Today I finished reading the fifth installment of Gena Showalter’s The Lords of the Underworld series, The Darkest Passion. Aeron wasn’t one of the Lords at the top of my list, and after being severely disappointed with the fourth book, it took me awhile to actually pick this one up.

Compared to the first book of this series, Gena’s writing has definitely changed. I’m not sure I’m as big a fan now as I was then…

First of all, I LOOOOOVE the idea of contemporary Greek mythology and romance. Without having ever heard of Gena, and a complete novice to the romance genre, when I read the excerpt of the first book, I just HAD to purchase it. That’s right, I said “purchase.” Not borrow from the library, purchase. One of the wisest decisions in my life. Instantly, I was in love with all the characters—at least all those who already resided in Budapest—and the world she created. Very original and inspiring!

Okay, now let’s move forward. The Darkest Passion‘s predecessor, The Darkest Whisper, really didn’t do much for me and I was severely pissed with how it ended, at least for Strider. (BTW, I’m glad that was mentioned by Strider in this book.) It wasn’t a romance novel, it had too much action and not enough lovin’ except for the obvious lust for one another, which turned out to be “love.” Let’s just say, I wasn’t convinced with that couple.

Aeron, who is the keeper of Wrath, and Olivia, who is an angel, really meshed well with each other. I expected Aeron to be crazy rough and wild, and a bit over the top, but he turned out much better. He was a very honest and troubled character. His main priority in life was protecting those around him, so finally having something, rather “someone” in this case, was difficult for him. This couple’s love for each other was very believable; it was gradual, they questioned if they did love each other, and their interactions weren’t only filled with extreme lust passion.

The ending nearly broke my heart. I cried so much, and now am drawn to read the next book—the way it should be, damn it!

Okay, now let’s talk about my concerns. Gena’s addition of Christianity’s good and evil is a bit much to be mixed with Greek mythology. In one of the side stories, an angel falls in love with a Harpy, which is a descendant of Lucifer. Which I definitely don’t have a problem with. The problem I have is it being rationalized as “being okay” and Lysander, the angel-dude, can stay in Heaven. They’re not married, and we all know Christianity, marriage comes before smex. So these two un-wed characters are shacking up in Heaven. Not really believable. So with The Darkest Passion, I don’t see the angels condoning Olivia being able to shack up with Aeron. Also, the whole inclusion of Lucifer into the story and actually giving him a character instead of just a passing mention is a bit much for me.

However, putting that aside, I definitely like the overall progression of the story. I’m now excited to read the next installment, which happens to be Gideon’s, keeper of Lies, story. And…I feel that there should be a third thing, but there’s not. I wonder if William will have a story of his own. Probably not since he’s not a Lord, but I’m curious of his relationship with Gilly!

My weight loss challenge doesn’t seem to be going very well. I did get weighed at WW last Saturday, but gained. I expected it since my eating was out of control last week and it seems to be out of control again this week.

For instance, earlier I seriously wanted Whataburger like you could imagine! Though, I know if I ate it I’d just end up feeling guilty and ugly and all those other positive feelings. Plus, I had been very good today with my points and in the long run, just the one day will make me feel better, right?

I have a friend who is/was an alcoholic, though he hasn’t drank any alcohol in almost two years! Last week when he and I were talking he kept repeating “I won’t drink today. I just need to make it through today.” He said it was something he learned and it’s helped him throughout these past two years. Eating is also a form of addiction, an addiction I seem to have. Let me rephrase that, “unhealthy eating” is an addiction.

“I just need to make it through today.”

Dinner turned out really well and healthy. I know I’m not hungry right now, but I want something to eat.

“I just need to make it through today.”

My friend Helen and I made a bet yesterday evening. The goal is to lose 28 lbs in 28 weeks.
If I lose, I have to pay her $280!
If I win, she and I will go on a Eastern Mediterranean cruise. Yes, I will have to pay a lot of money, but I’m already getting excited about it :D

Twenty-eight weeks is a little over half a year, so I think that’s pretty reasonable and also very healthy. This way it’s weight I’ll keep off and not one of those crazy diets where you gain all the weight back again.

Plus, as I said when I first started this: one day at a time. I want to feel better about myself. I want to look into a mirror and see myself as beautiful since I definitely don’t see myself that way right now. I need to keep going and do my best!

Getting to the airport the day I was leaving for NYC was one of the most trying days of my life! My mother was kind enough to pick me up super early to drop me off and as I was getting out of the car at the airport, I realized I left my cell phone at home!!!! My cell phone is a Droid Eris and there was no way I was leaving that bad boy at home, so we had to go back. Good thing I live relatively close to the airport. Finally, I was dropped off.

Getting to NYC was fine, there weren’t any troubles. After arriving, I was nervous about trying to find Kay…she and I had never met in real life. At one point I thought I found her, but it turned out to be someone else and as I was trying to make a quick getaway so no one would notice my fail, some random observer started snickering at me XD Eventually I did find her and thankfully, I didn’t cry. I think I didn’t cry because I really wasn’t sure if it was her or not XD

Kay being Kay, very easily figured out how to get to our hostel in Brooklyn and thus our adventure began! When we were out of the airport and about to purchase the week train pass, a nice lady gave us hers saying that it still had a week or two left on it. I snatched it up, even though it was offered to Kay (LOL) and then she and I went half getting her a pass. Woo hoo for saving money! After arriving safely to our hostel, we headed to Union Square for an event. When we arrived at the location, we were told there wasn’t such an event, but then later after our trip was over we found out we just didn’t see them. :P That’s when we decided to eat at a very clever restaurant called Thai Me Up. The food was good, but my drink wasn’t so awesome. I ended up liking Kay’s drink and she liked mine, so we swapped :D

From there we ventured off to Times Square. I don’t know, at first I was expecting some feeling of awe to go through my body, but I think since I had already seen Shibuya in Tokyo, it was just “okay.” Does that sound bastardly of me? I definitely don’t mean it to be! But it was still really great to see :D

While we were in Times Square, we checked out a few stores: Toys”R”Us, M&M, and Hershey’s. After seeing the first two, the Hershey’s store was very boring….Toys”R”Us and M&M are two of the most fantastic stores in the world! Seriously, I could have totally lived there! What made Toys”R”Us even better was that they had a CANDYLAND section!!!!

