Caution, fat person running

I've been sick of being fat ever since I realized that I was fat. It took me a bit because I can be a little slow on the uptake sometimes. I started gaining weight my junior year in high school and I didn't really realize it until about two years later. By then, I had gained 40 pounds and started to really hate my body. I used to be skinny, had the ability to eat whatever and not gain weight and those bad habits led to me downfall. So I've been trying (and obviously failing) to loose at least some of the weight for years. And in all those years the best I could do was when I had a tapeworm named George in my belly. George helped me loose about 15 pounds quite quickly because he wouldn't let me eat and gave me lots of diarrhea too. In some ways, I kinda miss George but it was probably good that I gave him the boot.

What really is motivating me at the moment is that my older sister is often mistaken for being the younger and me, the elder. This wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that she is 10 FREAKING YEARS older than I am. Talk about a reality check. I'm fat so I look to be in my mid-thirties. She's skinny so she's in her mid to late twenties. My vanity can only take so much and this is just killing me. Plus, according to Spark People AND my brother's Wii Fit, my BMI is so high that I am technically considered obese. Wow. I mean holy freaking wow. I. AM. OBESE and I don't even weight 200 pounds.

Anyway, so I am really trying for the first time in years to do something about it. Sparkpeople.com has been great in giving me some free strength exercises to do and I have officially been tracking my fitness and nutrition for three weeks now. Today, I even managed to run for the 2nd consecutive day. It's not a lot but it is something and I will continue to try to do something until I both look and feel better.

So give me all the encouragement that you can and this does include ripping the chocolate bars and Pepsi away from my face. They really aren't necessary to my exhistence and my dependence on them truly must stop.

Victory is mine!!!

Well, sort of. At least I've done my part and have actually gotten the graduate school application all done and sent off. Of course, I should have done this way back in March but I have the tendency to put of procrastination, if that makes any sense.

I'm trying for my Masters in Teaching English as a Second Language so that hopefully no government or school can tell me that I am not qualified for the job and deny me a visa. I'm hoping that having a freaking MASTERS on top of have 2.5 years of teaching experience will qualify me for many a job and by September 2010, I'll no longer have to talk about feces in my blog.

Ideally, I would get my job in Capellades back and I wouldn't have to do that annoying interview process again but that's going to be even more of a waiting game. My boss over there is starting to put together an appeal but that will probably take about a year to get resolved. I have a mental picture of myself holding my degree with the person from the Spanish embassy in Barcelona kissing my ass because he or she can no longer tell me that I am not qualified for my job. Do you sense bitterness? Oh well, I guess the morel of the story is that I'm making the best of things and trying to get ahead in life. Right now, I'm pretty sick of making $926 a month. I should know from the schools in about 3 weeks as to whether or not I've been accepted so drink a beer and toast to my future as a graduate student somewhere :-)

Somedays are poo right from the beginning

What a way to begin the day. I had to clean the public restrooms today and the first one about knocked me over from the smell. Last week, I had a lovely urine experience so I guess this was the week of the poo. On the toilet, the floor next to the toilet, the floor next to the rubbish bin, the floor next to the door. Nowhere had this person spared their poo. I scrubbed and I sprayed smelly stuff but apparently to no avail because the damn thing still smelled like poo nearly 8 hours later when I left for the day. It will probably still smell tomorrow when I clean that bathroom again. Seriously, you make a mess, you own up to it and tell somebody before YOUR POO tries to become a permanent decorative color of grout.

Now onto another rant. I really hate fussy beds with pillows, sheets, blankets, quilts, dust ruffles and comforters that have to go JUST SO on the freaking bed. And heaven forbid you mess it up because that would certainly be the end of the world. I had my days switched so I am learning how to clean new rooms yet again and this one really takes the cake. I had my annoying co-worker helping me because she is known by the entire staff as the annoying woman who is extremely picky about her laundry. Anyway, back to what the ACW did to bug me. I had stripped the bed before she had gotten there and in the process of taking the damn thing off must somehow screwed up the pins that were pinning the end of her bedspread in a decorative pattern. We get it on and notice that it's all messed up and here goes the coversation:

Me: Crap, this damn thing is messed up.

ACW: Well, I don't know how it goes because I wasn't here when you took it off.

Me: We have to get it right otherwise the resident will get pissed.

