I just started reading The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain. It's pretty interesting. The claim is that if you eat what hunter-gatherers ate back in the Peolithic age, then you should be lean and healthy.

Lifestyles were a lot different back then, so this is why I have a hard time completely believing this diet's claims. I am only 1/3 of the way through though.

Basically, you eat only lean meats, fresh fruits, and vegetables. No grains. No dairy. No salt. I guess no sugar too. Apparently, hunter-gatherer societies only started developing health problems after grains and salt were introduced. All the vitamins and minerals you need can be provided by eating lean meat, fresh fruits and vegetables. To me, that sounds interesting. I should talk to my archaeologist cousin about hunter-gatherers when I see him this weekend!

My current diet consists of no grains (except when I cheat and take a bite of whatever...), and I have increased my organic meat consumption. I have also increased my nut and seed consumption, too. Oh! And my supplement taking is almost to the point of crazy! BWAHAHA  Is it doing anything to me? I have no idea. I've been working out with my trainer for over 3 weeks now. I've also been seeing the hypnotherapist for about the same amount of time.

Since I haven't been keeping a journal of my progress, all I can say is these are my perceived (and definite) changes:

-don't feel as hungry and snackish
-body fat has dropped 1.6%
-can squat 165 lbs (that is more than my body weight!! I think I started off at half my body weight)
-feel less stressed
-better mood
-events don't get me as down

I don't know if the mental/emotional part is a result of the therapy, diet (huge increase in consumption of Omega 3s), or the exercise, or if it's a combination. But I am liking it! I am on a natural high right now!

Before I started training with my trainer, I had a slice of multigrain toast or a bowl of cereal every morning. I almost always had a banana. On weekends, sometimes I'd make pancakes. I love desserts. I love baked goods.

Now my breakfasts are some sort of meat and vegetable (well, fruits like cherry tomatoes or cucumbers). I don't miss toast, and I don't miss cereal. I don't miss carbs.

But when I do eat something carb-y like a scone, rice, noodles, ice-cream, I don't find them satisfying! At my friend's wedding, I ate only half my desserts. I've eaten one bite of fried rice or noodles, and I don't want more (I used to make fried rice for dinner). Last night, the scone I ate just seemed sub-par.

Why don't I enjoy carb-y food anymore? Is it my supplements? Did I get them out of my system? Was it the actual food?

I didn't weigh myself today. I haven't weighed myself in 4 weeks, but I went for my pinchy-pinchy fat test yesterday. I'm down from 23.6% body fat to 21.9%. That took about 4 weeks. My trainer said that percentage would be lower if I followed her prescribed diet to a T (and got more sleep). It's possible for me to drop 1% bodyfat per week!

After the tongue lashing, it looks like I will be getting my money back very soon!

I'm going for my fat test this afternoon -- or rather, I think my trainer would call it the biosignature test. She follows the principles of Charles Poliquin quite closely. I think he's American and has trained a lot of pro athletes. But when I Google for his supplements, it seems like he is more popular in the UK?? I wish I was able to walk into a store to pick up his supplements instead of buying them online.

So anyway, this biosignature test -- she'll be using calipers to pinch my fat in 12 different spots. Where you are high in fat tells you what hormone you have too much of which in turn will tell you where to change your diet and what supplements you should take. I asked her about taking something for my cortisol levels. I don't think the fat accumulating in my middle is all attributed to diet although I think my trainer would disagree.

When we do our workouts 3 times a week, we do heavy lifting for my legs, and work on strengthening my weak lats. Then we end off with interval training. Today, we did like 5 sets of barbell squats. I think I am squatting my body weight, but I never know which plates she is using and I lose track (I must be...She told me it took me 4 weeks to squat my own body weight!). And we did a couple of varieties of pull downs which were at almost half my body weight. She says by the time I do pulldowns of my own body weight, I will be able to do chin ups with ease. Right now, my lats are too weak for that. We ended off the workout where I alternated between cycling fast for 30 seconds-rest for 10-running up and down 2 flights of stairs 2 steps at a time-rest for 10 seconds four times. I thought my legs would have given up running up the stairs, but it actually got easier. I was quite tired by the end of my intervals!

