stillsostrange | Entries tagged with operation valkyrie

I am contributing to the decline of LJ with my lack of posts. Not that I ever posted much of substance to begin with.

Friday: Rest day? I can't remember now, but that seems likely.
Saturday: ~ 3 hours gothercize
Sunday: rest day
Monday: 1/2 hour core class, climbing
Tuesday: 2 miles elliptical, 1 hour session with trainer
Wednesday: 4 hours dayjob
Thursday: 4.5 hours dayjob

(24 miles out of Hobbiton, as the treadmill treads.)

It's mid September and I've just noticed that the Krewe DCM (which has organized Austin's Halloween parade for the last five years) hasn't updated all year. This fills me with dread. I also have no idea what I'll be wearing. If Agent J opts for a Disney-themed costume, at least I can reuse the Gothtopus.

I figured out what I was sticking on with regards to D2. It is, of course, that characters. It took me nine years to drag one book out of these recalcitrant bastards--we'd best not see a repeat of that.

I've also been working on the oh-so-rare art project this week. I may post pictures of that for you amusement soon.

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: Fans and rain

I think it's really an elliptical, but that doesn't scan as well. Whatever it is, I love the thing. Five miles in an hour today, and an annoying epiphany. My brain is programmed very simply: we do not stop moving while a good song is playing. I could have exploited this years ago if I'd thought of it. Oh well.

Friday: Rest day, 4 hours dayjob
Saturday: 7 hours dayjob
Sunday: 7 hours dayjob
Monday: 1 hour yoga, climbing
Tuesday: 1 hour session with trainer, 1.5 hours tattooing (That totally counts for something!)
Wednesday: 2.5 hours gothercize
Thursday: 5 miles elliptical

(18.5 miles out of Hobbiton.)

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Moribito

A V2! A V2! My second V2 ever! Progress!

Books read this year:

1. The Ladies of Mandrigyn - Barbara Hambly
2. Lord of Bones - Justine Musk
3. Throne of the Crescent Moon - Saladin Ahmed
4. Infidel - Kameron Hurley
5. Shattered Pillars - Elizabeth Bear (in draft)
6. The Secret Servant - Daniel Silva
7. Butch Fatale, Dyke Dick: Double D Double Cross - Christa Faust
8. The Witches of Wenshar - Barbara Hambly
9. The Mask of Night - Tracy Grant
10. Vienna Waltz - Teresa Grant
11. Imperial Scandal - Teresa Grant

I've been binging on the Fraser books. I'm also rereading Beneath a Silent Moon right now. I adore these books so much. With the adoration I normally reserve for Barbara Hambly's Asher books, even. If ever two series needed an epic crossover event, it's these two. The timing would be a stretch, but that's what vampirism is for.

Current Mood: accomplished

March 1 - 7

March 1 - I have completely forgotten what I did last Thursday. Either I did something, or it was a rest day.
March 2 - Yard work, 2 hours.
March 3 - Day job, 5 hours.
March 4 - Day job, 7 hours.
March 5 - Day job, 5 hours; bouldering; core class, 1 hour.
March 6 - House cleaning, ~ 1 hour.
March 7 - Day job, 5 hours; top-roping; yoga, 1 hour; dancing, ~3 hours. State of the badass art.

Every time I see the video for "Lucretia, My Reflection" I think of a line from Traveling With The Dead: ...Because it was white, a color no sane woman, dead or Undead, would wear on a train. This makes me want to work on my Spies With Fabulous Hats book so very badly.

Day 15 of no sugar. These molasses muffins are my salvation.

I am typing this boring post on Jadis! The blue fire worked! We upgraded my OS and she came back to life. We're guessing maybe a file had been corrupted that was replaced in the upgrade. I hope that is in fact the case, because my Apple Care expires next month, and I don't really want to spend a huge chunk of my publication check for Kingdoms on a new computer.

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: The Sisters of Mercy - Lucretia, My Reflection

February 23 - 29

Thursday: Housecleaning. A lot of it.
Friday: More housecleaning. Also a lot.
Saturday: Playground duty (including monkey bars!), a truly lackluster amount of outdoor bouldering.
Sunday: Dayjob, 7 hours. (Book mining burns a lot of calories.)
Monday: Dog-walking, 1.5 miles.
Tuesday: Yoga, 30 min.
Wednesday: Day job, 5 hours. Top roping & 1 hour yoga.

