Finished

This is going to be a short post, because I'm already in the middle of another book. I finished Fifty Shades of Grey, and I'm going to go ahead and get the next two. In the end, she.... wait. I don't want to spoil it for you. Let me just say, there are some disturbing parts in the middle, but it's a pretty decent read if you can over look the fact that it A) started out as Twilight fanfiction; and B) really is shitty writing. If you took out all of the "I flush" "he slammed" and "whoas" and "holy shits/fucks", the book would be half as long as it is. Take out all the cliches, and you've got a book you can finish over your lunch break. But hey, I'm not at the top of the NY Times bestsellers list, so I'm just gonna shut up now.

50 Shades of WTF

Aagghh!! It's been so long since my last post; my goal of posting every day was NOT met. =( ok, so here's a quick update: I've drank beer, so the 30 day thing didn't happen. But, I have cut back... I've had four since the 12th, where as normally I would have had closer to fifty by now. Drinking beer also means I've cheated on the Paleo diet, but for the most part I've stuck to that pretty well too. I had icecream the other day, but a very small amount. Of course, Crossfit is still going well.  I haven't written anything since my last post; I've been busy with I don't even know what. No excuse, but it happens.

Ok, so what I REALLY wanted to post about is what I've been reading: 50 Shades of Grey. I can't decide if I like it or not. First of all, it's pretty poor writing, filled with cliche's and really shitty dialogue. (And it started as Twilight fan fiction. I don't know why I expected better.) Secondly, it's  story bout a woman willingly agreeing to be submissive to a man. This is where I'm torn. On the one hand, I can understand women wanting men that are, well, MEN. Someone who will make decisions and take responsibility, and who want to provide for someone they care about. It's annoying that just because women are stronger and more independent now, men think it's ok to be less than gentlemen. No woman wants to date a pushover. But this book takes it a little far. Grey wants to be completely dominant, even going as far as to not let her look him in the eyes without permission. It worries me that women seem to be so ok with this. I just saw a facebook post that says "For all men who think women don't come with a manual... Found one" with a picture of the book. This book is perfect for girls who dream of rehabilitating the "bad boy" (Grey tells Ana he is "fifty shades of fucked up").  I, however, am not one of those girls. I do not want a fixer-upper. I have enough issues of my own, I don't want to fix anyone else's. The sex in the book is hot, even though we read it through the super awkward lense of a prudish girl. I just don't understand why there needs to be a contract to have kinky sex. Anyways, I still haven't finished the book, so I won't make my final judgment yet. All I'll say so far is I would choose Elliot Grey over Christian in a heartbeat.

Cravings

Holy shit, it just hit me that June is almost over. My summer is flying by!! =( Ok, so I failed and didn't post yesterday, BUT it was a successful first day of Paleo. I even went out to eat and stuck to it! (ok, not COMPLETELY... I did dip my veggies in ranch. I'm ashamed.) Day two of any diet is always the hardest, I think, because that's when your body starts craving all the bad shit you've been putting into it. After Crossfit today I was really craving carbs... like, seriously, there's a box of whole-grain waffles in my freezer screaming at me. But I overcame the craving and made some bacon and now I'm waiting for my sweet potato fries to get done baking. (Cinnamon and Cajun seasoning = mmmmmazing.)
I know that some people disagree on what is Paleo, exactly, and what's not, and one of the main things people argue over is honey. Well, screw everyone, I drink raw honey in my tea (also arguably not Paleo) each morning. I use about two teaspoons to a tablespoon. Besides that, the only other sugar I consume is mainly from the fruit I eat, which is not a lot right now. So suck it, honey-haters. Oh! That reminds me, I want to warn you... when looking for Paleo blogs, make sure you apply the same rules to discerning which ones are legit as you would to anything else on the internet. I've come across a few with some real idiots commenting on them. (The best bet is to go out and buy a couple books, then decide for yourself which internet sources are reliable).
Another big adjustment with this kinda diet (ok, LIFESTYLE) is that you have to get the idea of "traditional" meals out of your head. You don't have to eat at a certain time... you eat when you're hungry. You don't have to have a three course meal, either, or even a meal that includes all the food groups. Listen to your body... it's a pretty good indicator of what you need. (ok, don't listen to it at first because it's going to be screaming SODA!! COOKIES!!! CAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKEEE!!! but after awhile it'll start telling you when you want fruit, or veggies, or protein.)
Alright, my fries are done. Peace, everyone!
WTYL,
Rhyen

A Productive Weekend

               So despite going out Friday night (without drinking beer, might I add! Sad face), I actually got up and went to Crossfit at nine on Saturday. Pretty proud of myself, I must say. That makes three weeks in a row I’ve went five days. I already went today, and it was pretty rough. We did the entire WOD outside and I went at noon… so it was hotter than a _______.  