I feel good in my body these days even though I'm not where I would like to be. I love that I'm a lot stronger and that my stomach feels flatter. I guess I am doing pretty well after 4 weeks. My trainer thinks my blockages are mental and that I'm able to achieve even more.

I tell my friend a a lot about what my trainer says. He said to me, "you pay her $xxx an hour for her to be a c*nt?" He doesn't agree with her ideas a lot. I don't agree with her 100% of the time, that's for sure, but I am definitely seeing results! I was telling her about my old trainer and the kind of exercises we used to do. My current trainer said I had no business doing some of the exercises I was doing before since I wasn't able to squat my own body weight. (I think my old trainer thought I could?!)

... I just got some feedback on my latest food journal..."No peanut butter" What?! It's the natural stuff!!! I put peanut butter on celery sticks because I hate celery! She also told me to go to bed earlier, but I honestly can't. When am I supposed to go food shopping? Or do my cleaning?

I totally forgot to comment on the speeches at the wedding. For the most part, they were ... not about the couple.

Every time the emcee spoke, he talked about himself. He did a nice little speech about pants and who wears them in the family, but he used himself to start off his speech. And he included himself at the end of his speech.

Two girlfriends did their speech together. Actually that one was really nice. They read their speech though, which I felt took away from what they were saying. 

And then another girlfriend did a speech. Most of it was about her and her story of how she was going to do her speech. This was the gist of it:

"My boyfriend is a great speech writer, so I asked him for advice. He said not to be sappy and to be funny. Then he told me that I was sappy and not funny. So I'm not going to do a speech." Then she gave a short toast and that was it.

The groom's parents didn't speak, but the bride's father spoke. He mentioned that it was his son's 5th wedding anniversary and that his son and daughter-in-law gave them a wonderful granddaughter. Then he mentioned that the groom came around a lot when he and the bride first met, and that the two of them both got careers separately. And then he welcomed the groom to the family. Um....where was the mention about the bride from her father?

Okay, that's all the cattiness I have left!

An old friend of mine got married on the weekend. It was a very simple wedding. I had a great time!

It's always interesting to see what people wear to the wedding. One old lady wore stripper shoes. They were platforms and about 4 inches high. One woman wore a nightie. It was this flimsy white floral short thing, and she wore a hot pink bra underneath. 

It was really difficult sticking to my diet this week because I had pretty much had no food choices. I was also really hungry! I ended up letting myself eat a lot of dessert. I didn't feel guilty for the most part, but I think I see a difference in my body today. In generall when I gain weight, I don't have any problem areas. I just gain weight evenly throughout. But I think my highest fat deposits around my waist and in my arms. My trainer attributes this occurrence to high cortisol levels in my body. Aside from carbs, these high levels are also caused by stress. She thinks my body is a result of me eating carbs, but I think my stress level has a lot to do with it, too. I believe I'm going for my mid-program fat test this week. Love those calipers.

I squatted my body weight today! That was pretty cool. I definitely feel leaner, but I haven't seen dramatic changes. Now I just hear my trainer's voice in my head whenever I don't follow her prescribed eating plan. Starting tomorrow, it's solid protien for breakfast in the morning. My breakfast has changed the most. Gone are the days of toast and cereal. Hello meat and vegetables! I wonder if I will desire pancakes ever again.

I keep looking on the Internet for good places to buy organic food products. These places are not usually around me! GRR!

With the latest baby boom, i.e., people I know having babies, I often fake interest when they tell me about their babies. I liked this comic: http://www.basicinstructions....

I used to laugh in my writing a lot. The Godmother noticed I hadn't been doing much BWAHAHAing in the last while. But today! I feel it! I feel energized!

I think it had to do with my hypnotherapy session last night. I left feeling really good.

