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!

Eat like a hobbit

Master's
Misery loves company as do struggling Master's students. (Is "struggling student" a tautology?) At any rate, my friend and fellow perseverer Anja started blogging again and says I inspired her to start up her blog, Coram publico, again.

It seems that I have finally relaxed and slept enough to start writing. I was starting to read Emma again when the whole of one chapter of my Master's flashed into my head. Parallel structures, parallel plots, love and marriage and structure cannot be two chapters! Luckily I have a MA notebook (the techno peasant version with a book and a pen) in which I noted my ideas so that they wouldn't go missing in the night. Hooray! It feels like I'm finally starting to get work done.

Project 36
My visit to the dietician went remarkably well. I do not feel that I will starve - instead I don't know how I'm going to eat so much. Apparently the way to lose weight and make the good old tum happy is to eat like a hobbit. Yep, my eating patterns were predicted by JRR Tolkien. Breakfast is to be eaten within an hour after surfacing from a night's sleep. Since I usually skip breakfast this is the worst part. Then follows elevenses, lunch, supper, dinner and a before-bed snack.

I've been attempting to do the portions a day. It's harder than I thought. Not because I feel that I'm being starved, but because I don't feel that I can eat as much and as often as expected. A few days of eating hobbit style have convinced me that the reason for eating as soon as possible after waking up is that it is the only way to eat so much in one day!

Sleep
Incidentally, Marthie Leach, the head dietician at Litchi Living made my day. I've lost 2 kg since I stopped working and started sleeping (1.5 weeks). That's right, sleeping your eight hours a night (or a bit more in my case at the moment) will make you lose weight. This explains why the care bears and any other creatures that inhabited fluffy clouds in the eighties were just cuddly and not "overweight" or "fat".

See, cute and cuddly!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream

Despite good intentions, despite the blog... I succumbed to the wonders of ice cream today. You see, I figured that eating a Magnum mini once in a while couldn't do any harm. After all, have you seen the advertisements ?

Eva Longoria - the face of Magnum

I'm just sure that she doesn't give in to temptation and munch three mini Magnums in one day. That only works out to 1.5 usual Magnums, but still not a good idea. The next enemy this Easter is Lindt chocolate bunnies. Chocolate is my borg. "We are the Chocolate. You will assimilate us. Resistance is futile. We will go straight to your hips."

On another note - the sleeping is still not stopping. I slowly wake up, roll over and look at my cellphone (who still owns a watch?) and realise that half of the day is gone. What am I recovering from? Am I catching up on a year of sleep? Perhaps it's combined with my desire for chocolate and indicates that I'm ready to go into hibernation. I have heard that bears lose a lot of weight while hibernating...

P.S. Shaved my legs today

Embrace of Morpheus

Master's progress
I'm gathering my books and I've made an appointment with my supervisor.

Project 36
I missed gym today, but did some shopping, paid off my debts and helped to lug the new mini-oven around. I ordered something not really recommended for diets (a chicken pot pie) for brunch but I did manage to only eat until I was full instead of sitting down and devouring the entire plate. I also successfully resisted all the Easter chocolate displays.

Courtesy of a nice long discussion this weekend with friends, I've decided not to let weight feature here. After all, I'm trying to become a size 36. Since muscle apparently weighs more than fat, the exercise that I intend to do might make me miserable before I start seeing the real results. Despite the thrill of public pressure to lose weight and attain other goals, I'm also not going to post my vital statistics (although I will note them down and keep them in a secret, safe, hidden spot).

Morpheus, god of dreams and son of Sleep - Ovid

Thus far, my experience of being a full-time student is just that I sleep. A lot. Friday, 1 April, was spent sleeping. I woke up, moved around and got back into bed and slept. The same for the weekend and today. I feel like an Augustan débutante - I'm awake in the middle of the night (I'll leave you to imagine why and make my life more interesting) and sleep till noon. How long can this last?