Territory

Heading to Philadelphia tomorrow morning at dawn's butt crack.

Went on the yearly field trip to Topeka this week which included much of the same sites as last time except for Lecompton, the territorial capitol of Kansas and the site of the start of the civil war. (Yes, i defended Fort Sumter for y'all, but these people are convinced.... they do have a point, that Bleeding Kansas was the first bloodshed over the issue of slavery, but if you ask me they're really splitting hairs.)

Still, it was cool, and i have a new history-crush (sort of like a man-crush, but on somebody who's dead): Jim Lane, an abolitionist and hell of a speaker. If you're so inclined, i highly recommend getting a copy of some of his speeches!

Anyway, since most of y'all back east don't live in states that have territorial histories, i thought you might get a kick out of this...


In other news, i have a date. Remember married guy? So, my friend called me Saturday wondering why i hadn't made it to the gathering on Friday night, and we got to talking. i asked him if the cute New-New-Guy (i need to get better code names for these people!) with the goatee and the killer smile was there and he said no, that he had RSVPd but didn't show. So i said, aw, that's ok, he's married anyway. my friend says uh, no, he's divorced... and i started verbally kicking myself and finally told him to send New-New-Guy a personal invitation from me to the next event. Yesterday... i got an email from my friend.... New New Guy is excited to see me and will definitely be attending on May 9.... heehee!!

When i met him last time, though, i felt bold and daring. i flirted like it was my last flirt. Now with so much time to anticipate it, i'll be all nerves and fidgets. i'll probably trip on my own toes and make stupid science jokes. How could i have NOT caught the 'ex' part when he was talking about his wife?!?

Off to Phila... the city of my birth...

Early Before/After Photos

Ok, so i had my camera out last night because i was packing it for school today (ever since i bought this SLR i've been drafted into taking all the class photos for the 8th grade slideshow). And Sao struck a pose.....



....so since i had the camera out i decided to snap a few pictures of myself and see what i could come up with. i know it's not a body shot, but i was pretty impressed with myself anyway. So, here they are, a little early (i'm at almost 35 pounds lost now... five pounds more than last time i posted about it). i always love seeing these things of other people so i hope you enjoy as well.......


Here i am at Thanksgiving, my highest weight ever in my life (i can't believe i'm making this picture public!!)....


And here i am as of Tuesday night, right about where i was when i moved to Kansas....


Stay tuned for the "lowest i've been since 2004" shot this summer and, hopefully, around my birthday, my "i know i'll never be a skinny minnie but i'm happy, healthy, and comfortable at this weight" shots!!

The 17-minute Mile

On Saturday i got up lazily at nine and ate breakfast with my cat on my face, as usual. When it was time for my walk, i decided to do things a little differently.

Perhaps because making my route longer has proven annoying (too few sidewalks, and i hate causing traffic jams as much as i hate walking plastered up against the brick walls that enclose ostentatious housing developments), or perhaps because you all and your incessant running have inspired me, i decided to push myself on pace and keep my safe, sidewalked, 3-mile route. It usually takes me 54 minutes, which means i walk a shameful 18-minute mile.

i decided i could push myself to 51 minutes (17-minute mile) to begin with and then work it back from there. i had to jog in several places, including the last several hundred meters when i should have been cooling down, but i did it. And i felt tired, and hurt. All good things.

Saturday, after dodging a tornado (only in Kansas could your social life be interrupted by a tornado), i went out with a new group of friends... ones i've known about since shortly after arriving here and have just now managed to hook up with... and i felt fine. Loose. Good.

But Sunday morning i was sore! Yesterday my muscles felt fine but the Nebraska-sized blisters on my heels were so bad i had to skip the gym for the first time in months. This is not good... an excercise routine that keeps me from excercising?!?? Help, running friends... i need advice! New shoes? (That rarely helps with blisters, right?) Mole skin? i had a dancer friend tell me to rub deoderant on the blister-prone spots before going on my walks... What do you think?

