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Jul. 1st, 2006 12:19 pm– – – – – –
As I tend to do once I start on something, I’ve gotten a little compulsive on the whole fitness/weight-loss deal. I bought a set of ankle weights, and am now using them in my daily run (and was astonished to discover that just ten pounds adds another minute-plus to each mile); I dug out nearly a dozen bottles of various supplements, and am working out a dosage plan so I can take them without overloading my system. I’ve lost four pounds, which leaves me way too much to go, and I need to trim at least two more minutes (to give me a safe margin) off my two-mile run, but I feel I’ve made a good start.
The last person I talked to about the Defense Language Institute said they’ve changed the program. Not the language part of it, that’s fairly standard (although they’re putting a lot more emphasis on it these days); no, for some reason they decided that soldiers studying languages — even greatest-difficulty languages — should continue to do all the things other soldiers do: guard duty, various details, etc. Since the study requirements haven’t been reduced, that theoretically would have to come out of sleep time. I can’t function without adequate sleep, but fortunately I’m pretty near genius level at study-involving-memorization. Mainly I want to make sure I’m in decent physical shape before I ever get to DLI; it would be horribly discouraging to want it for so long, do well in the classes themselves, but fail because I couldn’t keep up with the basic physical fitness test.
Also, when you’re well under six feet tall and well past forty years old, you want to be able to feel good about your physical self. I’m at least twenty pounds shy of that point.
My stepsister has come over the last few evenings, and we watched the first six episodes of Medium, Season 1. She’ll be here tonight as well. It’s minor human contact, but it still contributes to my overall well-being. She’s also agreed to join me in my BowFlex workouts; she, too, could stand to lose some weight, and I suspect women are even more sensitive about such things (and thus, any improvement makes a bigger difference to them).
I set up the Alaskan cruise yesterday. It won’t be until after Writercon II. It cost me 75% more than I was hoping I could manage, but 20% less than I was afraid it might run. I was expecting a five-day cruise, but apparently they’re all seven-day. Okay, I can live with that. It’ll be interesting to see how this all works out.
There’s an annual Fourth-of-July rodeo in the city where I live (July 1st through 4th, actually), and members of my unit have been contacted about showing up at the opening ceremonies each day to represent returning servicemen. I’ve agreed to take part, maybe for more than one day. Again, waiting to hear back on that.
I still have things I have to do, still feel that I’m not maintaining fully suitable life-discipline. I’ve taken care of several important things in the last few days, however, and I know what I’ll be doing the next few days, so maybe I’m finally beginning to catch up. That’s one of the great things about the Army: a lot of discipline is externally applied. They tell you what you have to do, and there’s someone there to call you to task if you haven’t measured up. Self-discipline is still necessary, but the foundation is provided whether you like it or not. Back at home — especially since I’m living on my savings, rather than working a job, while I wait to find out whether I have a DLI slot — it all has to start with me. Takes some doing.
I absolutely need to start fic-work. That’s my major failing right now. That, and working my way through all the mail that collected while I was in Afghanistan. Most of it is junk, of course, but I have to go through ALL of it to determine which isn’t. Not that hard to do, really, but a big enough job that I hate to start.
As I tend to do once I start on something, I’ve gotten a little compulsive on the whole fitness/weight-loss deal. I bought a set of ankle weights, and am now using them in my daily run (and was astonished to discover that just ten pounds adds another minute-plus to each mile); I dug out nearly a dozen bottles of various supplements, and am working out a dosage plan so I can take them without overloading my system. I’ve lost four pounds, which leaves me way too much to go, and I need to trim at least two more minutes (to give me a safe margin) off my two-mile run, but I feel I’ve made a good start.
The last person I talked to about the Defense Language Institute said they’ve changed the program. Not the language part of it, that’s fairly standard (although they’re putting a lot more emphasis on it these days); no, for some reason they decided that soldiers studying languages — even greatest-difficulty languages — should continue to do all the things other soldiers do: guard duty, various details, etc. Since the study requirements haven’t been reduced, that theoretically would have to come out of sleep time. I can’t function without adequate sleep, but fortunately I’m pretty near genius level at study-involving-memorization. Mainly I want to make sure I’m in decent physical shape before I ever get to DLI; it would be horribly discouraging to want it for so long, do well in the classes themselves, but fail because I couldn’t keep up with the basic physical fitness test.
Also, when you’re well under six feet tall and well past forty years old, you want to be able to feel good about your physical self. I’m at least twenty pounds shy of that point.
My stepsister has come over the last few evenings, and we watched the first six episodes of Medium, Season 1. She’ll be here tonight as well. It’s minor human contact, but it still contributes to my overall well-being. She’s also agreed to join me in my BowFlex workouts; she, too, could stand to lose some weight, and I suspect women are even more sensitive about such things (and thus, any improvement makes a bigger difference to them).
I set up the Alaskan cruise yesterday. It won’t be until after Writercon II. It cost me 75% more than I was hoping I could manage, but 20% less than I was afraid it might run. I was expecting a five-day cruise, but apparently they’re all seven-day. Okay, I can live with that. It’ll be interesting to see how this all works out.
There’s an annual Fourth-of-July rodeo in the city where I live (July 1st through 4th, actually), and members of my unit have been contacted about showing up at the opening ceremonies each day to represent returning servicemen. I’ve agreed to take part, maybe for more than one day. Again, waiting to hear back on that.
I still have things I have to do, still feel that I’m not maintaining fully suitable life-discipline. I’ve taken care of several important things in the last few days, however, and I know what I’ll be doing the next few days, so maybe I’m finally beginning to catch up. That’s one of the great things about the Army: a lot of discipline is externally applied. They tell you what you have to do, and there’s someone there to call you to task if you haven’t measured up. Self-discipline is still necessary, but the foundation is provided whether you like it or not. Back at home — especially since I’m living on my savings, rather than working a job, while I wait to find out whether I have a DLI slot — it all has to start with me. Takes some doing.
I absolutely need to start fic-work. That’s my major failing right now. That, and working my way through all the mail that collected while I was in Afghanistan. Most of it is junk, of course, but I have to go through ALL of it to determine which isn’t. Not that hard to do, really, but a big enough job that I hate to start.
