Unearned privileges

I'm back in the big city with all the lovely pollen from all the beautiful flowers. I've also acquired a neti pot in an attempt to fight hay fever. It offers instant relief, but I haven't used it since I got back from my writing retreat last week. I'll keep you updated on how well it works in the long term.

I missed three things while I was in the teeny tiny house in the middle of nowhere. I didn't think of these things as privileges before the visit.

Trees and greenery
Apparently I struggle to live without trees. I especially like trees that are taller than me. It's not so much to ask in my opinion. I'm a shorty. From the little prefabricated houses you can't really see trees.You just see more little boxes. I was lucky to see a beautiful sunset at a guest house after I begged my friend to take me somewhere, anywhere to save me from cabin fever.

A beautiful sunset, but no big trees

Clean water
At home I just toddle over to the tap when I'm thirsty. Naturally the water tastes better (and is probably better for you) if you boil it first and then put it in the fridge to cool down, but it's perfectly possible to drink it. A little miscalculation in the amount of water at the beginning of the visit lead me to really appreciate being able to drink water whenever you feel like it since I felt I had to ration myself. The other water privilege only became apparent after a few showers. Little scratches became little sores. I can't imagine what it would be like to have to treat a serious injury there.

Silence
I didn't expect to have to add this to the list. The cliché of the quiet little village is a lie. Up to a point anyway. It's true that you don't hear the roar of city traffic, ambulance sirens or gunshots. The environment is quite quiet. This means that the doef-doef or the bass of noisy music carries beautifully; the houses are quite close together.

Little boxes

If you're like me, all the talk of little boxes will have made you remember the song. So I've added a link so you can listen to it. The first verse holds true, but unfortunately the people here don't all go to university. Some don't even finish school.

Master's
I remember seeing or reading about the downsides of rehab for addictions somewhere. Some people believe that rehab doesn't work since the people are taken away from temptation and weaned from using substances in an isolated environment. This does not necessarily help when they are returned to their ordinary environment. The same applies to the Biggest Loser programme. Many participants gain at least some of the weight back. It was easier to write when I had to face little temptation or irritation.

Project 36
Eating plan

Fun fact: eating food with a high fat content will make you gain weight

It's obvious, really. Since I've started visiting Marthie Leach I've eaten a low-fat diet. In the beginning I was a bit tragic about some foods that had to be moved to the only-eat-as-a-free-meal category, but my body has adapted. The week of eating snacks and "normal" food left me feeling fat.

Enter the dragon scale. The first weigh-in showed 2 kg more than when I left home. After eating my ordinary food and two days at home, it dropped to a 1 kg gain. Marthie Leach advocates a common sense approach to this - if you visit friends you will stray from your eating plan. Just remember to eat every two to three hours so that your body doesn't feel the need to hoard all the fat you're feeding it.

Gym
I haven't been there in a while. Must. Go. Back.

Writing retreat

Some of my blog readers are my friends (in other words, people I knew before starting to write this blog). The problem with having your friends on your blog is that they send you (nasty) emails or chats when they feel that you have not done your duty in keeping said blog updated. Benni, this update is for you!

Master's
I often hear of people going to "a retreat" to find or centre themselves. I always find this slightly ironic since a "retreat" is also a tactical move in battle where you choose to run away instead of facing more casualties. Since I'm battling with the Master's, I've done a bit of both this week. I'm visiting a friend who lives in the middle of nowhere.

I'm grateful that I managed to connect to the Internet today. My phone's network-based location is just "Southern" (mostly sunny). It doesn't even know that there is a (teeny weeny) town here. My friend isn't on leave so I work on the Master's in the day.

The view - it rained later in the afternoon

Part of the visit's success lies in the myriad of activities available: staring at the view or listening to the chickens. I can't even waste lots of time on the Internet since my network connection is precarious, to say the least. I can only connect to the web when the front door is closed and then only when my modem graciously agrees to function and not disconnect itself.

I've gotten some writing and planning done. For my visit it rained in the afternoons so I'm afraid that I tend to take a nap when the temperature goes down. On the other hand, the tactic of applying your derrière to the chair is working quite admirably; I've made notes and planned out notes and connections between two seemly disparate novels. On the other hand:

I've been sitting on the hard chair to the point where I've had to add a cushion

Project 36

The downside to there being nothing to do is that I’ve been snacking. Not the healthy Marthie Leach kind, the kind with fat and stuff (technical term describing my knowledge of unhealthy foods and my reluctance to think about what I’ve been munching): chips, my old friend chocolate and co.

You can't drink the tap water (without boiling and filtering it) and we miscalculated how much water I drink a day. Luckily we could made a supply run yesterday, but before that I was dabbling in carbonated sodas and lots of coffee to satisfy my liquid needs.

