3:00 a.m.

Recently, I've been waking up at 3 am to work out.  Most people think that is crazy and some mornings, I agree with them.  But working a full-time job and having a toddler around the house, it is the only time I can fit a workout in.  And since I have a toddler, I have to work out to keep up with him.  Mom ain't no spring chicken anymore and she has to go the extra mile to stay healthy so that she can dance at her second son's wedding, heh.

So, 3 mornings per week, I drag myself out of bed at 3 (really only an hour earlier than usual since I work early morning hours), change into some workout clothes and join Tony Horton in his P90X.  It's a fantastic workout.

Last weekend, I found an activity table at a garage sale that I brought home and filled with sand for Matthew to play in.  He had great fun!  The weather was beautiful and he relished being outside.  He then helped Daddy clean the pool.

Looney Tunes

The Phoenix Airport has a satellite gallery of the Phoenix Art Museum that usually features local artists but sometimes showcases modern art from all over the world. So, while I was waiting for my daughter's plane to take of on Saturday morning, I had the opportunity to peruse the gallery offerings. 

That morning, the gallery was showing original artwork by Chuck Jones. What a gift!!  I saw original pencil drawings of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck as well as original still life oils and cells from many of the Looney Toons cartoons. In addition, a television was playing a documentary on Chuck Jones with interviews from everyone - still alive - who were involved in the Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes cartoons.  It discussed how the characters had developed and the funny situations they were put in. 

I sat there, watching the documentary for 20 minutes, laughing out loud at the cartoons, until my toddler got bored enough to be a problem.  I reluctantly had to leave but I thoroughly enjoyed watching those wonderfully funny cartoons.

When I got home, I promptly put in my Looney Tunes Golden Edition DVD.

Celebutards

Why are celebrities so damn stupid??  Every few weeks I have to read about some celebrity making a stupid - and inaccurate - comment about history.  While I expect it from the likes of socialist-loving and First Ammendment-hating Sean Penn, I must admit I was surprised that Tom Hanks has now joined the bandwagon.  In an interview with Douglas Brinkley in Time magazine, Hanks said,

“Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as ‘yellow, slant-eyed dogs’ that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what’s going on today?”

An effective rejoinder can be found here but I am so sick and tired of listening to celebrities talk out there ass about things they have no clue about.  Now, Tom Hanks, one of the few celebrities whose movies I still liked, has joined the rank and file Hollywood celebrity idiot.

Apparently, celebrities believe that the parts they have played have imbued them with the knowledge of the ages and that makes them uniquely qualified to act the expert on any subject under the sun.   What they don't understand is that they have  no clue what real people do on a day to day basis and most of them would not be able to survive in the real world.  Time and again they use their influence and popularity through a free podium known as the main-stream media to promote a revisionist history and a socialist political agenda. As a result, I take great offense at any celebrity who tries to tell me how to live, how to vote, what is "really going on" in the world, and then try to force their revisionist history down my throat. They now believe their own bullshit and have worked at pretending (acting) so long that they cannot tell fantasy from reality.

Celebrities are getting worse and worse and there are fewer and fewer movies I will go see anymore because I'm so fucking tired of them using their influence and free press to broadcast their stupidities.  Now, I have to add Tom Hanks to that ever-growing list of celebrities I refuse to pay money to see:  Hanks, Penn, Stone, Damon, etc., etc.

If Gerard Butler goes political, I'm going to kill myself!

Pantheon, Acropolis, et. al.....

I could write a post of general musings and talk about my dad's health, work, Matthew or other things that may not be of particular interest to anyone but me.  So, I've decided I will talk about the fantastic games I play on the Internet.

One of these games is called Pantheon and it was developed by a friend who I will name "Xar." Xar happens to be a Ph.d. in biology.  He lives in Germany and was born in Rome, Italy.  The players of this game are from all over the world and include 2 MBAs (myself, included), computer programmers, a housewife,   It is a game played on a discussion thread so there is no game board or pieces.  It is very much like Dungeons and Dragons - all imagination  The players are gods in a pantheon of a fantasty world. The gods have chosen domains (I have played Jove, the goddess of  wealth, commerce and travel, Calais/Vashitva, goddess of earth and death, and Arcadia, goddess of love). We get points - divine points - gained from the amount of "followers" we have.  We have a prophet who is our voice on the planet and whom we can imbue with special powers.  The game itself really has no object - no end goal.  Although I have played 3 versions of the game and many players seem to think that the object of the game is to become the lone god, thus changing the planet to a monotheistic society.  Other players like having multiple gods and a pantheon and focus on city-building.  Overall, there are no limits other than your own imagination.