I told her I didn't want to revisit my past during last night's session. It seems like every time I revisit an earlier life experience or past life, it's always depressing, and I am always alone. So we focused on the things I wanted to work on which were my intuition, energy, and the walls thing. We didn't touch on the walls thing, but we did some chakra cleansing, and she taught me how to protect myself from having other people suck the energy from me.

I'm not sure if I dozed off at some point...Sometimes when I am under hypnosis, I meander a bit with my thoughts.

Anyway, I feel good today. I am going to try the self-protection thing more often. I should do it every day. She says I will probably feel tired today because of the cleansing. I guess I'll see. I went to bed late last night reading and then I slept in a little.

My muscles are so tight, they're crunchy!!

I went for a sports massage today, and all I could hear was the crunching of my shoulders. BWAHAHA My jaw clenching also contributes to tight muscles in my neck. And then my trainer showed me some exercises using a foam roller to help me loosen up my muscles. You just roll that roller long your body and if it hurts, you hold the position where the pain is. Let's just say by the time I get through all the rolling exercises, it'll be quite some length of time.

I feel like my body is a mess!

I'm not sure what I think of my trainer. I like our training sessions a lot (even though I could probably kill her as we're going through a session) because they're challenging. I would probably get results with her. I'll have to see if I want to train with her again after our 6 weeks. She's not cheap! But our next sessions would be less expensive.

When my father passed away, I did the best that I could to cancel as many of his accounts as possible.

One of them was his cell phone account. I called Bell Mobility and told them I was calling on behalf of my dead father and that I would like to close his account. They said "sure...we'll do it when you fax us a copy of the death certificate, and we'll waive the cancellation fees."

So...fast forward 6 months...that's how long it's taken for me to get an actual death certificate in my hands. I called Bell Mobility back to double-check on the procedures, and I asked about getting the last 6 months of payments refunded to me. The payments were being auto charged to my dad's credit card.

They said that they wouldn't give me a refund. Yes, they would cancel the account and not charge cancellation fees. And they also told me there was an outstanding payment. How can you charge a dead person fees? He's been dead and they won't give a refund on monthly payments they charge to a dead person's account? The death certificate shows date of death. Why ask for a death certificate to close an account if you're not going to do anything with the information? I could have faxed them the unofficial death certificate months ago!

BC Hydro, our lovely electricity supplier, wouldn't even LET me keep my dad's account open. TO make things easier, I asked if they could just put the bills in my name, and they wouldn't. I had to close his account and open a new one for the estate.

Bell Mobility, you get a big THUMBS DOWN from me. This is how you show thanks to your customers?

I can only do so much when Mr. Nick joins me for a family dinner. Everyone speaks Cantonese, and he can't understand. The only way that my family would speak in English is when they're speaking directly to him. It really is too bad he can't join in the conversations. I can either translate for him and not participate in the conversations, or I can participate and ultimately exclude him. (It's time to get cracking on those Learn Cantonese books I bought in March. I wanted to tutor him, but he'd rather do it alone.)

It's a difficult balance. Mr.Nick looked a little down after dinner, and I asked him what was wrong. He said was bored at dinner, but I think he felt ignored as well.

I felt bad not really talking to him last night at dinner, but I have so little time to visit with my relatives, and they're leaving next week. I feel like I haven't had a real conversation with them when he's there. At least tonight will be easier. I especially want to catch up with my cousin. She's growing up *sniff* (12 in October) and I want to make sure we have some sort of relationship!

While we were driving home, I told him I was glad he felt bored at dinner. But only because he experienced how I've felt when we've hung out with his friends (and they all speak English). He'll be having conversations with his friends, and his friends will talk amongst themselves. I'm usually uncomfortably seeking someone I can talk to, but I just end up sitting around trying to look like I'm enjoying myself because Mr. Nick is having a conversation with someone somewhere and nobody else seems interested in including me in their conversations.

