I had a bit of a ‘reckless’ weekend and so it’s no surprise that I actually put on weight this week:
Weekly loss: -1.1kg (-2.4lb)
Total loss: 32.9kg (72.5lb or 5st 2lb)
To target: 35kg (77lb or 5st 7lb)
Current weight: 111.2kg (245lb or 17st 7lb)
Today was also an interesting day for another reason. I got home to a fat envelope. It contained an unsigned card and this little guy:
Now I sort of have a collection of hippos and this is a very welcome addition. But who’s it from? Scrutiny of the envelope and a little deduction and I realised – M.’s sister sent it. I shall have to think of a suitable thank-you for her.
I’ve decided to call him Tippy Tippo the tiny hippo. He really is a little guy – here he is hiding behind a 5p piece. (and that’s one of the new small ones, not the old big ones)
Cute ain’t he?
This is a momentous day, a day foretold, a day long yearned for and yet which was often thought might never arrive…
It didn’t start so well.
As you may remember when I first started Lesamy I didn’t have specific goals. I had a 10% milestone and a “see what happens next” idea. I then quickly became focussed on Christmas and looking thinner for my family then. The 10% milestone went by and it was obvious that it was going to take longer to get to a weight where I looked – how I thought I wanted to look.
Anyway at some point 12 stone emerged as my overall target. It was that because a) it put me in a “normal” range for BMI and b) I’d been that weight before at 21. It’s not like I set it at 10 stone, the weight I was when I was 18. I was thinking that over a long-ish timeframe that was realistic.
That long-ish timeframe was, in my mind, sometime this summer. However it became obvious that it would take longer than that and then I realised it might take up to a year. As you know I passed the half-year mark a week before I passed half-way to my target. And the rate of weight-loss has slowed. Prior to Christmas I was averaging 3.3lbs a week. Since Christmas I’ve averaged just over 2.
When I realised these were the figures last night, I started to think about doing some calculations. I think the rate will probably slow a little more over time but I don’t know how much. So I went for a few options. Here’s my results:
So my most optimistic prediction is that I’ll hit my target just before Christmas, my most pessimistic is next August. Almost certainly it’ll be over 18 months before I hit 12 stone. The final column(s) were just to see what my weight would be if I took whatever I end up at 1 year as being a target to maintain at.
So these figures were a bit of a shock. However I told myself two things
Still I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little down about it. Anyway I got up from my desk, I went into the kitchen to get a coffee and met S., a colleague there.
“Hi Paul. You’ve lost weight” he said.
“I have,” I said
“Well done”
“Thanks”
That was all that was said on the topic but it made my day. Someone noticed!
I have to admit that there are occasions on which I struggle a little to think of something to say in these weekly updates. Usually there’s something. This week I’m just going to admit I don’t have much and tell you instead that I made muffins yesterday:
Making muffins may not seem like a good idea when I’m on a diet but hear me out. The current office tradition where I work is that on birthdays people usually bring in doughnuts or some other treat. Last couple of years I’ve bought Krispy Kreme donuts. They are nice, but very sweet and not to everyone’s taste. So this year I thought I’d make some muffins. So these were a ‘dry run’. I made 6 chocolate and 6 toffee and apple.
Both are very nice – I’ve had two of each so far. Don’t worry I am fitting this in to my daily allowance. The chocolate ones are 216 calories and the apple and toffee are 267. That’s about what I might have for an evening desert plus I had one with my lunch today. It’s also a lot less than the 450ish ones I had from Tescos one time – though those were bigger.
I deliberately made half quantities so that I wouldn’t have too many needing eating up. I reckon by the weekend I’ll have finished them off without going over my calorie limit.
Oh, and I hit that 50-50 point this week:
Weekly loss: 0.6kg (1.3lb)
Total loss: 34kg (75lb or 5st 5lb)
To target: 33.9kg (75lb or 5st 5lb)
Current weight: 110.1kg (242lb or 17st 4lb)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeuNxMY_5Uo]
Passed another milestone last night, almost literally a milestone. I’ve now walked 500 miles in exercise since I started Lesamy.
I discovered on looking back over my spreadsheet that it took 300 miles to lose a stone in weight!
Week 26 – I’ve officially been doing this for 6 months!
The plan/hope was that I’d have hit 110kg by now. That’s roughly the point half-way between my original weight and my target. But as you’ll see if you scroll down I’m not quite there yet. In fact I lost very little this week. But that’s ok, I’ve noticed since Christmas that my progress, whilst still good, can be a little erratic – I’ll lose a lot one week and very little the next. But over a couple of weeks it’s always a good rate. I think it’s just fluctuating a little and the exact point at which I weigh myself doesn’t always fall on the exact best time for getting the lowest possible reading.
