We wake up, we choose love, we choose life.

Yes Diz, i am writing in the blog.

Well this month, being the one where I take up fencing, has been rather... un-exciting. The course i needed required a info seminar, which didn't happen till the 25th. I enjoyed it and it was interesting, but i am iffy on continuing classes as it is on the other side of the city and it goes quite late. So in conclusion, i enjoyed and learned from it, but my current situation dissuades me from pursuing it farther... for now.

Now with that said, Next month might put my challenge on hiatus, as i can't think of any challenge currently and may need that to think this through a bit better.

So this month was boring, as all i did was play with my German Longsword (Hurr Hurr)

So until next time, Zeppelin Rules.

- Glenster

This is progress?

I sucked it up and updated my list of what I need to live, what I owe money to, and what I plan on doing later. Holy shit. I owe a lot of money. D: Stupid rent.

Anyway, here's how I'm doing so far, according to Mint. Add about $100 to the "mobile phone" category, as I had to buy a new phone this weekend. Sadly it was more expensive than I thought. Le sigh.




Now on to the super-fun updates. We now have a legit website to mess around with. I will post it later, when there is actually something there. No point in linking it now, as it looks like one of those "Oh, well, not our fault you typed in 'facebook.org' instead of 'facebook.com', loser. [insert six thousand ads here]" sites. Dreamweaver skool is going boringly. I am not a wunderkind at it. But, I'm optimistic. And if I'm not optimistic, I know people that know things. So, I think we'll be okay.

I was at my cousin's wedding this weekend, and I had some ideas for things I'd like to try for challenges. Most of them are exercise-related, as said cousin...and her brothers...and her dad...and her new husband...are all triathletes and marathon runners. I don't think I'll go so far as to say "THIS MONTH I'M GOING TO TRAIN FOR AN IRONMAN!", but I do have a pretty good (mountain) bike, and my legs still work, so I'm thinking next month will be something bike-related for me. At this point, the idea of biking everywhere I need to go (no rides from friends, no city buses), would be something to do, as everything is fairly close and I am a weakling if it takes me 10 minutes to ride .7 miles (as I discovered last night while Google Map-ing my normal commute from home to work), nevermind that it's an uphill trip in city traffic.

Anyway, enough out of me. The Glenster's coming back from vacation tonight, so perhaps he'll have some insight on things.

-diz.

Well, it's a start...

A couple of hours spent at work photoshopping this little bit of awesome...or dare I say JAWSOME(SAUCE!)

Yeah, I'm funny, I know.

Dreamweaver is weird to learn, but it's kind of nice to have an excuse to toy around with adobe stuff again. Huzzah.

God save the Queen blog,

-diz.

Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes!!!!

Diz here, and while I don't need any new shoes...this bastard love-child of a blog we've got going on does. And I don't just mean shoes. I mean everything. I don't know about you but this is fugly. If this were an actual kid it would be about as pathetic looking as a three-legged dog. Brilliant, witty and fun to be around---probably a wonderful dancer as well, if it inherited anything at all from Glen---, but you'd never want to be around them because their look alone would scare you off.

I know, I know, I've been complaining about it since I oh-so-naïvely picked the minimalist background, but I just wanted to say that I have been taking steps to change it. That said, the steps have not been that big as I've been lazy, and I've been quite uneducated (which was mostly due to my being lazy). So I have roughly a dozen ideas in my sketchbook, and no idea how to put them on the internet. However I now have a copy of Dreamweaver CS3 and a few tutorials from Lynda.com (which so far have been "here are all the big words you'll come across in Dreamweaver that you never knew the meanings of", but then again I didn't begin watching them until about an hour ago) and a graphic tablet (that I suck at but meh).

Anyway, that’s the (un-)update about that.

As far as my "live like you're broke challenge" is going: I had ramen today. I almost had to drag my tongue across the sidewalk to get rid of the crazy salty aftertaste. That said, I have a zillion shifts at another job (albeit a very, very sweaty, claustrophobic job that despite requiring me to be around food for its entirety still does not permit me to partake in even the tiniest amount of said food), so if this paycheck sucks, maybe the next one won't. So maybe I might be able to…pay my rent or something. Yeah.

Remember kids, JavaScript ≠ Java. Now you're a little less of a noob.