I'm a bit worried about my weigh-in when I get home >.<

Reunion coming up (update)

Final countdown
I started this blog in grand anticipation of my ten-year matric reunion. I was going to have a driver's licence, be much skinnier, and sommer (just because) for good measure be done with a pesky Magister Artium. So how far did I get?

Master's: not so good

Source: Wikimedia commons

My blog settings is that my blog should be for all ages. No parent should be horrified that their child accessed some Renoiresque girl's ranting about her degree and her weight. So I will use caution and only say:

<insert colourful language here>

Right, now that we've gotten that out of the way... When I started the blog I was adamant that if no chapters ensued by the end of the two months, I would give up the experiment and start job hunting. Guess what? It's five months on and yet, not a single complete chapter.  

<language containing even more of the picturesque>

I'm very tempted to give this whole thing up as a bad job. I'm thoroughly stuck and I'm being unfair to my good supervisor. And still, I'm stubborn. I don't want to give the whole thing up as a bad job. In other words, I'm extremely frustrated.

Project Nymphette: going well

Photo by Chris Mellows

 I have lost quite a bit of weight since the start of this project. I would guess at least 6 kg. According to the BMI, I still have 45 kg to go. They can forget about it. I've been that weight and it's just too skinny for me. I've lost most of the double chin. I can feel my ribs. I've lost clothing sizes. All this reminds me of a recent funny story.

Fun fact: you cannot wash shadows off

I don't always follow all the steps of my so-called beauty regime (just face  wash, toner and a cream), but I try to. I just wash my face by feel in the bath, but the toner and cream are usually applied while facing a mirror. Some time ago I started noticing that my neck seemed to be dirty. There were two (slightly) darker triangle-shaped spots that I just couldn't get clean. You guessed it, my bone structure is resurfacing and my collar bones and neck created some non-washable shadows.

Driver's licence
I haven't mentioned that part of the plan so far, since it does seem rather, well, embarrassing that I don't have one yet. It's a long story (all procrastination stories are). At any rate, I've returned to my driving instructor. Wish me luck

Support
My mom has been very sweet and I really appreciate it. I have more lurkers than followers, but the lurkers tend to encourage me in person on through gtalk. Thanks to everyone who takes an interest in the process!

Finally, Abinger Harvest is mine!

Master's
I took a week of completely undeserved doing-other-things time. This included the Great Wash (laundry and dishes), visiting Madam Marthie Leach the Awesome and sorting through papers. The Universe also responded to my wavering faith in the Master's degree by not allowing me to start gainful (in the monetary sense) employment in the corporate world. This message was delivered via a very kind and courteous you-are-not-the-successful-candidate email on Wednesday.

Today was a veritable triumph of endurance and sleuthing.  I broke through the conspiracy to halt my progress by finally going up to Unisa's library and making copies of the essays in Abinger Harvest by E. M. Forster. This sounds relatively simple, no?

Fun fact about me:

I have a bad knee.

In general it behaves itself, but it is not too happy with things like slopes. If you have never been to Unisa, the slopes look something like this:

View Larger Map

So halfway up the slope which my daring accomplice claimed: "was very short", both knees were very unhappy. Luckily a kind security officer assisted us and made us a special, dare I say it, disabled parking close to the entrance. Despite my stiffness and pain we continued on our brave search for the Essential Resource. We pressed through despite the queue and a general sense of slow moving. I limped my way to the shelf to miss, at first, and then find, with infinite relief, the book I've been looking for for over a month.

The essential resource

I should be mobile again soon - I've already started on the dicloflam (the disgusting generic of Cataflam, which works like a charm) and I hope to hobble less by tomorrow. I'll decide then if the whole shebang was worth it.

Gym
Murphy's law: if you go to the gym and walk far on the treadmill, you'll have to walk even further under less ideal conditions the next day.

Project 36
As discussed in my previous post, I had an appointment with Marthie Leach yesterday. I have mixed feelings about the results. My weight is up by 100g (which can be just winter clothing) and I've gained 0.5% body fat. I've discovered that your body retains fat when you get ill (and not just for heat as I supposed before).

Part of the joy in visiting Marthie Leach is that she is always supportive and always has ideas on how to handle whatever situation arises. The answer to my current need-to-feed problem is to eat popcorn. Live and learn. Act II Lightly Buttered popcorn (found in the local Spar in my case) is low in fat and high in volume. A whole pack of crunchy, warm deliciousness is the equivalent of two slices of bread (carbohydrate wise)!

I'm considering also posting recipes and low/no fat cooking tips. Leave a comment if you'd be interested :)