ACW: Ok. Do you remember what it looked like?

Me: The opposite of the corner that didn't come unpinned.

..... Me trying to fold it. ACW just standing there, watching me, shaking her head so that her jowls flap.

Me: I can't get it to look the same.

ACW: Well, I don't know.

...... Me trying to fold again.

ACW: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know....

Me: Let's undo that side and see if we can't match it.

Anyway, after undoing it I managed to get it to looked somewhat the same as the side that didn't come undone. Moral of the story is that the ACW didn't help me at all but stood there saying "I don't know" and flapping her jowls while shaking her head. They seem to grow them pretty special around here.

And please enjoy the picture. It's not the bed from the annoyingly fussy resident but it does give you an idea of what I have to put up with. Sorry for all of you fussy people who have beds like this but do you really need 9 pillows on your bed? You would have to curl up in a pretty tight ball in order to sleep with all of your pillows.

Because you all need to see a picture of a goat.... in a diaper

Fun with Jalepenos

Talking or rather listening to Shirley, my annoying co-worker, talk about the stir-fry that she was going to make for supper got me thinking CHINESE FOOD. It's had been ages since I had eaten any (I refuse to think of the stuff we can get around here as Chinese food) so of course, I had to make some. Now, I can't get fun things like lotus root or good tofu but I can still make a few favorites such as egg and tomato with chive, lettuce and beef with pepper. Can't find many varieties of peppers around so I decided to cook with jalapeno. It's not really that spicy and the beef tasted pretty damn good.

You know the jalapeno is good when your hands start to burn from the oil that the pepper has emitted and mine were burning quite nicely. I managed to remember to keep those digits away from my face and eyes but what I had forgotten, was that the cats really like to lick fingers, especially after eating. Poor Baily, she got in one good lick, twitched her whiskers while the oil soaked in and promptly had a hissy fit. I felt bad but couldn't help myself from doubling over from laughter. Guzzling water had no effect and there was no way that I was offering my beer. Schell's is just too good to waste on a cat.

Be still my burning nose

Had a rather lovely experience at work today involving my nose. Shocker there. Actually, come to think of it, I had several and as you've probably guessed by now, the experiences weren't all that great.

Experience the first, I walk into a room only to be greeted by the lovely scent of urine. Great, lovely. Pretty sure the resident peed all over the floor, the toilet and the laundry basket. Now, I'm not a stranger to the overwhelming burning sensation that is humane urine BUT I've never had to deal with it for 30 minutes before and try as I might, I just can't hold my breath for that long.

Experience the second, having recently cleaned a toilet that is always covered in excrement I walk by only to detect the not so subtle scent of a recently pooed up toilet. I ran away as fast as I could and pretended to have peas stuck up my nose. Sorry, dealing with that toilet one time a day enough for me.

Now, I realize that these people can't help it and some would find it cruel to be posting about them but as you've noticed, I've named no names nor genders. Besides, I'm not posting to be cruel but rather to find humor in my situation. So sue me for the penny I found today AND put in my pocket.

Nah nah ne nah nah, reality can't catch me!

Well, instead of doing what I should be doing (finishing grad school applications) I am not doing much of anything. Finished a cheesy romance novel, managed to go for a walk this morning, called my mother after finding that a certain cat.... had put it under the couch. And that's about it. I do know that I need to finish the applications otherwise I'll be stuck in some crap job for the rest of my life but just can't seem to do it. Instead, I'm going to write a list of music that I just can't live without!!!

Gustav Holst, Jupiter from the Planets

I greatly enjoy the whole symphony but when those horns do their thing in the middle of the movement, shivers erupt up my spine..... every single time.

Radiohead, Black Star from the Bends

I must thank my brother for this one. He came home from college bubbling from a new group that he discovered and how I must listen to them. Well, I can't argue that Radiohead has changed my musical life for the better and Black Star was the song that started it all.

Dave Matthews Band, Crash from Crash

Tee hee, I just love the lyrics. I feel ever so naughty when I listen ;-)

Imogen Heap, Hide and Seek from Speak for Yourself

Probably one of the best songs that I have randomly downloaded. And to think, I used to rail against any music that had a bit of electronica to it. This song is all about how she digitally manipulated her voice and it just works for me.

And that's it because I'm now bored. I really do have the attention span of a two-year old.