Motivation.

Year to date I have lost 16 lb.  Yay me!  To avoid plateau, I have a method.  I did this once before, and it worked really well: Put $10 into savings for every pound lost.  I had a decent conversation with a person about food this weekend and have been able to bounce a lot of possible ideas off of them.  If I can maintain a steady decline (read: 1lb/week - success!!) through help/pestering/support, then we both will win.  Come December 1, I will look superhot and they will get a tidy sum. 

xo

a diatribe regarding hip hop music

Let's start with a little time line.  Obviously some people will be offended that I left out MC so-and-so or DJ whats-his-face, but I am looking at milestones that are significant to ME.


Old School (Sugar Hill Gang/Grandmaster Flash) era:  Proving to the world (or at least the 75 people tuning in on the local AM stations) that there can be more than one type of music to listen to that wasn't candy-coated, cocaine-filled and Euro-trashy.  take THAT, disco.

New School (Run DMC, Beastie Boys, KRS-One, Public Enemy, Tribe) era:  Yum.  I eat this stuff up with a spoon.  These guys weren't out to prove anything to rival record labels, or trying to contend against pop music.  This genre started out grassroots and would have been very happy to keep it that way.  Three Feet High and Rising kicks my ass every time I put it on to this day.

Crap Rap (MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, Montell Jordan):  enough said.  Moving on.

Gangsta Rap (Ice T, NWA, and later Tupac, Dr. Dre & Snoop) :  You love it or you hate it.  You pick a crew and you love them, and you pick another just to hate them. I think these West Coast guys had a lot of bottled up tension, and for the most part it never really appealed to me.

East Coast Explosion Round 2 (Wu-Tang, Nas, Bad Boy, Jay-Z) : These guys loved at least one of the following:  money, slingin' drugs, freeing Africa or trying to keep it free, money.  How can you argue with that?  Well I'll tell you how.  You go on the Source Awards and accuse the entire East Coast of having no love for you.  This lovefest ultimately ends with the two kingpin performers being worm food.  Tough words lead to a tough life, guys.

The Southern Invasion (Outkast, No Limit, Juveneille) : Who let these guys in here?  While other guys were telling stories about being poor and killing people, these little tykes were actually LIVING that mess.  Lest we forget that Lil Wayne came out of this fresh crop of talent - back dat Azz up, folks.  For the most part this stuff was good to get girls to shake their booty.  I'm not sure if their message was quite as relevant as "THE Message."

Commercialism and Capitalism at its best/worst (Eminem, DMX, 50 Cent, MORE Jay-Z, MORE Bad Boy) : Every time this song is played, a rapper somewhere is getting paid.

Which leads me to the origin of this post.  Today's "hip-hop" garbage.  When did it become cool to synth your voice, basing your ideal sound on the EXACT SAME sound as 10 other artists out there?  It doesn't have to be a competition, but can I get a tiny bit of originality?  Is there anyone out there who DOESN'T sound like Drake?  Giving yourself a cutesy name like Young Jeezy or Wacka Flocka doesn't make you any bit more original than the last guy.  I scowl every time I turn on the radio and I am greeted with "You fancy, huh?" or someone reminding me to go "bottoms up".  I can't afford these ridiculous lifestyles that you are trying to trick me into wanting, so shush.  And give me back my musical integrity.  Only a sheep needs a leader.

Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?

I miss you guys.

My cat is getting fatter.

There, I said it.  She is almost at the 10lb mark and I am not happy.

I have 25 days to knit a bunch of stuff.  I still can't find my Christmas cards, my nativity set or my good address book.

On that note, I will now shower and contemplate what to have for lunch tomorrow.

a glimpse into my mind.

I'm sitting at my desk and see an armored car pull up.  The driver gets out, and heads into our building, clearly to do a pick-up at our on-site bank.  A few minutes later, I see him walking out with a full bag. 

ALONE.

I say "Does this guy have any idea how easy it would be for me to take him out with ONE shot from a sniper rifle?!?  This guy is a moron...look at him!!!  It's almost too easy."

At which point I realized that I was saying this aloud.

Oops.

Then and Now, Part 1

Kyra made a really inspiring post a few months back called "Then & Now".  As I sit here waiting for my spinach-stuffed chicken to bake and ponder washing my hair now or in the morning, I had a few little revelations of my progress in recent weeks/months.

THEN - I would sleep until 9am on workdays, 2pm or later on weekends, and loaf around until I was dying of hunger, which was solved by running to Dunkin or McDonald's.

NOW - I have my alarm set, even on weekends, and wake up on time!  I don't lay in bed wondering how much longer I can waste, but I jump out of bed, do 10-20 minutes of stretching/yoga, cook myself a REAL breakfast, sit down and eat, take my time to get ready and make it to my destinations on time.

THEN - I hid food in my bedroom.  Secret stashes of cookies, "protein" bars (tasty Luna bar, you can't trick me, you are dessert), Dunkin Donuts, crackers, Doritos.

NOW - I do not allow any food into my room except cat food.  I have plenty of water, seltzer, tea, but nothing that I would regret eating at 2am.

THEN - I gave up once I started sweating or once something started to ache.  I would consider that to be "accomplishing" something.

NOW - I know that if I don't push myself, I will become stagnant and never reach my full potential.  Not just physically, but on so many different levels.

THEN - I was interested in what was going on with everyone else, as a way to avoid what was going on with me.

NOW - I am allowing myself to be selfish, to think about myself, and not be concerned with things that I cannot control or that do not involve me.

I am also trying to keep these points in mind every day:

Very much worth reading.

xo

seize the day...by the throat.

QUESTION.

How is it that even though I got a pedicure 10 days ago, my feet are peely like nobody's business?

FUNK DAT!