Creative Yearnings

Every so often I get the urge to be creative... write something, draw something, design something... trouble is, I'm not actually creative. I'd like to write a thought provoking short story, but I can't ever seem to remember the point I was trying to make by the end. I'd like to capture something that touches me in a drawing, but I don't have the talent. This Blog is part of my creativity urge. At least here, I get practice in writing, even if it's not very creative right now.

The Fat Man recently gave me a present. Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton. When he originally started his Blog, back in 2001, the writing was... not up to the caliber it is today. Now, he's published two books, and just announced he has a weekly column. Blogging helped him with his writing...

The NWN module that The Fat Man is writing for me to create is another way I'll get to feel creative, and hone skills (in this case programming skills). I'm quite looking forward to it.

Gaming Goodies

I previously mentioned that I was a gamer. Mostly I play computer RPG's, mostly online RPG's. I played Ultima Online when it first came out, and quit soon after, when someone killed my llama (it was a traumatic experience). I played EverQuest for two years. I played Dark Age of Camelot for a year and a half or so. I've been playing City of Heroes since it came out. And I'll probably move to World of Warcraft at some point.

I also enjoy offline RPG's. Lately I've been playing Neverwinter Nights again. The incredibly cool thing about NWN is that you can use the Aurora toolset included with the game to make your own adventures. Now The Fat Man is going to come up with a story for NWN which I can create. I've tried this in the past, but it's a huge undertaking, and I tend to get caught up in figuring out how to make specific things work, rather than making a real story. If I already have a story, then I just need to focus on exactly how to tell it. The reason I'm mentioning this, is that if I actually do get started, this project will likely take a lot of time, and I'll talk about it a lot. So be prepared.

Diet Definitions

Diet:

di·et1
n.
The usual food and drink of a person or animal.
adj.
Of or relating to a food regimen designed to promote
weight loss in a person or an animal: the diet industry.

I guess I think of the word diet as a noun. A diet is what you eat. If it's not working for you, you can change your diet. A diet is not something that is temporary, just to lose weight. You always have a diet, it just may not be one that is great for you.

I might think like that because I've never had to think about dieting. I'm a little over 5'10", and weigh about 130lbs. According to almost every "Ideal Weight" calculator I've seen, that puts me right at the bottom of what I "should" weigh. I've never tried to lose weight. I've never thought of my food in it's relation to how many pounds it could add. I'm pretty happy with the way things are.

The Fat Man's mother just started a new diet, the Weight Watchers "Core" plan, and she asked him to go with her. The Fat Man and his mother seem to have slightly different philosophies on what this new "diet" means. He doesn't want to think of it as a "diet." He thinks it should be a lifestyle change. He doesn't want to have to think about it except when he's shopping for groceries, or cooking and eating. She is telling everyone she can that they started the Weight Watchers program. I can only guess that's because she knows it will be harder for her to give up if everyone knows about it.

The Weight Watchers "Core" plan actually looks like a decent deal. It encourages you to eat healthy foods (fruit, vegetables, lean meat, brown rice, wheat pasta, ect), as much as it takes for you to feel full (but not stuffed). It also allows for you to eat anything else you want, but you only have so many "points" in a week with which to buy that extra stuff. The hardest part of the diet, at a glance, would be that bread, even whole wheat bread, costs you points. Two points per slice out of your 35 point/week allowance. That could make things difficult for sandwich lovers.

The one thing the "Core" plan does not cover is portion control. You are encouraged to stop eating when you are full, before you are stuffed. But other than that, you are allowed as much as you want of the approved foods. I would guess that is why this plan does not work for everyone, and often works slower than the traditional Weight Watchers point system, which strictly controls the number of calories you consume through the point system.

If The Fat Man does not get too frustrated with the concept of the "diet," I don't think he will have any problems keeping it. His mother is very enthusiastic about it right now, but if that enthusiasm wanes, her drive might falter.

The first meeting was Wednesday evening, and yesterday I searched diligently through the day for Weight Watchers recipes so we could enjoy a nice, filling, WW approved dinner together. I succeeded, but also managed to drive The Fat Man crazy by focusing on food all day long. The recipe worked, the rest of the goal, to ease them onto the diet without the "diet" being the focus, didn't work so well, as TFM's mom wanted to go over everything she'd eaten all day in detail. Different philosophies...

Meeting of the Bored

Oh, the joys of working in a call center. I'm lucky, I don't actually take calls anymore. I now report on how the different projects are doing, how many calls they're taking, how long they take to take them, what customers think of our service. Thankfully I no longer have to speak to distraught customers, and answer the same questions, and fix the same issues, once an hour or so. Instead, I get to talk to project managers, with the same issue, and the same questions, once a week or so. At least the customers kept changing, so there was a reason they never seemed to learn. I get to sit through meetings.

