My Name Is Chelsea and I Have A Problem

I have a cold.  It's not that bad but I can't help but feel like I brought it on myself.  I have been working out really hard and left myself vulnerable to immune attack. Tuesday, I worked out for 2 hours and felt like puking afterward.  Laura made an interesting point today, I have yet to take a full sick day in my whole time at ACRS.  I took off early yesterday and came in late today.  It was helpful and I should be just fine by the end of the weekend.  You can tell that I'm really getting addicted to working out because the thing that makes me most unhappy about all of this is not working out for a few days.  It's a good addiction to have.

Wrap Up

This week:

Photo by Muang Saechao

• Another student passed her interview.
• I worked out 5 times (including a Turbo Kick workout with 6 turbos!).
• I went to USCIS for the first time which gave me a chance to really practice my Chinese and apply it.
• The quarter ended meaning I have 2 weeks off from teaching.
• My Talk Time students told me that they like exactly what I am doing and don't want it to change.
• Muang and I decided to live together after our leases are up.
• I have done some serious thinking about my employment situation including finding a potential job with a public policy consulting firm and have tailored my resume for position.  I am just waiting to have a few folks at work look it over before I send it out.
• Friends and I had a little dinner gathering including me making mojitos.  It was a delightful night in featuring some awesome chicken and bamboo curry by Muang.

Adventure/ Goals

First of all, I needed to post this picture of a meal that I had to celebrate two of my students becoming citizens.  It was awesome!  I just had to make Dad jealous.

Today was a fun day of exploring a new area of the city.  I went out grocery shopping (Trader Joe's of course) and dropped off my stuff.  After that, I went to Muang's place to drop off my workout gear and we set out for Lake Union.  We took the street car which was fun.  The first place we saw was the Center for Wooden Boats. It's pretty cool and the best part is they offer free rides, first come first serve, on Sunday afternoons.  What luck!  Alas, it was not to be because it was too windy but we want to go back there again.  Our consolation prize was a tour of the Coast Guard cutter, Anthony Petit.  It's a working cutter with full crew stationed out of Alaska.  Our tour guide was actually the cook and was therefore unable to answer any of our questions.  It was still really cool to see the inside of all that jazz.  We walked around and finally, Muang and I needed to use the restroom so we stopped into this place called Jillian's.  It's an arcade/sports bar thing.

We were looking to kill a bit of time and get in from the wind.  We were more than happy to lay $5 down to play some air hockey and such.  As it happened, the lady who was working the little card loader thingy was coding a giant stack of cards for a party later tonight.  We were standing at the counter for a solid 10 minutes, chatting happily when the lady hands us two cards and says they are unlimited and on the house.  It was a lot of fun.  I won at air hockey and got pwned at shooting hoops.  Since we got the games for free, we wanted to spend some money there.  We sat down to a late lunch/ early dinner.  The food was mediocre but it was still fun.  While we were eating, Muang and I got to talking about the wedding that she will be a bridesmaid for in July.  We set some fitness goals since she wants to be all fit and trim for it.  We both do better when we have a deadline.  So we laid some things down.

My deadline is the end of my Americorps contract.  Muang's is the wedding.  We are going to push ourselves and each other.  We don't want to have weight loss goals since we are both building muscle.  I want to significantly reduce my spare tire and decrease my pooch.  I am shooting for an average of 4.5 workouts a week.  As far as eating goes, I am already improving without even trying.  I am losing a lot of my cravings for sweet stuff and eating smaller portions.  I am going to the gym consistently and I am going because I enjoy it.  That makes it far more likely for me to be able to sustain this.  I am really hopeful about making serious lifestyle changes.

Under No Obligation

I made a double batch of brownies for a volunteer appreciation tomorrow.  I made them last night and Time is people starved so he came out and started chatting.  He never stops talking and does not take any hints that I don't want to keep talking.  Anyway, I let him have some brownie batter.  He realizes the genius that is my brownies.  Then he says, "Leave one for me."  I respond that I will be leaving the brownies intact until Tuesday to which he replies, "Oh, well, you are under no obligation to give me one."  No shit, Sherlock.  I'm making brownies for people who give their time to our agency and ask nothing in return.  That pissed me off.  Earlier that day, he further convinced me of his destiny of loneliness.  He cannot compromise.  That is why I am out of here as soon as my lease is up.

In more positive news, I bought new shoes online for working out.  They were expensive but I am losing weight and I deserve a bit of a treat.  Also, I got the money from housesitting and my tax refund.  Also, they are made for doing Turbo Jam and Zumba type workouts.  They'll hopefully allow me to move my feet easier and reduce the wear and tear to my knees.  Not the sexiest shoe I've ever seen but they will make me sexier in the long run.

Down, Down, Down

I finally weighed myself today.  I was putting it off because I'm always sloshed up with post-workout hydration and such...that's a lie.  That's what I told myself every time I saw the scale at the gym.  I was putting it off because I was afraid that after all of the time that I have put into working out, I wouldn't see it reflected on the scale.  I also know how much more muscle mass I have in my legs and arms that it might cancel out any fat loss. Out of curiosity tonight, I weighed myself.  After all, what gets measured gets done.  As it turns out, I'm down about 15 pounds.  I am seriously so proud of that.  I know I have a lot more to go but at this point, working out is a part of my life, not just a special effort or a temporary bender.

Going to the gym is my time.  I do it for me.  I do it because it is fun and social.  Sure, my feet hurt afterward and I look like crap but I feel good.  Also, when I go to the gym, I come home after a certain roommate is done in the common areas and I don't need to cross his path.  I have a theory about this.  Here is a graph on the relation between how much I enjoy my life and how much I see Time.  Note the negative correlation.  I need to stop focusing on him but wanting to avoid him makes decent motivation.

Laziness as a Cost Savings Measure

I went out the past two weekends and decided to stay in this weekend.  I got my taxes done, did laundry, went grocery shopping and tidied my room up a bit.  It was sunny and lovely out so I got to feel some real sun on my face.  It was quite nice.  I also realized that now I am hitting the gym with some frequency, I am only home to sleep during the week.  I'm pretty much OK with that.  Another revelation, carrots and tzatziki make an awesome combo.  Extra bonus- I can stretch the tzatziki by adding in some of the plain yogurt that I buy anyway.  Score!

Tomorrow, I will be going to the Department of Licensing with Muang to get my Washington state driver's license.  I'm well on my way to establishing residency here.  If I decide to go to grad school at UW, that will save me $14,000 a year on tuition.  We will also be having our monthly Employment and Citizenship birthday lunch which is a totally sanctioned way to get out of the office and talk for an hour.  Tuesday will be the celebration dim sum lunch for two students that I worked with extensively and recently passed their interviews.  I am now at 13 students to pass from my class.  All of my students are saying that I am good luck.  I am fine with that if it means that they go into their interviews with more confidence.  Also, I am working on my BIA accreditation, which will make me more marketable to ACRS after Americorps.