So a while back, there was a woman breastfeeding at the Vancouver H&M store (I don't shop there...I hate big clothing stores!) and she was told to do it in a changing room. I don't know where she was originally breastfeeding...in the middle of the store? Then there was this outrage and there was a breastfeed-in later on. Maybe one day I will feel differently about breastfeeding, but why wouldn't she want some privacy in the first place? Why do women think it's their right to breastfeed wherever they want? We can't smoke and eat wherever we want...I'm not offended by women whipping out their boobs to feed a baby, but I just don't understand why they feel it's a right to do wherever they want.

I've been eating a certain brand of jumbo organic free range eggs and I love them!

Then I go to their Web site to find out that they're going to have another egg barn opening in May in my city! WOO! I think by then they will also sell organic chicken meat! YEEEEEAH!

Ever since I let it out with Mr. Nick, he's made more effort into ... I don't know what to do call it...doing stuff. He had asked me if I wanted to go to the cabin for the weekend. I didn't really want to go because I've been away for most weekends this summer, I had plenty of chores to do at home, and I have family visiting from Hong Kong until next week. So going away wasn't something I was too keen on. However, I said yes because he was putting in effort to appease me.

It was relaxing for the most part, but I was a little perturbed that I was reading alone for most of the afternoon. Before we left, I asked him what we'd be doing there. He gave a few possibilities but we didn't decided on anything other than going to the farmers' market. He ended up washing his car and did who else knows what. Reading while I'm not on the bus or at home means I have nothing better to do. I kind of felt like I wasted my time going to the cabin. My boyfriend would rather wash his car than do something with me, and he only tried to make up for it when I told him I was choked.

I really hate the apologies that come afterwards and his attempts to make things up to me after the fact just seem insincere. He felt horrible that ... he got in trouble? That was I was upset? I'm not sure which. I am trying to find something positive though. I did go to the farmers' market (LOVE those) and got to experience a slower pace of life (I do have a bad habit of not stopping long enough to enjoy life sometimes).

Time to buckle down and get to work over the next several weeks. If I behave, my posting should be a little less frequent! (And get this...my boss wants us to use MS Project. But we never work with set deadlines. We can only change our percentage complete and duration of each task. I guess we can change our start date, too. Isn't that ridiculous? We're not using MS Project to help us plan the project so we can see how things are going. We're using MS Project to make it look like we're on track...but with shifting deadlines.)

Chewy chocolate chip cookies are still on my mind...I can just imagine them touching my lips right now...The texture...melting in my mouth...Dipped in (soy) milk (or regular cow's milk).

Talk about craving!

I shared this craving with my co-worker who gets to hear about me whine about my food cravings, etc, and he said to me, "you probably wouldn't eat one if it was offered to you right now."

And it's true! So insightful.

So maybe I should just imagine myself turning down cookies. BWAHAHAHA

I guess there's been some miscommunication; I'll have to rectify the situation!

So months ago when my father died and I was in Hong Kong, Cindy asked me if she could have one copy of my father's death certificate. At the time, I didn't think anything of it, like she wanted a souvenir. I gave her the photo that they used in the services and on his plaque because she wanted that, too. And I said "sure."

Months later, I realised that giving her a death certificate would be a dumb thing to do, so I changed my mind. I wasn't going to mention it -- so what if she doesn't get her souvenir, right?

After I told her that the death certificates were almost ready, she called the agent asking for 2 copies for herself -- she didn't ask through me -- suspicious, no? And why would she need TWO copies? There was a flurry of action to prevent her from getting anything from the agent legally. And her sister insisted on being present to collect the death certificates, and she thought she'd win by holding the money I left behind as ransom. I had repeatedly asked Cindy to have her sister make arrangements with my aunt to pass the money over BEFORE the certificates were ready. (This was a significant amount of money and I didn't want my aunt to be in the hole when she paid the agent.)

