News for today's 2018: 09/01/11

How I Did on August Goals

4:30 PM Tukiyooo 0

At last! A month where I've actually met most of my goals :). This is what I said I'd do for August: 1. Print out and post my goals on my desk at work and on the fridge.  I did do this at my desk at work.  I never remembered to print them out for my fridge. 2.  Begin the <a href="http://www.priorfatgirl.com/2011/07/new-rules-of-lifting-for-women-as-a-group.html">New Rules of Lifting for Women Challenge offered by Jen at the Priorfatgirl.com</a>.  Joel and I both started this near the beginning of August and we're still going! 3.  Incorporate 1 fruit and 1 vegetable into each meal every single day, and keep track of how often I meet this goal.  Of the 31 days in August, 21 of those days were spent eating at least 1 serving of fruits and/or vegetables.  I'm happy with this!  I'm not good at eating my fruits/veggies at all. 4. Keep track of how many days I attended the gym, for how long, and what I did while there.  I did 15 days of activity for an average of 38.9 minutes at a time.  This was mainly  a combo of the weight training and Wii activity. 5. Track and stay on plan at least 5 days per week - and actually keep track of whether or not I've done this. I tracked for 18 of the 31 days.   I'm really satisfied with how I did on these goals for August.  I definitely plan to keep up my worksheets on how often I achieve #'s 3-5 for September. I'll post the September goals tomorrow!

At last! A month where I've actually met most of my goals :). This is what I said I'd do for August: 1. Print out and post my goals ...

I need a miracle

12:50 PM Tukiyooo 0

Next Tuesday the cast comes off. The orthopedic surgeon said there will be one of two outcomes of my four weeks in a cast: 1. Scaphoid bone looks like it's healing, which is unlikely but possible. If it's healing, then they'll put on a new cast for two more months. 2. If it's not healing, then I'll need surgery with screws to make it grow back together. I wanted an option three where it magically grows back together and on Tuesday I get my left hand and arm back. Surgery horrifies me even more than two more months in a cast. The doctors told me it wouldn't completely heal in a month. They were sorry, but it was a severe fracture, almost completely broken. I was reading more about the scaphoid bone today and came across this article. My scaphoid is broken near the forearm, and my cast includes my thumb extends almost to my shoulder. Fracture Near the Forearm If the scaphoid is broken in the middle of the bone (waist) or closer to the forearm (proximal pole), healing is more difficult. These areas of the scaphoid do not have a very good blood supply. If your doctor treats this type of fracture with a cast, the cast will probably include the thumb. It may extend above the elbow, as well. Source:  http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00012 I'm not sure if I mentioned this in a previous post, but the doctors told me my scaphoid bone showed an old fracture that hadn't healed properly, and the new fracture was right next to it. Sort of sounds like I'm screwed....pun intended. No plans for today. Yesterday was exhausting. I spent an hour and a half at the gym. An hour of cardio and almost a half hour of lower body workouts. I can still do lunges and still hate them as much as ever. Same with crunches, they still make me nauseous. I can do the elliptical one-handed too. Just figured that out yesterday. I thought it would be too hard, but if I don't do my normal hill routine and stick with levels 6 - 8, Im fine. I had a fear of falling off at first, but I didnt. I like it a lot better than the stationary bike which isn't my favorite. The sun is out today so I'm heading out to pick more blackberries, then either the gym or a walk. I haven't decided for sure. My life sure isn't very exciting these days (not that it's a thrill a minute normally). I tried the Natural Bliss Coffee-mate creamer this morning. I'm not a fan. It's great that the ingredients are natural:  non-fat milk, heavy cream, and sugar. I appreciate natural versus artificial ingredients and corn syrup that they use in their regular creamers. It's just that the one tablespoon at 35 calories didn't really make my coffee taste that much better. Probably because my mug is 12 ounces, so it wasn't really enough. I'm certainly not going to spend 70 calories (2  tbsps.) on a cup of coffee. I can have a piece of fruit or a cup of blackberries for that price. Question for anyone that's had a cast. Can a cast cause swelling three weeks after it was put on? I noticed my upper left arm, the one with the cast looks bigger than my upper right arm. I measured my left arm, right where the cast ends on the upper part and compared it to my non-casted arm. It's a full inch bigger! I measured it three times to be sure. The cast is super tight around my wrist, but at the top there's a lot of of room between the cast and my skin. Just seems odd to me that the cast would cause swelling after three weeks. Maybe it's always been like this and I just never noticed. The eating has been pretty good without the Ambien, although I ate a piece of pizza last night. My husband ordered it. I finally caved around 11pm and ate a piece. It had extra cheese on it and pepperoni and sausage. I was able to stop after one piece. I was completely aware of my actions, unlike the hummus and strawberries from Monday night during an Ambien induced sleep walking incident that my husband witnessed. I guess I'd better get going on my walk and blackberry picking. Perfect September weather for a walk, sunny and 66 degrees.

