So I have decided that I'm going to try to go out for beauty pageants again. (Its really good scholarship money and its fun to do too.) But before I get my butt into a swimsuit, I need to lose some of this weight. As I said earlier, I haven't lost anything since the last time I posted something like this. I am at 166 lbs at this moment. (I'll list all of the rest of this at the bottom.) I would like to be down to atleast 130 by next November to compete in my local pageant in Tahoe. (Its a preliminary to Miss America.) I'm not so worried about the weight, as much as I don't want my legs to jiggle when I am up there trying to look as pretty as possible.

So what am I doing about it? Well, I came home from my watching my niece compete and decided that the scholarship money was just too great for me to miss out on. I came home and logged online to read up some more on dieting and the like. I check my e-mail really quickly and notice that I have an e-mail from a gentleman regarding a video game he just purchased called, "Yourself! Fitness" for the X-box. He explains to me that this isn't a normal video game. It is like having a personal trainer and nutritionist in your own home at all times. This, of course, intrigues me. So I run out and buy it.

I get home with this product and the first thing it does is take you through a "test" stage to find out what kind of shape you are in so it can conform itself to you. "What?" I say. "You mean this game will change the routines based on how I do on these results?! That's amazing! I can't even get that at the gym I am working out at now!" So I finish the testing and it tells me that I am over-weight and I should be on the "weight loss" track. If I didn't agree with them, I could choose the cardio, upper body, lower body, etc. track. I, of course, agreed that I am over-weight and need to be on the weight-loss track so I select that one. Then it takes me to a weekly calendar that suggests how long you should work-out with the game each day, and how many days a week. You can always change the times too if you feel that some days you just don't have enough time. The really neat part of this is the weekly diet section that gives you whole meal plans for each day. If you don't like what they suggest to you, you could always select one of the other selections they offer. I hate planning meals, so this is fantastic for me!

After deciding which meals I want to eat for that week,(and writing down some of the recipes) I went to their website Yourself!Fitness.com and saw some of the other features, including an entire recipe book for your personal calorie intake level. (Which I am printing out now.) Then I made a sheet for myself to keep track of my weekly meal plans. I made a pdf for all of you too if you are interested. Download it here:PLEASE DON'T DOWNLOAD UNLESS YOU ARE PLANNING ON USING IT. WE NEED TO SAVE BANDWIDTH.

So far I am very impressed with the game. (If you can call it that. hehe) You can decide what kind of music you want to work-out to. There is a yoga section, and the work-outs will incorporate the equipment you have if you have it! Really, this is just amazing. I don't know how well it'll work, but I will long-term test it for all of you so you can see my results.

Here is the part I hate:
Height: 5'3
Weight: 166 lbs
Week on routine: 0
Waist: 36 in.
Hips: 43.5 in.
One Leg: 23 in.
One Arm: 12.5 in.
Chest: 41 in.

Self-praising exclamatory phrases aside, wow. Another year snuck right up on me and bit me in the ass. I've been doing this thing for FIVE YEARS. That just blows me away. I've never had this kind of dedication.... to anything. And still, day after day, I can't imagine just hanging it up, ever. Real Life is a part of who I am... it's an outlet I kind of need, and I'm glad to have it. And I'm glad you guys have been here to share it with.

It's been a while since I've ranted (been very very busy), so I'm just gonna rattle through a few things here. Try to keep up. First off, for those of you with G4/TechTV, if they replay Pulse, you might want to see if you can catch last friday's episode. (it's the one that's predominantly about Halo 2) They have a bit in the middle about the FFXI anniversary party, and they did a quick interview with me and Liz in costume, and then with Liz after she won the PC! I'm gonna see if I can't hack the TiVo or something, and rip the video and post it or something. Probably more trouble than I'd know what to do with, but hey. :)

Also of note, I've been playtesting this game for the N-Gage (they sent me an N-Gage QD to use, which I get to keep, so I've been testing that out, too.) called "Pocket Kingdoms". I'm still playing through it, but the game is ranked and I'm up against 99 other people for the playtest. If you wanna check out the results thus far, check it out at the w0rld. I'll be posting a full review of both the game and the new N-Gage in the next few weeks, so that should be spiffy. All in all, it's a fun game with a few faults, but since it's still prerelease, some of those could be fixed, and it would be a very fun game. They made sure we mentioned that it was prerelease - I'm sure they're waiting on input from the previewers. *shrug*

Last thing I have to touch on today is relating to the comic itself, and this is kinda gonna come down as a heart-to-heart. Basically, here's the thing - while I have been, on the whole, pleased with the comic as of late, I kind of feel on certain days that the writing just isn't clicking. This is a recent thing, and it might just be in my head. There's been a lot of things going on at work and home lately which I think may just be tiring me out. Not bad things, mind you, just stuff I don't really want to discuss yet. :) Anyway, I want to apologize if I'm slack with updating the site (not the strip... I make that a priority) over the next few months. I've got a lot on my plate, and I've never been the world's greatest multitasker. Anyway, because of all this, I kinda feel like I'm in a creative lull. Not a block - I can still think up comic ideas, but I don't think they're quite as polished or varied as they could be. It's something I'm recognizing in my own work, and I know a lot of you are gonna e-mail me to tell me "no, the comic's been funny lately", but let me save you the time. :) It's a matter of the drive to create, and that drive has been in low-gear on my end lately. Don't worry - it'll crank back up. I just want you guys to hang in there with me. You're the best bunch of readers I could ask for, and I'm ecstatic you've stuck with me this far. :) Don't worry, folks. I'll be back to normal soon.

Aaaand that's it for today. I'm off to get some work done, then finish up tomorrow's comic, and perhaps get in a bit of gaming to distract my mind for a bit. :) Take care, folks!