Jane Eyre Is My Patronus

Wednesday July 27, 2016 Here, listen to this song. It's awesome. Could just be me though, I love orchestras. Diet: Cookies, not-quite-taco-not-quite-salad taco salad, nachos and a mikes lemonade. All super bad for me. (Except the not quite taco salad, I guess.) But I ate little enough of all those things to make it under my calorie goal? Feels like I'm trying to outrun my fork, though. Don't know. I do feel like I'm hungrier this challenge than I was last challenge. Or... perhaps just less able to resist cravings? I don't know. 4WC #1: Under calorie goal? Yes. 4WC #2: Under sodium goal? Yes. Exercise: I went off on that branch of bike trail I saw last time I went biking! It crosses the highway, winds past a cemetery, and then crosses the highway again before going up the west side of the big lake. It does not go all the way around the lake. Not that I tried to go all the way around. (Lake's seventeen miles around. Eventually I'll do that, but not yet.) I know this because I know where the trail ends on the east side. Also, coming back, I totally missed a turn and ended up in the cemetery. Oops? Sorry about disturbing your ancestors. 4WC #3: Exercise 4x a week? Yes. Three out of four complete. Life: I started cleaning in the living room, but then I got distracted and didn't complete the task I set for myself. So that didn't happen. On the plus side, interesting things are happening in my story. Zombie hands bursting out of the ground and the lecherous lich is about to show himself. (He's lecherous mostly because I like the alliteration. But also because satire on creepy guys who don't understand how creepy they are. An undead monster man is obviously the best way to get that point across. ) 4WC #4: Clean a thing? No. Crud. Fun fact: I went to the doctor's office this morning and they weighed me. According to their scale, I've lost 24 lbs since January. Yay! Also my blood pressure is lovely, though I think that's more of a genetic thing than anything I do intentionally. Extra fun fact: Their scale weighs me about 3lbs heavier than my scale at home does. Change in weight is more important than actual weight. I mean, I knew that intellectually, but it's nice to have it reaffirmed. Summary: Why is biking so much more fun than body weight exercises?

Tuesday July 26, 2016 Diet: Not so good. Toast and cereal for breakfast, and then I made a not-really-taco-not-really-salad taco salad for lunch using leftovers... that ended up being mostly salsa. (Pro tip: don't try to watch Penny Dreadful while eating. Don't do it. You think it's going to be a nice scene because everything's well lit and a child is walking through a field of daffodils. Surprise! Not a nice scene.) Salsa is not a filling lunch, so I was starving by the end of the day. I thought we were going to have book club today, so I had to go to the store and buy treats. (Cookies) and I also bought those sargento break snack pack things? I ate all three of them. That was my dinner. Plus 1.5 cookies, because guess what? No book club. So now I've eaten far more dairy than I normally do and have lots of cookies at work. Just sitting there. Waiting. 4WC #1: Under calorie goal? Actually, yes. Skated right under that wire with 12 calories left. 4WC #2: Under sodium goal? Yes. I know. I'm as surprised as you are. Exercise: Body weight workout. I feel like I'm getting worse at this... and I'm not even doing NF Beginner Body Weight thingy. That was not beginner enough for me, and it doesn't feel like I'm getting to that level any time soon. Ugh. 4WC #3: Work out 4x a week? Yes. Two out of four complete. Grudgingly. Life: We're going to fight a lich now, except I'm going to have to do that thing where we have character development in the middle of a fight scene... and I'm not entirely sure how to do that? Like, I don't consider myself very good at writing fight scenes in the first place, so this might be a bit of a clustercluck. But after I get done! Dude! Plot stuff happens! It's gonna be so exciting! (I hope.) Also, cleaned in the living room. The minimum amount to feel like I actually did this thing. 4WC #4: Cleaned a thing? Yes. Summary: Cookies are Sith Lords.

Great job so far! It sounds like you had a fun week as well as a productive one, so that's all good things, right? I'm with @Dagger I'm terrified of not getting enough sleep, but I kind of wish I wasn't. I'm glad you had fun.

