New Blog

Update: New blog: A Certain Lack of Focus is up and running! See above for most recent updates.

Ok, you may have noticed over the last few weeks that my blog has been moving around a lot. The problem is that I've recently decided that, as much as I enjoy the ease of use in blogger, I want a bit more freedom when it comes to design. I temporarily moved hosting over to my website, but if anything this puts more restrictions on design, so I finally decided that it's time to move to blogging software. I'm still fiddling around with what kind, because at this point, I really know nothing about it.

The challenge has been trying to figure out how to use new software without losing the content of this blog, and I'm still not entirely sure whether it's possible. At this point, I think it's not worth it, and so instead, I'm putting Living in Space on permanent hiatus.

I'll be starting up my new blog at www.hadesarrow/blog just as soon as I can figure out how to work the software. I'll keep you posted once it's officially "launched" but to be sure you catch me, please change your bookmarks to www.hadesarrow/blog. Thank you!

Honeymoon Sketch Journal Page 8

Sorry I missed posting yesterday... it was after eleven when I got home and getting showered seemed more important at the time. This page was fun to draw, though I had a hard time initially getting the arms rendered, because the train was jumping all over the place."Even after it started to fade, I kept getting comments on the henna. For some reason, I kept forgetting that I had henna, and it often took me a couple seconds to figure out what people were talking about. Interestingly, once we crossed an invisible line into the Northwest, the comments changed from 'is it permanent?' to, 'Nice henna! Did you just get married?'"

The henna is completely gone from my hands and arms now, but there are still remnants on my ankles, which is pretty impressive.

Honeymoon Sketch Journal Page 7

This page was one of my favorites to draw because of all the weird little details necessary to show the space on a train room. My first grade teacher would be proud."The first night on the train we stopped for no apparent reason in the middle of nowhere. For about an hour. I had a bit of Harry Potter PTSD. I was sure dementors were boarding the train."

Honeymoon Sketch Journal Page 5

This one's a little sappy, but it's sincere.
"I was warned that much of America is a whole lot of corn, wheat, grass, dirt, empty fields, grazing fields, scrubby plants or flat barren rock. Montana is boring. Kansas is horrifically boring. Nebraska, Iowa, Idaho, Utah, it's amazing how many states are supposedly empty. There are many, many flat patches, but it seems like they go by quickly. And even these 'empty' areas- miles of harvest lines or just broken fie4lds, had a beauty of their own. The wheat, on a clear day, really does look just like gold."

Traveling by train is the way to see the country. When you drive you're distracted by being stuck in this little car, and when you fly all you can see is pastel squares, but when you take the train... you have the freedom to relax and just look.

Journal Page 4

Here's the next page. The oval shaped thing in the upper left corner is supposed to be a pair of chocolates on a doily. Ah well.This one says: "Apparently, getting married is the best way to get lots of free champagne, wine, and best of all, chocolate."

So true. Matt and I decided that we would be on our "honeymoon" for another year or so, just for all the free stuff.

Journal Page 3

Here's page 3. For blogging this is probably a better way to orient the page, but not so much for journaling. You can click on the page for a bigger image."On the wedding day, Matt and I didn't really have much time to enjoy our wedding cake. This cake was actually pretty tasty: yellow/choc. marble, Irish cream filling and normal buttercream icing. So we brought it with us. The first two nights on the train we retreated to our roomette-sleeper and had wedding cake with leftover sparkling grape juice. The warm grape juice was every bit as romantic/elegant as champagne."

I had some fun drawing the underside of Matt's seat, though I should mention that I'm sure the real underside looks nothing like that. The cake came from Create a Cake in Lakewood, and it was really yummy (and pretty) so I'm glad we got to take some with us. The charm of the cake started to fade by the forth day, but I finished it up on my own because throwing it away seemed like bad luck. It didn't make me sick, so I guess buttercream doesn't go bad, either that or I just got lucky.

Map

So Cool.

Sketch Journal Page 2

I think I was trying to be a bit too clever with this one, but it was fun to draw. For our honeymoon we took a train from Cleveland to Chicago, and after a few hours went on to the Empire Builder, all the way to Seattle. We had just enough time in Chicago to get sandwiches from a chain called Potbelly (YUM) and a cheese/caramel corn mix from Garrett's, which just barely lasted us through the train ride. I think I gained 3 pounds on caramel corn alone.I wrote this journal page during a free minute in Seattle, but most of the journal was done on the train, since that's when we had the most spare time. This one reads:

"The bed in Seattle is roughly three times the size of the sleeper car on the train. Sleeping on a train has some ups and downs (but more importantly: side to sides.) It's more cozy than cramped, but when the train gets moving super fast at night, the bad spots on the track make the car lurch all over the place, and you kind of think the whole thing is going to tip over at 100 miles per hour. On better patches though, the motion is soothing, and once you get used to it, the train rocks you to sleep. At least until the next rough patch."