Her sister found out that my cousin collected all the death certificates for me, and communication with Cindy kind of broke down. I didn't want to tell her I had them, but I do want my money back. Without mentioning that I had the death certificates, I asked her again to have her sister contact my aunt. (Cindy had told me her sister had made arrangements with my aunt -- lies. Cindy had also told me that my aunt was always busy -- lies. Her sister had not made any effort at all. Her only effort was to take the situation into her own hands.)

In an email today, Cindy asked me to tell her how much she owes me for 2 death certificates ... I think I will not reply to that for a while. And when I do, I'll have to tell her that she is not getting any and if she needs to handle any business on my father's behalf that *I* will be the one to do it thankyouverymuch. If she can say "no" to giving my dad's email (emails from her that *he* printed out) after she hands me the stack, I can say "no" to giving her things that are rightfully mine.

So yeah! That's that.

With my new training plan, I also have to increase my protein consumption. I'm not sure where to get non-meat sources. I've never eaten this much meat in my life! And I've been advised to cut down on my fruit consumption, but summertime is the best time for eating fruit!!

Anyway, I cooked up some chicken thighs last night. I had lightly salted them all day, and then I just pan fried them last night. I hope they are tasty. When I think of eating like a weight trainer, I just think bland. I've tried eating "clean" on several occasions but I couldn't make it a 100% lifestyle thing.

But I do look forward to eating oatmeal again!

With much regret, I've axed Big Brother from my list of shows to watch. It really is my favourite reality show, but I am too behind and I've missed a lot as well.

So I've given it up...after having watched every single season :-/ I'll have to watch the next one...

I didn't tape half of the video from the first episode. I missed the third week completely because I left my VCR on and the timer didn't work. And then my cable box doesn't get listings for more than 24 hours so I taped the wrong time on a few days. And then they changed the day of the show...and it goes on... So there is no point even in trying to catch up! :(

The only show I am watching is So You Think You Can Dance, and I know it ended ... last week? two weeks ago? I have the final episode to watch, but I already know who won. I really hate when people discuss TV shows in their Facebook updates. I think that is really lame.

Back to catching up on The Sopranos, maybe...I have all the DVD sets, and I've never made it past season 3 or 4, but I've watched Season 1 numerous times. I am also borrowing Dexter so I can watch the episodes from the first season that I missed.

My new computer can't come soon enough! I need to record my shows to my PC!

I think dinner last night was 2 and a half hours. We went to a teppanyaki place, and it was really good. The chefs cooked the food on a hot table in front of you. All the seafood was pretty much cooked with butter and soy sauce and then there was a lot of meat. It was a meat lover's dream! I am sure my family and I will be going there again.

This weekend I went food shopping at a store that caters to the folk who choose to eat natural and organic foods, etc. But these are rich folk, I think. I got some meat and vegetables and snacks, and it was probably half my usual food budget. I don't know if I will stick to eating organic after the program with my trainer. Well, I'll do the best I can but go to the mainstream supermarkets and buy from their (small) organic section. 

I'd like to find a place that sells organic meats though. I think I like organic chicken more than the "regular" kind.

So, I finally got my father's death certificate. I didn't really want to post about it since I didn't want that information in my blog. Anyhow, I'm sure she knows since her sister talked to my cousin the day after it was ready. I haven't wanted to contact Cindy since in case she asks me for a copy (as if). Anyway, she still needs to give me my money back. But I just had to send her email AGAIN about my dad's passport. She conveniently left it in Hong Kong, and oops, her sister can't find it? My father's death certificate doesn't mention he is Canadian but it mentions that he used to reside in Hong Kong. His passport would note his place of birth and his citizenship.

At least things are moving...It could be another couple of months before things are wrapped up and I can take over my dad's stuff legally. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't actually have to worry about Cindy and whatever she has up her sleeves.

It was a really action-packed weekend for me -- too action packed. Why is there always so much going on??

