The most important meal(s) of the day

May I just start by acknowledging that I am, indeed, a little bit crazy.

However, despite my inability to run more than three miles at a time, I have decided to train for the Holy Half Marathon, held on campus, on April 11. That gives me a little more than ten weeks to whip myself into tip top running shape.

So far, so good. The only problem is that apparently my body insists on increasing its food intake accordingly. Every time I up my mileage or increase my speed, I end up eating at least one more bowl of cereal or one extra cookie. This would be fine except I don't think it's really healthy—just because you're exercising doesn't mean you should eat anything and everything in sight. Hopefully my stomach will catch on, because last night, after two servings of tuna pasta salad, an orange, and a cookie, I ate three mini-bowls of granola with milk and a big spoonful of Greek yogurt. So essentially, yesterday's consumption looked like this:

-Breakfast
-Lunch
Gym
-Snack
-Dinner
-Breakfast

Believe me, the cereal producers of America have appreciated the bump in their sales over the last few weeks. However, my skinny jeans do not thank me. A balance must be struck! The only problem is that right now I'm tending towards striking it on the side of extra bowls of cereal.

Golly

I have printed out two copies of my novel's rough draft. One is going to L., one of my first round readers. The other is going to my mom — I'm going to get it bound and send it to her for her birthday, which is Friday.

Yes, I am a little nervous about sending this baby out where other people can see it; however, if I don't do it now I may never do it. 2010 is going to be all about putting myself out there, whether it's taking a class that requires a TON of public speaking, trying at last to become a real live author, or singing karaoke in public (I can't promise that I'll do this last one, but we'll see).

I also am here to sing the praises of solid perfume. Wowee do I love that stuff. I feel like I'm actually getting my money's worth, instead of just spraying the good-smelling stuff into a vague cloud around my head and hoping that it sticks. Other benefits are that a solid perfume stick takes up a lot less room than a perfume bottle and is more airline travel friendly.

In other news, I saw Avatar in 3-D, and it was pretty cool. I have to say that I went in with low expectations, which didn't hurt, but I am very glad that (a) Zoe Saldana's career is finally taking off, because I actually really like her a lot, and (b) the score was as great as it was. However, I think that James Cameron is probably not the nicest guy in Hollywood (I don't know him personally so I can't say for sure, I'm just going off reports) and I DO wish that female directors such as Katherine Bigelow would be getting more credit for movies made on budgets far less blockbuster-friendly. If I ever become a bazillionaire, I am going to form a media company (music, film, books) focused on nurturing and marketing female-helmed projects that actually contribute substance and quality to the massive glut of entertainment that's out there — sort of a Lilith Fair for women in the arts. This is the pipiest of pipe dreams, but there it is.

Finally, I am here to announce that L. makes some very good chicken-fried steak. Her gravy was a little...different...but in her defense, she had to improvise and what turned out wasn't nearly as bad as it might have been! Bottom line, if you want to experience an instant arterial blockage, see her for dinner. She'll set you up.

Stretches of time

Long blocks of time. Giant OODLE-BUGS of time!! Glorious time!

Intensive week has ended and school has begun, which means that I now have space to breathe. Phew! Thus far it looks like class this semester will be rock 'em sock 'em, with excellent professors, great class times, and interesting topics.

A few matters to discuss:
-In a couple days the first draft of le roman will be sent out to first readers. Yikes!
-My apartment is a nightmare. Perhaps I should use some of those oodle-bugs of time to straighten it up before T. comes to visit (!!!) this weekend.
-I'm not wearing socks. And therefore my feet are cold. See post below.
-And finally, thank you to all people everywhere who believe in customer service. Lately I have had quite good experiences and it has been a real eye-opener for someone who was as cynical as I was about the prospect of being heard by the great corporate giants.

Ending radio silence never sounded so good

I have returned!

Yea, though I am cold, wearing four layers, trying to get a piece of lettuce out of my teeth, and have a closing argument to write and memorize for tomorrow before I get picked to pieces by professional attorneys (constructive criticism, always), and yea, though my apartment be littereth with random blazers, pairs of shoes, and empty water glasses, and yea, though all these things be non-triumphant, I am triumphant.

A few things to note:
-T. is very devoted. In fact, he drove 13 hours on the day before New Year's Eve just to surprise me!
-It has never snowed this much ever. Anywhere in the world. In all of history. In the universe. It has never snowed this much since snow was created, which everyone knows was in 1913.
-Socks really do keep you warm. How surprising is that? All these years I've been dismissing common wisdom and tucking my cold feet under my bottom to keep them from freezing off and all I had to do was put on a pair of socks! Because I am stubborn, I always keep my heat at 68 degrees. Therefore this is a very valuable and much delayed discovery.
-Currently I have ten boxes of cereal in my apartment. What? All of the kinds I liked were on sale this week. So sue me (don't sue me).

Until trial ad is over I will have no further posts (I think). Wish me luck on the grand launching of my final semester of school (hopefully EVER!!!!!).