The Fort Mudge Memorial Dump

A year ago today, I got serious about losing weight. Mostly I did it because I knew I was fat and I wanted to be less so, and I knew I wasn't going to get less so by wishing it. And I knew I was fat because I was unhappy. So I started Weight Watchers and got a new job.

A year later I still have the job, and I've lost 50 pounds. I actually lost them in 10 months and have been keeping them off for the last two. Yay me, but the trick is going to be keeping them off for the rest of forever. (Resolved: I will NOT be buying size 16 pants in the next five years. That's the size I started at. We won't mention the fact that I refused to admit it and shoehorned myself into size-14 pants anyway.)

After I had lost the first 20 pounds, I noticed I had more energy. It hasn't increased as I've lost more weight; it sort of bounced up to a higher level and stayed there. But it means I can walk two and a half miles home from work and not be completely exhausted when I get home. And I can do it in less than an hour, so it's not like I have to spend every waking moment of my not-at-work life exercising. I have to admit that walking home this winter fell squarely under Not Fun most of the time on account of the weather. But I did it anyway, because it worked.

In honor of the anniversary, I got a new tattoo today. Now I have one on each shoulder. The new one (three oak leaves and an acorn) managed to turn me into a bit of an ambulatory biohazard, because it was plastic-wrapped and proceeded to leak before I got home, but it seems to be happy now that it's been slathered in salve all afternoon. It's shedding ink already. I don't remember the last one doing that so fast, but the last one was nine years ago, and I have enough trouble remembering what I did last week.

I guess the question for tomorrow is, do I get up and get going and burn through the list of less-fun stuff I want to get done in the next two weeks, and then spend the rest of the time having fun, or do I spread out the pain a bit over the weeks? At the moment I'm inclined to burn through the list and get it done with, but that's subject to change tomorrow morning when I have to make up my mind. (And, says the devil on the newly-tattooed shoulder, nobody ever said I couldn't wait until Monday, burn through the list and then go to the movies and actually feel like I'm on vacation. There's even a movie I want to go see.)

I know I said I was done after I got the vine tattoo, but I'm seriously considering getting the kanji for "work" and "dream" put on me when I graduate from this program. It's certainly taken a lot of both, so far.

So now the question is, where to put them?