Friday, Mr. Nick had put in a lot of effort to find a restaurant to take me to and he made reservations and everything. I really appreciated the effort, but I was still too upset to over our last blowup. He picked me up from work, and I was upset all over again. I wasn't even in the mood to go on a date even though I have been wanting to plan dates for us. I guess I was upset that things had to get bad before he put in any effort -- kind of like a parent giving in to a child having a tantrum. We ended up not going because I was bawling and too upset. But we did end up talking some more.

I've been crying a lot more easily these days and I don't know why? There is always a trigger though.

Saturday I had my acupuncture appointment and then my hypnotherapy appointment. I cannot believe my hypnotherapy appt took 2 hours. We did some soul retrieval, and we worked on my fear of animals. I wonder if the images my subconscious sees really happened or not. I went back to a previous life, and I was a sad man. It was a lonely life. But the interesting part was that we worked on feelings, and she told me to pick a part on my body as references to these feelings, and I happened to pick my left hip and right knee. Those two spots bug me these days. I'm not sure if I really liked that session because it was hard going back in time.

Since the hypnotherapy session went longer than I thought it would, I wasn't able to do my exercises, laundry, vacuum, or cook. I was stressed out because I had to hurry and get ready to do some food shopping and go for a birthday dinner.

Sunday, we had dim sum reservations at 10:30 am. Before going, I wanted to...clean (vacuum, wash the floors, and bathrooms) go grocery shopping, work out, organise my dad's paperwork, shower, get food together for Monday's lunch. I needed about 3+ hours to do that all, and I didn't want to get up at 7:30 since we went to bed at 1 am. (It seems wrong to not get enough sleep on the weekend). So I was stressed out enough to cry. While I went to the gym, Mr. Nick cleaned my floors...I was really happy about that!

I wanted to do everything before dim sum because we had to be at Mr. Nick's parents' place as soon as dim sum finished. My plan was to spend the rest of the day in Mr. Nick's hood. We ended up deciding to come back to my place after the visit. That helped me a lot, but I felt guilt!! I hate when my plans don't pan out.

And I really hate that every day is a sacrifice of my to-do list. I haven't vacuumed in a month. Do I sleep or clean the toilets? Do I risk having to go grocery shopping on a week day when my days are late or do I see friends? Ugh!

I would like to do a cartwheel in a nice grassy field! But I am too afraid to attempt it.

I used to do cartwheels in my living room when I was a kid -- sometimes, one-handed!!

I also used to think the Olympics were an annoyance because there'd be sporting events on instead of Saturday morning cartoons!!

This morning, I had my real workout with my trainer. My body is TIRED! We did 4 supersets, and she made me use as much weight as my body could handle.

I used to do chest presses on a ball using 12 pound dumbells. Today, we used 25 pound dumbells on a bench. She tried getting me to use 30 pound dumbells but I could only do 6 reps. She also has me on digestive enzymes too!

Although Mr. Nick and I have fun when we're together, I've just not had a very positive feeling about the relationship lately. Things were really great for quite some time. Sometimes I wonder if I am miserable, but only because when I dated The Woman, he said to me, "I realised I was miserable whenever we were together." He almost mentioned relief when we parted ways. I don't think I'm miserable though. I just don't feel very loved.

Last night I also had it out with Mr. Nick. I called him when I got home from work, and he mentioned he had they day off. In fact, he's off all week. I had no idea he was on vacation. I was so upset that he didn't tell me. He thought he had, but he had only said he was thinking about taking the whole week off to stay longer in Oregon. Him not telling me about being on vacation was the last straw. Like there was no indication at all...he didn't mention anything about what he was going to do on his days off or what he did.

I've been feeling like he's in a relationship with himself...not sticking up for me in front of his friends...not telling me any details about his trip abroad (planning it or what he did...like I had to go to his Flickr Web site to see what he did on his trip?)...deciding that he was going to stay all week in Oregon and sending me home on a plane...not getting invited to his family function a couple of days ago...never planning anything for us to do...not being helpful when I am trying to plan something. I have been just tired of the lack of quality time and sick of being disappointed when he doesn't follow through with the things he says he's going to do.

