Blogging while Sitting in Class

According to my professor, I am supposed to update this blog three times a week, one for every day we have class. I have been a little lacking in this area. I am technically sitting in that very class right now, typing in my blog instead of paying attention to his talk about photo journalism and illustrations. They are apparently an alternative story form. Why this is bad, you miss out on the important things the professor is saying. Why this is good, it makes time go by a little bit faster instead of inching along the usual way. I actually like this class though, mr professor, Kent Flannagan is great. This is an editing class and we are learning about the new style of journalism in a multi-media age. Very interesting! I have to go getting distracted again.

XOXO,

Garrett (my nephew) Does the Thriller Dance

Garrett does THRILLER


Just trying something new with video here. I made this a year ago. I was about to start a whole video blog, but my nephew featured in this video broke my camera on Saturday.
XOXO,

Being Erica

Soapnet has a new TV series, it's called Being Erica. It's about a 32-year-old woman who has an accident, wakes up in her old bedroom in her mother's house, is stalked by a psychologist who sends her back in time to fix the mistakes she thinks ruined her life. One reason I like this show, I was alive in the nineties and remember it and I love her hair. Not her 1990s hair, but her 2009 hair. I just love it. I think everyone should watch this show. I have included a 10 minute clip of selected scenes from the show.

XOXO,

Weight-Loss and Work Out Update

It has been four weeks with the trainer and I have lost two lbs. But, those two pounds were pure body fat. I lost a half inch off my chest, and inch and a half off my waist, one inch off my hips, I think it was a hal inch off my arms and .20 of an inch off my thighs. My trainer was very pround. Today was the first day that I used the machines. I was excited and afterwards worn out. Towards the end of each work out i felt like I need to scream like they do in tennis, just to push through the last couple of sets. I obviously made it through them and now I just need to work on watching what I eat. I always splurge on the weekends, mainly because I am with other people, and I do not want to force my diet on them.

XOXO,

Valentine's Day was until now S.A.D.

I have expereinced my first non-single Valentine's Day. (Sort-of). I am not sure exactly what we are as of yet, but it was nice to finally be able to kiss someone on Valentine's day for once in my 27 years. He also gave me a teddy bear and a box of chocolates, the standard V-Day gift, but it was the thought and my first gifts too, apart from my nephews who gave me some pearl earrings! What girl doesn't love chocolate?! I gave him a kind of half V-DAY, half birthday gift. Today was his 28th Birthday and I gave him a amp for his guitar. I bought it used from my brother, so it was fairly inexpensive. As always, it's the thought that counts!

XOXO,

Definition and Working Out

I am beginning to see some definition in my arms from working out. I love it! I can still feel my stomach muscles working even though my last strength workout was Monday. I am using muscles I have never used before.
This is week 4 of the workout. It is still kicking my ass but I know it's working. Today is technically a rest day, but I feel like going to the gym. Maybe for at least a 45 minute workout.

Speakeasy

When you hear the name Speakeasy, you think of a 1920s bar with laughing, dancing, and music. That is not what I found Saturday night at the Speakeasy Restaurant & Bar in Clarksville, Tennessee or as Jeremy referred to it, the "Speak-Sleazy." (It might have been in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Who knows.) That's not the point though. My point is the a seedy little bar the was home to a few of our good, young men in the Army, their girl's and her friends, and the backwoods population that only come out at night. I wasn't expecting much at the now definite SpeakSleazy, but I was hoping for a little bit more that what I had walked into. There were three to four very hefty women wearing tank tops and short skirts or dresses, trying to look sexy, (didn't work), a handful of young, almost handsome looking service men playing pool, quite a few dirty old men with all but two teeth in their mouth, and a handful of young girls talking to the army guys, and even the dirty old men. The air was filled with smoke and the floor sticky from spilled alcohol. Jeremy and I met his friends and sat down near the back by the pin ball machines that no one was playing. His friend's name was Chris and they were once in the service together. Now both men were discharged and meeting for the first time in years. Chris' friend's name was Ben and he and Jeremy hit it off more than Jeremy and Chris. Heck, they hit it off better than me and Jeremy. They spent the whole night talking about punk bands that they both enjoyed, the instruments that they played and the best way to play them, and the concerts that they went/wanted to go to in the future. Chris had another friend show up who's name I do not remember and they were conversing on the left side of me and Jeremy and Ben on the right side, and I was staring into space and listening to the dreadful women and men singing their heart's out for karaoke night (There was one guy that was OK, I think), and slowing sipping on the drink that Jeremy had ordered for me. It was called a Washington Apple, which was a mixture of Crown Royal, green apple schnapps, and cranberry juice. To me, it tasted slightly better that cherry cough syrup. I finished off the drink as some girl was in the middle of torturing is with her version of Miranda Lambert's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Just hearing her made me want to get another drink so I could drown out her voice. Jeremy and his friend went to the bar for another drink, our waitress was kinda of slow and to use her own words, "new to alcohol," and he came back with another drink for me. This one was called sex on the beach. At last something I was familiar with, the drink not the activity unfortunately. This was a mixture of vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice and cranberry juice and was a little better to handle that the Washington apple. I finished off the drink in about half the time as the other one although I wasn't paying too much attention to the drink. I was too busy staring at the woman trying to sing a song while staring at herself in the mirror wall behind her. It is crazy how people make fools of themselves like this. It was almost midnight now and our party was getting ready to depart from the much beloved Speakeasy. Farewell smoke-filled, stick floored, SpeakSleazy. Oh how I will not miss thee.