-diz.

Why are you asking a person that is half asleep to give you a title? OR have you seen my boobs enough today?

July 1st. Happy Canadian New Year! And i believe it is the year of the Moose.

Also, Veggie-month is done.

Yay and Nay.

Yay: Now i don't have to decide between "bread... or cheese..." every day. The veggies and fruit did limit my diet, but it did help me explore the goodness that veggies can be.

Nay: Summer BBQ week, so i can smell and see people eating all the steak and burgers while i enjoy my rabbit food... yum.

But, in conclusion i enjoyed it. It was a good start and i am excited for the next challenges i confront. Would i do it again? Yes i would actually, it was fun and kept my day like Pacman avoiding the Meat Ghosts.

Next Month: Fencing. I went to a class yesterday, but i was unable to partake because i am required to take an intro course. so when i do that then i can get right into it. i think that will be a lot of fun.

And thank Diz for the lovely title.

- Glenster

Change of Plans.

So, yay. Last day of veggie-ness. I'm sure Glen might go all out tomorrow and have steak for every meal, but I won't. He'll also do the fencing thing, but I won't.

Though I doubt anyone cares, here's why:

I am fucking broke.

Like destitute broke.

And getting broker.


This year has so far, been pretty shitty for me financially. Being sick for two months straight with a cold (yes, it was just a cold) ruined any chance I had of getting a few good paychecks, and my awesome tax return went to paying off what I couldn't pay with said shamefully low paychecks. So, even now, I'm two months behind on rent, I owe my parents for various expenses and I have absolutely no savings for any sort of emergency or even to pay the security deposit for the place I have to have within the next month and a half. And yet I want to pay to learn fencing. Yeah. That will totally work. Right. Not.

So, while Glen gets to have all the fun pretending to stab people (undoubtedly like a pirate, all swashbuckling and whatnot), I'll be taking a vow of poverty for at least this month. What does that mean? Well, here's a visual aid.


This is from mint.com, which has been a source of inspiration and frustration for me. Though I like seeing where I'm spending all my money, I don't necessarily like seeing that I have spent all my money. Especially when it's on for the most part, not-vital things. This month was probably an exception to how I normally spend money, as I had to go out and buy a ridiculously expensive jacket for a formal occasion, but seeing how much I went over any/all of my pseudo-budgets is depressing. (And btw, when the check to my landlord clears---which it should have ages ago---that'll be over by a few dollars too. Because I'm sure you care.)

So yeah. I spend too much money on stupid stuff. And I'd really like not to, because I enjoy not being broke as hell. Wish me luck. By the end of the month I will probably be the greatest ramen chef that ever lived, since I sure as hell didn't broaden my horizons as a vegetarian.

Coming to you live from the van down by the river,

-diz.

I suck at updates.

I've gotten used to fake food/no meat. Then again my diet is mostly whatever kindergarteners have in their lunchboxes anyway, so there was no huge "OMG I CAN'T EAT ANYTHING NOW!!!!!" moment. ...Well, none that I can remember anyway. I'm tired, so my recollection is shot.

I have yet to try any interesting food combinations either. I'm a lame-ass, I know. Or I'm cheap. Either way.

I think I said earlier that I'd probably celebrate the end of the month with a steak, but meh. I'll probably just quietly start the next challenge: fencing. (We scrapped the "no refined sugars" idea a while back...it was a good call. These next few months call for chocolate.)

This will probably rank right up there with dancing in public on my awkward-scale, moreso because I could potentially be taught by a 12-year-old. And I have basically no coordination.

I'm scared. Hold me.

-diz.

Still a Vegetarian...grudgingly...

One week left. Three weeks done. This was an interesting challenge month so to say. Note to self: Do not make a diet/food challenge during summer. i swear people around me are cooking bacon every morning just to spite me.

But not all this month was negative. After two months i felt different... a good different though. I assumed by then my body was feeling the non-meat and processing more of the fruit and veggies that i have been depending on for energy. For lack of better words, i want to say my body feels more purer.

Now has this made me want to stay vegetarian from now on? Not really... i was surprised at how sometimes i was really thinking about what to eat. I ended up eating a lot of Pasta... and that isn't as fun without meat. But Potato Soup and Mac N' Cheese have been a great staple. I also found that by eating no meat, i was rather full and satisfied.

