0

Ouch. I gained almost four pounds. I actually wasn’t terribly upset because I’d anticipated a weight gain. I’d been eating horribly (and more of a lot), and I hadn’t been exercising. This appointment was also at midday, and since I usually have them first thing in the morning, I figured I’d weigh just a little more.

The nice thing is that I’m still down from our team meeting a few months ago, so it’s not like I had a total backslide. This is also good from a maintenance standpoint because I need to learn how to notice slight weight gain and stop it before it blows out of proportion and I lose everything I’ve worked for.

FCS told me maintenance is essentially a skill I’d have to learn, and now would be a good time to practice. A flux of 1-4 pounds can happen, and I can think of it as a yellow light. But once I gain five pounds, that’s a red light, and it’s time to kick back into weight loss mode.

Therefore I should weigh myself every day, thinking of a higher number more as problem solving instead of something I should dread. I also need to record my food, use meal replacements (i.e.—Lean Cuisines), exercise, be more mindful of what I’m eating and why.

An important thing is to not get really stressed over slight gains, and just implement some fixes that I know will help. Then it’s important to take a little time to plan and create a strategy to keep maintaining (or in my case, losing) weight.

All in all, this isn’t a huge setback, but this is a good opportunity to think about everything that maintenance involves and start learning to deal with that.

Do you ever hear or read what the Federal Reserve says about our country and think that it’s just not right because the reality seems different? Even though the numbers are usually going up, up, up, I didn’t feel like my personal reality was getting better.

However, now that the Boy and I are in a bit different position and I’m changing jobs, I feel a bit better. I think it’s because my fortune will be determined by what I do, not based on if other people sell work. I think we’ll be OK, no matter what happens with the rest of the country.

If you remember what my father said a few days ago, he was not thrilled with me leaving my job in the current economic climate (never mind the fact that I have no debt, a lot of savings, and no mortgage that could adjust because when it was time to buy a house, everything was way out of my reach unless I wanted to take out a ridiculous mortgage). My father is an avid watcher of CNBC and constantly talks about what his “friends” say on the show (I have two Suze Orman books because of this love. I’m glad he doesn’t buy every CNBC reporter/anchor’s book). Based on this, he’s come up with his own financial predictions for this country, which can be summed up in a Pa Jaracz sort of way:

This country is going to shit, and quick.

Due to the country’s inevitable shititude, my freelance career “is not going to be peaches and cream. This isn’t the time to be doing something like that.” To which I think (but do not say because it’s not going to help), I’m employable–I can get another job, should I need to. I’m not terribly worried. I just want to do something I care about for once.

Needless to say, I do wonder if this country is going to shit. If it does, maybe my dad should come out of retirement and blow those CNBC experts out of the water.

We arrived in Florida yesterday with no problems. The flight was pretty uneventful (i.e.–no first class upgrade option), and though full, relatively peaceful. I had a problem with clogged ears due to pressure changes, which unfortunately didn’t clear up before I went to bed, but if that’s the worst that can happen, so be it.

However, when we got one of our bags from baggage claim, it was covered in “INSPECTED BY TSA” stickers. This was the bag with all of our gifts–unwrapped, of course–and some writing work I need to finish while I’m here.

We instantly thought the worst:  Something was wrong with the gifts, and some had been confiscated (or if you’re really skeptical, “confiscated”).  Yet, when we opened the bag, pretty much everything was there.

That was a relief, so we had to figure out why they targeted our bag, and the Boy pulled down a divider flap to reveal a bag of loose tampons packed right next to my computer power cord, which is made up of a lot of wire and a box.  Together, the whole group looked like a little bomb.

I can’t imagine what the x-ray screener thought, especially when they saw the reality (and of course, I think it’s kind of funny), but it’s nice to know that this didn’t slip by the screeners.

[I know I promised you some more Pa Jaracz quotes about my leaving the job, but I still have to dig them out of the bags.]

Ah, Christmas! The holidays are almost here, which means today we’re on a plane bound for Florida to spend quality time with the Boy’s Mom and his sisters. Hopefully nobody will fight too much, and I will not kill any cats (we’re headed to Cat Country, and although I don’t mind other people’s cats, it is always an adjustment when I have to try to live with them for a while).

Having caught a cold over the weekend, I’m looking forward to lots of sleep, sun, and a kick-ass fitness trail. A little R&R is just what the doctor ordered! And if we manage to get a first-class upgrade like we did last year, that would be even better!

We’re gone about a week, but I’ll still be posting, so be sure to tune in. If you need a little incentive, I found my notes from the conversation with the parents.  My dad had some beautiful comments, so I’ll write them up for tomorrow.

If you by chance caught wind of the cloud of obscenities hanging over Lake Michigan, you can be assured that it was probably from my parents, who I finally told about my upcoming job situation. Lucky for them, my desk at home is a mess, and somehow during the 24 hours since I talked to them, I lost the notes I took of our conversation, which I’d planned on sharing with you. I still remember some of the better quotes, but it’s not what I’d hoped for.

I told my mother first. Inward gasp. “No! (gasp) Why?!” I explained that I didn’t really care for my job anymore and that I wanted to write and now was a good time. She worried how we’d get by, and I tried to assure her we’d be fine–after all, I have a good chunk of change saved up, and we can probably get by on the Boy’s salary anyway.  And it’s not like my company was the only one in the country who had health insurance.  We’ll still be covered through the Boy.

More fretting on her end, but overall, the conversation went well. It’s interesting: Since the Boy and I became serious, she has not quite been herself. It’s like she breathed a big sigh of relief and thought, OK, someone else can control her and/or give her grief now. I don’t need to worry about that anymore. Because all through the first portion of my adult life, I still had to deal with all the buttons being pressed as if I couldn’t make decisions on my own. Once he came into the picture and stayed, things got rosier, and I’m left to think, Wait a second. It’s not supposed to be like this. Where is the mother I grew up with? There’s this easier-going person in her place!

My father, on the other hand, was a different story. “Oh shit! I’m not going to be able to sleep anymore! What are you doing? Can you get your job back? Why would you want to quit? There’s going to be a recession!” And more quotes of that nature. This is from a man who owned his own business, so he knows something about entrepreneurship.

I really didn’t expect him to channel my Grandma Jaracz so fiercely, but it was pretty uncanny. He went on about the stock market going badly, but then he doesn’t understand that I don’t have my whole net worth wrapped up in stocks. I also was a bit taken aback that he suggested a few times that I should go and ask for my job back. I told him that no, I didn’t want it, and besides, I’ve pretty much hit a cap where I’m lucky to be getting a raise that’s around the cost of living increase. If I want to break out and make any more money, I’m really going to have to work for myself a little more and make it happen. I can’t rely on a company–especially when there’s no loyalty these days–to do it for me. If I didn’t have greater aspirations, then yes, I’d probably be happy with my job and not leave it. That’s just not the case though.

My father handed the phone back to my mother, and I said, “It was nice talking to Grandma again.”

She replied, “Hmph, well, yes,” in a way that sounded like she agreed with my father, but at the same time, a dig against Grandma? How can you resist?

I don’t think either of them are pleased, and I’m sure when I hung up the phone with them, there was much swearing and gnashing of teeth. Still, the last time I up and quit my job, they were livid, and I landed this job. I can do this again and have better results than what I was in before. They’ll come around.
Besides, if it doesn’t work out, at least I’m employable. I’d just have to live with the “told-you-so” for a while.