Some wild creature has taken command. I gave him the keys and he's stomping through the house.

[lodessa]

1)Hi all. I am getting back on the workout and eating better path and will probably start talking about it again. I've added a number of new people since the last time I asked about this and some of you may have changed your feelings on the subject. So I'm polling to see who wants to be on the filter. If you are on the current one and don't respond I will leave you on and I don't auto add anyone. I may occasionally talk about these subject outside of the filter but primarily I try and keep it under there as this is a subject that is sensitive for a lot of people.

[Poll #1148729]

2) queenofthorns posted about "Technological Sabbath" which I found really interesting. I don't generally check my internet on the weekends much (surfing 40 hours a week is plenty for me) but I am thinking about taking on the TV/DVD/Video Games aspect of my technological dependency. Maybe then I'd get some reading done and a little space to think.

3) Last night I watched the season 2 premiere and the Eliza Dushku episode of Ugly Betty. I still adore this show, which balances horrible over the top cliche and heartfelt earnest emotion. That isn't why I stopped watching it; I stopped watching it because it was pleasant but it didn't add anything to my life and I was spending too much time in front of the TV. That reason still stands. I still feel really warm and fuzzy about it though. Also... Eliza is still ridiculously pretty.

4) Meme Stolen from etrangere:

Name a character I write [am familiar with] and I'll tell you how s/he lost her/his virginity.

Comments

[girlupnorth]

1) Good luck and yes, I want to be on the filter

3) UB had some really good moments this season.

4) Brennan.

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

1) Thanks. Basically I am trying to counteract the negative health effects of sitting in an office all day and never having an reason to be active.

3) I totally adore UB and I love the surreal turn the bits I've seen seem to have taken.

4) The T.A. for her freshman year philosophy course (she needed it for her general ed). She used to come to office hours all the time because the course materials drove her sort of insane trying to make sense of them. He started off finding her annoying but then became totally infatuated. She wasn't interested in pursuing the relationship and possibly never even realized that he was, but she did completely gave him the idea which was the basis for his dissertation.

[juushika.livejournal.com]

2. I take breaks like that often, but rarely consciously. The fact that I am so addicted to books helps—I find them more interesting than most games and TV shows, so it's easy to opt for that stimulation instead. Having the guinea pigs also helps, and I imagine the same might be true for cats or dogs—I take the pigs out about once a day in good weather so that the can eat fresh grass, and that pulls me away from all electronics.

The easiest step, though, is getting rid of your TV. So many networks have online episodes now, so I watch TV that way, on demand with limited commercials, and I never get sucked in to "just one more episode" of something I normally wouldn't care about. So much time is lost to TV, and sometimes I understand why, sometimes I enjoy just going partially brain-dead and taking in information, but I think it's healthier to do that when I have the whim to do so, rather than all the time—because TVs stay on all the time.

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

2. The cat doesn't really like me to go outside with her. She seems to think it is embarrassing.

I don't so much get sucked into watching actual TV as watching episode upon episode on DVD. It's so easy when they are all there and you want to find out what happens. I also think I have been using it as a diversion tactic to avoid dealing with stuff. If it weren't for the boyfriend's desire to have it we wouldn't have cable. I never had it when I lived alone.

I also think sometimes I end up watching things instead of reading because I can feel like I am doing it WITH Jeremy instead of reading where we are reading out separate things (I tried reading to him but he falls asleep).

[juushika.livejournal.com]

Well, with cats I was thinking something more like cuddling. Dogs will let you take the outside.

I do have a hard time turning reading into a with the boyfriend sort of thing. We try to read a book together every now and then—short story compilations work really well because then there are clear and distinct stopping places. He doesn't read on his own, and I always find that disappointing—cuddling up with a book each is a dream of mine. But I'm used to reading while he games and sometimes he draws while I read.

Spending all day home alone helps, though. There's plenty of time there to read without feeling like I'm isolating myself from Devon.

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Unfortunately Cat's favorite time to cuddle with you is when you are immobilized sitting at the computer.

We sometimes do read side by side. It's just that since he gets up at 3:30Am for work and I get off at 5PM and our days off only overlap half the time we don't really have much time to hang out and it's hard to really read and cuddle even, let alone interact.

[nentari.livejournal.com]

1) Good luck!

4) Angela! (this should be fun *grins*)

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

1) Thanks.

4) When they were in Junior High, Angela and her best friend used to experiment. Her first time with a boy was in her Junior year of high school. He was sort of a bad boy, and was the drummer for a local band.

[nentari.livejournal.com]

And I guess when Billy Gibbons found out he beat the crap out of him :P

LOVE the icon!