One major down side of a honeymoon spend half on a train is that, of course, the beds are bunked. It's more narrow than a normal twin sized bed, so squeezing in together was kind of out of the question, but it was only for short times, so not a huge deal. I loved the feel of the train moving at night, and I even liked feeling so enclosed from all sides. Though, being somewhat claustrophobic, I would have gone nuts without the window right next to me. Matt was kind enough to take the upper bunk, and I suspect the motion in rougher areas was even more frightening up there, but fortunately, he managed not to be thrown out of bed!

Honeymoon Journal

Well, Matt and I are back in town. The honeymoon was awesome, and I'm still feeling a little lazy from the trip, so rather than go over it all at once I'm going to post a page at a time from the journal I started keeping over the honeymoon. I'll talk about the trip in detail as I go.

I've been wanting to start a journal for a while, the cool visual kind like you see at Pen in Hand or Lost in Wonder, but haven't exactly managed to get motivated. With lots of down time, the honeymoon was a good time to start.

Here's the first page, which has nothing to do with the honeymoon, but I felt I needed a into page that matched the happy goofy feeling I had immediately after the wedding (ok, I still have some of the happy goofy feeling actually). My handwriting isn't as good as most of the sketch journals I follow online, so I'll be translating.I think I got better as I went along, but I guess we'll see. This page says:

"I'm Married
I'm actually far shorter than this. Matt is 6'4 and I'm 5'2 so the top hat really only added insult to injury. That's ok though, I had henna and a ribbon wrapped around my dress and a bouquet made of metal that even lit up, so it really didn't matter how short I am. I should carry around light up flowers all the time. Also, we got married in the zoo. Best wedding ever."

Technically the journal page says "boquette" not bouquet, but since I now have spell check, I'm going to correct myself as I go. I should have wedding photos up here at some point (assuming I can convince Matt to let me show his face online) and I'll be posting honeymoon photos along the way. Hopefully they won't be too boring. :)

Oh yeah, I decided not to change my last name because I'm rather attached to it, but I did want to take Matt's name somehow. So written up the side, the page also says:

MEAGAN BAYARD-NEELY CALL

See You Soon

And this is one of the big reasons I haven't been blogging much lately... I am now married! Check back in a couple weeks for photos from the wedding and honeymoon.

Real Living on a Diet

If you're following my blog at this point, you probably know me in person, and you probably know I've been on a diet for a while. One of the curses in any diet attempt is the pitfall of eating out. Especially while traveling. It seems like even when you think you're being good, you gain weight while traveling.

Probably that's because you aren't being as good as you think. Things that seem healthy might be loaded with calories and things that really are healthy might surprise you. One tip I've heard from Weight Watchers and other diet sources is to ask for a box at the beginning of the meal. I pretty much always do that when I eat out now, unless I'm sharing with someone. BTW, if you're sharing two dishes, even if one is a salad, it doesn't count as a half portion anymore.

Cutting your meal in half from the get-go can certainly help, but even half a meal can be upwards from 1000 calories depending on what you order. Don't assume it's healthy just because you're eating less of it. Yeah, and salads are OFTEN more than 1000 calories just by themselves.

A tip I got from South Beach is to swallow a spoonful of Metamucil (mmm fiber) five minutes before meals so you'll feel full. Personally, I find that idea repulsive, but hey, whatever works.

Snacks are a big help. and I usually take granola bars and fruit leathers (kinda like fruit rollups that are actually made of fruit) to keep us going during the day. On South Beach fruit leathers are completely out and granola bars are limited to the South Beach granola bars (which are GROSS) so I usually stick with nuts. Yes, I do count them out. 30 of the little ones like pistachios and peanuts, 12-15 of bigger ones like walnuts and cashews. Surprisingly, that's usually enough to make me happy. Snacks should help keep you from feeling like you need to inhale your dinner.

Here's one tip I came up with on my own: figure out what your ACTUAL caloric intake should be. The FDA, or whoever it is that makes recommendations, claims that average daily intake should be 2000 calories. This is total crap.

First of all, 2000 calories is probably a good average intake for a MAN from the 1960s. We're generally less active now so some guys might be around 2000 (and athletic guys will be above) but I'm betting most guys are a little bit below that. That, mind you, is to maintain weight. If you're actually trying to lose weight you should be eating less. And unfortunately it's not even CLOSE for women, we need far fewer calories in general to maintain weight. There are online calorie counters all over the place that can tell you about how many calories you need. It's good to get a ballpark of that before you start estimating how many calories you should spend for a meal.

The most helpful thing I've found for traveling on a diet is chain restaurants. I know it's completely counter intuitive, but bear with me. This also applies to eating out locally, though in that case you can usually afford to test your favorite places to see ones have you gaining weight and which do less damage. The trick is that many chain restaurants have their nutrition information online so even though the majority of their meals may be atrocious, you can pick over it ahead of time and fine those one or two items that are healthy. Deciding what you're going to eat ahead of time does take out some of the excitement, but it also cuts back on the temptation to get something REALLY bad, because hey, it's not like there's anything healthy on the menu, right?