So far i think it's safe to say that this challenge is a relatively huge success! Now lets hope Diz has some interesting stories... and progress on my damn Bacon Plant!

- Glenster

Fashion Zombies!

Week one is over. Well, it's been over for about two days, but I'm lazy.

Anyway, survived the wedding with minimal disdain from relatives. I just said "Meh, I don't feel like eating meat today," and they shut up.

On a related note, fake buffalo wings are spicy, which makes them amazing. Granted when I eat them I still kind of miss B-Dub's but not that much.

That's all I got, because I am lame and attempting to focus on prettyfiying this boring-ass layout.

Exactly what is the point of Adobe Fireworks if you already have Photoshop?

diz.

The month in review.

With the anti-sleep deprivation challenge in effect, this May has been a month filled with terrifying lows, dizzying highs, and creamy middles.

(Simpsons reference, anyone? Bah. You're no fun.)

While it was a brilliant plan, it kind of fell through in some places---mostly because I stayed up until 5AM a few nights building a rapport with my co-conspirator here. That said, I discovered the awesomeness of naps, so I think I'll continue to nap more often.

Tomorrow marks the start of the Vegetarianism is for Lovers challenge; I've already obtained my stash of fake'n for the next month, so let's do this already. Fuck steak.



Leeeeeeeeeroy Jenkins! (I'm a WoWtard in denial, come on, you should've expected this.)

-diz.

Calm before the storm.

It is now Friday the 29th. the last weekend until my first big challenge, and last weekend of meat.

To be honest, i don't know how i am going to handle this month. Haven't been receiving too much support in the homestead, but i will survive... or lose 50 pounds... but i will keep my chin up and look at the benefits of doing something new in my life. I will post a blog at about a week in to update my status. i may go "Yeah, this isn't as bad as i thought" or "EVERYTHING I SEE IS EITHER A COW, A PIG, OR A CHICKEN AND ARE ASKING ME TOO GRILL THEIR SCRUMPTIOUS MEAT!"

Maybe i should videotape my fall into delusions... for scientific purposes of course, and by scientific purposes i obviously mean to be laughed at for making a jolly old ass of myself.

until next time

- Glenster

RUNNERS ARE CRAZY PEOPLE...and so am I.

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.

I'm sure you all missed me. All... .83 of you.

Craptop's fixed (new motherboard, at no cost. Whee.), and now I'm back to bitching again.

Sleeping has been phenomenal. No, seriously. I needed to do this so badly. In preparation for next month, I've been ordering/making less food requiring meat. That said, June might be the month of French Toast. (Not that I'm complaining or anything.) And fake'n. We can't forget the pseudo-bacon here.

The boyfriend wants me to start running with him. While I'm all for running and having running buddies, I hate having to go buy all the ...stuff... I need to actually run. Especially shoes. HATE shoe-shopping with a vengeance. But last night when I squeaked into the running store by my work, it wasn't too bad. I already found the pair I'm buying with next week's check. (They're pink. And amazing. And pink.) So now I need to go find running clothes (sports bras and shorts. blech). This had better be worth it...

I just hope that Cupcake, with all his "THESE SHOES ARE GOOD ENOUGH TO RUN IN" talk doesn't end up fucking up his ankles or something because he's running in basketball shoes. /facepalm. Sorry, I'm kind of an elitist bitch; I ran cross country in high school and had it drilled into my head that you need running shoes to run or you will screw yourself over from the shoulders down. Anyway...


That's all I got for now. We'll see how this madness goes next week when I can't walk up or down stairs for five days.

I can feel the shin-splints already...

diz.

Stepping Up To The Plate

Well Since Diz is down, guess i have to start posting to keep up with her.

Status Report: Sleep schedule has been going good, a few kinks here and there, like my alarm going off 3 hours earlier. At first it was really easy, easier then i thought but seems waking up at a predestined time is getting harder. Might have to go to bed earlier from my midnight chats...

What You Must Know: Wolverine movie sucked. One of the worst movies i have ever seen.

What Is Happening Next: Getting myself ready for the Huntington's Run & Walk in less then 2 weeks. Doing the 5K walk with a friend because her family is afflicted with it, so i am out there to support it. Even though is a charity walk, i never lose.

