***DISTRACTIONS FROM EATING***
I have my creative work to thank for a lot of things in my
life whether it’s easing schizophrenic symptoms, getting my voice out there, or
just having some good old fashioned imaginative fun. Now I have another thing I
can thank my art for: distracting me from overeating. As many of you know, I’ve
struggled with my weight for a good portion of my adult life. I’ve tried the
Atkins Diet and was successful with it, but only temporarily. My main problem
was that I was always bored and overeating was my favorite source of fun. It
didn’t matter if it was McDonald’s, candy bars, soda, or pizza; if I was bored
and junk food was available to me, I would wolf it down and feel like shit
afterwards.
Say whatever you will about my skill level with drawing
pictures or my frequency of cat pictures, but alongside my writing, reading,
and editing, they’ve been welcome distractions from overeating. And whenever I
posted a piece of art to my social media accounts, I would scroll through my
pictures and admire my handiwork, not because I’m an arrogant jerk, but because
I don’t have to think about eating. Even when I’m watching What Culture’s WWE
videos or Last Week Tonight with John Oliver episodes on You Tube, I’m doing
something other than stuffing my face. Living in a boring place like Port
Orchard, it’s easy to give into your food-related vices since there are
restaurants, grocery stores, and convenience stores pretty much everywhere you
go.
Ever since I’ve been occupying my mind in even the smallest
ways, I’ve been eating less frequently and looking better in the mirror as a
result. If I ever did get bored enough to eat, I’d usually drink a bottle of
distilled water instead and piss away the pounds. I drank a lot of water and
ate minimally while I was in Hawaii
and have already noticed changes in my body. When I first flew from Seattle to Kauai, I would
need a seatbelt extender. When I returned home to Sea-Tac, the airplane
seatbelts fit perfectly fine. I’ve also noticed that I’m getting full off of
less food and I’m not huffing and puffing when I return home from my walks.
Obviously, I’m still a heavy guy and there are times where I
occasionally grab a bag of Mickey D’s or a Pizza Hut pizza. I am by no means a
weight loss guru or a super athlete. However, I’m not the only one who says
that overeating can be triggered by moments of extreme boredom. Scientific
studies, gym teachers, food documentaries, I’ve heard them all echo these
sentiments. While I understand that what works for one person won’t necessarily
work for the other, I can say with confidence that little distractions are
helping me lose weight. It may be a slow process and I may have miles to go,
but the thing about losing weight is that you feel the effects right away. Your
mood improves, you have more energy, and you look at yourself in the mirror
with less judgment.
But of course, there are days when I don’t feel like working
on creative endeavors. Today was one of those days. My guess is that I’m still
in recovery mode from these past few days of housework and remodeling and
that’s why my brain doesn’t want to cooperate with me. Hell, I had to go to the
chiropractor yesterday after lifting a whole bunch of heavy furniture. I had a
shelf break because it carried a shit ton of CD’s. Dale wasn’t happy about that
since he’s in no way a musical person. He doesn’t understand the beauty of
David Draiman’s golden voice or Dimebag Darrell Abbot’s shredding guitars. All
that aside, I was definitely in need of some recuperation. I’m a fragile
introvert after all.
Even with all of this mental exhaustion working against me,
I managed to only eat two meals and I got full after both of them. They weren’t
even big meals, at least not compared to what I ate before. My afternoon snack
consisted of three plums. My first official meal was at 5:00 at night and it
was a baked potato with no toppings, a portion of spam, and a banana. At 8:45,
I ordered a sandwich and breadsticks from Domino’s Pizza, both of which aren’t
even close to being as fattening as a full pizza. I have no plans to end the
night with more food.
I may have to spend some more time in recovery mode tomorrow
and the next few days because that’s when my family and I are going to paint my
bedroom walls light blue. We might do one or two walls one day and do the rest
of it over the course of Monday and Tuesday. I won’t have to do a whole lot to
disconnected my electronics since they’re all hooked up to a power strip. We’re
not going to move out my furniture for the painting process; we’re just going
to scoot it over a few feet. God, I love my wooden floors! I would have never
been able to scoot things over on a dust-collecting carpet.
I hope all of my readers are doing okay considering what a
wild and crazy October it has been. Halloween is coming up soon and for any
metal heads who live near the Tacoma Dome, Five Finger Death Punch and
Shinedown are going to perform there on November 5th with Sixx AM
and As Lions opening for them. November is also National Novel Writing Month.
Last year I completed the first drafts of my Poison Tongue Tales stories. This
year I’m going to storm through all 17 remaining chapters of Demon Axe. I’m
also going to use some of those days to compete in the WSS contests like I
normally do.
We’ve got ears, say cheers!
***DARK FANTASY WARRIORS***
One of the best things about being in recovery mode is that
I still have enough mental energy to pump out a drawing or two. Although to be
honest, I’ve gotten a little bit rusty with my latest effort, a picture of
Detective Shawn Henry from Demon Axe. I’ll do better next time when the time
comes to draw Edge Spider, the drug dealing gangster from the Poison Tongue
Tales 2 cyberpunk story The Audiomancer. One of the pieces of advice I
constantly receive from Angie at the WSS is to write about villains who are
sane-minded since they’re scarier than the wild and crazy ones. I hope I
achieved that with Edge Spider.
***VIDEOGAME DIALOGUE OF THE DAY***
MIKE HAGGAR: Hello? Mayor Haggar here.
DAMNED: Hehehe! Mr. Haggar, I’m so pleased to make your
acquaintance. I believe you know who I am. Don’t hang up! We have an important
business proposition for you: your daughter for your cooperation. Plus, we’ll
throw in a monthly bonus to your salary.
MIKE HAGGAR: What?! What’s happened to Jessica?! Who is
this?!
DAMNED: Not so fast, Mike. Turn on your TV.
MIKE HAGGAR: You son of a…what have you done with her?!
DAMNED: Nothing yet, but we’d enjoy the opportunity. Listen
to reason, man. Why make your job difficult? Just let us do as we please like
the mayor before you did! Agh-hahahahaha!!
-Final Fight-