Here are some menus I've found online: P.F. Chang's, Bob Evans, Ruby Tuesday, Denny's, Macaroni Grill, and Chilis. As far as I know Applebees, TGIFridays, and Outback don't provide nutritional information, so while they may have acceptable food on their menus, I'd just avoid them since you can't be sure. Olive Garden ONLY provides nutritional information on their "healthy" items, and that information is incomplete (it doesn't tell you calories or fat for low-carb items and doesn't tell you carbs for low fat items. SHADY) so I'd travel with care there, and make sure to limit your portion sizes. As for all the rest, many of them are in pdf format, which I'm pretty sure is a ploy to discourage people to get there, but never mind. It also means they're very easy to PRINT. And then tuck into your travel journal, so wherever you go, you have a few things you know you can eat. Be careful to notice that most meals sneakily don't include sides, so you have to add those in too. I usually aim for no more than 500 calories for my big meal, maybe 300 for a smaller meal. That is going to vary.

It's not perfect. When I'm traveling I don't even bother to worry about salt or carbs, I'm just looking at my net calorie intake. Planning ahead helps a lot though, it can keep you from throwing up your hands and giving up, and, if you actually follow your pre-picked meal, you might even lose a pound instead of gaining five.

Phone photo 03-24-08

This is what I had for dinner last night.I chose this as today's picture because I wanted to make you all jealous. In retrospect the photo didn't turn out nearly so delicious looking as the actual meal but believe me, it was good. Matt does most of the cooking and he's always (since I've known him) been a good cook, but I swear he gets better every day. This was Greek potatoes from our Healthy Cooking for Two book, asparagus with garlic and lemon juice, and galic stuffed bison filet with caramelized shallots. I'm a lucky woman.

Weirdest thing ever?

Ok, if this is for real it's both the weirdest and the coolest thing I've ever heard. Go read it before you go any further.

Did you read it? Crazy yeah? Talk about science fiction (or Greek mythology depending on your preference). Except when you just look at the physical facts I guess it's not all that weird. Biologically he's a she, as he points out he never took any steps to change his reproductive organs so the ability to bear a child isn't all that odd. I think its sort of amazing that this couple wanted a child, the wife was unable to bear children, and rather than having to wait five years to adopt or find a very generous friend/family member (which from reading the article sounds unlikely anyway) willing to lend out a uterus, had a husband who was able to do it instead.

My main concern with this is that if doctors have been so unwilling to help them (they inseminated at home) what happens when he goes into labor? Yeah, I know babies have been born for eons, but not to transgender men or women.

Writing in the Family

I haven't been following Neil Gaiman's blog for super long, but I'm RSSing it now (not actually a word, but whatever, one of my favorite professors claims anything can be a verb. Thanks Bob Pope!) and today read the MOST adorable post ever. Apparently his thirteen-year-old daughter Maddy occasionally blogs on his blog. He doesn't have separate pages for posts so I can't link directly, but go to his blog and look for the post called "picture time" on March 18th. So sweet and a little odd to hear my favorite grown-up author being described as a dad. Even if you're not a huge Gaiman fan, it's worth checking out.

Improv Strikes Again

This is fairly entertaining. Improv Everywhere stages a mini-musical in the middle of a public food court.

Watching these videos reminds me a bit of interviews I've seen on The Daily Show. They're entertaining to begin with, but even more so when you realize that most of the people being interviewed have somehow never heard of John Stewart and don't realize the interview is a joke. This video has the same feel, it's a bit sillier than some of the IE videos I've seen, and the biggest joke is that most of the people aren't in on the joke. I must say though, part of the reason it's funny is they're just terrible.

100

This is my 100th post, something that I find extremely fitting since I managed to hit 100 pages in my novel/thesis today. True, I had to cheat a little to get there, but the "filler" is legitimate chapter planning that will be expanded as I go, a normal part of my writing process. Without it I have a very real 95 pages of story and the page count at the bottom says 102, so standing by my claim of having finally reached 100 pages.

This has been a good year. Matt and I got engaged which, while I can't exactly list it as something I've accomplished, does make me very happy. I'm almost finished with classes towards my degree, this semester I'll be taking my last workshop and thesis credits. Next year I'll have a single thesis credit left to complete. On a related note, I also started a blog for the NEOMFA community. It's not exactly hopping with popularity, but we've got a handful of authors and I suspect we'll have many more join next semester.

Last year in March, we adopted Tricky. She was pregnant with six kittens, all of which were born healthy and thrived, much to our exhaustion. To Chyna's dismay, we kept the kittens until June, when went to Scotland to see our friends Greyson and Amy (different Amy than I've mentioned before, that Amy was taking care of our cats) get married. Once we were back in town we moved to the condo, a smaller space than Matt's apartment, and started working on consolidating two spaces to one at the same time as introducing two angry, female, adult cats. Surprisingly, they're good friends now, though the space is still a mess.

This year marks the first time I've felt that I had some kind of skill set that might actually allow me to get a job. I've also lost 20 lbs which makes my doctor happy, and doesn't exactly get me down either. All in all I'm feeling pretty positive about things. I do live with the constant fear that I'm a bit too happy and something horrible is bound to happen, but here's hoping that gut clenching paranoia is a karmic payment?