During the weekend, it came up a few times when he did stuff and I told him I didn't feel like I mattered to him and that I wasn't special. I just really feel like he doesn't care about me anymore. I have to get really upset before he tries to smooth things over with his words, but they are pretty much meaningless to me now. On Wednesday, he was doing family stuff and I made some comment not being invited by him and he was like "you can come." We had a few words about it in the morning, and I left in tears. I had to go catch the bus to meet with my trainer, and on my way, I called him to thank him for the morning cry. I didn't hear from him all day until just after 10 pm, and he just went on as if nothing happened. [Knowing that I was upset and him not talking to me all day and night about it and then to gloss over it as if it never happened really upset me.]

So last night's conversation was a lot of me crying and him saying that he'd change or try harder. Hearing that just frustrates me because it means those actions would be unnatural for him. I used to feel loved. He didn't used to have to try. It all came naturally (which contributes to me feeling like he doesn't care about me anymore). He said he felt bad that I had feelings of worthlessness and like he didn't care about me. I don't even know how I feel about him. I don't want to break up with him, but I feel like I've given up.

Said by my waxer...

You have the smallest bum! It's so cute!

Session 1 was about relaxation and self-esteem. Yesterday's session was about relaxation and trusting myself. I mentioned the walls I put up. She said her dad had a saying that was something like "you can't trust someone if you can't be trusted."

The first half of the sessions are pleasant. I listen to her voice and visualise myself in beautiful scenarios all the while relaxing each body part along the way. The second half she says other stuff, and this is often when I find it more difficult to focus. She says it's my subconscious working. Last time I wasn't sure if I dozed off. This time I thought I was coming out of my hypnotized state.

At our next appointment, we're going to do some soul retrieval. Sounds interesting to me!

Mr. Nick and I continued our talk last night that pretty much started on the weekend about how I feel insignificant and unspecial in his life. And then he said he feels the same way about himself in my life. One of the challenges for me in a relationship is remembering that I'm not the only person in it! BWAHAHAA I'm not sure if the talk did more than give a small sense of hope that maybe things will improve a little for a while.

I had my first real workout with my new trainer today. I am tired! And hungry. I was in such a hurry that I didn't really have time to prep. (I'm using a wireless Microsoft keyboard right now at work and I'm not a fan of it. It keeps missing letters!!) We just went over exercises that I will be doing at home...everyday...twice a day. I didn't stretch, and my muscles are so tight that I am going to really feel it by the end of today. It will be interesting to see how I progress over the next 6 weeks! She said I handled the more difficult exercises with ease and that I probably progress quickly. (The easier exercises were harder for me?! BWAHAHAA)

I was away in Oregon this weekend for some camping. There was a lot of pretty scenery, and we saw some really cool sand dunes. Unfortunately, the weather was a little uncooperative. It was really windy, so there was time opportunity to lay on the beach. It also drizzled on our last day. I took advantage of the tax-free shopping...and I should probably not spend much for the rest of the month. I hope I can control myself.

I've been in decent spirits this week...since I had my hypnotherapy session. I wonder if it has had any effect on me. Things still upset me, but I have a sense of "oh well" optimism. Knowing that I will be dealing with Cindy in the near future? I can handle it. Feel like my boyfriend could treat me a lot better when we're in the company of other people? Maybe I should reconsider what I am doing with him. Or maybe I'm just reaping the feelings of a good workout. Who knows?

I just read an email from my boss that one of the R&D managers visiting from Australia was impressed by me after we met. That was nice to hear. Now if I only knew what I did to impress her...MWUAHAA

I also got an email from an old coworker from my last job. He gave me an update that our old company found a new tech writer. You know, I really don't care...And I wish he'd stop giving me updates and asking if I want to meet for coffee!!

One of my cousins in Hong Kong emailed me some really positive news! I hope this means good things for me asap.

Unfortunately, this is all I can say about in public.

And hurrah! It's Friday! And I get an extra long weekend!