Maybe try toasting the pecans a little before adding them to the cod? I'm sure they toast in the oven, but my dad always used to insist on the extra toasting. He swore by it.

Ooooh, plot twistingness! I love it.

Hmm, yam noddles... I've never had shirataki noodles, and so far it seems one person likes than and one person doesn't. I'll be curious to see who breaks the tie.

Great job so far and have fun with your family in town!

Monday July 25, 2016 I could have put this with Sunday I guess. It wasn't as full a day as I thought it was. Diet: Okay, so... breakfast was cereal and chips with guacamole. Because I looked in the fridge and saw that I had sooo much guac left over from Saturday and it was starting to get all brown and oxidized? So I ate it. Some of it. The rest of it I ate for dinner, with toast and a fried egg. Lunch you ask? Totally forgot about lunch. Guac turns out to be filling? I ate some carrots as a snack, but I didn't really eat a lunch. 4WC #1: Under calorie goal? Yes. Turns out guac is not that caloric? 4WC #2: Under sodium goal? Yes. Exercise: No. Was gonna, but didn't. 4WC #3: Exercise 4x a week? Not today. 1 out of 4 complete. Life: Cleaned in my bedroom. Wrote about Britta and her merry band of guys that tortured her for information she didn't have! Satire of religious fanatics who twist facts to fit their theories was a little strong yesterday. Might water that down a little in the second draft. Might... not. My main character did kill his significant other and the sun hasn't risen for a month. He has some pretty good excuses to behave irrationally. 4WC #4: Cleaned a thing? Yes. Summary: Post-human interaction tiredness, I think? (I'm a super introvert according to Missus Myers and Briggs, so people make me tired. Even if I love them and have all the fun, I'm still tired.) I'm far more chipper this morning than I was all yesterday.

Sunday July 24, 2016 Diet: Cereal and buttered toast for breakfast, and then my sister and our friend all went out to eat for lunch. We had Chinese; I did not add any sauce, soy or otherwise, to anything I ordered. Then both my sister and our friend had to leave, so I was on my own for dinner. I had toast and a Mike's for dinner. 4WC #1: Under calorie goal? Yes. 4WC #2: Under sodium goal? Yes. Exercise: Biked to where I'm pretty sure the trail ends on the north side. Something branches off and heads west a few miles south of that, so I'll explore that next time. 4WC #3: Exercise 4x a week? Biked today. 1 out of 4 complete. Life: Clean a thing? Cleaned in the living room again. I totally forgot to write yesterday, so that's a thing. Summary: Relatively good day, but I forgot to write. I can't say it was a great day.

Week One Check In Nutrition Goals: 1. Under calorie goal? Missed it on Thursday. 6/7 2. Under sodium goal? Missed it on Sunday. 6/7 Exercise Goal: 3. Do an exercise thing 4x a week? Yes! 4/4 Life Goal: 4. Prepare house for sale by cleaning? Yes! 7/7 (oops, I wasn't at home on Sunday so that day doesn't count.) 6/6 Main Quest: I lost 2.4 lbs this week! >John Reed used Soy Sauce! It was super effective! Jane Eyre knows to look out for that next time! >John Reed used Bagels and Cream Cheese to exploit Jane Eyre's dieting frustration! John Reed escaped getting a Pig Tail! >Jane Eyre used Friendship! Jane Eyre recovered health!

