Way Off the Wagon

The bad thing about sharing all of my previous weight loss successes on my blog previously means I kind of have to share the failures as well.

So, it’s been about two months since I fell off the wagon.  I’m not necessarily sure why I fell off the wagon or how it happened, I just know it did and since then it’s been a gradual downward spiral.  It’s pretty disappointing.  I know what I have to do to get back on track, I just haven’t done it yet.

Sure, I could blame the lack of accountability for Weight Watchers Online, but that would be a cop out.  The online program is really something you need to self regulate and I started cheating, which led to where I am now.

I have since cancelled my WW Online subscription.

 

I know what I have to do – I just need to do it now.

 

Onward.

Beware the US Airlines free airplane ticket scam

In today’s mail, I got a hand written envelope from Phoenix, Arizona.  Wasn’t quite sure what to think about it, but I opened it anyway.  It ended up being a letter from US Airlines Vice President Nicole Clay.  She was writing to let me know they’ve tried several times to get in touch with me to let me know I was eligible for two roundtrip airline tickets.  All I had to do was call a fancy toll-free number and away I go.  Well, I was always brought up to believe that if something is too good to be true, it probably isn’t.  So, after a quick google search, sure enough, this is a credit card scam.  It also looks to represent itself in different ones with different names.  Sometimes it’s a letter, sometimes it’s a travel voucher…just know all times it’s a scam.

If you’ve received something similar from US Airlines, please let us know about it in the comments below.  I want to make sure this gets spread around as much as possible.  These types of scams really piss me off sometimes.  Hell, I’ve never even heard of US Airlines.  Oh well.

I’m also showing an example of the letter I got (sorry for the bad quality, but you get the idea, right?).  Stay safe folks.

Beware this US Airlines scam!

Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall – Working Day and Night

As I may have admitted during my 31 Days of Halloween Hijinks in the Thriller post, I’ve been on a huge Michael Jackson kick ever since I got back from the Michael Jackson Cirque Du Soleil show.  So much so, that I checked out every album in his discography from the local library since then.  While I already knew he was an amazing musician, what I really learned is how awesome Off the Wall is.

Sure, I’ve heard the singles and hits for every single one of his albums, but I’ve never heard the entire album for most of MJ’s earlier career.  In fact, up until this past weekend, I didn’t really even know much about Off the Wall.  Now, after listening to it non-stop, I am able to say it’s my favorite complete album in MJ’s discography.  It’s just perfect from start to finish.

The song that’s currently stuck in my head is “Working Day and Night.”  No lie,  have the CD in the car with that song on repeat.  I can’t get enough of it.  The energy, the horn blasts, the chorus, hell even the “ooh hah” in the beginning of the song all add up to the perfect pop song.

After listening to MJ’s entire discography these past two weeks, I can definitely say his best decade musically was the ’80s (Off the Wall was 1979, but that’s close enough).  Do you agree with me on this?  ’80s MJ is the best, right?  Feel free to sound off in the comment section below.

Also, what other artists should I get addicted to next?  Before MJ, I picked up the entire Beatles discography.  For now, I’m thinking either Pearl Jam or The Rolling Stones.

5 tips and tricks for a successful NaNoWriMo

While I don’t claim to be an expert (far from it actually), I do have the experience of completing a 50,000 word novel during NaNoWriMo in my lifetime, and since today is November 1st, I thought I should offer up the tips and tricks that guided me through my novel-writing journey.

First and foremost, writing 50,000 words in 30 days looks like a daunting task. Don’t kid yourself into thinking otherwise because it is. One of the most important tips I have that you need to remember is this: Don’t let the sheer size of the task get into your head. If you’re psyched out, you’ll never finish. Trust me. Just sit down, relax, put your hands on your keyboard, and get writing.

Second, make sure you’re writing space is clear of any major distractions.  When I completed my NaNoWriMo, I sat in a room with no TV and worked on a computer where I disconnected the Internet while I wrote.  The closest I got to distraction was putting my music playlists on shuffle.

Third, what you write during NaNoWriMo will be nowhere near a final draft.  Consider it as the first draft of your first draft.  Don’t get hung up in plot holes, grammatical errors, or spelling errors.  Those things can be fixed later.  NaNoWriMo is about words, words, words.

Fourth, set a pace.  I tried to write 1500-2000 words a day.  There were days I wrote less (0 words) and days I wrote more (5000).  If the novel you’re writing is speaking to you, keep going though because you will definitely hit walls and stall throughout the month.  By writing ahead when the novel takes you with it, you’ll prepare yourself for when you stall with your writing.  If you get way behind in your word count, step back, take a break and simply recalculate your new daily word count.  My guess is that it won’t be as bad as you think, so don’t get discouraged.

Fifth, and potentially the most important, have fun.  Successfully completing your NaNoWriMo novel is a fun thing to accomplish, so don’t let it stress you out while you reach that goal.  Just remember, it’s a marathon and not a sprint.

 

Hopefully, these tips help you out on your journey.  If you have more tips for all the NaNoWriMo participants, leave them in the comments.

 

Happy writing!