Hi,
This is the first of my monthly updates. I might be the last. You know I hate to be tied down! I thought I would give a quick rundown on progress in various areas that I have written about in the last month or so.
Weight Loss Progress
Since declaring I wanted to lose weight I have adopted the following strategy:
Start walking regularly > Start eating chocolate regularly > Get sick from too much sugar > Stop walking regularly > Stop trying to limit calorie intake > Start being strict about diet for health reasons > Lose weight. I have lost about 4lbs in 6 weeks which is OK as I am not very big anyway.
This might seem like a roundabout method of losing weight, but its typical of how things go with me. Big pronouncements often get derailed, but something more important crops up. I am being very strict about avoiding foods that I believe I am intolerant to, and as a result I feel fitter and lost some weight anyway. My weight has been fairly stable since I started avoiding foods that don’t agree with me, and that seems to be the best approach for me. I may have a bit more fat than you might expect, but since I don’t have much sugar, it seems to work out. Since I can’t eliminate everything, hot chips are allowed.
Focus Days
The system of having focus days to do specific activities is going well. Its holding its own for housework tasks, as it means jobs get done on a fairly regular basis and I think the place looks better for it. Its nice to clean a shower that isn’t in desperate need. The system was thrown out last week for my work-related projects because I went out two days in a row. (How dare I!). This meant I was doing things on the “wrong” days to catch up. But it really doesn’t matter, after all its MY system. Swapping days is allowed. Thanks to the system I did get some little jobs that I had been avoiding done on the relevant focus day, such as reconciling a complex account for some newspaper advertising that had become very confusing due to credits and part-payments. I felt bathed in excellent office feng shui after doing that.
Social Action Email
The politics and social action email account is up and running and I am checking it a least daily. I am gradually switching things over to that account. I feel happy about that decision as maybe I can go back on some mailing lists that I abandoned because of excessive communication clogging up regular email.
Greeting Cards
The Cornish Fishing Boats greeting cards were well received, so the are now in a couple of shops. Thanks to blog readers for your initial positive feedback, which emboldened me to go on. I have started updating my ImageChest Photography website with background stories on the greeting cards as I release them. I recently wrote a short piece on Exploring Traditional Cornwall at Mousehole on that site. I am now working on setting up an online store for greeting cards.
Thumbnail
I am enjoying my new online thumbnail image. It makes me happy to see the colourful tulips when I make a comment. Its not possible to have 100% compliance with the new look name over all online activities, but I am happy that it is more consistent.
Dreaming
Lately my dreams are inhabited by colour images of Paris like the one below, which is one of my favourites. If you are going to dream about your work, this is the way to do it. Certainly beats Student IDs, spreadsheets and decision trees.
May and September 