I totally forgot to do a WLW post last week. I totally suck. I finally remembered on Friday, but by then I figured the week was a total wash and decided to just wait until this week. So Nyah.
I'm not gonna talk about weight numbers today, just because it was yet another roller derby weekend and we all know how it goes after one of those!
Instead, I'm going to share something that I think makes up for any gained poundage and frustration and other such nonsense.
While on this roller derby road trip, we stopped off in Edmonton to get a little shopping in and a couple of my derby sisters went to Lululemon. Having never been inside one, since I'd always heard they don't cater to the plus sized crowd, I was curious and followed.
Upon arrival at the store, I wandered around, not really expecting to find anything since everything there seemed pretty tiny and I'm the exact opposite of that. Then I had the brilliant idea to see what they had for running pants. I wanted a new pair for the Emperor's Challenge anyway, might as well try and squeeze into something.
Turns out, I didn't have to squeeze. I officially fit into Lululemon running pants.
Did you hear me? I said I FIT INTO LULULEMON CLOTHES!!!!!!!
So I'm going to take this week as a win, because holy shitballs, I never thought I'd ever be able to say the above sentence.
Here I am before the bout in my shiny new lululemon running pants:
For the record, I wasn't running on this trail.
It's a step in the right direction. And for that, I can be happy.
Hey, guess what!?!? It's the one year anniversary of this blog! Yay! And to celebrate, I'm about to geek out all over the place!
After seeing all the amazing and wonderful stuff going on there, I would really like to make the trip to the San Diego Comic Con someday. Seriously, it's like a one-stop shop for all my pop culture geekiness! I decided to share some of the tidbits from my favourite TV shows, since SDCC is all about spoilers and teasers and other such awesome things!
The Walking Dead
Firstly, there was the trailer to Season 3 of The Walking Dead, which is still one of my fav shows even though the second season did drag quite a bit.
We have Michonne, we have The Governor, we have the prison. Hell, we even have Merle doing his best impression of Ash from The Evil Dead 2 (probably couldn't find an actual working chainsaw). This season looks like it's going to be an epic post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested, instalment as the two factions of Woodsbury and the Ricktatorship throw down amidst all the walkers.
I'm curious how much time has past since Rick woke up from his coma to the Great Escape from the farm. A week? A month? It can't have been all that long, can it? That's a lot of shit to go down in a short time span. Does the human body just get used to the constant output of adrenaline, or would it eventually just give up?
Spartacus
Next, we leave the zombie apocalypse and go back in time to ancient Rome for the final season of Spartacus! I loved the first season (Blood and Sand) of this essentially soft-core porn series (full frontal, male and female, lots of fucking in between the violence) – totally buff men running around in little loin clothes, hello!
Andy Whitfield was amazing as the title character, and I was very sad when he passed away shortly after that initial season. Gods of the Arena was actually pretty cool, using it as a prequel to tell the stories of how the House of Batiatus became what it was in Blood and Sand, but also as a space filler to try and let Whitfield recover from his cancer treatments.
Sadly, it wasn't meant to be and the series moved on with Liam McIntyre taking the lead role. I was actually quite impressed with the job he did in Vengeance, and I look forward to more sex and violence in War of the Damned.
I am kind of bummed that so many of the characters I really liked are now dead, with the exception of maybe three. Granted, they might all be dead by the end of the season, as War of the Damned is to be the final season. Just kill everyone off and be done with it! But make sure they all get to fuck a few more times before they do.
Breaking Bad
Would I know or even care what Bryan Cranston did after Malcolm in the Middle if it wasn't for Breaking Bad? Probably not.
Watching Cranston's character, Walter White, evolve from a meek, mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher to the drug cartel kingpin we see today has been some of the best character development and storytelling I have ever seen on television. Who Walter was when he discovered he had terminal lung cancer is not who he is today.
The beauty of it all is this story has to end. Walter needs to die, be it from his cancer or being taken out by his competition, it has to happen. With a bang or a whimper – though I hope it's the former, but could see AMC doing the latter quite well – the series is finite, which is actually really awesome.
Looks like Walter and Jesse are heading back to the fancy lab to get their cook on. Saul doesn't seem to want o be involved anymore and Mike, who really has become my favourite character, is ready to ice everyone. I really cannot wait to see how this series ends, I really do think it's going to be epic.
