Sooo, it has been quite awhile since I've put finger to
keyboard for this little blog of mine. A lot has happened or is happening, I
think, since last I shared. There were a few topics I wanted to touch base on
as I got involved with them, but that sort of went out the window. I have a
hard time committing to hobbies, okay?
1. Python
2. Turbofire
3. Tombraider 2013
4. I can't think of anything else right now
Here we go:
1. I'll be honest here, I lost interest in codecademy after
they lost all of my progress about a week into using it. Going back through the
15 or so lessons I had already done in order to earn nifty little badges and reach
100% on the progress bars - not so fun
the second time around. Does that make me a completionist? Absolutely. However,
this is something I want to learn for my profession. Having to go through and
do it all a second time shouldn't be a bad thing, but rather a good thing -
solidifying the foundation of my python education. Imagine me saying that last
sentence in a lofty voice. ;)
Meh. I'm disenchanted. I have a textbook on Python and IT
can't lose my progress. I think I'll start going through that instead.
Okay, okay, I'm being a little unfair. Codecademy is all
well and good and I do believe I'll use it again in the near future. My
codecademy hiatus is probably due to laziness more than annoyance at lost
progress. Still. I think the textbook is the route I'll take for the time
being. Being tangible, I think progress with it will feel more real. Have more
weight. In my weird brain, anyway.
2. I'll be honest here, I lost interest in Turbofire.....eh,
wait...this sounds eerily familiar. Here's the skinny on my Turbofire
advancement: I got really sick about two weeks into the program and since then
I have only sporadically used it.
The first week, called The Inferno, I lost 4 inches around
my waist and I think five or six pounds. Not too shabby, eh? It works like so:
there is a strict meal plan and work out regime for this part of the program to
detox and condition your body for the rest of the program. The meal plan is
basically calorie counting, portion control, and low carbohydrate intake. You
consume three bigger meals and two snacks, spacing out your consumption to keep
your metabolism going at all times. You are also supposed to do a Turbofire
class each day for the duration of The Inferno (five days)[and I only actually
worked out twice that week].
Now it wasn't difficult to stick to eating the suggested
portions and the suggested meals were pretty tasty. The problem was all of the
damn meal preparation time. I work a 9-5 job and spend about 25 minutes
commuting in the morning, then 45 minutes to an hour commuting in the evening.
This means I've got about four to five hours each evening to make dinner, do
chores, run any errands that come up, and to relax. If I have a date with my
man that limits my evening's free time to about an hour. As you can probably
tell, there isn't much room in my evenings to prep lunches and snacks and
dinners for the next day or two. The same goes for the mornings because, and
only when I try my darnedest, the earliest I can get up is 6. That's two hours
and half hours to spend on a Turbofire class (one hour long), shower, get
ready, and pack my breakfast/lunch/snacks. See where I'm going with this? The
first week requires, at the very least, micromanaging every second of your
days. At the very most, changing your entire schedule around to make it work. I
was up until 1 AM prepping meals the one evening. It was madness. Not to
mention that some of the required ingredients are not cheap (even if they are
nutritious and delicious).
If I haven't totally scared you off from the program, I will
say this: the classes and results are very much worth the trouble! Plus, the first
week's meal plan is the strictest part of the nutrition guide. Every other meal
thereafter is yours to choose with basic guidelines and fairly simple rules to
follow. On the classes, the ones I've tried so far are addicting. They are so
much fun and actually have decent soundtracks. Chalene is a great motivator.
The exercises and classes (so far) are challenging enough to provide a sense of
accomplishment and yet aren't so difficult that you can't complete them. The
classes ARE intense, though. I have chosen the lower-impact moves or plain out
had to stop and take a breather more than once. BUT it's so much fun that you
don't want to throw in the towel until you've reached the end.
I plan on jumping back onto the Turbofire wagon within the
next couple days. Until then, that's about all I have to report on Chalene
Johnson's cardio kickboxing craziness.
3. Boyfriend and I started playing the latest Tombraider
together a few weeks ago. Boyfriend devised a list of Lara Croft's top ten
favorite activities based on the past 25 hours of game play (we are both
completionists, what can I say?) that I must share with the world:
1. Pant
2. Kill
wildlife indiscriminately
3. Have
frantic conversations with friends on her walkie talkie at random moments
4. Be
almost violently killed in a myriad of ways by rape-y looking men
5.
Obstinately refuse to put even a light sweater on, even on the top of the
tallest tower of the tallest mountain of an island which has supernaturally bad
weather
6. Say some
variation of "I can do it"
7.
Slide down hills
8. Say
some bullshit like, "This is architecture that predates the Kofun
period" or otherwise know within ten seconds of looking at a piece of
ancient Japanese history exactly what era it came from and what purpose it
served and/or what it represents symbolically
9. Gain
momentary freakish She-Hulk strength when attaching a rope to a 10 x 10 inch
support beam
10. Destroy five to ten inanimate, arbitrary objects for fun in every new area (I contributed this particular point. The rest is all B. :) )
We are going to finish Tombraider (with 100%, I might add)
this weekend. I'll post more about Lara, B, and I's adventures next week.
For now, back to the tunnels. <3
