This is make you think...

...and maybe cry a little. You can't read this article about Pakistani brides being burned and blinded with acid by husbands and family members in "shame crimes" and still triumphing against their adversity (in little, yet I think especially profound, ways by becoming beauticians and by just NOT hiding) and not be touched by it.

There's also a stunning slide show to underscore just how terribly. I recommend you check it out, then take it to heart and maybe go donate some money to a battered women's shelter or other such charity. I think I will.

Rushing past the sights I'd want to see...

This weekend has gone by in a flash. The past week went just as speedily.

I've joined a gym - lost 5 1/2 pounds in the last 7 days - which I think is damn good, all things considered. I went 5 out of the last 7 days, and will be in every other day this week. I just kind of eased into a decision I'd been batting around for a long time now. I'm not getting any younger. I've never been the most physically active person in the world. If the body is a temple I tended to treat mine much like the Taliban would, all but blowing it up.

I have always looked at my father as being a healthy, active man. He's constantly seemed more fit than I have ever been. About a year ago, he was diagnosed with diabetes and I learned just how much in runs in the family. Well, when someone who's always been trim and active has to make major modifications at sixty... you realize that your genetic imprint is probably running a speedier course towards the same results.

So here I am, on the elliptical every day and taking a small personal training package to learn how to properly use the circuit and weight training machinery. I'm going to get fit, while there's still time.

I've already made a lot of dietary changes over the last few months. I'd started South Beach and did really well whenever I was in town -- still a believer that vacation calories don't count. Sadly, my first workout proved that you need some carbohydrates in your body if you don't want to wind up laid out on the floor trying with all your will power not to vomit after exercising.

Today, I just spent a good 3 hours prepping a weeks' worth of black beans and rice lunches, along with roasted veggies, 2 days of fish, 2 days of eggs, and I'm about to apportion out a week's worth of salads. I have after work appointments Monday and Wednesday, so I now have to start hauling around 2 meals in my lunch box on those days. I guess this is all going to be about discipline; about habit and repetition. Staying organized at home and on the road. It's going to be big changes and I really hope I make the most of them.

I'm not sure if I'll follow the Nala example and try to start getting up at the crack of dawn to get it in before work... but I do see myself stopping by after. I saw the results he produced the first time he hit the gym and knowing he's going again is inspiring to me. I always think how I need to make these changes -- my health, getting a job; but I'm using either "feeling blue" or "no energy" as an excuse. Well, I won't have those excuses anymore. If I am afraid of results, or change, or testing myself -- tough. It's time to do it.

Let's hope I get motivated and active and soon find a new job that would make getting to these gyms VERY inconvenient! I'll take the new habits with me though... til then I'll be "up in the gym just workin' on my fitness."

(god, I just LOVE an obvious musical cue)

Where I've been (make it quick)

I got back from a whirlwind trip to Columbus over the weekend and hit the gym on Monday. Evidently you need fuel, in the form of carbohydrates, before you do 40 squats... thanks, personal trainer, I luvs ya fer lettin me know... I did more exercise than I thought I was capable of and spent 30 minutes lying on the gym's floor trying not to vomit. Good times!

I've been in miserable pain for the last two days and haven't hardly been able to claw my way to the 'puter after work. That said, at least I worked a lot out today...

I promise this weekend to get caught up on posting and pictures!

Ten pounds lighter and terrified...

What's up with all the beheadings in the news lately? One in Canada, one in Brazil, and now Greece. As we all know, three means a trend. Is this the new hipster lifestyle choice? When will the trend-tracking article come out? Is decapitation the new black?

I'm making light, but seriously, what the hell is wrong with these people? The two "domestic violence" beheadings make me terribly sad, but the stranger chopping on the bus in Canada is especially chilling to all of us who travel...

UPDATE:
It gets worse, as if that is possible.

She said Vince Weiguang Li had a plastic bag containing his victim’s ear, nose
and part of a mouth in his pocket when officers arrested him. The only response
officers received from him was: “’I have to stay on the bus forever,”’ Dalmyn
said.

As someone who's traveled a lot I guess I've been very blithe about my personal security. There's something about this story that bothers me to no end. Poor young victim? Random savagery- and evidently it was random - that comes out of nowhere? The precious shortness of life? (God I hate being reminded of that) Have we just maxed out our capacity for dealing with crowds and we've hit our "Sink," where we just go to madness?

Pet Packaging Peeve

Why am I so skeeved out by the people who were going through everyone's recycling bins as I left the house this morning?

There's been a rash of it over the last few months. You put all your recycling out on the curb at night and when you're leaving the house in the morning it looks as tossed as your trash does when the raccoons get into it.

This morning I set my recycling out and looked up to find the dumpster divers. There were a couple of yuppie-looking types in Tie-Dye T-shirts who hopped out of their SUV and started bin-diving with big trash bags. As they were a cheerful looking bunch in matching shirts I'm tempted to believe they're part of some organization or charity. This however still files them under the heading "just nasty people" for me.

I took my recycling back in. It just bugged me that they were so nakedly riffling through my neighbor's garbage. I'm thinking I must be some kind of a tight ass (just some kind?) but I'm averse to their making money on the back of my empty empty-calorie containers. I know Rumpke does, and I know I'm being irrational, but at least I feel like I'm choosing where it's going, rather than the scavengers taking some sort of perceived "advantage." (After reviewing that sentence, I'm questioning if I don't need some meds, frankly.)

As I was getting into the car the guy called "Didn't want us going through your stuff?" and I really had to fight the urge to turn around and bawl him out for what really is pretty harmless... so here, I guess, is the question: am I offended that they were parasitically making money off of every one's refuse (illuminating that I could be doing it myself if I chose to go through the hassle) or that they were a couple of SUV-driving prats?

Or is it just one more offence piled on top of the random, ever changing junk yard that's being set up at the next door neighbors house? I look at their rusting refrigerators and shopping carts that pop up from time to time and feel powerless and disrespected (especially with all the work I've put into keeping the house in a show-able condition). Then, I get to turn around and find someone else literally "poaching" off of me. Maybe I'm just bucking for some social lice-shampoo...