Season 5, which premieres tomorrow (yay!), is being douche-ly split into two parts – half this summer and half next summer. What the fuck, AMC? You did this with The Walking Dead too, and it sucked balls! I'm just thankful you've never tried it with Mad Men.
Sigh. Moving on!
Dexter
Dexter, you are a slick mother fucker, has anyone ever told you that?
Showtime didn't release a trailer for the upcoming season of Dexter, but rather gave us the first two minutes of the first episode, which picks up right where we left off in season 6. Seriously, if you haven't seen the end of season 6, which made the entirety of the season actually fucking worth it, then keep scrolling, because Immabout to get spolierific here.
Fucking finally! I'd been waiting six seasons for someone to find out about what Dexter does at night... to me, the above scene is the epitome of manipulation on Dexter's part. Never-ending stress, just trying to do is his job, bringing up Rita – he's playing Deb like a harp and will do just about anything to keep anyone else from finding out. Part of me kinda hopes he kills her.
That said, I didn't like the last season of Dexter. And I really wanted to like it, which makes the whole thing even more annoying. Maybe it's the never ending incompetence of the Miami Police Department that they've had yet to figure out there's a serial killer in their lab; maybe it's LaGuerta reverting back to her psycho-bitch self after making her an actually likeable character; maybe it's the fact that Quinn is probably getting written out and I actually liked him when he was introduced...
Oh, wait. I know what it was. it was the uber ickiness of making Deb in love with her adoptive (serial killer) brother!
Seriously, what is with all the incest on TV right now? Yes, I know he's adopted and therefore not blood related and yadda yadda yadda, but where would the series go if they actually acted on it?! They couldn't stay at the police force, let alone in Miami. They work together – EVERYONE in that building would know about it and I doubt they'd be very accepting. Maybe if Deb dropped the high and mighty spiel and became a serial killer too, they could go all Bonnie and Clyde or something.... still, it can't work, so please, for the love of fuck drop it already!
Game of Thrones
Hey, speaking in incest... since season 2 of Game of Thrones just ended, we don't get a teaser trailer for season 3 just yet. Boo!
However, they did release a clip of the newest cast members joining all the madness in Westeros next season! Yay!
I'm gonna start off by saying that the choice of actors to play the Reeds – Meera and Jojen – are damn near perfect. Like, holy shit, he actually looks like how I pictured Jojen in my head when I read the books. Awesome.
Many of these character are pretty minor, but when you're in a series when the major characters are constantly getting killed off (Red Wedding, anyone?) the minor players can move up pretty damn quick.
Other new characters will include Selyse Baratheon (Stannis' wife), Edmure Tully (Father of Catelyn Stark and Lysa Arryn), Tormund Giantsbane (hilarious wildling warrior), Anguy (archer, runs with Lord Beric) and Qyburn (former maester, stripped of his chain).
I really am madly in love with this series, both the book and the show. Season 2 had some much packed into it, but they told the story as best as they could with a 10 episode season. Pretty much everything that needed to happen, happened, just in a more compressed way. It worked for the series, and I can't wait for Season 3.
True Blood
Only took 150,000 tweets with the hashtag #SDCCTrubie to unlock this so we could see it... and it waspretty good... dunno if it was worth 150,000 tweets, but it was a nice little sneak peek into the rest of Season 5.
Eric is Sexy. Alcide is sexy. Roman is sexy. Do I really have to say anything else?
I do? Fine.
Russell Edgington is a psycho in the best possible way, goddamn I've missed him. The way he just chews the scenery is an art in and of itself. If he meets the true death this season, I'll be very sad.
I really don't care about Terry and Arlene – I've tried to care, really I have, but when that storyline about the Smoke Monster takes away from the vamps and weres, I just can't.
I'm enjoying The Authority, Chris Meloni brings all that intensity from Law and Order: SVU to True Blood and I am loving it.
I won't say much else until I've seen this week's episode, which looks like a good one!
And there you have it, not that anyone really wanted my opinion, but ya got it anyway!
Well, after two weeks at Fat Camp, it's back to reality and everything that comes with it.
I need to find a way to incorporate everything I was doing at Mom's into life here, because it really did help.
