Enlightenment

After 29 years I've finally discovered the connection between food, exercise, and mood.

For almost 6 months I ate a steady regiment of salads, fish, vegetables and fruit. It was not a 'diet', it was a lifestyle for me. In fact, the thought of drinking soda or eating a chicken fried steak was repulsive.

It got me through the LSAT, personal statements and most of my applications without a hitch or a sign of those colds that usually come around when you get stressed. I even ran 3 times a week, getting me down to my pre-wedding fighting weight.

Then Meatfest '07 occurred.

4 cheddarwurst, 1 meatball sandwich and a 1/3 pound pub burger...and that was just in the first 90 minutes. I lost count of how many Pepsi & grenadine's I had.

Then Thanksgiving occurred.

It's been three weeks since I've rolled the treadmill out, my final round of applications are still sitting on my computer unfinished, and all I crave is Coke (the Mexican kind), alfredo sauce and deep-fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I never realized how wide my motivational pendulum swings. I stared at my Pepperdine application last night and had exactly zero interest in filling out the scholarship form!

Now the question is what caused what? Obviously Meatfest '07 was the catalyst, but did I start my downhill spiral because of the meat I ate, or did I eat so much meat because of some lack of mental fortitude? Please weigh in (no pun intended) with your thoughts!

In my current malaise, I will do the right thing and feign innocence and shift the blame to Daylight Saving Time.

I've made a few changes to the blog, and I know after only seven days many of you will be disappointed, but the straw polls are in and it's just time to change. I've done away with the day count and changed the title. Similar to those puzzles where you are allowed to rearrange only 3 toothpicks to change a star pattern into Picasso's Guernica, I moved an 's' and deleted an apostrophe to change the meaning of the title from my humble thoughts to world domination. Anyone notice? Probably not.

I love procrastination. Having to write a personal statement has been the best thing for me. Here is what I've done today:

• Two loads of laundry
• A load of dishes
• Ran 6.75 miles
• Watched last night's episode of Bill Maher
• Listened to two lessons of Pimsleur Japanese
• Took a shower and shaved (rare for a Saturday)
• Blogged
  

And it's not even 1pm. If I keep this up I'll be fluent in Japanese and have expanded Pi by a few digits by Sunday.

Some of the Best Things in Life Are Free

Who would have thought that reading my regular web analytics blog (don't ask), written by Avinash Kaushik, would lead me to much deeper insight into my creative life? If you are into web analytics, his blog Occam's Razor and his Google TechTalk are a must read/watch. One of his recent postings introduced me to Hugh MacLeod, author of the gapingvoid blog and the How To Be Creative manifesto. Do yourself a favor and spend an hour this weekend (or whenever you happen to read this blog), lock yourself in a room and read his manifesto. It was the best 49 pages I've read in months.

While I don't agree with all 26 of his points, most of them hit very close to home regarding the "Stupid Passion Thing"; the creative, artsy, monetarily void thing we all want to do but either a) ignore completely or b) dive into with no sense of reality. He shows how to be creative, out of debt, increase your chances at success, and most importantly remain in control of, and happy with, your art form.

Oh! There goes another load of laundry. Time to start folding.