                After I posted on Friday, I was also pretty productive. I tweaked a few short stories and submitted them for publication. I need to submit them to several more journals, but finding ones that fit your work and what not is kind of a daunting task.

              The most important thing I wanted to write about today is that I finished a book on my list! Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children turned out to be really, really good! I finished it at one thirty this morning. The author, Ransom Riggs, collects unique photographs, and he included some of his own as well as other collectors’ photos in this story. After I finished the book, I wondered… did he write the story around these peculiar photographs, or did he search for photographs to fit his story? Either way I think he has to have a brilliant imagination. I really want to know though, so I did something I’ve never done before… I emailed the author. I have no idea if he’ll reply, but it would be really neat if he did (plus it would guarantee I’d buy his next book). If you get the chance, I really recommend this book. It’s a pretty quick read, and definitely worth the time.

WTYL,
Rhyen

Busted

                Well, I had my first blow out today. We did a half “Eva” at Crossfit today, which means 75 pull-ups (and 75 kettlebell swings and a total of 2000 meters of running). As I collapsed on the mats after yelling time, I noticed I had ripped my first callus. Of course, in Crossfit, this is a rite of passage, so of course I was a little proud. Washing the chalk off my hands burned like HELL though, and so Coach and the other two trainers heard some choice words coming from the bathroom. I finished in 25:40 though, and the average time was around 28:00, so I’m super excited about that. A girl I normally work out with actually worked out an hour before me today and apparently went BEAST MODE and finished in under 22:00. She’s a badass. If I could get the running part down, the swings and pull-ups really aren’t all that bad.

                I’m headed to a coffee shop downtown now to sit outside and sip some coffee and work on submitting some of my stories. Here’s to another round of rejection emails!! Hope ya’ll have a great weekend.

WTYL,
Rhyen

Ups and Downs

                So today has been a day of ups and downs. Up: I got up to go to Crossfit. Down: I realized my kitchen was infested with ants and gnats, so I didn’t get to go to Crossfit. Up: I had more time to get ready for work. Down: Work sucked. Up: When I got home, I was able to drown most of the ants with Clorox kitchen cleaner. Down: My kitchen now smells like Clorox kitchen cleaner. Up: The experience inspired me to write a short story. Yaaaayyy!!

                I tried to console myself about not going to Crossfit… My right shoulder has been really sore, and so I probably needed to give myself a day off anyways. Plus, I don’t work Saturday, so I can go then and still make it five days this week. My non-Paleo food supply is dwindling; I think I can go strict Paleo starting Monday. Fingers crossed!!

                I am so so so so so so SO happy that I have finally written something. It’s extremely short, only 906 words, but it’s a complete story that I think has some potential with some major revisions. I’m just thankful I’m writing. Tomorrow I plan on submitting a lot of my finished pieces to as many different journals as I can. I need to get published if I ever want to be taken seriously when it comes to Ph.D. programs and job offers. I’m still nowhere near being on track to finish my 24 books, but I AM taking time to read each day. I wish I could get into a really, really good book that just sucked me in and took all my time, like Harry Potter did when I was little (it never took me more than 24 hours to read any one of the seven books) and the Hunger Games series did a couple years ago. Maybe the Shade of Gray Trilogy will be my new addiction. Who knows? I need to go buy the books and find out. =/

                Gotta be up early tomorrow to meet the exterminator, so I’m headed to bed. Let’s hope I don’t dream of creepy crawly things. Goodnight, ya’ll!

WTYL,

Rhyen

First World Problems

                I was much happier with my workout today than I was yesterday. The workout was 21-15-9 dead lifts, burpees, and ring dips. The prescribed weight for women on the dead lifts was 115, but I only did 95. I’m still at the stage where I need to focus on form rather than weight. And that’s still 20 more pounds than I was able to do last time, so I was happy. In case you don’t know what burpees are, all you really need to know is they suck. Nobody likes burpees. And I wasn’t able to do the ring dips, so I did box dips instead. I’ve added ring dips to my list of things I want to work on. I finished in 8:47. Not the greatest time but definitely not bad either. I focused on not taking as many breaks as I normally do. It’s slowly getting easier.

                 Our finish today was a one mile run. I hate running… I used to be pretty decent at it but now I suck at it and I know it’s all in my head. When Coach gives us a 400 meter finish, I’m dying at about 300 meters. When he gives us an 800 meter finish, I’m not dying until 700 meters. So I know it’s gotta be some kind of psychological bullshit. Today we did a mile and I walked some, but for the most part I ran and my time wasn’t all that bad… no worse than what it was when I was running on a treadmill at the gym. I try to motivate myself while running… mostly by imagining the zombie apocalypse. I really hope if that ever happens the zombies are slow like the walkers in “The Walking Dead,” not fast like in 28 Days Later or I’m screwed. If I ever had to run for my life, I’m sure I’d trip and fall.