Anyhow – still going down, which is good.
Weekly loss: 0.3kg (0.7lb)
Total loss: 33.4kg (73.6lb or 5st 4lb)
To target: 34.5kg (76lb or 5st 6lb)
Current weight: 110.7kg (244lb or 17st 6lb)
So having Set Aside The Crow Road what did I pick to read next? Well I was in Waterstones as I said and saw a display of books recommended by Nick Hornby. I picked up Skellig by David Almond largely because it was short. It turns out it’s another book aimed largely at kids – that makes three I’ve read since Christmas. If I had done so deliberately I’d start to worry that I’m ‘dumbing down’ my reading choices, however in each case I’ve genuinely not realised until I actually had the book that it wasn’t aimed at adults.
Anyway it’s an enjoyable and easy read – as you’d perhaps expect from something aimed at children.
The book is a fairly simple and straightforward story – there are no real surprises in the plot itself – of a boy who meets a strange and mysterious person in the crumbling garage of his new home, the eponymous ‘Skellig’. Who or more importantly what Skellig is is one of the major questions of the book.
It’s written with a child’s voice but also has a particular tone to the writing which will either strike you as lyrical or overly stylised depending on how well you’re enjoying it. I was mostly in the first camp with a few forays into the second.
I’d definitely recommend it to any adult looking for a light charming read or any child with a love of the unusual.
7/10 – a delightful little fable.
Believe in me
because I don’t believe in anything
and I want to be someone who believes
Mr Jones, Counting Crows
Part of the reason for the 25 Books idea was to get me reading again “…cos I wanna be someone who reads“. I used to be such a voracious reader and I’ve lost that. Whilst I know some of the reasons – time and effort basically – I find that sad. Thus I started 25 Books.
But. Typically of me I started with a spreadsheet and a plan to read certain books in a certain order. And what happened was I got stuck on book 2. (I sneaked I am Legend in as a audio-book)
I’ve always had an issue with not wanting to start a new book whilst I’ve got one on the go. But some books are hard work. Or just don’t grab you right then. So I tend to get stuck.
It wasn’t so much of an issue when I used to read more because I would eventually admit defeat and decide that I’d “come back to it later.” And very occasionally I did. As it is I already have a few books I am in the middle of reading.
But as it is, following the spreadsheet coupled with my desire to finish the book I’m on, means I haven’t read for over three weeks. Because I don’t want to give up on “The Crow Road” (which is book 2) but I can’t find the motivation to sit down and read it. But I don’t want to be someone who only devours what is easy – so I want to at least try to finish more challenging books.
So I’ve decided on a new rule – the “Set Aside” rule – I can “set aside” upto 3 books. I have to give them a chance – I can’t Set Aside unless I’ve read 100 pages or been on the same book for more than 2 weeks. I can Set Aside more than 3 but then I’ll incur a 1 point penalty for each extra book started but not finished (i.e. 4 books Set Aside at the end of the year = -1 from my total)
I was out yesterday buying a birthday present for my sister. I got her a book in the end and I bought a new one for myself. I’m already 67 pages in and enjoying it. So I think it’s a good decision and it means I stand a chance of getting back on course for 25 books – which at roughly 2 books a month I should be on book 6 by now – whereas I’m actually on book 3.
(*YANR=Yet Another New Rule)
You may have noticed I haven’t blogged about Dollhouse since the disappointing opening episode. That’s mostly because I lacked the enthusiasm to even watch the episodes never mind write about them. However I finally got around to it and the good news is the show is definitely improving.
So without further a do:
Target is a variation on the old idea of someone hunting a human being. From other reviews and comments I’ve heard that this references something called “The Most Dangerous Game” which may well be the first but is certainly not the only use of this idea.
It’s a bad habit but I found myself second-guessing the plot twists and wondered if this client had paid for the hunt (but was expected to avoid an outright kill). Instead the twist was that the hunter didn’t exist, he was an assumed identity. That fits with the overall Dollhouse theme but wasn’t quite as satisfying.
Target had a bit more of the Whedon-style dialogue – as expressed through Stephen DeKnight.
Overall it was a better episode that the first, and a decent-ish version of a well-worn idea, but nothing new or radical – 6/10.
OK now it starts to get a bit more interesting. This time Echo is being a back-up singer (and closet bodyguard) for a pop diva who has a crazy fan out to get her. Not a scenario that attracts me on paper but it was well done. In particular I liked the feisty-ness of Eliza’s character in this one.
It also had a couple of plot twists I didn’t see coming. I liked the idea the Echo sees deeper into the assignment than her handlers had expected – that she need to protect Rayna from herself. This singles out Echo as something special.