What Useful Information You Must Know: The same amount of protein there is in a Porkchop, there is in a pint of Guiness.

Till next time friends,

- Glenster

Hiatus by circumstance.

I probably won't be posting much for the rest of the month; laptop decided to stop functioning properly.

UGH.

Perhaps this means I'll be able to get more sleep now...


System error,

diz.

Reconnaissance.

The sleep challenge is going well. I'm definitely feeling better about it, despite having stayed up until 5 this morning talking to Glen on skype, but surprisingly enough I didn't pass out in the middle of the day as I normally would.

I went to Borders today to find a cookbook or something with decent vegetarian recipes for June. (And by "decent" I mean "I can afford to buy all this AND have the time to make it.") I found the wall of Vegetarian/Vegan stuff and basically got confused. I think I'd best talk to an actual person first before I go consulting a zillion books with opposing viewpoints. Not that I think going veggie for a month is going to make me insta-anemic, but I don't eat properly as it is, so I don't want to screw this up epically.

"Yummo"? Srsly?,

diz.

Tripod duty.

And so begins the regulate-your-sleep challenge. 

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

Just kidding. 

I know that I needed probably another hour of sleep than what I got but I made it to work on time, so can't be all bad.  Yes, Scott, I was at work by 8:45. I deserve a celebratory bagel. Sorry for that; I've had a pretty bad late streak recently. Besides, my boss isn't going to read this anyway...right?

So, now as I try desperately for the bold button to turn off, I'm here at work for another two hours, checking ALL the tripods, as my end-of-term task. Whee. I guess it could be worse though; I could be sleepier. As it is I'm drinking a never-ending cup of chamomile tea (by "never-ending" I mean I keep refilling it) and listening to techno. Not a terrible morning, but there's a bit more to be desired from it. Like a bagel. Seriously, someone needs to get on that already. 

I already know that my goal for this month is going to slightly differ from Glen's, but hopefully they stay mostly the same. My goal is to get on a regular sleep schedule that coincides with my work schedule for the week, as I work pretty much all mornings, and I work 6 days a week. So right now the plan is to get enough sleep to not be zombified at my 8:45 AM job; if I can work it out right then I won't need to worry about being zombified for the days I start working at 11:30 AM, because I'll either have been up for a good three-and-a-half hours already or I stay up a little later and sleep until 10. At the same time, going to bed at different times during the week is probably what screwed me up in the first place, so let's just aim for being awake by 8 every day. Besides, now that it's summer, that should be relatively easy. Right?

I think after work I'll go buy some bacon plants...I've heard they exist. 

Somewhere.

Naptime isn't nowtime,

-diz.

So It Begins...

Last day of freedom so to say. I am excited and nervous how tomorrow is going to start... then June... then July... But I am sure it is going to be a start of a great thing.

Bacon is a vegetable right?...RIGHT!?!

- Glenster

A whole evening of colo(u)ring.

I'm not gonna lie. I'm a little anxious to get this started, so I can quit dreading it. Whenever I have some feat to accomplish I freeze right before starting it, and just think myself into a hole about it, which makes it obviously much more difficult to start and a hell of a lot more agonizing to finish. I don't want to do that with this.

Anyway, yes, yes I did spend the entirety of last night coloring (or colouring if you're Glen), if you're wondering. I'm surprised all my fancy graphic design markers didn't dry out in the two-ish years that I haven't used them. It's amazing what markers don't do when you leave the caps on...

I wasn't going to town on some coloring book, though that would have been freaking fantastic as I do have crayons around here somewhere; I was actually scribbling/sketching/drawing/markering some ideas for the look and feel of this blog. And I don't draw or design anything these days. EVER. I have a couple, and will probably do more in the future, as the Blogger-templates are eye-gougingly fuck-ugly to me. What I don't have, however, is the technical knowhow to code all this fun stuff that I can draw and Photoshop to make all pretty into an actual layout that we can all see.

All that aside, I realized at work that this might take more gusto and drive than was originally thought, because I have family functions to attend this summer---two in June, one in July, two of them being weddings I have to rsvp for, the other being the Eric Clapton show in Chicago. Both of these months will be some sort of food-related challenge, thankfully, so I won't "lose" the "game" in terms of sleep. That said, here's a few things I will miss out on:

-Wedding reception food (meat in June, sugary stuff in July...but I assume the caterers at both weddings will have some sort of veggie and/or crazy reduced sugar option, otherwise I claim the fruit and salad bars as my territory.)