For eight of the 10 days I was actually at the house, we got up before 6 a.m. to go climb The Stairs, which are wooden steps built into the side of a very steep hill. They are a bitch to climb, but they get your heart rate up and work those lower body muscles better than anything else.
There are three rest points going up The Stairs. Last year, I'd need at least a five minute break at each point to recover. This year I managed to catch my breath in less than a minute. Endurance, baby!
The it was back down The Stairs and home for oatmeal. Mom wonders if there isn't something in oatmeal that reduces facial fat, because she felt my face had thinned out considerably while I was home. Same thing started happening with the Old Man after he started eating it for breakfast. I dunno if it's true, but maybe there's something to it.
Bowl of mush or secret fat burner?
After oatmeal and tea, I usually took a very long nap, since that was awfully early for me (5 a.m. my time!) and that climb is exhausting.
Now I need to work that into my daily routine, minus the nap. Work and all, it gets in the way of everything.
Or maybe I need to start going for evening runs again... I hate getting up early.
Anyways, all that climbing and oatmeal eating must have helped, as I'm sitting at about the 216 lbs mark, which is good. The size 12 jeans I bought that were a little tight now fit much nicer and don't cut off my circulation, which is better.
So that's all I got this week.It's been hot as balls here since I got back and I'm not enjoying living in the sauna I call my apartment. Hopefully I'll have more energy next week.
I've decided that I'm not even going to talk about weight this week. Instead I'm gonna talk about shoes!
Running shoes, that is.
See, after the wedding this weekend – where I ate too much food and drank too much sparkling wine – we stopped off at CrossIron Mills in Calgary before dropping my brother off at the airport. Mom wanted to find a more breathable running jacket and possibly some new running shoes.
I have been long overdue for a new pair of runners myself, so we wandered off to the Running Room. That is a very fancy running store with lots of fancy running stuff in it.
The Little Sales Clerk came over and asked if she could help us. My mom, who has already had a Running Room employee do the assessment on her knew what kind of shoes she needed, but I haven't, so I didn't know. I just figured, hey, I've always bought Sauconys, I might as well keep using them, right?
Well, Little Sales Clerk had me do the barefoot walk across the store. After walking down the aisle and back, she determined that I am an overpronator and that I wear down my shoes on the outside of my heel and the inside edge of the ball of my feet.
It was like she'd known my feet my whole life!
I always noticed that I wore down the outside heel of pretty much every pair of shoes I've ever owned, but I never really thought that it would effect my running in any way. I'm a little slow sometimes.
So once we figured that out, Little Sales Clerk showed me the shoes that someone with my gait should be wearing. I have to say, I was a little disappointed in the selection. The other types of shoes came in all sorts of pretty colours, while the shoes I get to wear were just boring white or grey with a single colour accent.
I wanna wear neon rainbow shoes, goddammit!
Sigh. Fine. I'll try those Sauconys on the wall. They have green and purple, that's almost as good.
Meanwhile, Mom had gone and found a pair on the bargain table that were last year's model of one of the store's top end shoes. Unfortunately, she's an 8.5, and they only had a 9 in those shoes.
Guess who wears a size 9 running shoe?
So I put the purple/green/grey Saucony one one foot and the white and turquoise Asics on the other and walked around the store. First off, holy shitballs I had no idea what a huge difference a proper running shoe would make it how it feels when I walk. Second, god-fucking-dammit, the Asics felt waaaaaay better than the Sauconys.
I am not destined to have pretty running shoes, it would seem.
Hello, shoes! Let's go for a walk!
That was on Saturday. It's now Wednesday and I've been wearing the shoes every morning when I go for my little hike/jog.
I never realized how wrong my old shoes were until I got these ones. Ever since I started running (by which I mean slow jogging) I have gotten pain in my calves that feels like a steel spike had been rammed up the back of my leg. I just figured that was my legs getting used to the running and eventually it would go away.
It never did. Until now.
I haven't had that pain since I started wearing these shoes. I don't know if that's because most of our jogging has been downhill or something, but I'm actually astounded.
So even though they aren't pretty, I'm very happy with my new shoes. We're going to go on many long walks and runs and hikes and everything this summer.
Besides, I managed to find a pretty green and purple water belt and a purple running jacket, so I guess that's an even trade.
