Friday, January 27, 2017

Another effing weigh-in

I began my umpteenth (and most expensive) weight-loss program on November 1st.  I lost 17 lbs. by Christmas!  And then it stopped and I've been volleying around the same .2, .4 and .5 pounds every week since.  Up one week, down the next, no change on another.

Let me disclaim right here that I did this one because a male coworker was having great success doing it.  He was a big boy when he started a while before me and he's down about 50 lbs. now.  Fucking figures, doesn't it?  Let a man eat a pound of bacon and he'll lose 5 lbs.  OK, envy aside, the program works if you hardly ever eat out, don't drink alcohol and rarely touch a starch.  So if your life is such that scheduled meals work every day for you, you too will probably lose a lot.

That scheduling thing worked for me until the end of last year.  Even through the holidays, I did OK.  Then my social life filled up with weekend parties and evening events, work increased, and that's all she wrote.  I haven't been down a fucking pound in a month.  'Have those events,' they say, 'just adjust your fruits and starches the next day.'  Without exercise, no amount of adjusting is effective.  'You will lose weight even without exercising,' they claim.  My ass!  Losing the 17 lbs. involved exercise.  Not a lot, I'll admit that.  Seemed like as long as I got 30 minutes every other day in, that's all it took to keep my metabolism going.  But truly and without excuses, I honest to God don't have 30 minutes every other day for ANYTHING except my job, let alone work out.

This is not a post to explain and complain my way out of being weight loss stalled, but I know you're out there, people in the same boat.  You get on that damn scale every day even though you know that's not a good thing to do.  I get on it every day at home and twice a week at my weigh-in.  How much does that suck?  'Oh look - no change. . .AGAIN.'

I give myself props for all I did in the past year leading up to this program, including that month with a personal trainer and the sugar detox.  I still use some of what I learned at both and you can read about it in "Going Natural," "Breaking Training," and "My Healthy Year:"  http://www.womannewspapers.com/brenda-tadych

Well, let me go cancel today's weigh-in because I'm not taking the hour and a half I need for every appointment with them until I'm down in pounds.  I'll exercise it off, sometime.  I had a goal when I started this of losing 10 more lbs. in what would be 14 more days.  Not likely to get the whole way there, but maybe I will.  If I can work off tomorrow's banquet and after-party.

One last note for the other working stiffs of the world:  I get it with that not-having-time thing.  I'm pushing 96 hours for my 2-week paycheck IF I don't work overtime today.  IF I don't ha Ha hA ha!!

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Football - A way of life

I've always had a thing for football.  It started a very long time ago, I suppose from watching how my dad liked his Miami Dolphins in the Dan Marino days.

In an early grade, we had an assignment to write a poem about what life would be like if we were an object.  I wrote about being a football.

In the Nov/Dec 2012 issue of "Woman," I used football references:

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Now one of the main characters in my work-in-progress novel, which begins in the late 1990's, is a big fan of the Minnesota Vikings, particularly Randall Cunningham.

I'm a Bills fan myself, but there aren't any teams or players that I "hate."  I just enjoy the game, and I think of my dad whenever the Bills play his Dolphins.

Saturday, January 21, 2017

What I'm reading: Came a Cavalier (Keyes)

I adore Frances Parkinson Keyes and her stories told during war time.  This one is copyrighted 1947 and takes place during WWII.  Every character's emotion becomes my own.  I was brought up patriotic and so I especially appreciate the insight she provides into the thinking and feelings of each character.

I learned about Hitler, the concentration camps, Hiroshima and the Normandy Invasion.  I've seen "The Sound of Music" and read The Diary of Anne Frank.  There were members of my family who were POWs in the Battle of the Bulge.  One of them, an uncle, had all of his finger nails forcefully removed.  Another, my boyfriend's step-grandfather, would not talk about his time as a POW.  I wonder if the two knew each other?

Came A Cavalier threw me into the ugly midst of what I'd only heard termed "occupation."  I'd never before imagined how years of forced occupation must have been, but now I feel like I know.  Imagine your Von Trapp Villa-sized home being taken over by ruthless, careless enemies.  Your portraits, decor, furniture, all disregarded, trashed and desecrated without a second thought.  Imagine being forced to share your home with Nazi beasts for years, you and anyone in your employ given no option but to clear as much space for them as they demanded, and to provide food for them while your own family fed on meager rations, your gardens and farms destroyed by the same brutes now demanding to be cared for.  Will there even be anything to eat in a year?

What must it have been like to be under constant threat of punishment for anything the enemy deemed as punishable, knowing any such act could result in the execution of anyone else the Nazis felt should be used to be made an example of.  God bless them now and keep them in His care.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Parkinson_Keyes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6j376yOlm4
http://www.centralpaww2roundtable.org/
http://www.courant.com/entertainment/arts-theater/hc-ivan-backer-book-freedom-train-0126-20160125-story.html

Strange Magic

I spent today celebrating the publishing of an excerpt from my work-in-progress novel.  "Lollipop Angel" stars my favorite character, Minska.  She's a little kooky, full of love but no pushover, and she's got some psychic abilities.  In this excerpt edited into a short story, she chats with a little girl named Bella, the other key character in the novel.  Minska gives her a lesson in angels.

