Riestrella: Kindergarten would be fantastic! and the heavy lifting would be awesome if I would lift with my knees!

Riestrella: My family is out in Ontario and I'm currently in Alberta (Canada). I'm planning to do my best in terms of working out and eating as healthy as possible under the circumstances. I'm actually planning to go and do my own grocery shopping when I get there, just because they frequently by precooked store made stuff (there is a store near their house that sells a lot of "home cooked" ready to go meals, which I frankly don't trust...) Anyway, we'll see what happens. I don't want to lose momentum, and I also feel like this is life - I need to learn how to deal with these situations. If I'm going to make this a lifelong lifestyle change then I need to learn how to adjust my behaviour without allowing myself a "week off".

OMG! Kindergarden! That's no joke! I taught kids at this grade level before and it is tough!!! I think that people who teach young kids like that are incredible! You need soooooo much patience and energy! Good Luck

Bea - yep! thats the name of the book! how goes coping with the breakup??

Riestrella - congrats on the move! Sounds like it'll be fun. Learning a new language is really tough, but i'll help that you're living there. I feel the same way when I visit China with my fiance... I feel like such a knob having someone translate for me... I've been learning Mandarin for three years and still have to have people talk really slow or have someone tell me what is going on. But stick to it... and get yourself in there with practicing and it'll be much easier. How do you feel about being a novelty there? It drove me absolutely crazy in China - I hated it!!! I hated being stared at, smiled at and treated differently. Maybe it doesn't bother you so much though?

Ries- Sounds like a fun place to be! Good luck with the job search, I'm sure you'll get settled in in no time. Kindergarten teaching sounds like a good job for you, for me, not so much.

1yr- Sounds like my parents, lol. I think it would be great to bring your own groceries and maybe you could have one night where you cook for them, if you enjoy that sort of thing. That way you're all getting a healthy meal and the pressure's off.

Katie- It is such a culture shock going into other countries. And I can relate to feeling a little out of place, especially when I don't know the language and they don't know mine and we're trying to say essentially the same thing.

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Sorry I've been MIA for a little while. I have been doing pretty good staying on track, still fairly limited by funds but not so bad now. I start my new college program tomorrow at 7am, which thankfully is a lot closer to my house and has a much better program in Health Information Technology than the first school I went to. It's actually accredited by the nationwide accrediting program, for starters, and it is a very good program.

I've been running a lot, doing C25K and track running. Right now I am worse at track running than treadmill running, I can only get around the track once and it's maybe a 1/10th mile track at most. But then again, I've only done my first week of C25K so maybe it isn't so bad. I do get hassled by kids down below on the courts, making fun of me and laughing at me because I'm fat and running and bobbling all over the place like jello. But hey, in a year when I'm fit, who's laughing then?

Anyhoo, I just wanted to drop in and say hello. How is everyone doing this weekend?

KatieKish: the breakup is going... lol unfortunatly, he texted me last night about something I had borrowed. And then we got to talking and I'm like look, this is stupid and I am using you as a crutch and I need this to be over. I realize it wasn't working and I don't want something like that. And I also realize that maybe if I was dating someone who had a little more time or even had the same schedule, but he WANTED to spend time with me. I would be open to dating, although I am not looking to date anyone. I am learning to be happy again. Another big help (YAZ has killed my sex drive, which one day could be a problem, but right now I am perfectly happy haha. I am putting in my order for that book right now. I loved He's just not that into you (the movie was cute but no where near as cut throat) That author is so blunt and it's just what you need, even if it hurts to hear it. Oh!! I can tell I am getting over it, even if it's just a little bit. I have been putting off watching BreakingBad (it was "our" show) because just thinking about it made me cry. I watched both episodes without even wanting to cry last night!

Namaste: Good luck with school tomorrow!! I can't wait to start again! How are you liking C25k?

Bea- Way to stand your ground. If you guys aren't compatible, you simply aren't. It's going to suck eggs for the first few months, but you'll soon realize you're strong enough to stand on your own and even enjoy it. Sooner or later you'll love your favorite shows again. C25K is amazing! I feel happier and more energetic than I have in a long time and I have lost several inches just from running alone! With the skin problems I have had in the past few weeks (mild skin infection followed by severe sunburns) it's been hard as h*ll but I still make it out everyday and do some sort of running. Actually, today I got yelled at twice by strangers, and one of them was "fat girl running!" I'm 220ish lbs and bounce all over the place when I run, but hey, I still know how to rock it! And besides, I don't see my haters running with me. I am looking forward to starting school! I'm not really nervous despite starting somewhere new, they all start looking the same after awhile anyway. I am a little apprehensive about the early start time, but that's water under the bridge I reckon.

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Not much else to report.

Namaste: Haters. grr. But good for you! I go to the YMCA and in the end I think I am sweatier than everyone in the gym put together. I don't get terrible sunburns but my red headed brother gets them when he leaves the house in the daylight. He uses pure aloe and buts it in the fridge. He says it's awesome! I would need to go to bed now in order to get up that early!! And you're right, all schools do start to look the same. I am on school number 4. (long sob story haha) I think once I start classes again I will feel much better about this breakup and getting myself back! This summer has been too long.

Bea- Haters gonna hate. lol. Yup I'm on my fourth too, believe it or not. I have one bachelor's, one minor, and working on an associate's now. I hope I'm done after that. It's getting a little old. Lol I got my burns in a tanning booth, apparently I was sweating and that makes it worse, plus I had a bronzer on, which made my skin blotchy and burnt to a crisp in places. My back and um... bum... were the worst hit, and believe me when I say it's been a pain in the a** to sit down! I'm pale as all get out and I burn very easily (I'm half-British), so I don't think I will be doing any more tanning.
Yeah it's been a crazy summer for me too, looking forward to getting back in the swing of things.

