Wherein Bry predicts the end.

I'm pretty sure that 50 years from now they will find my body buried beneath a stack of books, smothered by the weight of the pages and the memories of the stories they tell.

Today I woke up and rolled over only to get a paper cut on the book laying on the pillow next to mine. And below the pillow were two more books.

The offending book that lashed out at me was Lighthousekeeping. I just finished it, my nose still stinging from the book's shallow bite. But I did enjoy it so hopefully I'm forgiven for rudely crushing it with my a.m. stretches.

The next two books waiting to attack are Deja Dead and Confederates in the Attic. I only hope they are gentle with me and do not ambush me in my sleep.

It is too late to stop sleeping with books in my bed. They are like midnight surprises. Visitors have to fight for their own space. For God's sake, my bed side lamp sits on Childcraft encyclopedias!

I never want to answer "a magazine" to the question "What was the last thing you read?"

Wherein Bry tries to say something meaningful for once.

Today I was thinking about how lucky I am that RF is so supportive. He always has words of encouragement. He always has my back. His support of me is unconditional and I am incredibly lucky to have him in my life.

The same goes for my mommer. She is the nicest, smartest, most compassionate person I have ever met. I absolutely love her to death. If I end up just like her, I will be a lucky woman. When people talk about their relationships with their parents and how much they wish things could be better, I keep my mouth shut.

My mom is wonderful and amazing. I love her. Each time I talk to her on the phone, I feel better about everything. Even if I was feeling pretty awesome before the call.

I think the most important thing is to surround yourself with positive people. People who will love you no matter what. I know that I can be a hard person to love and I'm glad that mommer and RF are willing to do it.

Wherein Bry continues to jog.

This morning I woke up at 9am to go run on the treadmill. I laid there for about ten minutes. I had absolutely no motivation.

Text to RF: I have no motivation to go jogging say something to make me go.

RF to me: What would Jesus do?

Me to RF: I assume you mean Madonna's boyfriend. Point taken. I am getting out of bed.

So I got up and worked out for about 35 mins, my Jogging for Dummies routine is 22 mins this week and then 10 mins on the stairmaster. It works out to about 1.5 miles actually jogging and about 0.5 on the stairmaster.

I am also walking to work everyday. I have walked to and from work all five days this week. (I think. EB may have dropped me off once). That is about 3 miles of walking each day. By car it is 2 miles but after cutting through a few parking lots, it may be down to 1.5mi each way.

So far so good. I do need to get ann appointment to deal with my thyroid. I have not been taking my medication so any weight I may lose is a miracle. I have the worst metabolism. Just like Oprah!

Wherein Bry works on #15: Be creative.

Wherein #5 of 30 is going well.

Project Update: 30 New Things

#5: Jogging

In my last blog about jogging, I was pretty casual about my progress and mentioned trivial side effects of the actual act of jogging.

In the few days since that blog, I have increased my research, interest and dedication to jogging. The success of #5 directly relates to #10: Lose 30lbs.

To achieve #10, I need to lose 3.25lbs per month. This is a small monthly goal that I can meet by jogging and eating healthier.

I would like to lose more than 30lbs (30 new things, 30th birthday, 30lbs...do you see the pattern?) and secretly that is what I am shooting for. Of course, I should probably weigh myself this week so I have my starting weight.

Back to the previously mentioned new found dedication. Yesterday I did what I always do when I am trying to figure something out. I found a good book to tell me how things should work.

So today I started a 10 week jogging program that will gently increase my jogging times and distance. It is a very easy program involving a continuous cycle of walking a few minutes then jogging a few minutes. A rudimentary process, something GM and I even talked about last week, but I think it will work. And there was a spreadsheet diagram! (I'm kind of in love with Excel documents.)

I did the first level tonight on the treadmill at the gym. I think it will work best to do it on the treadmill for the first week or so. The programming on the machine made it easy and I was able to watch TV while I ran.

The gym I speak of is the small workout room here in the apartment complex. It is the size of a small living room with a treadmill, weight machine, exercise bike, and stairmaster crammed into it. EB swears she never sees anyone in there but I have had to share the room with someone the 3 times I went in there this week. I'm hoping these people will go back to being lazy, after the New Year's Resolution buzz wears off.