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

:)

Thanks. I've been trying to prune them down (I'm thinking about not renewing the userpic ad-on) but I keep finding more I love.

[hella-em.livejournal.com]

oh my god, i need some inspiration - i'm retarded and registered for another half marathon this morning! though it's a waiting game to see if i'm actually randomly selected this year as they're doing a lottery 'cause everyone wants in. stupid me! yay for someone else doing stuff at the same time that can serve as some motivation/inspiration!

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

I could never ever do that. I cannot run for the life of me.

[countouttheday.livejournal.com]

1) I think at this point I'd rather be off it. I am starting to think that following my body's cues is far more important than eating a certain way and it's impossible to do that once you start thinking about calories of this or grams of that. Same with exercising. I love it until I think of it in terms of calories burned.

Plus, I'd just start telling you that diets don't work and the only thing that works is listening to your body, eating when hungry, stopping when full, and finding movement you enjoy. There I said it. I'll stop now.

2) It was my trip to Europe - four weeks without a phone or computer (though I did have internet cafes and local phones) that broke my internet addiction. Now I default to checking when I get home, but am also fine going away for a week without a computer.

As muuch as I hate phones, though, I can't turn mine off. It's a serious anxiety trigger. Not that I'm so important I'll miss something important. But that something life changing and horrible is happening and I'm terrified of turning the phone (and email, etc) back on because i'm worried I'll find out about it.

/crazy

3) I like Ugly Betty too but don't really watch it. The boy tends to make fun of it, though, and I'm not super attached and Thursdays are often busy, though. So Ugly Betty falls by the wayside.

4) Oberyn Martell.

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

1) Totally understand. Mainly for me it's about being aware of what I'm eating... because when I don't I eat so much crap.

2) I never turn mine off either. What if something important happened?

4) One of his mother's chambermaids. He was about 12. She was easy to persuade, he let her think she was the one doing the seducing.

[countouttheday.livejournal.com]

1) I eat pretty healthy when I'm not aware (sometimes I forget how unusual my taste in food is cf tomato paste and hated of sugar), but when I am aware, it's a disaster. I'm constantly wracked with guilt and can't concentrate on anything but what I ate and how much. I mean, it's not a textbook eating disorder, but it's obsessive and mildly physically self-destructive (seriously mentally so). I did succeed in getting my physical without finding out my weight, though, so my New Years' Resolution is still on track.

2) I never think of the good important things, though. Only the bad ones. I left work yesterday and went to the gym by work to do yoga, realizing on my way I'd forgotten my phone. I just HAD to go back to get it (especially as boy is away and there would have been no phones at all here). Though apparently my boss had seen that I left it and became worried that I'd rushed out because something was wrong. She is so nice (if very disorganized).

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

1) I totally get that from having read your journal and such. Part of my problem is the people around me are always encouraging bad eating. So it's hard not to go with the flow.

[countouttheday.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it got really bad. It's better now, but there's still backsliding into obsession. The fact that I'm becoming ridiculously buff helps, as does actually eating enough. Hunger makes it impossible to concentrate. But, yeah, there are days where I obsess as if my body size is the only important thing about me. How sad it would be if that were truly the case!

I think part of listening to your body is ignoring the influences around you. Just because someone else is having something doesn't mean you need to and just because they're not doesn't mean you can't. I mean, there's compromise if you're sharing a meal, but I've learned to take ownership of myself and that helps.

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

We are almost always sharing a meal. Also a lot of it comes down to being really tired and worn down and having no energy to deal. So I have to force myself to think "is this really what I want?"

[countouttheday.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that happens with me and Matt a fair amount, too. He is part of the problem because he doesn't like chicken. (in fact, with him away, I am ordering chicken fajitas even though I maybe want steak). But mostly we compromise and while at first I was annoyed he didn't want whole grains most of the time, I soon realized that not eating whole grain at every meal actually makes me feel better.

Yeah, there is such a thing as eating too healthy, and I was doing it... :\

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

Yeah. There's definitely a healthy medium. Like I try and add extra vegetables to every meal and have whole grain rice but I have regular pasta. Your body needs all kinds of things, just in different amounts.

I can see how it would be easy to you to go overboard since you don't like sweets or cheese to begin with.

[qt-ninja.livejournal.com]

1) I don't mind. keep up the good work.
3) I stopped watching for I have no cable...le sigh
4) Because I am weird....River

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

4) You are really tempting me to give you incesty goodness, but I will resist.

The first week away at school, everyone was terrified. River slept with one of her classmates because her physical virginity didn't seem that important after being mind raped.