Dieting.

I have always, always been one of those douchey people who look down on being healthy. I take a secret, kind of sick pride in my lack of willpower, as anyone who knows me in real life has seen when I've drank excessively or bought a new gold thing for my apartment (not real gold.) I once made the mistake of explaining to a dude I didn't know very well how I ate so much of something delicious that I threw up, which pretty much made him think I had an eating disorder, even though it was the opposite and I just have a really bad gag reflex. I don't have a gym membership. The last time I ran was years ago.

But with a wedding coming up, a certain pink dress and photos I need to be wearing it for, I started to feel nervous. Every girl thinks about her weight a lot, we just learn it's not really socially acceptable to talk about it openly. I mean, plenty of girls do, but it kind of sucks for everyone else around. And I started to feel insecure again.

Then this weekend, a friend told me all about how he and his girlfriend had started the Four Hour Body diet, by some guy who apparently writes all kinds of self help books (also famous for the Four Hour Workweek). Normally this is something I'd sneer at, but this friend who's opinion I usually trust insisted that it worked super fast. It was actually getting to the point where they'd both kind of lost too much weight.

Now, I didn't buy the book, but you can find everything about it for free. Basically you eat no sugar, and no carbs at all, not even brown rice or whole grain things. No tofu. Only certain cheeses, and no beer, liquor or white wine (this rule I need to bend). Meat, legumes, and non-starchy vegetables, and that's it. And then one day a week, you eat whatever you want, which supposedly spikes your metabolism so you don't starve to death.

I'm going to try it (as well as I can with no willpower) and see what happens. Hopefully I don't die.

Update: Eating all protein and no carbs destroys your alcohol tolerance. FYI!

The nsfw poker face

This isn't a new song, I just happened to think of the video recently and thought I should share it. It's awesome and one of my favorite videos ever. I don't know why nobody knows it and it's not on spotify but I wanted to share in case some people haven't seen it.

Is everything a remix?

Another question: How close is too close?

And here's one more question: How many more social sharing networks does the world need? All my friends like the same shit that I like. I get it by now!

And, my last and final question: Is anyone else suspicious that Everplaces launched not very long after the Stamped dudes got robbed at SXSW? (Totally kidding, Everplaces, I'm sure you didn't steal anything, please don't sue me. Does "kidding" work for fending off lawsuits? Another question...)

Everplaces

Stamped

Leadership

The first time I tried to watch the Kony2012 video, I x'ed out of the window at the first slow-mo shot of the earth with the melodramatic voiceover. I tried a few more times and eventually watched the entire thing with Andy. His first comment when the thirty minutes were over was "Wow, that was kind of irresponsible."

When this story broke, I'm sorry to say that my first reaction was Well, that's a surprise...but not really. A few months ago, a relative of mine had a massive manic episode that resulted in a court-ordered hospitalization. Up until that point he was the smartest, most successful person I knew in real life. He had come out of a less than ideal family situation into his own great family, until one day the stresses of his work life totally broke something in his mind, and made him go off on a very strange rampage.

I empathize a lot with Jason Russell, even though I don't know the dude and for all I know he could be some money/fame hungry right wing fundamentalist. The world is moved forward by people who are "delusional" enough to believe that they can have an impact, and it's always sad when you see someone walking the line fall on the wrong side of it. I always wish I was more of a leader, with the power to inspire others, but it's a lot easier not to be.

Gotye

Let's fulfill our emo quota together, yes?

Wayne White

Former art director Wayne White's awesome word paintings are some of my favorite things in the world. I have his book on my svpply and will buy it when I have money again.

Backup Plans

In first grade when you had to say what you were going to be when you grew up, and everyone said cool shit like 'astronaut' or 'superman,' I wanted to be an artist. Then I got older, and learned that when you identify yourself as an artist, it's socially acceptable to be mopey, oversensitive and have no willpower at all, and that sealed it. I'm not technically an artist now – but ballpark-ish, I like to think. So while it's a little alarming to even consider abandoning this giant part of my identity, I'm starting to feel more and more like I need a backup plan. I mean, I don't have much in savings, but I have a 401k. I'm going to be thirty soon (if the world doesn't implode,) and the idea of a safety net gets more appealing every year. So far, here are my backup plans:

1. Write a book
This one is kind of an old plan, obviously, since publishing has been tanking. But I do have a lot of really, really good stories from corporate life. Like, realllllllly good. I can't tell anyone in case I need this backup plan.

2. Start a blog (that's monetizable, not like this one.)
Young House Love is one of my favorite blogs, because I enjoy reading about things that I'll never do. It's a lot like my Martha obsession. But I also love how this super young couple created a thing that is totally driven only by themselves and can raise a kid on it. Some flaws with this plan are the self-promotion, which I'm really awful at, and doing something worth blogging about that doesn't have a thousand other blogs already. Hm.

3. Move somewhere outside of the states and open a B&B
This was going to be my number one backup plan, until I stayed in a B&B and talked to the owner who spent $3,000,000 on renovations and was dealing with some incredibly tactical, bureaucratic small town politics. The appeal kind of wore off a little after that.

4. Cat modeling?
If I could only train my cats...but they aren't as funny or active as Maru. Oh well.