Yesterday I had to watch a woman in Uggs jog. Today there was a teenage boy in boxer shorts. Plus a young mom with her toddler running around while she lifted weights.

I am starting to like the process, I am getting better and this new routine is a great way to measure improvement. Much better than my willy nilly plan of just running around the streets of my neighborhood. Plus, I have been doing a little extra on the stairmaster, a machine I absolutely hate.

Wherein Bry spends the day doing absolutely nothing.

Today was day 2 of the days off. Like normal, I did absolutely nothing. I struggle to think of things I should be doing on my days off.

I will pretend that sleeping all day and watching five hours of the Gilmore Girls is exactly what I should be doing.

Mom has kept me updated on Fatty's recovery from her surgery. Apparently she is like a whole new dog.

She is shaved on her neck and one side where her biggest lump was. She has about 50 stitches.

Mom said that after a day or so of lethargy, she is now back to normal running around and being her normal old, fat self. Perhaps with a little more energy.

I'm happy she is doing so well. Sixteen is old for a dog, but Tyra has always been fat and happy. And it looks like she will be fat and happy for a bit longer.

Wherein Bry makes a New Year Project.

A few weeks a ago I declared my intent to accomplish a list of activities and projects. This was in honor of my 30th birthday in September. Well there is no backing out now. Too many people have heard of the project. This will be the first of many updates about my endeavors to do 30 new things this year.

#5 of 30 - Jogging

Today I went on my second jog of the year. And it is not really jogging yet. It is more jogging between bouts of walking. I am trying to go 3 times a week and then increasing to 4 or 5.

I do not like it. It is hard and a little uncomfortable. I can't go very far yet. But I have heard that eventually I will have a breakthrough and it will be much better.

I have mostly been jogging at night. Tonight I wore some sweatpants that I realized were too big but only after I was a bit far from the apartment. And I had to wear a hat to keep my headphones in. The buds are too big for my ears and fall out. Plus, no pockets on my pants so I had to stick my key in my bra.

I'm as classy at exercising as I am at everything else.

Wherein Bry goes to the east county.

I decided to go out to Walmart in Clackamas today after work. I got off at 1pm so I knew I could get out there and then get home before too late.

I wanted to spend the gift card I got for Christmas on something useful, like a cast iron skillet. Once I got that in my head, I couldn't think of anything else. The one I wanted was not available online. Thus necessitating a trip to the store.

I've been a little spoiled lately because I walk to work and therefore only take the bus maybe ten minutes when I do take it (less than 2 miles to work). Or the express bus downtown (mostly business folk, less crazies) or the train to Beaverton for shopping (definately less crazies and more room to hide from them).

The closest Walmart is in Clackamas off of 82nd, a street known for its Asian restaurants, hookers and discount stores. It takes four buses and 90 minutes to get there.

It was a very long bus ride full of annoying and crazy people. Plus, I'm always amazed at how dirty Clackamas looks. Both in the air and the trash on the ground. And there is a constant feeling of despair in the air and on the faces of the other people.

I arrived at the store to find that they did not have the skillet I wanted instock. So I wandered around for about 30 minutes trying to decide if I wanted to get something different, spend more than planned on an in-stock skillet or order another skillet online.

I hate shopping. I suck at it. I can't even pick out shampoo without hours of indecision. If I don't have a list or a specific item in mind, I'm screwed. Everytime I picked out something new, I felt disappointed. Perhaps I should not have been shopping on an empty stomach with a caffeine deficiency.

I left the store without spending my gift card. Instead, I bought a bottle of laundry soap and some purple eyeliner. I could have bought both of these items for the same price a block from my apartment.

So I spent 90 minutes on the bus, an hour in the store, and another 90 minutes on the bus home with $6 of purchases to show for it.

I feel very depressed. As I was paying for my laundry soap and eyeliner (which will surely be a mistake), a woman got in line behind me. She said, within 90 seconds of standing near me, "I don't know why they gave me a gift card with a baby on it. They know all my children are dead."

I'm never leaving my house again.