Slimming
2005-09-14 9:01 a.m.
Before I begin, I ran across this today:Dollar-for-Dollar Katrina Relief Match
This is magnificent and I�m glad I had to hold my donation due to pending checks, as now I�m allowed to give more than I can afford. Essentially this company (run by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay) will match any donation you make. Donate $10 and they�ll add $10. Donate $1000, and they add $1000. The hell are you waiting for?! Give mothafucker! Give!!
� now that the important shit is out of the way, I�m getting out of my head for a bit for a surface level post�
So it�s official. My piece of shit brown leather belt no longer holds my pants up. I finally got a chance to weigh myself on the snazzy glass scale at the Bellagio. 204, which is the least I�ve weighed since� I dunno� Early 2001?
Been working out about 3 � 5 times a week. Nothing crazy, about 10 � 15 minutes jumping rope (when I started I could barely go a minute), some sit-ups, some push-ups, some crunches. Probably about a half hour total. I�ve wanted to grab one of those adjustable free weight sets that let you turn a dial for different weights, but they�re all a minimum of $125. For now, I�ve been doing it �resourcefully� and lifting my cousin�s mountain bike, gallons of water and whatever else might be at my disposal when I decide to work out.
Everyone tries to convince me to get a gym membership, but I just can�t do it. I had one about 4 or 5 years ago with W. He used to be a boxer, and so he was somewhat like a personal trainer for me. But after 2 months we just weren�t making our 5am workout anymore. It went from 3 times a week to 2 to every other week to nada. So I�ve reverted to what I did to get so fit around the beginning of high school (through sophomore year, when I got into the smoke).
I can�t make serious changes in my life that require a �place� to get things done. It always seems so unnatural to me. My sophisticated talent for conjured excuses makes having to go somewhere too easy to avoid.
I�d rather just pick up and do what I need at any time of any day when the need arises. The same reason I�d always prefer a run outside over a treadmill. The reason I got pretty ripped years ago lifting bricks and cinder blocks and bags of concrete or bails of sod or Jewel bags of canned food or stacks of books or whatever else was around.
I think it�s similar to my reasoning for enjoying things like cooking, hand washing some of my clothes, this eternal interest I keep in making my own clothes, my abilities to draw and write, my abilities in coding and designing and whatever else. It�s not that I have issues with relying on people and places; I just prefer the ability to handle things on my own. An uber independence of sorts that I figure comes from growing under a mother who worked 18 hour days.
The internet age has given quite a bit to this need. I can shop for just about anything online, handle my investing, manage my finances, publish my writing and creative work, make a living, and well, manage just about anything involving data or purchases from a laptop with a wifi connection from anywhere.
And sure, once I reach the limits of what I can do here, I�ll start at a gym or with a trainer, but by then I�ll be motivated and it�ll be a worthwhile investment. I�m not into the idea of paying an $85 monthly fat tax to a place I MIGHT go for a couple months and then carry on a fruitless marriage with for a year.
I�m feeling much better about myself physically, overall. Clean face (not spotless, but best it�s been in quite some time), nice clean cut hair, a smaller gut (can actually see the stomach muscles peeking their way through). I�ve still a ways to go but it seems the habits are forming. I�m actually considering updating my horribly outdated and lacking wardrobe.
I�m finally chipping my credit card debt back to zero. I want to get back into investing, but I�ve gotta get these high percentages out of the way. Recent investments in business, pleasure and my move have left my cards maxed out for a couple months now. The annoying bit being that I was completely free of debt a little more than a year ago. If I can just beat this bug of procrastination, I should be even again within a couple months, and well on my way to positive gains by the end of the year.
Growing up with very little money makes money management a bit strange at times. I�ve always spent everything I had on good times, as there was little to spend and the good times kept the negativity of that fact at bay. When I was making on short-term hustles, I had stacks and they would disappear just as quickly as they�d formed. The habit stays with you. Just like so many people have nice clothes with nothing to eat or nice cars while living in squalor. Though I never really had the above. Really old used cars and 3rd generation hand-me-downs had been the way of the walk for years.
And how about this for hitting home: Being Poor
My money generally goes into my business and my relationships (dinners, drinks, travel, etc). They�re worthwhile investments, but I don�t curb myself very well. I began fixing this a couple years ago, but my old ways crept back in when I escaped NY. I�m starting to even it all out again.
I've been smoking a lot more, but for the first time in a very long time I've considered quitting. I'm sure in the end, I'll compromise to smoking less. Haven't been drinking so much in the past week or so.
Not much else here. Well, lots banging around the edges of my thoughts, but nothing with enough balance to throw to the masses�
As you were.