Good reasons to keep doing this timing thing:

• i really pushed myself and got a better workout
• i can set goals for myself to work toward, like getting back to my 15-minute average from before i moved to Kansas, and maybe eventually the 10-minute national average
• It's a way to gauge how fit i am becoming

Good reasons to stop doing this timing thing:

• i became absolutely obsessed with time!, and thought of nothing else... normally when i walk i put my headphones on and spend an hour having elaborate fantasies (which could be fodder for science fiction bestsellers, by the way) or sorting through my life... i've lost that as i mentally subdivide my walk and make sure i am on pace
• These blisters are killer!!
• i will have to be on par or better every time i walk; knowing me, i will not tolerate any backslides and will push myself even when i probably shouldn't

So, those of you who have advice, please help me out.

Sedgwick County Zoo

This post might also be termed 'dating sucks.' i shouldn't, of course, call it dating, as New Guy and i decided to be just friends after the Adoption Insult Fiasco (hereafter, "the incident"). i have to be careful about comparing new guys to Jeff. But in this instance i have to say that Jeff really did set a high bar. He accepted and embraced not only my love of Emily but also Emily herself.

Argue all you want for New Guy - he didn't know, he was just trying to be funny, the incident was a sincere mistake - a relationship is just not going to happen there. Which is for the best anyway: he was wanting more than i was, and that's just not fair to him.

So, we made plans to go to the zoo. Two friends who both love animals, and a nice walk. i had never been to the Sedgwick County Zoo before, and was excited to see it. But when i arrived at his place to meet up with him, he had laundry for me to do. Oh, and trash to take out. What?!?? i know that i'm bent toward more... traditional... relationships. But we're not in one, and this guy spent several weeks trying to convince me that i was wrong about that. So... why the chores, Mister?

i let it go and focused on enjoying the day. But between sung choruses of "zoo, zoo, zoo, I love the zoo," were random bits of advice on playing a good game of Zoo Tycoon®. (This from a guy who's been trying to convince me for months that the fact that he's two years younger isn't worth worrying about.)

In the evening we met up with a group of mutual friends for supper. And this supremely hot guy with a goatee and a killer smile walks in, sits down, and we have the best conversation about Bob Marley/Jimi Hendrix. He's a music geek, but not an Elvis fan. (Strike one, but i'm thinking he's hot enough to get one pass.) Two hours in, the crowd's thinning out... i'm starting to imagine an enchanted evening where we sit here until two in the morning just talking and losing track of time... then we wander into the parking lot and it's cold so he gives me his coat... then it ends with this tentative kiss that promises secret nights of ecstacy... and he drops the W bomb. No, he didn't vote for George Bush. "My wife and I love to camp...." i have a feeling that that's going to start happening to me more and more often as i enter my thirties.

Ugh. i repeat. Pointedly... dating sucks.

Anyway, here are the best pics from the zoo.

Two bar-headed geese sleeping together


Ruddy Shelduck


Demoiselle crane


Red river hogs fighting

P.s. - i'll make a deal with you... i'll promise to post before and after pictures at the 50-pound mark, if you guys stop asking every time i drop five. :) Seriously, though, especially with a big old SLR, it's difficult to take a good self-portrait, and i feel like a dork asking people to take them of me. So, i'll take one at 50 and another at my goal, if that sounds ok with you. i already have my "before" picked out... the photo that inspired the change!

P.p.s - Your support has meant a lot to me and kept me from more than a few pieces of birthday cake over the last few months. Thanks heaps, guys!

Drive-by Update

my brother's getting married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm getting one of the coolest sister-in-laws ever... AND a dog-niece!

i was accepted to the very prestigious Klingenstein Institute for their summer program run by Columbia Teachers College and will be in Princeton, NJ for two weeks in June.

i've lost another 5 pounds (slowing down, but i kind of figured it would... still going in the right direction, though)! Total: 30 since December 5th.

i have an interview in Philadelphia in May. Idaho didn't work out.