Now What???

Fair Warning...This Could Be a Long One (Lots of thoughts running in my mind today!)

ROBIN WILLIAMS

Last night I went to see Robin Williams in his "Weapons of Self-Destruction" tour. Simply put, I laughed for two solid hours, and I don't remember ever stopping to breathe. He is truly a genius. You have to be a genius to be that observant, quick, and witty. No subject to safe.

Being that he came to Tennessee, you can just imagine the comments he was making at the beginning of the show. I cannot remember all of the comments. The funniest ones though were his comments about Dolly Parton, her "natural" assets, and Dollywood.

I have to stop for a second and say that we were most certainly a wild and unruly bunch at times. There was lots of yeehaws and yells going on (Hey, it is Tennessee y'all!)

I won't go into too much of it all. But, I would like to leave you with the best pick up line I have ever heard. (And, please forgive me for any lack of political correctness. It is Robin Williams after all.)

"Are both of you parents retarded?...because baby you sure are special!"

I forgot to mention, being in the second row is incredible. Robin stood right in front of us the entire time, making eye contact with us, and even interacting with us. That was awesome. It was certainly worth what I paid for that ticket!


Update of my new Home

My goal on Wednesday was to get all of my boxes unpacked and everything set up in my house. Well, that did not happen. It just seems that the more I unpack and organize the more boxes that keep appearing. Sounds funny, but it seems to be a never-ending parade of boxes and storage containers.

I am going through all of my clothes at this point. I did not realize I had so much clothing. I ended up with 3 large suitcases, 7 trash bags (all of this was my dirty clothes...life has been busy), and 6 storage containers of clothes. Yes, it is just me in the house. Part of the clothing I am going through I cannot wear. I don't think I have mentioned this in the past, but about three years ago I lost 85 pounds. Obviously NONE of those will come close to fitting me anymore. I had been selling some of it on eBay because a lot of those clothes are Ralph Lauren, Polo, Tommy Hilfiger, etc. At some point I stopped doing that. Now, I am just bagging up all of the clothes that I don't or can't wear and taking them to the local charity. On the other hand, it is leaving me some closet room to put any new clothes in there.


Losing Weight

So here comes a subject that I never like to discuss...weight!

When I was a kid, I was this little skinny pole of a kid. I was an active child. I was fortunate to live in a neighborhood where there were approximately 20 - 30 other kids my age. We were always out playing ball, hide-n-seek (through the neighborhood), swimming in the pool, swimming at the lake, riding our bikes through "the woods", etc. I hardly remember staying inside the house for anything, not even for the rain!

When I was 14, my dad and step-mother told me that we were moving from my childhood home. To put it mildly, I was devastated. I ended up being severely depressed at that point. (Still reeling from my parents' divorce when I was younger didn't help either.) When we moved, we ended up in this house on the outskirts of town. The nearest neighbor was, no joke, a solid mile from my house. We were definitely in the country. I was miserable. I hated it there because I was used to having friends and neighbors. Now, all I had was seclusion.

So, what was left to do besides play Nintendo and eat. We all know what happens when you are inactive and do nothing else but eat, eat, eat...you get big! At some point, I might show you some comparison pictures just to prove the point.

Jump to about 3 or 4 years ago. I started seeing a therapist. It was at the suggestion of my teammate. Evidently I was a giant ball of stress all the time and was not enjoying life. I spent over a year meeting with my therapist (I will call her Teresa). Teresa and I met weekly for the first couple of months, then went bi-weekly, till we were down to once a month for a second year. I was able to work through everything I had kept pent up for years. The biggest topics that were discussed were my parents' divorce, the effect of my grandmother's death, me being a workaholic, not letting people see the "real me", my step-mother driving my dad into bankruptcy, etc.

Once I got to a point of enjoying my life, I made the decision that it was time for me to lose the weight that came with all of this stress and issues. At the time I saw to see my doctor for help/advice, I weighed 333 lbs. (I cannot believe I just admitted that to you all.) I was embarassed and ashamed when I learned that fact. I had never realized how big I had gotten.

The doctor gave me two options. (1) He told me I was a candidate for gastric bypass surgery. Since my health insurance policy has an exclusion policy against any weight loss procedures/medications, which was out. Plus, I don't like the idea of surgery. (2) I could do it the old-fashioned way - WORK FOR IT!

