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I'm starting to get back into shape. Aw yes. Not back to my 10-mile daily run, but took it up to four today. Ah, sweet endorphins. How I've missed you.

I tend to have a problem with my weight, because I can gain or lose anything between 5 to 25 kgs in a year and I've gone from being woefully underweight to obese and then underweight again, only to get at a point where I'm fat now but not quite jumbo yet. Well, now I need to get thin without overdoing it and/or ending-up in hospital again. So I'm seeing a dietitian to make sure I eat right. I feel like that made me grow-up a bit or something. Maturity point increase. Ka-ching.

The best thing is remembering how much I like exercising after the first ten minutes. I only stop so I force myself to gradually increase my daily distance as to not wear myself out.

10-mile run a day. Geez. I'm horribly, horribly out of shape. Have been pretty much my entire life.

But I started running recently, and for the first time ever I almost ran a full mile without giving up! I made it to .9 according to the treadmill thing. (I'm actually running for time, rather than distance, until I can reliably run for 20 minutes without dying, but it's nice to see that number, anyway.) That is easily a record for me, as sad as it is. Even when I was a kid, and we'd do the mile-run in PE, I'd walk over half the mile.

This time, I stopped not because of pain or exhaustion, but because it was getting too hard to breathe. Although once I did stop I realized how exhausted I actually was, and also maybe not being able to breathe as easily has to do with being exhausted, in the way that running exhausts me, anyway. Hmph.

On the plus side, my shins no longer hurt after running, which is what has always made me quit in the past. That is good. It's encouraging to me that I'm actually noticeably getting better. X: (It also helps that my friend is dragging me along, even though he's undeniably in better shape than me.)

Now I just need to start eating better. Which shouldn't be a problem, except that I like the taste of things that are bad for me and I dislike the taste of things that are good for me. How terrible. At least I'm already ahead of a lot of people in that I don't drink sugary drinks. Pretty much exclusively water - although I do drink apple cider or hot chocolate or milk every now and then.

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Ugh. Don't talk to me about diet. I eat well enough when I'm with my partner, as she's vegetarian and quite healthy so I do the same when I'm with her, but on my own my eating habits are horrible. I'm very much a convenience eater. Whatever I can microwave and wolf down while doing homework is what's for dinner. That said, I'm running 3 miles twice a week now (Tuesdays and Fridays) and bouldering and using a rowing machine when I can as well, so at least I'm covered on that end. I'd love to actually climb again, haven't since just after high school, but am strapped for finding a belay partner. I want to train the lady friend on the university wall, but she's kind of afraid of going up. One day...

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I'm starting to get back into shape. Aw yes. Not back to my 10-mile daily run, but took it up to four today. Ah, sweet endorphins. How I've missed you.

Congrats, I hope you find it easy this time to stay at your target weight. Even four miles a day will do amazing things for you; I've got good half marathon times but never got up to 10 a day.

Sounds like you're doing it responsibly. Overtraining is horrible; those few weeks of repair where you wake up feeling exhausted and your muscles just won't stop aching are so frustrating.

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That's weird. When I clicked on the quote button to preserve Rodi's "When I turned and walked away..." the forum quotes it as "When he turned and walked away..." Did my attempt at preserving a quote for humour's sake get scooped by Rodi's quick editing skills?

Honey, you have NO idea how quick my editing skills are. Especially when I know there are predatory quoters here ready to eternalize a hilariously unintentional confession of not being fussy.

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I love soft cuddly programmers who play lots of video games and hate both playing and watching sports

I am so close on this.

Having to lose the soft part, though, so all my softness doesn't herniate down into my ball-sack again.

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But I started running recently, and for the first time ever I almost ran a full mile without giving up! I made it to .9 according to the treadmill thing. (I'm actually running for time, rather than distance, until I can reliably run for 20 minutes without dying, but it's nice to see that number, anyway.) That is easily a record for me, as sad as it is. Even when I was a kid, and we'd do the mile-run in PE, I'd walk over half the mile.

I used to do this too. Hence the slow increase. I remember when running 2 kms was such a pain in the butt.

I should have clarified that my ten mile runs used to break down to five miles in the morning, and five miles at night. I didn't do them in one go. My dad, on the other hand, who is over 60, does 10 kms in the morning, 15-20 at night, and in the middle is busy with a clinic and checking-on patients he sends to various hospitals. I have no idea where he gets that kind of energy. He eats to make-up for it. Yet three of my uncles work-out more than that. Crazy over-achieving family.

