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The Champ is Groggy!

Man am I ever out of it this morning. Another sub-par sleep. I purposely tried to go to bed early last night, but then I realized I forgot to have a shower. I was going to bed just as Stewie got home. (He said I did a good job on the alien voice for his video game Sword of the Stars; I am quite pleased that I pulled it off). When I went to bed I put in Star Trek: Generations and fell asleep about 45 minutes in. So that would have been close to my usual bed time of 1am. And again I woke up before 7am. I got up, had some warm milk, some broccoli to settle my churning tummy, plugged in some Futurama, and drifted into intermittent, light sleep. NOT ENOUGH! It’s taking me four times as long to remember passwords, work protocols, etc, and I was 3 whole minutes late for work because I was just wandering around my room in a stupor after I got up – I almost called in sick. I weep for my Mandarin class tonight.

I’m sure some of you are aware of this phenomenon…I have yet to give it a name. If you’re working on the phones you have your standard ‘scripting’ which you say over and over and over and over all day long. After a while just to amuse yourself you start to say it in different ways, different emphasis, pacing, etc. I’ve never actually answered a call with a Christopher Walken or Sean Connery impersonation…yet. Maybe on my last day.

I read on Monte’s blog that he’s going to LepreCon in Ireland. That’s a funny name for a convention. Not to be confused with LeperCon in Myanmar.

I guess I should clarify that my last post refers to the fact that Marlo and I have broken up. I don’t mean to pick on Amber but she misinterpreted it to mean we got engaged, which I think is pretty funny. I’ve been wrestling with how much I should post about what I’m going through on a public blog. On the one hand, it might be entertaining to you all, and therapeutic and good record-keeping for me. On the other hand, I don’t want to bring you all down with my sob stories.

And to end on a high note, it is a beautiful day outside, they discovered a new supernova very close to us (by astronomical standards) and the New Zealand Seafood Industry has proposed to close 1/3 of local waters to the incredibly destructive bottom trawling, a major coup for environmentalists and deep-sea enthusiasts like myself, if it goes through (The article quotes my favourite chain-smoking, Neil Diamond-fan squid expert, Dr Steven O’Shea).

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Torlo: Sep 7 2004 to Feb 10 2006

Spanning three years!*

Torlo at De Dutch Pannekoek House Feb 2005

I loved Marlo before we started dating, and she knew it. I loved Marlo while we were dating, and she knew it. I love Marlo now that we’re not dating anymore, and she knows it. And I’m pretty sure she loves me. But some things you have to accept, and act on. That act took place over this past weekend. We had some damn good times, and I look forward to more…but in a different way. To quote Marlo’s favourite Vulcan from my favourite (Trek) movie: “You have been…and always shall be…my friend.”

*But only actually taking up 17 months.

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Hepatitus T

They switched my break times around at work and now my lunch break occurs just after the cafeteria closes. Bummer. I wanted to go to the Nice Cafe but they were closed too. Coincidentally I an into Sarah (the D&D docu gal) and we both went for lunch at The Foundation. We made hepatitus jokes but secretly I was scared (since I have disease-o-phobia). I ordered something that sounded good but I didn’t realize it was a sandwich. It was not bad, but it took too long to arrive in front of me so my new 45 minute lunch became a 55 minute lunch. It’s weird how I sometimes open up to people I don’t know that well about my personal life. Well it’s something to talk about anyway. Then I had to leave her to finish her meal alone.

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Sleep…why have you turned on me?

I’ve decided while I was going through my old blog entries that I’m not going to list the news tidbits as I have been doing for a couple of years. I hope that’s okay with you all.

I will, however, remark on news items that I actually want to comment on. Such as:

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada is recommending that the government offer tax breaks for gym memberships and exercise equipment, and no GST on healthy food purchases. I think this is an outstanding idea but I don’t hold out hope.

Sleep has been my friend and my enemy this weekend. My friend when it comes, and my enemy when it leaves. This morning I woke up at around 6:30ish. It was some truck going past the building, I’m sure. That’s not unusual but normally I can get back to sleep. After about 5 minutes awake my mind started buzzing with troublesome thoughts and I knew I wasn’t going to get back to sleep just by willing it. That’s 3 nights in a row and I’m pretty out of it at work. I keep doublechecking my work. I got up to find something that I could watch – X2 seemed to work ok for me Sunday morning. I’m glad I taped all those episodes of classic Trek while I was working at home because it wasn’t long after I plugged in Star Trek Memories with Leonard Nimoy that I at least got a little more shuteye. When I woke up it was already into the episode with the salt-eating shapechanger. I don’t know if it’s the drone of the VCR or that Spock’s shenanigans occupy my higher brain functions, but I’m thankful. THANKFUL!