Such pride and ambition and inspiration at the event launching "Strange Magic - An Anthology of Short Stories."  There were about 50 submissions, but only 18 were chosen, and 6 of those were from instructors of the class.  I was thrilled to be 1 of 12 out of the 50 students whose work was accepted.  Special thanks to Catherine Jordan for getting everything together.  Also thanks to all of the instructors of A Novel Idea (held at Landis House, Newport, PA) and my classmates for bringing their worlds into mine.

** All proceeds for the purchases of Strange Magic go to the Perry County Council for the Arts **

Resources:
http://catherinejordan.com/
http://www.donhelin.com/
http://www.mariavsnyder.com/
http://www.laurieedwardswriter.com/
http://www.lorimmyers.com/index.html
https://www.facebook.com/writercarriejacobs/
https://www.facebook.com/Teddy-Maurer-Writer-1026648097440408/
http://www.perrycountyarts.org/landis-house/
http://www.sunburypress.com/SunburyPressHome.php
and a plug for the local cafe:  http://www.espressoyourselfcafepa.com/

Thursday, January 19, 2017

On the eve of the Inauguration

Here we are on the eve of the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States of America.  It is my ninth one, (my tenth President) although I don't remember the first and barely remember the second, historical accounts aside.

When I was a child, my parents - no one's parents - discussed who they were voting for.  It was private personal information that just wasn't shared.  So as not to start an argument?  To not be judged for being Democrat or Republican?

I appreciate that I'm old enough to understand what a mammoth, awesome job it is to be the leader of the free world.  I couldn't do it, but I vote for who I think can.  I don't just vote, I pray.  I've prayed that the best candidate win, that they be filled with guidance and intuition, that they love their country.  My job isn't over just because one has been chosen.  I now pray that our new president continues to be filled with guidance and intuition, and loves their country.

I have a great interest in history, with some high school teachers to thank for that.  Mr. Defillipo taught Geography.  Although I couldn't have verbalized it back then, I had an ever-growing want to understand more about my placement in the world.  I innately knew there was significance to living in Steelton, Pennsylvania, United States of America, North American Continent, Western Hemisphere above the 180th Parallel.  I think I had geography in 10th Grade, and I still remember Mr. Defillipo telling us, "Folks, (he always called us Folks), you're going to see a major world war in your lifetimes."  He knew what he was talking about.

I'm having these thoughts on this important night.  We're still a very young country, just a baby really, with so much potential.  I love Her.  I wish everyone loved Her and showed it in their thoughts, words and deeds.  Ain't no doubt, I love this Land.  God bless the USA!

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Melissa Greene and Write From the Heart

I want to give props to those who have helped me develop my writing craft, and here is another.

When I lost that job in 2011 and took the detour into Writing Land, it felt so right I KNEW I had to keep going.  I could feel in my soul that writing was something I would do for the rest of my life.

The ad for Write From the Heart in the Lancaster County version of "Woman" intrigued me, and my most significant writing groundwork was set with the program and its fearless leader, Melissa Greene.  A Fiction class at WFTH is where my favorite character, Minska was created.  (She's making her book debut with an excerpt from my novel-in-progress this month.)  I recommend Melissa's workshops and classes whether you just want to do some free writing or something else like delve into memoir.

I've taken her "Intro Workshop - Writing Without Fear" a number of times and will likely take it again.  It doesn't get old and hasn't ever felt like a repeat, and it gets those creativity muscles pumping.  It's wonderful if you're in need of a writing recharge.

Check it out:  http://www.writefromtheheart.us/classes.html

How the writing started



In this new year with no resolutions but lots of memories and introspection, I reviewed the chronology of my writing career. Here's a little about me. . .in January of 2011, I became a casualty of a company merger and lost a job that I loved and had been at for 8 years. I got on Unemployment and eventually had to make a phone call to them. I was on hold for what seemed forever, but was really one and a half hours. As I listened over and over to the same damn messages and instructions, I got pissed that no one was helping me. I needed a job - the Unemployment Office could hire me since they obviously didn't have enough people working there! I started writing every hateful thought I had on an old-fashioned (and still my preferred writing tool) paper notepad. When I reread those 6 pages later, I realized how funny it was.

And that was the start. I knew others needed to read it to add levity to the gravity of their similar situations and I shopped it around to some local newspapers. Mr. Buffington of the Hummelstown Sun gave me my first dose of editing. "Cut it in half and don't say it if it isn't necessary." Wonderful words of advice. I chopped 1,000 words into 500 and it was printed as a letter to the editor in the Sun.

Meanwhile, Tonya Bibb (Neighborhood Chatter/Community Courier) replied to the query I sent with a thank you, and a, "You're a very good writer." That meant a lot coming from another writer and I still have the email.

From that blast off in the Sun, I began my column in the local bimonthly Press and Journal publication, Woman. Six years later, I still have sumthin 2 say:)