I also play 2 shoot off games of Pantheon - Aesir and Acropolis.  In Aesir, I am playing Jove again (she was such a great character!) and in Acropolis, I play Diana, goddess of fertility.  These games are on much smaller scales than Pantheon and are based in cities rather than in worlds, for the most part.  They move slower and are just as fun as Pantheon.

New Disneyland Pictures

I had the opportunity to visit the park recently and I took a few photos:

Nail polish

I’ve never been one to have acrylic nails although, I have had them in the past. They tend to be too think and too rigid and I find that I end up hurting myself more often than not because the nail gets caught on something and because it doesn’t give, its like tearing the nail off the finger. Hence, I have stayed to my natural nails as they have always grown like weeds and been very healthy overall. The problem with my natural nails was that nail polish would chip the same day. I was never able to keep it looking good. So, I stopped polishing my nails.

Years ago my sisters and I discovered a product called DeLor Chip Proof Polish Shield. It was the best stuff on the market! I could wear polish for a week and it would never chip. I used it until I moved to Arizona in 2003 and I have not been able to locate it since. I have even googled it and nothing. I could never find anything that worked even remotely as well so as a result, I again went without nail color and considered getting acrylics just so I could wear polish.

Walking through the mall the other day, I passed a salon that had OPI nail polish prominently displayed and I stopped to longingly look at all the beautiful colors, again toying with the idea of acrylics. The attendant approached me and I told her my dilemma. She suggested I try a good base coat and recommended ESSI brand. She said it was tacky and bound the color to the nail. Ever the one to try something new so that I can polish my nails, I gave it a try. Lo and behold, it has been three days and not one chip! I am so delighted!

Turning Vegetarian (well, not really....)

This weekend I decided to heed the advice of my friend James, who told me that he is losing weight like a fiend by going vegetarian. Now, James is by no means a vegetarian but he was inspired by the book, Skinny Bitch, to go vegetarian for a while and see how he fares.

You see, James and I were workout buddies (and still are, I suppose) as we tackled P90X together. We worked out to the same set every night at our respective homes, coached each other on how and what to eat, and lamented our sore muscles every morning. We also shared our joys at feeling better overall and satisfaction at being able to even DO P90X.

As December had rolled around, I lost interest in P90X and needed a break from the daily grind of working out. Coupled with raising a toddler, I ran out of time and energy and motivation. My eating habits suffered and my rear expanded. James soon followed suit although he had not lost motivation. He just lost time.

James therefore, maintained his diet and read Skinny Bitch. For those of you who haven’t read that book, it is a girlfriend’s book of clean eating and tells it like it is. The authors are very hard critics of the meat industry and promote health by going vegetarian. I had read the book but was underimpressed with its preachy demeanor and quickly dismissed the entire book.

James read the book and decided to give it a go. In the month that he has been going vegetarian (although he professes to not be entirely vegetarian), he has completely lost his love handles, feels fantastic and exercises moderately 3 times per week. He helped another friend try it and she has already felt a difference in the way her clothes fit and she also is hooked.

So, as James bragged to me about his success and talked to me about the things I should eat and what my grocery shopping list should look like, I trooped out to Sprouts and Whole Foods to find the foods I would need to go vegetarian.  I may not have the time to workout as I'd like but diet is something I can controll very easily.

Today is my first day on it and I am feeling pretty good. I have lots of fruit and vegetables and I have nixed all sugar from my diet. Everything I have whole and natural and my animal fat is extremely limited. It is a great deal like the Primal Diet only it does not allow meat. I’m not a big meat eater anyways so I doubt that I will miss meat that much. Of course, it will be a challenge to feed the rest of the family, not that I have much luck in that area anyway.

We will see how long it lasts and if it works.