The writers continue to have fun with the themes of the show with the dialogue about being “grown in a lab”. They also have a gentle dig at the fans with this:
Are you a fan Mr Dominic?
I’m sorry?
Rayna, do you like her music?
I’m not sure being a fan has very much to do with that
Whedon has teased the fans about this kind of thing before – notably in Angel’s third season “Waiting in the Wings” or, I suppose, the whole of Buffy season six with the nerd trio. But it’s always affectionately done.
The reveal of Victor as an active was a surprise and I guess that’s going to be an ongoing issue with this show – who’s an active?
After watching this my thought was, it’s a very good episode of a certain kind of show – but is it the kind of show I like? Anyway still enjoyed it, Eliza can sing – 7/10.
With the frankly ridiculous opening of Echo as a midwife half-way up a mountain, the show neatly identifies a problem with the show’s core concept – why not just hire the best expert in a field you can find? The super-rich certainly have the money to do that and it’ll be cheaper, easier and probably safer than relying on what is fast turning out to be some fairly unreliable tech.
Anyway, best to leave that aside for now. If I can live with the stupid idea that the best approach to fighting a global vampire threat is a single girl in one small town then I can certainly live with this.
Plus, I’m never one to harp on these technical details if the story’s good and here it is.
Well it is for me anyway because I have a weakness for heist stories. I loved “The Shroud of Rahmon” which many will tell you is an awful Angel episode.
A different character, different story, but again we have a feisty Eliza – at least for the first half of the story.
The thing that I found myself thinking during this episode is that I wanted to know what happens next. That’s gotta be good right?
More good dialogue
This one is broken.
Look who’s talking
I liked the use of Sierra and seeing the same “imprint” being used with her as the active.
It seems that, like Lost did for a while, they’re developing a habit of using a music-over-montage at the end of the episode.
Anyway, love a good heist story and this was one – 8/10.
There’s been a lot of discussion of how Echo being a different character every week causes a problem because you’re not following the same character every week. I don’t think this is such a problem because we get that from the other characters and the ongoing story.
The format reminds me a little of Quantum Leap and that was very successful, ran for years and years.
I wonder whether it’s partly a reaction to the criticism Whedon has had about his shows being too “arc-y” that this one has a “story-of-the-week” written into the very format of the show?
Maybe the problem, if there is one, is that the metaphor – which is basically about what being an actress is like – is not universal enough.
Anyway – the show’s picking up – getting better with each episode according to my personal scale. Just in time to get really good before it gets cancelled no doubt.
M. and I went to see Watchmen on Tuesday night and one of the things we did afterwards was to browse some of the online comment about the movie together. She read out one blog entry that basically just kept repeating the question “Why?”
Which is kind of how I feel – about this post, not the movie.
I’m not sure I have anything original or insightful to say. Still most of my reviews are well after the fact so I’m going take the opportunity to gain a bit of passing trade by comment on something current when I’ve actually seen it.
So… I think I agree with most of the reviews that one problem with Watchmen is that it’s too reverentially close to the source material. Perhaps that’s unfair because as I said in my review of the comic book
That and extraordinary visuals. Take for example the iconic cover-art image (above) and see how that’s used and developed on the very first page. This kind of thing — starting on a small detail and pulling back and back until a fuller picture (literally and thematically) is revealed — is done throughout the book. It’s no wonder people want to make this into a movie. It’s like a pre-drawn storyboard for itself.
Though actually it’s not the direct copying of the book’s visual ideas that’s the problem. It’s the adherence to the plot – which makes the film episodic – which is obviously fine for a comic book but not for a movie where we need a single consistent story.
Where I also agree with a lot of the reviews is that the ‘Hallelujah’ sex scene was cringe-makingly awkward and awful. It reminded me of the kind of soft porn I used to furtively seek out as a teenager. Superficially enticing, once you get over the “ooh naked bodies” of it, it’s extremely un-erotic due to how obviously fake it is. Two naked people rubbing themselves against each other but blatantly and deliberately not having sex is weird and embarrassing.
I did enjoy the movie – Rorshach was great, as was Dreiberg/Nite Owl – but it felt slow and ponderous in places and gratuitously violent in others. The change to the ending was not as radical as it might have been (should have been perhaps) and in my opinion slightly improved it. But then I never really liked the comic book ending.
But having agreed with a lot of people who basically said it was a disappointment let me say this: it’s not so very long ago that a big budget CGI-fest like this came with a free lobotomy. Aside from a few notable exceptions such as Dark Knight many still do. One of the trailers was for Transformers 2 and that doesn’t look like it’s got anything interesting to say about the moral ambiguity involved in wielding power. It’s nice to see a blockbuster that’s actually got some ideas in it.
6/10 – enjoyable but not as good as the book because it needed to be not the book a bit more.