So, I chose to work for it! I began eating healthier. I cut out all drinks that contained any sugar or caffeine. I began a workout routine with a trainer. The trainer was expensive, but it was definitely worth the money!

The result…I lost 85 pounds in a matter of 6 – 7 months. I lost 10 inches on my waist and dropped 3 shirt sizes. I was on cloud 9!

I realize that is a lot of weight in a short amount of time. We were all shocked.

I was finally able to climb stairs without being out of breath. I could run and jog without passing out. I could do so many things that I couldn’t before because of the weight.

The best thing for me was that I was finally able to go shopping at the mall and find clothes in my sizes. I hadn’t done that in years. I became the king of American Eagle, Abercrombie, Old Navy, the Gap, and Banana Republic. My poor credit card was on fire.

The hardest part of it all since that time has been maintaining the weight loss. Like so many before me, I fell off the wagon HARD. I slowly began to gain some of the weight back (50+ pounds of it to be precise). I knew I could not go back to where I was. Thankfully, I have worked all of the regained weight back off and kept it off for about a year now.

Being a math teacher, I could not help but figure up how much weight I have lost in recent years. It came out to approximately 157 pounds. WOW! That’s a Backstreet Boy!

Just after Labor Day, I decided to kick my healthy eating and workout routine back into gear. My goal is to get below the 200 lb mark. I am determined more than ever to reach that goal and stay there.

There are several goals that I have for this year that coincide with the weight loss, or because of it.
(1) Run a 5K, and eventually a 10K
(2) Participate in the 5 Boros Bike Ride in New York City (42 miles long)
(3) Bungee cord jumping
(4) Go sky diving

The question you are probably asking yourself is “What’s the point of this?”

Here’s the point…I need your help and support. I need friends to check in on me from time to time and make sure I am still working toward my goal. I do much better when I am held accountable to someone. I will keep you all posted from time to time to let you know where I stand and the progress I am making.

Then, when I am ready to go sky diving, anyone is welcome to come along for the adventure.

Thanks for listening to this little rant and rave session.
- JC

I APPRECIATE YOU

One thing I try to impress upon my students is that everyone needs and has a desire to feel needed and appreciated. I try very hard to let them all know how much I appreciate them every day. In other words, I try to “walk the walk.”

So, I wanted to take a few moments and just say how much I appreciate all of you who read this blog and may/may not respond. The comments are great, but just knowing you all are out there reading this is enough for me. I have gotten to know some of you over the past few months, and those friendships are just incredible to me.

You have been there with comments and support when I needed it. I hope that I have been there for you as well. I will continue to be there when you need me.

Through this blog I have been able to meet and get to know some truly remarkable individuals. I have definitely learned a lot from you since I began this little adventure.

For those of you who I have not had the chance to meet, feel free to drop me a line on here or by email. (It is on my profile page.)

That’s it…I JUST WANTED TO SAY THANK YOU!


THE EFFECTS OF STEPHEN GATELY’S DEATH

I am not sure why this has gotten to me this week, but this story saddens me.

I was reading an article this morning that asked the question of why Stephen Gately’s death has gotten so much attention. I finally found a reasonable answer.

Stephen Gately is the first member of the Boy Band generation to die unexpectedly. Obviously his death has not made huge headlines here in the United States. His band, Boyzone, was mostly popular in Europe, Asia, etc. From report I read, they sold more than 20 million CDs during their career.

I think what has really gotten me is the reactions to his death. His band mates flew to Spain to visit their departed friend and to support Andy, Stephen’s husband. They flew to Dublin to meet with and offer their condolences to Stephen’s family. Together, the family and the band mates have made all the arrangements for the funeral services and the impending memorial service in London. They then flew back to Spain to be with Andy and to escort Stephen’s body back to Ireland.

What got to me today was the report that said his band mates will be breaking with Irish tradition by keeping a vigil all night with Stephen in the church. Their reason for doing this is “because Stephen never liked to be alone.”

That, my friends, it true love and friendship!

I know that this is a strange topic to be blogging about, but for some reason it has affected me pretty harshly. This was a death that was very unexpected, and I guess it takes me back to the death of a friend of mine several years ago who also died very unexpectedly. I just seem to identify with the pain that Stephen’s friends and family are feeling at the moment.

I promise to not linger on this anymore. I apologize if it brought you down.