To my great annoyance, I am not able to write about my planned subject, the regularly scheduled meeting for Wednesdays. It's normally a highly frustrating experience for me, with people repeating the same thing they've been saying for the last several months, and me explaining the same simple math I went over for the 4th time last week. The math thing is especially aggravating for me, as I know the people I'm explaining weighted averages to make lots more money than I do. I have a hard time with someone with such bad math skills having a bigger number on their check than the number on mine.

But anyway, that meeting was canceled today, as the guy who called it was too busy to actually show up. We have the meeting so we can gather missing data for his project, but since he has to supply almost all of the data we are missing, it seems a little counter-productive to me. But what do I know, I'm just the girl who can do simple math.

The meeting we actually had today was prompted by someone who complained that two reports, reporting the same data, did not have the same numbers reported. To be helpful, he gave specific examples... which he appeared to have made up. No, I'm not kidding, I couldn't find the numbers he quoted anywhere. So after hunting through my report for the number he swore was reported there, and not finding it, I pretty much decided he must be smoking the special stash on all those smoke breaks. But we were able to find out the guy who does the other report was getting some of his numbers sent from India instead of getting them himself. That pretty much guarantees those numbers are wrong, and my report is right. I always love it when I’m not wrong.

Kicking Ass

The Fat Man keeps telling me that I kick ass. Partially it's cause I'm funny, a gamer, and walk around the house nekkid, but I also do kick a little ass. Karate is Tuesday and Thursday evenings. I have my brown belt in Shorin-Ryu, The Fat Man will probably be testing for his yellow belt soon. The local head of our style is Jiro Shiroma. He's this sweet little old Japanese guy, who could take out entire seminars of karate students. He's the one who gave me my brown belt, and complimented my kata.

The thing that makes Karate weird is that the guy who normally teaches class is my soon to be ex-husband. We both decided that we'd like to stay in touch, and we both went to karate, so we decided to try keep that up. The thing is, it can make things a little tense. I mean... I thought he would get annoyed before when I corrected something he was doing. Mental note: don't point out his deep stance is not so deep ever again.

See, I'm trying to keep things as normal as possible, which is difficult since I'm not showing up at karate with my new boyfriend (he had started coming before the split). But I'm pretty sure the soon-to-be-ex-husband is having a harder time of it. He initially told me he accepted the split was inevitable. That I had gotten married too young, and was too dependant on him. But since then he has told me in no uncertain terms that he believes I am making a mistake (kinda like what Mr. Wannabe has told me, but soon-to-be-ex-husbands have a little more right to be sharing that kind of stuff).

Karate will continue for now, even though things get a little awkward. The Fat Man will be testing for his yellow belt soon, and I will test for a higher brown, or possibly black, in the foreseeable future. It's good exercise, good for self confidence, and fun to hit things hard. I'd rather not give it up.

Oh Yeah, and it's a Secret... *Shhh*

I started the Blog yesterday, and was so happy I had actually done it, I shared the link with The Fat Man. He warned me he'd be linking to my site, and I requested that he not yet, at least until I felt I'd hit a stride. In the 20 seconds or so between my sharing the link, and requesting he not share the link, it had already gone out to at least three people.

Soooo, hey guys! The Fat Man thinks you will all have forgotten the link by today, so I'm gonna pretend no one knows me. Don't burst my bubble, k? :)

Hi, I'm Tam

When I was a kid, I always used to look at adults and think they knew what they were doing. I kept growing older, and waiting for that wonderful time, when I would be an adult, and I would actually know what the hell was going on... When's that supposed to happen again?

So here I am, 27, soon to be divorced. The husband keeps the dogs, keeps the house, keeps the friends. I got the cat, a cute little car, the new friends, and a job that only pays me just over $20k a year. Hmm, gonna take a long time to get a new house on $20k a year.

Oh wait, I said I got the new friends? Well, they came with drama. See, one of the friends is now the boyfriend, another apparently wanted to be the boyfriend (still trying to figure out when I became irresistible, but whatever). Now Mr. Wannabe won't talk to Mr. Be. Little did I know I would be staring in a soap oprah set in high school, but I'm just the newest face in this rejected daytime television script. The full story, from far before I ever showed up can be seen here (the boyfriend's Blog).

So that's where I am at present... should be quite an adventure, don't you think?

Introduction

The saying "Children should be seen and not heard," originally applied specifically to young women. Here's another one, "Silence is a woman’s best garment." Well this is my place to be heard, and not seen.