I believe in feminism; I believe in women having rights. But road signs that eliminate sexism? I don’t think this is the sort of thing to worry about. Let’s focus on something a bit more substantial; spousal abuse, perhaps?
Archive for » November, 2006 «
12
Nov 2006
12
Nov 2006
I occasionally get questions about my blog site — why I do it, how much I pay for it, what I write about — and sometimes those questions are hard to answer, but here, I’ll give it a try.
I started this blog because a friend of mine in Washington, DC had one. I asked about it, and Marti suddenly presented me with a blog of my own. He set it up for me initially, and I just started writing. It made sense; he’s the computer guy, I’m the frustrated writer. Soon it became my way to keep in touch with people all over the world. I never knew if I would keep going and I never imagined I would get even as many hits a day as I do now. About 200 people view my site every day, which shocks me. Who are you? What makes this site interesting to you? And could you convince a publisher to publish a book for me?
Marti picked the name for me and paid for the initial space. I still pay for my own blog space (about $30/year), which means that everything on this site is mine. This means the constantly-changing ads — those are mine, and revenue from them goes to me. The flickr bar? Mine. The design is currently borrowed from others more talented than myself, but I hope to one day redesign the site with all original content. It is a creative outlet that I don’t get other places. There is no boss telling me whether or not I can or cannot do something — the only limit is my ability and my time. Last night I was up until 12:30 a.m. fussing with the ads (how do you like the graphic ads to the right?) and learning CSS tags. Sometimes it is just my way to unwind.
Other than a creative outlet, this site has been a great experiment for me. I get a chance to air my thoughts — I think best when I write, after all — and push the envelope a tiny bit from time to time. I love the blogging world. It’s the cyberspace equivalent to the wild wild west. Conspiracy theories? Yes. Weird, freaky sites? Yes. A little illegal stuff? Here and there. Politics? Everywhere. But we’ve brought down two politicians, we bloggers. And we’ve supported each other. And we’ve made, in some weird way, a community. So, although in the early days the term “blogger” seemed a bit foreign to me, these days I feel the way early investigative reporters must have felt — a bit powerful and part of a “new era” of transparency (at least until the powers that be figure out how to stifle this “new era,” anyway).
My reasons for blogging now are different than when I began. At first, it was a relief just to write and to publish my writing. Now I write to an audience of friends, family and crazy people who come here to get a peek into my life. Sometimes I try to be funny. Sometimes my own writing shows I need a little help. But the best part of it all, is that it is mine.
08
Nov 2006
Well, I started reading Big Slice, a mom/dieting blog, and I saw that Jenny had posted about a book called The Fat Fallacy. I am usually a real cynic about dieting books — my mom loves to give me various books on dieting and herbal remedies, and I mostly try to control my eye-rolling. So, any book that claims you can eat what you want and still lose weight — clearly they are insane. Clearly they are stupid, because I’ve been eating what I want, and guess what? I’m fat. I am not losing weight. This book is great though, in that it specifically says that you can’t eat what you want, or snack all the time, or any of that. There is no “scientific evidence,” just examples of what people in other countries who eat similar foods do to lose weight. No “low carb,” no “low fat,” none of that — just some simple things, like — don’t eat in front of the t.v., make a mealtime; eat slowly and drink a glass of wine with your meal. Don’t eat foods made in a laboratory, eat real foods. Oh, and kill the snacks.
So I read all this and thought, yeah, right, this is sooo not going to work. Eat full fat cheese? Have dessert? You have got to be kidding me. Incredulously, I went out and bought olives and whole milk. My husband celebrated when I brought home brie and aged cheddar cheese and when I made fresh french bread from scratch to dip in olive oil. And guess what? I’ve now lost eight pounds. Yes, eight pounds. It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be, though. It takes a lot of work to put together a meal without snacking, and it’s hard to give up my habit of reading a book while I eat. And those faux foods? I love those faux foods, and I comfort myself with a slice of brie on a cracker sometimes while thinking longingly of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and oven-baked Lays and all those other things — like low-fat Wheat Thins — that I enjoy but are really just chemicals in a bag. Yes, I occasionally break down and have a diet coke, but I like having my coffee with cream, and I’ve always liked tea. The best thing is that a lot of my cravings have stopped and I find it easier to wait until a meal because I know I can have good, yummy food.
Of course, writing all this is going to totally jinx me, and I will stop losing weight. I am, of course, losing at a glacial pace, but even a glacial pace is better than nothing. I will post a before and after model of my eight pound loss, and you tell me — can you see a difference at all? Because I really cannot.