-Anything my mom makes while I'm home after the E.C. show, specifically chili, steak, stuffed peppers, etc, etc. (That said, they do have this nifty stuff called Tupperware, and I have one of those new-fangled contraptions called a freezer...so this might not be much of a problem at all.)

-Steak sandwiches at Tony's in Saginaw, which we will probably go to while we're in town for my cousin's wedding in June. They're like the sloppiest Sloppy Joes ever, and they are amazing. Perhaps they are also freezer friendly as well.


All bitching and moaning aside, here's what I have to look forward to:

-Sympathy and/or pseudo-scorn from relatives, i.e "Oh, I know someone that's on that diet..."/extreme criticism until I say, "Hey, more for you," and they shut up.

-All the guacamole, salsa, mac'n'cheese and hummus I can eat. Hell yeah.

-Fake bacon, aka Fake'n. Loved it when I did my 8 month stint as a de-facto veggie in high school, still kind of miss it when I have bad real bacon nowadays.

-Fresh fruit and veggies from farmers' markets and parents' garden. They'll all probably be gone in a day, but whatever. Amazing noms are amazing.

-No random shifts! I have a weekly schedule and it is consistent through the month of May. Win.

Okay, enough out of me. Back to coloring or something now.


Don't forget your towel,

diz.

Why we do it.

Howdy all, Glen here. so as my partner in this experiment has stated how i came up with this idea, here is why.

To be honest, at first i had no idea why i wanted to do this, that it was just a crazy idea. but after thinking it through i am more confident in it then ever. I had this question in my mind before i thought of this plan, 'Who am I really?'. Now not in the direct sense of what my place is in the scheme of things, but on a more personal level. Who am I by what i do to myself? What is my life? So that got me thinking into what i do with my life, and that of course came up the crazy idea of my Monthly Challenge, or Lifestyle Challenge.

The Lifestyle Challenge is simple, attempt one new thing or change in your life just for one month. It can be anything that suits your current lifestyle and it keeps your life interesting as you are learning new things. That is the beauty of this challenge, it is so simple and can be personalized to anyone! There is no outside pressure to do this, no rigorous program to follow. It can be applied to any aspect in your life. Perhaps you spend to much money on fast food, so for one month do not buy any fast food and go from there. That is not a forceful change on your life or similar to what Diz and myself are doing.

In the end I would say that I am doing this challenge because i don't want to get into a life of constant repetition. So by keeping life interesting, making it new and exciting every month, will eliminate any boredom and depression commonly associated with today's society.

So during the months of this challenge, this blog is going to be a source of our experiences, and boredom as Diz stated. Expect doodles.

- Glenster

The filler journal.

While I wait for The Glenster, smoker of bitches, to accept the co-writer email confirmation, I will take up e-space by telling a story.

He and I met on the internet, rvb.roosterteeth.com to be exact, and after about a month or two of bouncing comments off of each others' profiles, we started talking on skype with a few other people. Then we became facebook friends, because as you all know, that is the only way to be friends these days. We've never actually talked on the phone and we definitely haven't met in person, but I think we get along quite well all that aside.

Anyway, very recently, whilst talking on skype, he said he wanted to try something different every month. I said, "Sounds cool, what are you thinking?" So he tells me he wants to try a few different things including getting enough sleep every night for one month, cutting meat out of his diet for a month, eating less refined sugar during another month, getting more exercise, etc, etc. I said, "Go for it." After declaring his intent on rvb and getting a lot of shit for it (especially the 'not eating meat for a month' part), I decided I'd join in too, because, hey, it sounds like it's worth a try. Besides, the more support you have for something, the easier it is to stick to it.

Though we both have rvb.roosterteeth.com accounts (that come with journals), a nice little collabo-blog like this probably wouldn't hurt to post in. I don't know if we're going to try posting every day or something, but we'll work it out as we go. If there's anyone reading or about to read this, hopefully it's not butt-numbingly boring. We will be sure to provide lots of pretty pictures and drawings for your visual amusement.

Remember to give peas a chance,

diz.