Saturday July 23, 2016 I feel like I need to do individual posts because a lot of things happened this weekend? Anywho... Diet: Thank goodness I have MyFitnessPal because otherwise I would forget. Cereal for breakfast, and then I had an actual sandwich for lunch, with actual bread. This turned out to be a bad idea because I almost gagged? This was a lunch I used to eat all the time in college, to the point where I couldn't stomach it anymore. It's been two years, but apparently I still can't. Anyway, dinner was tacos with chips and guac. 4WC #1: Under calorie goal? Yes. 4WC #2: Under sodium goal? Yes. Exercise: Okay, so, Saturday was super busy. After work, we all went to my place to eat tacos and then we all decided to go to the new Stark Trek movie? (Good action, not so good character development, and also Beastie Boys. Krall is definitely the weakest of the three villains so far. But good action and lots of little nods to the original.) I did manage to get a work out in after we got back though. Lunges still suck. Adding Beastie Boys to my workout playlist was a very good decision. 4WC #3: Exercise 4x per week? Sliding under the wire with that last workout. Yes! 4 out of 4 complete! Life: Cleaned in the living room. Wrote stuff, but I don't remember what now? Sorry. 4WC #4: Cleaned a thing? Yes. Summary: Tacos and movies with friends is always a good day!

July 20, 21, and 22, 2016 Diet: Ugh, okay. So Wednesday breakfast was leftover popcorn from bookclub, lunch was carrots and a chicken cabbage wrap(?) with a little ranch, and dinner was pasta with Parmesan and butter. And somehow I still managed to come in under both my sodium and my calorie goals. Thursday, not so much. Thursday was apparently "national junk food day" according to the radio hosts who decided it would be appropriate to go on and on about their favorite junk foods? Broke me like pinata. Suddenly I was scarfing down bagels, in addition to the food I had brought to eat. (Basically the same as yesterday's lunch, but twice because I ate it for breakfast.) Under my sodium goal but my calorie goal? Not so much. Friday was an apple for breakfast, tuna and frozen veggies combo for lunch, and carrots in the afternoon, and then dinner I ate incredibly unhealthy because my sister came over! (Yay!) Grilled cheese sandwich and then ice cream. But I was still under both my sodium and calorie goals, so that's good! (Too much fat, though... I mean, not a thing I'm focused on, but I'm still noting it.) 2WC #1: Under calorie goal? Yes, no and yes. 2WC #2: Under sodium goal? Yes, yes and yes. Exercise: So we've had an excessive heat warning on Wednesday and Thursday, however that did not stop me mowing the lawn on Wednesday. (Doesn't count, but I thought I'd mention it.) Awful. Terrible. No fun. So, on Thursday, I did nothing. I did bike yesterday, a lot farther than I thought I was going to. It turns out biking is a lot easier when one of your tires isn't almost completely flat. 2WC #3: Exercise 4x a week? No, no and yes. Three out of four complete. Life: Cleaning. So, I cleaned off a bathroom counter, a chair, and an end table. Yay. As far as writing goes, we're back with the bad guy and the two characters I didn't plan on having! Yay! I'm mostly pre-writing in the draft again, fleshing out character motivations I didn't know I would need. But I expect to write actual plot today. Something I deliberately skipped over worrying about when it actually happened is going t be explored today... I'm not sure I want to, mostly because this is a first draft, and I haven't spent a lot of time thinking carefully and deliberately about what I'm doing. Basically, if I think it, it goes down on the page. And with this part, I feel I may have to actually think about stuff and things. My brain is not used to thinking. 2WC #4: Clean a thing? Yes, yes, and yes. Summary: Ugh. Ugghy weather, ugghy food, ugghy exercise (for the most part) It's just been pretty ugh. Except for my sister coming to visit. That's awesome. (I told her about this website, and she was super excited by it? She told me she wanted to join but she hasn't actually done it yet, so I'm not sure if she will or not.)

I think I just talked about this in my battle log. So, story time: For the past two years, I've owned a business and done very poorly. So I'm selling out and applying to teach English as a second language in the Czech Republic. Reading the Daughter of Smoke and Bone made me extremely enamored with Prague, even though I wouldn't actually be in Prague. Most of the teaching positions are in the countryside. But, anyway, I'm really excited. It's a job where I can travel and get paid which is super exciting.

Is it weird that that sounds like fun to me? Except this would eventually become canon which makes it a lot more serious than what I'm imagining. Possibly? The actual game isn't really this creepy... or, I guess it could be depending on how you choose to do things... It's one of those making choices games that I'm pretty fond of.

Honestly, this entire thread makes me sit up straight, so thank you so much for that!