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The Blahs – past present and future

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about time, over the past couple days. The past, the future, the present. What I’ve accomplished, what I’ve wanted to accomplish but haven’t, and what I can still accomplish. What I’m ashamed of, what I’m proud of…regrets and all of that. All because I’ve spent a lot of time cleaning up–cleaning up my room*, throwing away old scripts of movies, plays and cartoons that I’ve been in. Old music tapes. My art career, how it’s been flagging over the past while and how I’m okay with that, because I’m kind of sick of doing the same thing for 10 years. Video game companies look good to me right now.

I’ve also been cleaning up my computer. I have my blogs and sometimes diary entries, and I like to print them out so that in case something goes wrong with the internet and my computer, I have a paper copy. So I’ve been musing over old entries: the shaved crotch woman entry, the poobag entry, holidays spent with friends, important stuff with Marlo, etc etc.

And all because I couldn’t sleep! I went to bed at 1pm after watching an episode of National Geographic on “body snatchers” (parasites) and then I woke up at 6:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep. I remember reading that if you have insomnia and can’t get back to sleep after 20 minutes you should get up and do something. Cleaning my room was it. I did that for about an hour and a half and the job’s half done at most. I had a mug of warm milk just like Dr. Beverly Crusher taught me, and eventually I started to feel that I could go back to bed. Again I just lay there, so this time I put X-Men 2 into the VCR, and drifted in and out of consciousness a couple times. By the time Professor X was mentally freezing everyone in the white house, I was wide awake, so I got up. That was at about 10am.

And I have realized over the past couple of days that I am really tired of this apartment and this neighborhood. I’ve been saying that for a while now actually – is it just the winter blahs? Or do I need to rearrange the furniture again? Or just finish tidying? I guess being in one spot for almost 10 years would make anyone yearn for greener pastures.

*Does anyone else keep their ATM slips? Because I have a box of them and I can’t bring myself to chuck them. Is that weird?

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Anyone for Racquetball?

Getting back into shape is not going as well as I had hoped. I didn’t go swimming last Wednesday because I just don’t like the people in the pool that much. It would be great if it was just me there and nobody else but the lifeguard. So I just ran around Marlo’s place in my underwear for over an hour. I would like to give the gym another try. Plus, I’m going to be more picky about what I eat. I totally let go over the holidays and I still have catching up to do*. Plus, Stephane was telling me about playing racquetball at a local recreation community center deal. Is anyone interested in that? Because I am. I hear racquetball and squash courts are a good place to have business meetings.

*The only problem is that when I starkly alter my diet, I have to go to the roomroom constantly. Maybe I’ve just been eating too many carrots.

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Not another one?

Last week I had a dream where tsunamis were battering the coast, so everyone started fleeing inland, and then in front of the panicked crowds a gigantic meteor came down and smashed into the Earth causing a tremendous explosion. It was the end of the world as we know it! Then there were these weird black oozy creatures that were kind of like grim reapers or something, going around and converting others to black oozy creatures. Fun! I would prefer an apocalyptic dream over a high school dream any day of the week.

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Do me a favour?

Email me all of the meme quizzes (what is your favourite food, etc) you’ve done. To thickets@uniserve.com with the subject: Meme’s the Word

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FAST FAT FACTS

When your metabolism is in “rest” mode, you burn mostly glucose, the simple sugar that’s found in your blood. Your fat cells remain untouched, and you don’t lose any weight. But when you engage in sustained, strenuous (i.e., aerobic) exercise, your system shifts gears and you start metabolizing body fat. This typically occurs about 15 or 20 minutes into your workout, when you experience the familiar phenomenon known as “hitting your stride.” Suddenly, things seem easier. That’s because fat is a more efficient fuel–it provides 18 times more energy than glucose.

Your metabolic rate fluctuates during the day, peaking out around midday. Studies indicate that a load of calories taken at night will result in more weight gain than the same amount taken in the morning. So if you must make a pig of yourself, do it before noon. Morning is also the best time to exercise if you want to lose weight. One study indicated that two-thirds of the calories you burn up in the morning come from fat, whereas less than half come from fat in the afternoon. The act of eating itself kicks up your metabolic rate 5 to 30 percent. This has led some nutritionists to suggest that you ought to eat lots of little meals during the day rather than one or two big ones.

Thank you, Cecil at The Straight Dope