This time, I stopped not because of pain or exhaustion, but because it was getting too hard to breathe. Although once I did stop I realized how exhausted I actually was, and also maybe not being able to breathe as easily has to do with being exhausted, in the way that running exhausts me, anyway. Hmph.

On the plus side, my shins no longer hurt after running, which is what has always made me quit in the past. That is good. It's encouraging to me that I'm actually noticeably getting better. X: (It also helps that my friend is dragging me along, even though he's undeniably in better shape than me.)

Give him a run for his money! Show him what's what! That's what I do with my friend who somehow manages to maintain a great shape. We've made it into a challenge.

(I'm so tempted to do that Insanity Wolf meme right now and say this, "Shins hurting you? Hurt them back.")

And it's OK to hurt. It's a pleasure to see that pain slowly stop happening.

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The best thing is remembering how much I like exercising after the first ten minutes. I only stop so I force myself to gradually increase my daily distance as to not wear myself out.

That sounds awesome. The best feeling I get about exercise is that it's good for me. As in, I am intellectually proud of myself for doing it even if I don't physically feel good about it. Most of the time exercise is just incredibly boring for me. It was only with the discovery of podcasts that I was able to make myself tolerate it for an hour at a time - and since Idle Thumbs ain't producin' no more, I'm kinda running out of podcasts to listen to.

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I'm starting to get back into shape. Aw yes. Not back to my 10-mile daily run, but took it up to four today. Ah, sweet endorphins. How I've missed you.

I went back the to gym for the first time in ages last night and I felt the same way: Sweet endorphins!

PS - How long does it take to run 10 miles?

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I went to the inaugural meeting of the North FL Fountain Pen Club (unless we decide to call it a militia, which I thought would be funnier) this weekend. It was just like you'd imagine it: lots of pens, at least one George R. R. Martin body double, and at least one "mint, never removed from box" item.

Sounds awful...but I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

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PS - How long does it take to run 10 miles?

A little over two and a half hours at my speed. I should say "jog"; I average at 7.4 km/hr on my treadmill, which is a slow job, though I'm getting better results (i.e. sweating more) by sticking to 6.6 km/hr, which is essentially walking in a hurry.

My dad does it at 10 km/hr and it takes him ~2 hours.

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That sounds awesome. The best feeling I get about exercise is that it's good for me. As in, I am intellectually proud of myself for doing it even if I don't physically feel good about it. Most of the time exercise is just incredibly boring for me. It was only with the discovery of podcasts that I was able to make myself tolerate it for an hour at a time - and since Idle Thumbs ain't producin' no more, I'm kinda running out of podcasts to listen to.

Hey I heard a really cool guy runs a really cool podcast here http://buriedinthecredits.com/

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Hey I heard a really cool guy runs a really cool podcast here http://buriedinthecredits.com/

Five episodes? That's what you call a backlog? :(

I kid. I may actually listen to your voice while sweating, grunting and getting my heart pumping if that's what you were hoping for.

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Wee... just got back from a 8 day ski trip. We had excellent skiing conditions. Weather was quite ok, first part of the week there was quite a bit of snow and wind, but still skiable. Best part was that the slopes were not busy at all, no really waiting at the lifts.

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So my boss just crossed the line and I'm off to look for a different job. Balls. 8 months from best job in the world to absolutely unbearable. Good work, new guy.

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That sucks. Any other theatres around that could use an experienced projectionist?

Not with the way 35mm is going, unfortunately. I've managed to make myself an expert in a dying medium. On the plus side, I'm 14 months away from my teaching degree, and being a guy who wants to work with young kids, will practically be guaranteed a job on graduation. I can work shitty retail jobs for a year in service of that. I just can't deal with this dickbag anymore. Have to get hired somewhere else before I can tell this dude to shove it though. Hopefully the fact that I have an honours degree and seven years of management experience can at least get me something.

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Up until this week, things were going well between girl and me. I really liked this one, because she made very grown up decisions, but was like a hyperactive six year old and irrepressibly happy at all other times. It turns out she fell in love with someone last summer though, he went away for a long time but came back last week, and she realised she still feels the same way about him.

People hate what a cynical view I have of romantic love, but even not believing in soul mates, my horrible materialist view means I still don't think those kind of things are really about choice. I'm pissed off but I can't blame her, and I'm glad it happened early enough that I wasn't in love. I think she's used to people who beg and wheedle and want an explanation or details or something, and she looked pretty stunned tonight when I grabbed my coat, gave her the key to her flat back, and walked out.

It's an odd and undesirable way to finish a weekend in which I ran a global game jam venue, but I feel fairly proud that I can be so emotionally and physically drained, have that dumped on me, then still hold it together and make rational decisions.

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