Advising

I recently learned that my so-called advisor is giving a class for teachers on how to advise their students. That is insane since my advisor is quite possibly the worst advisor in the entire Mass Comm department. If you are in this department then you know exactly who I am talking about. If you are not then you are one lucky S.O.B. You walk into her office and she looks at you like "why are here and what the hell do you want." Obviously this is not just my opinion, I have heard many a student say the same things about her and when I found out about the advising class and mentioned it, so many people commented about what a horrible advisor she is. I think the mass comm department needs to do something about her. For now though, I will bypass her and go see the wonderful journalism sectaries instead.

Another Day, Another Something

Well it's Wednesday, and all I have to report is that my workout is still kicking my ass. Yesterday was 45 minutes of steady cardio, but today I did the strength session again. I can still feel every muscle in my body quivering. I had to come home and take a nap. We added a step to the end of the workout. I have to squeeze a ball in between my legs which is not so bad. The first time I did this one though, my ass and thighs were hurting something feirce the next day. Then I take the ball in between my feet and lift it and lower it for two counts each. I think I did this one a little too fast to get it over with. The only weight I lift is 2 10lb. weights the rest is using my own body weight. As I pointed out to Jessica, my trainer, that's a lot of body weight. A whole 173lbs. of weight to be exact. I know 173lbs. seems like a lot but its not as bad as it was last March when I weighted about 213lbs. I want to be down to a managable weight and I want to wear cute clothes damnit. Once clothes get to a certain size range, they do not look so cute anymore. They just look like tons of fabric.

I have a paper/story/profile thing due tomorrow. It's for my feature writing class. We have to write a story on a place that we actually visited. I chose my first night in Paris. It was the only thing I could think of, so I guess it wanted to be put into words. I will post it on here after I turn it in to her so you guys can let me know what you think. I had my travel writing teacher look over it, and she said it was really good, just need to tweak a few things. Now I have to get ready for my Online journalism class tonight and a meeting in an hour with a group of students I am interviewing for a peice I am doing for the online journalism class. More about that later too.

Latest Workout this afternoon

I am hurting from my workout this afternoon. Jessica, my trainer, is whipping me into shape. My abs hurt, my legs don't want me to stand up and my eyes just want to close. I was dripping sweat as I was slowing doing a push up and afterwards, when I went to Target, I fell asleep in the car for 15 minutes before I went inside.

Sunday Night Workouts

Sunday night is the best time to go to the Rec Center. This may just have been because of the football game, but there was no one there. I loved it. Nothing to worry about when I was all hot a sweaty and gross. I have another training session today, and I have a feeling it's going to a harder workout than the first one.

Dinner in Kentucky

So I went out the other with Jeremy. I had drive up to Clarksville to see him. The trip was about an hour and 20 minutes long, not too bad of a considering the last time I tried to go to Clarksville, my car broke down at some random exit that I can no longer remember and I had to have my grandfather drive up and tow my car back home. Embarrassing to say the least. Jeremy showed me around Clarksville, and we spent the entire time saying sarcastic comments about the town and its inhabitants. Most of whom had the exact same high and tight, standard military haircuts. He showed me the main gate to the Fort Campbell Army Base, which is Gate 4 by the way. Not far from there, is a small little Mexican Restaurant where he chose to eat, (he didn't want to wait at the Old Chicago Restaurant.) As soon as I walked through the door, I knew we were no longer in Tennessee because the room was filled with smoke, and Tennessee recently passed the no smoking in restaurants law last October. The place was like another Mexican restaurant, and even had an older man serenading the entire place with hits like La Bamba, and even All My Exs Live in Texas. I enjoyed the food but most importantly i enjoyed the company and will drive up to Clarksville anytime to have dinner in Kentucky again.