Well at least you have a degree!! Lol. One day I will get there but for now I just have to remember not to compare my life and progress to someone else. I am succeeding even if it doesn't feel like it. Tanning booths can be horrible!! and the rashes blech! I went a couple of months ago and used the stand up booth. The first montho or so I was fine and then one day I leaned my knee against the glass and I started to get this weird rash and it spread everywhere. It was gross!! Hope they get better, lol!

I really need to start working out again. This week I have been moving my grandparents and I am just so drained! erg!!

Wow, am I behind...
Bea: Sorry to hear about your breakup, but you seem to be handling it well. It'll get better with time, but even though I don't know you, I'm proud of you for realizing that your guy was a crutch and that it would better for you (even though it's painful) to just take that extra hurdle out of your life. Good luck with school to you, Namaste, and everyone else heading back soon.

Rie: If you get elementary school, you're getting paid to act like a clown too >.< I desperately wanted older kids because of that, but my company ignored ALL of my preferences when placing me. I suppose that the running around that I do is good for burning calories, but I just don't enjoy it at all. Collegiate marching band has given me a pretty damn good performance face, but even though the kids can't see it, I HATE it. If you're working on your Japanese, that'll probably help you get a job in lower levels...the younger the kids, the less likely it is that there'll be people in the school good at speaking English.

Update as to what I've been up to...it's still summer vacation for me...I've been taking mini trips around trying to find something that sucks less than my city with mixed results. Today I was super psyched because I'd found a water park and zoo about an hour and a half away that I desperately wanted to go to, but when I got back to my apartment to grab my suit, I discovered that TOM had other plans D: I don't trust tampons, so I guess my water park trip is going to have to wait TT^TT Back to the drawing board for plans for the day...with only a week left, I don't want to waste it, but at the same time I'm kinda sulking now because I'd been SO excited about it...

Bea: Glad you're getting the book and it sounds like you're being strong. Keep it up and you'll come out of this a stronger and better person. Always remember that you can do better than a person who isn't willing to fight for you!!!! Working out will help to, I feel infinitely better after going out for a long walk or dancing like a crazy person in my living room.

Hotchuran: Thanks! It means a lot : ) When do you start back to school? Hope you have time to visit the water park before school starts back up!!

Maybe it's tmi, sorry, but I sometimes don't even need pads they are so light. But in return, I act like I am freaking nuts like 2 weeks a month.

Katie: Thanks. I am realizing how much of a burden he really was. He was so negative. He was a very chill person, but then he would bottle his stress and blame it on me. I don't know why I wanted to hang on to that so much. Who knows though, tomorrow I may be sobbing! I just put my order in so hopefully it will be here this week!! I would really like to read it before school starts. (18 credit hours: booooo) Which reminds me, I need to buy my textbooks!

Thank you all so much. It means so much that I have not met any of you and you are there for me. yay support!

I'm back!

Well, Vegas was fun, we had a blast and today I weighed in exactly what I had weighed before we left, so I didn't gain anything. Now that I'm back I'm taking things really seriously - I've got 6 months before I HAVE to buy a wedding dress in order for it to arrive on time. So I've cut out all processed carbs and have taken up a 5 day running/lifting weekly routine. I've also taken to doing 100 crunches and 100 squats every morning and every night before bed. The goal is to drop 10 - 15 lbs for the next 4 months. Let's see how it goes....

Hotaruchan! I completely missed that you were back because of the new profile pic. oops

Bea Good to hear things are slowly getting better. I've definitely been there. An ex made me feel like complete crap one time by picking apart all sorts of (really stupid) stuff. He was criticizing the light in my kitchen, and that I didn't have any proper knives. I went out and bought new knives, and he still wouldn't let it go! It was so obnoxious. :-P
Boys are just really, really dumb sometimes. Give it time and you'll realize how much better off you are without him.

I recently read yet another article about how my city (well, near me) is one of the BEST places to live if you're single and I'm like.....really? Are you sure? Cause it's just a big ball of suck for me. One guy on a date recently cut it short because he wanted to go clean his bathroom at his condo. I was like...wow. You think cleaning a bathroom would be more fun than spending more time with me? Ouch....

I hate when everyone's response to my dating woes is "you're young! you have so much time!" (Generally, it's the people who are already married and have families). I don't want to wait until I'm well into my 30's before finding Mr. Right. I want to find him asap, so we can spend time together and enjoy each other without feeling the pressure of "well, if we want kids we'd better get a move on!" Like.....my cousin. She recently got married, but she's in her early 40's. She's going to have to start 'trying' for kids ASAP because she's older and is going to have a hard time getting pregnant.

Just...a little Monday Morning blues. Not fun being single.

Katbot24: Welcome back! Congrats on the "Non-gain!" that's actually pretty amazing coming bak from Vagas which, from what I heard, is a place very few people come back from without having been corrupted. lol!

And good luck on the new routine! I'm sure you'll be able to lose that weight by your target date! Especially with that intensity!

QB: I totally get where you're coming from but from what I've seen so far (with both my friends as well as "older" poeple who had found thier matches) is that finding the right person usually happens when you're not looking. So as frustrating as it is, don't stress about it too much! Definitely, still go on dates and be proactive, but the last thing you want to do is put yourself under so much presure that you end up in a realtionship that is good-enough, rather than a great one!

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I just had a great weigh-in (lost 4 lbs this week!) but I'm going on the plane tomorrow morning to visit family and I'm still super nervous about the implications of that for next week Guess we'll have to wait and see.