                I haven’t read at all today, which means I need to get off of the computer and do that. And I still haven’t written anything except these posts, although I finally have a couple of ideas. I changed my mind about posting my ideas on here though, just because online copyright worries me. I’m not sure what the laws are, and I know some websites (including blogging ones) own all material that is posted on them. So be careful what you post on Facebook! That’s one of the sites that owns everything you throw up on your wall.

                In a little while, I’m headed downtown to catch up with a friend, and it’s gonna be my first test of NOT ordering a beer. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll try a mixed drink or if I’ll just order water. First world problems, for real.

WTYL,

Rhyen

Summer Reading List 2012

Ok, here’s the booklist of Summer ’12.

I’ve already read The Magician’s Nephew and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
I want to finish the five other books in The Chronicles of Narnia series. (That would be seven books… my goal is 24, remember?)
8. 50 Shades of Gray. I want to know if this is actually a good book, or if it’s another Twilight epidemic… huge hit but SHITTY writing. Depending on whether or not it’s good, I may or may not read the other two books in the trilogy.
9. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. I’ve already started this one, so I figure I might as well add it to my list.
10. The New Dead. See the reasons stated above.
11. Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King.
12. On Writing by Stephen King.
13. Danse Macabre by Stephen King. (And any other book of his I haven’t read yet.)
14. I have a bookshelf full of Kevin Brockmeier books I need to get to.
15. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow
16. Maybe some George R. R. Martin??
17. Shit I’m running out of ideas here. I like to just go browse Barnes and Noble and see what I can find.
18. All the classics of course, that have been on my summer reading list six summers in a row… Jane Austin, George Orwell, etc.
19. Some of the novels for my Early American Novels class this fall, if I can get my prof to email me the list.
20. The Complete Works of Poe. By Poe, duh.
21. Alice in Wonderland. This is another one that’s been on my list forever. I love the story, I’ve just never read it.
22. Zone One by Colson Whitehead. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this one till this late in the list! Zombiiiieeeeessssss!!!!!!!!!!!
23. The Third Gate. I just found it while browsing Barnes and Noble’s website (the next best thing), and it looks interesting, plus it has to do with ancient Egypt, which I used to be obsessed with when I was a little girl.
24. I think I’ll reserve this spot for all those Lisa Jackson/Iris Johanson/Nora Roberts guilty pleasure reads. =)
So there it is. A list of 24 books for the summer. Well, kinda. If I ever find myself searching for something to do, I can just turn to this and pick up a book and start on it.  I LOVE crossing stuff off of lists. Anyone can feel free to leave suggestions of good reads, or comment on the ideas I have listed here. Just don’t spoil any of them for me!! Goodnight, ya’ll.

WTYL,
Rhyen

Frienemies

                Good morning! (Kinda. It’s almost noon, but I’ve been up for awhile.) I’m writing this while waiting for my pictures from last night to upload. Pictures of last cigarettes and of last beers, and of… not running (that third picture was really hard to capture, if you can imagine). So this is day one without beer. As you can imagine, so far it has not been hard. I was never a beer with breakfast kind of girl. The real challenge will come when a friend texts me and asks me to go get dinner or go down town for a bit. While TECHNICALLY I could still drink any hard liquor or wine, I’m not a fan of either and so I’m probably going to just try to NOT drink for the next thirty days. Sobriety FTW.

                There is ONE little kink in that wonderful plan. My roommate is back in Cape for the next two weeks and, seeing as how we’ve never gone out and drank together, we’re long overdue. You might find it odd that two roommates have never drank together, but if you knew us, you’d probably find our whole situation odd. I’m not going to bore you with all the little details, but I am gonna tell you our story, because I think it’s interesting (duh, it is about me) and I think there’s a lesson to be learned from it.

                Roomie and I met through unusual circumstances, and not in the best situation. What little I knew about her came from what other people “knew” about her. When we ran into each other we were always nice to each other, but our situation with “mutual friends” made those meetings pretty awkward. We were what one might call “frienemies.” One day, I ran into her on campus and during the casual, polite conversation that two acquaintances often make, I mentioned that I was looking for a roommate. A few days later she called me and took me up on the offer. I was a bit nervous moving in with a girl I barely knew, but she was outgoing and friendly and soon we were becoming pretty good friends. Fast forward about ten months and I don’t know what I’d do without her. She’s the one who introduced me to Crossfit and pushed me to join, and it’s one of the things we’ve really bonded over. She’s become one of my closest friends, and I realize that if I had stuck with my first judgment of her, I would be missing out on this amazing person in my life. It’s really made me realize that first impressions are NOT always correct, and that you HAVE to give every person a chance to show you who you really are. I still judge people, OH do I judge people… it’s a really terrible habit of mine. But I’ve learned that most of the time, I’m wrong, and I have to deal with that.

