How it's going

Well, that's not too shabby. I've lost 11 pounds this particular go-round, down a total of 21 pounds from my all-time heaviest weight in early 2009. Not that any of it is currently noticeable, but I suppose that as I stick to it -- maybe around the time I hit the 50-lb. loss mark -- people will start giving me quizzical glances and asking, "Have you cut your hair or something?" Heh.

South Beach seems to be working for me thus far; I don't feel constantly hungry or deprived, though I may have to fight the occasional cravings as we move into Phase 2 and start adding carbohydrate-rich foods back into the diet. I've been sticking to the limit of one serving of carbohydrate per day -- half an apple along with some lowfat cottage cheese as a mid-afternoon snack, an open-face sandwich on a slice of whole grain bread for lunch, etc. And frankly, the "safety valve" of being able to enjoy dark chocolate, even in small amounts, is a wonderful thing.

Yeah, I know. Diet talk, boring, bla bla bla.

My friend Douglas, who writes an excellent blog about the joys of managing adult ADHD, came up with a term to describe his tendency to fill every cranny of his life with (largely unfinished) projects: Multi-Irons Syndrome. I'm reasonably sure I don't have ADHD, but Multi-Irons Syndrome? Boy, does that sound familiar. At any given moment there are gobs of unfinished projects scattered around this house, most of them well-begun but never done, as my enthusiasm flags and I pounce upon the next new thing. There are three books in the "currently reading" pile, all waiting on hold while I re-read a fourth; half a dozen short stories, a short subject screenplay and a feature film screenplay in the writing pipeline, all in various stages of not-done-ness; at least five (probably more) knitting or crocheting projects actively in process, with several more packed away in boxes in the garage... is it obvious I have a problem finishing things? Um, yeah. I don't think it's laziness per se, but the inability to maintain long-term enthusiasm for a project that puts it into a stall. Once that shiny new-car smell, the honeymoon period where I'm hollering "Hot cha, this is gonna be awesome!" wears off, I'm left staring in dismay at the half-baked result of my labors and moaning in Lola Granola-esque fashion, "It just doesn't SOAR, dammit!"

I know I'm not the only one who gets tired of this. Captain Midnight and Miss V have to live with the messes generated by my multitudinous projects, and they do not like it, not one little bit. Also, Miss V is starting to pick up some bad habits thanks to my poor role modeling; she's got her own versions of multiple projects going at once. There's only so many works-in-progress this poor house can take before it finally gives up and collapses into a singularity.

Anyway, in addition to the current Excess Adipose Tissue Removal project (which is gonna take a while), I've committed to finishing off a number of unfinished projects before taking on anything new. To that end, I finished crocheting a charity scarf project this evening, packaged it up and will be sending it on its way in the morning. (Yay!) Next on the docket: a long-delayed scarf for the manly Captain Midnight, and maybe a story ending or two.