I need a miracle

Next Tuesday the cast comes off. The orthopedic surgeon said there will be one of two outcomes of my four weeks in a cast: 1. Scaphoid bone ...

Even The Help Bleaches Reality: We Are In The Room

12:44 PM Tukiyooo 0

Let me say this up front and clearly. The Help is a great movie. What it says about race relations in the South is not only true about 1963; it is still true in only slightly subtler form in pockets of society today. Viola Davis was brilliant and deserves an Oscar. If you haven’t seen The Help, do so right away. But something bothered me. The book is about a Black perspective on White culture. The movie includes that. But, compared to the book, the movie is about a White perspective on Black people and their perspective on White culture. The author, Skeeter, becomes a principal character instead of the teller of the tale. They did not adapt the book into a screenplay; so much as they wrote a screenplay about the white person writing the book. As one who loved the movie – but loved the book more – I just wonder what that is about. Was the book, The Help, too Black for an American audience, in the opinion of Hollywood – despite being a best seller? The Entertainment Industry, more than the news media, tells us who we are. We see ourselves reflected in their eyes. What they think we will pay to see has a powerful influence on who we become. That’s what makes the change from the book to the screenplay troubling. The screenplay was good – but bleached. I recently heard an NPR interview with the man who adapted the book Soul Surfer for the screen. The book is the memoir of Bethany Hamilton, a young surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack. Bethany tells the story of how her Christian faith empowered her to get back on the surfboard and become a professional champion surfer. Well, that is a great story but a bit too Christian for the big screen. So what to do? Change the story of course. Her Christianity is acknowledged this way: The devastating injury causes her to doubt the existence of God. Her youth group sponsor shows up and tells her God had a purpose for sending the shark to chomp off her limb. (Not the most appealing of theologies – God using sharks as Manchurian candidates to cripple young people.) But her vague faith in something – influenced by Native Hawaiian animist religion – gives her the courage to make a comeback. They want to show that she had faith – but do not want to say what she believed or who she had faith in. The screenwriter was amazingly candid in acknowledging his cynicism. There is a “faith based market.” So they wanted enough spirituality to appeal to that market – but did not want to be so Christian as to offend the secular audiences. Bethany could be spiritual, but not too religious. I have two concerns: First, I am troubled by the censorship of my own beliefs. Second, the movie just isn’t true. I understand society is rather secular – but it is not as secular as Hollywood portrays it. For instance, Bethany Hamilton is a Christian, but Hollywood will acknowledge that truth only in hushed whispers. They would feel so much more at ease with her as a neo-pagan animist. Thinking back over classic television series, there have been a few explicitly religious ones – very few. But did you ever wonder if Magnum P. I. went to church? How about the Partridge family? This isn’t new. There is no acknowlegement that faith is part of the lives of normal/ normative people. The Entertainment Industry has been portraying life as secular for a long time. They tell us who we are. We believe it. Then we become it. I don’t necessarily want screenwriters to be our evangelists. It’s just that we are in the room. I am troubled that they are so embarrassed by our presence that they pretend we aren’t here. Do they think that if they ignore us long enough we will just go away? Do they think that Black voices cannot speak for themselves, but must be mediated through White translators or at least have a White person standing there giving them permission to speak? Only on occasion does the Entertainment Industry dare to hold a mirror up to the world. Most of the time they paint a picture of us instead – and the picture is a bleached, monochrome, religionless, raceless, political convictionless, generic American -- far less engaging and less human than the truth. But for those who are offended by my criticism of The Help, let me reiterate: The Help is a great movie. What it says about race relations in the South is not only true about 1963; it is still true in only slightly subtler form in pockets of society today. Viola Davis was brilliant and deserves an Oscar. If you haven’t seen The Help, do so right away.

Even The Help Bleaches Reality: We Are In The Room

Let me say this up front and clearly. The Help is a great movie. What it says about race relations in the South is not only true about 1963;...

How I Did on August Goals

I need a miracle

Even The Help Bleaches Reality: We Are In The Room

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