                But here I am, going on about my awesome life, and I haven’t told you about Crossfit today. I was really disappointed with my workout this morning; I didn’t push myself near as hard as what I should have. Plus side: Roomie got to come work out with me. But I’m already eager to get back to the gym tomorrow and make up for today. If I can figure out how to upload photos to this blog, I’m going to take a picture of all the food in my apartment that is not Paleo. It’s slowly but surely dwindling, but I still have a lot left. As I run out of non-Paleo food, I’m going to replace the food with veggies and meat and some fruit. The thing that sucks about eating healthy is it’s so damn expensive. And we wonder why America is fat (that is one subject I could stand on a soap box for hours about, but I’ll save that for a later post).

                I’m proud that I actually posted two days in a row, but I realized earlier I need to make a reading list. I’m reading three books at once right now (the Chronicles of Narnia series, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and a book of zombie short stories, The New Dead), but I need to have a wish list. I think I’ll think about it for awhile and then post that list later. For now, I believe I’m going to take my book and go lay by a pool, at least until I have to be at work later.

WTYL,

Rhyen

All the non-Paleo food left in my apartment. Dairy and grain products.

Hello, Ya'll

                I promised myself that this summer, I was going to be productive, because (let’s face it) when is a better time to get productive than the day AFTER your last final? I told myself that procrastination may have got the best of me Spring of ’12, but by God Summer 2012 was going to be spectacular. I was going to read at least twenty-four different books (that’s about two books a week), I was going to write, write, write, and write, and I was going to study for the GRE, all while doing Crossfit and eating Paleo and basically just transforming into a sexy beast. Well, here I am a month into my summer vacay, and all I’ve managed to do is go to Crossfit almost every day. So there’s something… I can somewhat convince myself I’m not a TOTAL loser.

                I’ve never really done the whole blogging thing (grammatical error repercussions terrify me; I hate to have my writing so publicly scrutinized), but several of my friends are doing it, and truth be told, if my friends jumped off a bridge and it looked fun, I’d dive in head first.  So here I am. This blog is to keep me motivated; to make sure my summer isn’t a total waste. And, if nothing else, as long as I keep up with this, at least I’m writing. It might be shitty, unedited, totally unworthy of reading writing, but it is writing, all the same. So this blog will contain ideas I have about different short story possibilities, thoughts on the different books I’m reading, and my progress with Crossfit and Paleo. Oh, and maybe a little bit of my trials/tribulations of studying for the GRE (maybe, I don’t want to set my goals too high here).

                So, before I begin, let me explain a few things. First of all, I’m a grad student working toward getting a MA in English (hence the reading and writing). After I graduate next Spring, I plan on going straight into a Ph.D. program, because I am a masochist who would rather spend the next five years in school than in the real world. Therefore, I have to take (and score better than I did previously) the GRE. Yuck.  I’m also a girl who really missed playing sports, and was brought to Crossfit by (I’m sure) an act of God. I am completely and totally obsessed with it, as are most people who join one of the many cults, I mean gyms, across America. If you have no idea what it is, you have GOT to check it out. Youtube Crossfit and be amazed. You can also check out my gym’s website at www.crossfit573.com. Finally, Paleo, also known as the “caveman (or cavewoman, if you prefer) diet,” is basically a raw foods diet that is lactose and gluten free. Kinda. Ok, I say basically but it’s a lot more complex than that. If you wanna know about it, look it up. There are some great websites on it too, like nomnompaleo.com and everydaypaleo.com. I’m slowly transitioning into the whole no sugar/bread/milk thing, so we’ll see how that goes.

                Finally, the start of this blog coincides with the start of a 30 day challenge. A friend of mine recently had a lung cancer scare and is now giving up cigarettes. Another friend, to support him, started a 30 day challenge where everyone gives up or adds something to their lives to better themselves. My challenge? Give up beer for 30 days. !@#$%^&*(*&^%$#. Let me tell you another thing about me… I LOVE beer. I don’t like liquor, I don’t like sweet drinks, but holy hell can I drink some beer. I recently sat down and thought about how much beer I was drinking and I realized I was going through about a 30 pack a week. A beer with lunch, and couple with dinner, five or six on Friday and Saturday nights, plus a few extra on Sunday Fundays… it really adds up. That’s about 2800 extra calories a week. (Good thing I’m working my ass off at Crossfit, or I’d have two by now). So, starting at 12:00 am on June 12, 2012, I will not have beer for 30 straight days. However, it’s 9:30 right now, so I’m going to meet my friend and enjoy one (or three) last beer while he finishes his last cigarettes. If all goes as planned, I’ll write to you tomorrow.

Rhyen