And by some Leap Day miracle, I managed to have beer and cheese fries for dinner, and still come in at 2k calories for the day.

I have a tumblr now. What do I do with it?

Current Mood: tired

I've slacked off on the weekly updates, which is probably for the best as progress has been slow. Progress is still slow, but I'm getting stronger again, and rebuilding stamina. I'm slightly less chickenshit on bouldering problems than I was a couple months ago, so that's good. I'm still not sending 5.10s again, but I can sail up 5.9s, so it'll come back.

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: fans

And now a rare fitness post. You have been warned.

I spent most of the holidays perfecting my Slug With a Laptop pose and being on a weight loss plateau. Since then I've returned to my (only mildly sporadic) regimen of climbing, yoga, core class, and dancing, with pleasant results. After last night's four hours of dancing thanks to Elysium's Sisters of Mercy tribute night*, I'm now under 165. Apparently these last two pounds were the magic ones, because I've gone down a band size. This is good, because I stockpiled all my old bras when I gained weight, and have been reluctant to buy many larger ones. (Those suckers are expensive.)

This means that I've lost 17 pounds since my horrible peak weight at World Horror last year, and 12 from last year's normal upper range (when not effected by queso and cupcakes). My goal right now is 160. From there I'll assess how my clothes fit and how well I'm climbing.

* This was the best night ever. I love my club so much right now.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Blutengel - Reich Mir Die Hand

Based on multiple recommendations and a trial run of the chickpea picatta, I bought Appetite For Reduction tonight. I will report back on further recipes.

This purchase was apparently well timed, because tonight I started looking through old photos, and saw with fear and loathing the difference between me last week and me six years ago. Reader, I weep. No wonder I have such a hard time hauling my ass up an overhang. (It's also amazing how five years can lend perspective on the quality of photos.)

Starting today, Operation Valkyrie is getting a kick in the pants, mostly involving more choosing/slaying and a lot less mead. Climbing! Yoga! Walking! No more refined carbs!

Current Mood: determined

The training program I joined for the 10k last year only has evening and weekend meetings this year. Boo. I'm much more likely to be too tired or ~~lazy~~ busy to go in the evenings, and traffic will be even worse. So this means I need to force myself to train by myself for the next 12 weeks. I don't need to drive downtown to run, but I'm a lot more motivated by the Greenbelt and Town Lake bridges than by my boring suburb. Acquiring a pedometer may also be helpful.

390 words so far, and one new scene finished.

Current Mood: cold
Current Music: Gary Numan - Dark (Andy Gray mix)

Kingdoms of Dust

Starting wordcount: 36,452
Ending wordcount: 37,021
Sustenance: cappuccino, edamame, oatmeal, pea soup & grilled cheese, chocolate
Displacement activities: buying catfood, dishes, climbing
Research: names, beekeeping, Egyptian gardens
Darling du jour: The last tame lioness had died months ago and not yet been replaced. Asheris was just as glad--watching wild things grow fat and slow in gilded collars struck too close to home.
Tyop du jour: n/a
Mean things: gilded cages
Deaths: n/a
Things accomplished: Chapter 3 has been revised for Operation Slightly More Conflict. I've started a new chapter 4 to keep the different PoVs balanced, and to introduce various players and conflicts. Also, Jinn P.I.

I came so close to sending a V2 tonight. I'm one move away, but after fighting my way through the crux my arms were shaking and my fingertips raw. Next week, problem. Next week.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: The Sisters of Mercy - Never Land

At first I typed "Girl vs. Kayak", but my relationship with the kayak is nowhere as adversarial as my relationship with the wall.

Kayaking was awesome, as expected. We went the more scenic direction this time, and got to admire the cliffs over Town Lake and the impossibly expensive houses on them (and the private docks they let rot, the bastards--give me those houses and I will keep the docks pristine!), turtles on logs, ducks, herons, other birds, dogs on Red Bud Isle, and rowing teams of both genders. Rowing teams are a bloody menace, but very nice to look at. It was warmer than I feel November should be, and I forgot sunscreen, but all in all very lovely. And now my shoulders ache. I may never lose the fifteen pounds that cling to my midsection, but I will have valkyrie shoulders if I keep this up.

The fact that I left the dock and promptly ate a plate of migas bigger than my head might have something to do with those fifteen pounds...