Since Kay was having a feeling of jetlag, we headed back to Brooklyn.

So this is where I am with Weight Watcher weigh-ins:

July 17: 157.6
July 24: 158.6 (gained 1 lb)
July 31: 156.2 (lost 2.4 lbs)
Total lost from initial weight: 1.4 lbs

My brother’s wedding is next weekend and the night before my WW weigh-in is the rehearsal dinner. I’m VERY nervous about this, but I need to keep on track! I’m thinking the chicken fajitas might be the best option as long as I eat them with corn tortillas instead of flour. God, why must all the good stuff be so bad for you!

Okay, so I’ve been kinda, sorta looking through Japanese cookbooks and they’re not exactly healthy. I thought of using their foods to help me with my weight loss, but it’s not proving to be so fruitful. Most likely it’s the constant walking they do, that San Antonio doesn’t have at all! I hate driving! It’s nothing but driving here. I hate that if I take the bus, it’ll take half my lifetime to reach my destination. With all the car companies/factories that are in this area holding a ton of jobs for people, we’re definitely not going to have any significant change in our transportation system.

So alas, I have to force my lazy ass to the gym constantly. I have to admit that my very first day really pissed me off because my friend was forcing me to go with her. Though, I think that’s what I really needed since after that I’ve been able to keep up with a routine. My routine is basically two days of workout and a day of rest. The workouts are kind of sporadic, but I definitely do at least 30 minutes of cardio via the elliptical or treadmill. However, I find that the elliptical really makes me feel more accomplished.

My friend Helen has lost a lot of weight following a specific regimen so I’m pretty much kinda following that, I guess. I think I changed a few things, but nothing too much. It’s more along the lines of including, in addition to the cardio, 3 sets of something. Such ab exercises or chest/triceps….and I just remembered that she didn’t show me a couple for back/biceps u_u

Okay, enough fidaddling, I need to go grocery shopping, and do some laundry as I finish transcribing at least one interview tonight for JaME.

No, I don’t feel overwhelmed at all with the amount of work I have to do. (Yes, that was sarcasm.)

For my weight loss challenge, I decided to do it in increments of 5 lbs. This way, I’ll feel more accomplished and maybe will be successful. So my first goal is 155 lbs.

So here are my weigh-ins from Weight Watchers:

July 17: 157.6
July 24: 158.6

Considering how much food I ate between July 17 and 24, I’m actually quite impressed I didn’t gain more. However, this puts me close to the borderline for 160. I don’t want to go back to 160 lbs! So this week I’ve worked very hard. In general terms, I’ve been following Weight Watchers. A little over, but I also have the additional 35 weekly points AND I’ve been exercising! Saturday was quite hardcore. My friend Helen and I went to the gym and then hiking. Sunday was a lazy day. Monday and Tuesday, I exercised at the gym on campus. Wednesday, I rested since I was sore. Today, I’m not as sore as yesterday, but I did do a workout. I’m doing good yo!

Okay, let’s move onto: T.E.M.P.T.A.T.I.O.N.

My major temptation the past couple of days has been pizza…..it’s a killer, I tell you! Yet…a very delicious killer.

The way I solved this was going to the grocery store and purchasing a Lean Cuisine Pepperoni Pizza, which didn’t completely fill me up, but definitely helped. So, I thought that was a wise decision!

This seems like such a boring entry; then again, I’m kinda forcing myself to write this. Maybe I’ll have something more interesting to write about next time. Oh, I also changed my mind about posting a weekly photo of myself in that awesome yellow dress. I’m only going to force myself to do it once a month. I think this will probably make me feel a lot better b/c I’ll give it about four weeks for me to make a change in myself.

So, I will leave this entry with one last bit of wisdom: temptation is very difficult to overcome, but use something else as a substitute. Such as making a healthier version of it. I have a recipe for homepage pizza bread so I think I’ll add that to my “Cooking Adventures” to-do list :)

It’s been over a week since I last posted something on here, but I had a very busy week and a half. My company Cherry Blossom Productions worked with our very first anime convention, San Japan. The Japanese band KESHIKI turned out to be some AMAZING guys!

Since my friend Lacy introduced me to the band camino, I have been a fan of Jun’s singing voice. After he left camino, he started KESHIKI with the other guys: Yu, Kenta, and Taka. Though, I didn’t know about the new band until about a year ago and that’s when I started listening to them. However, all I had to listen to were samples on MySpace. Long story short, I liked what I heard and wanted to bring them to San Japan.

The weekend of the con was an absolute success! Everyone loved them and they loved everyone! Below is a “thank you” banner I made.

Oh, man…such good times. I have to say, it was one of the best weekends of my life including the week that followed.

Okay, so a list of what I need to do:

- Update with pictures from my NYC trip since my mother still hasn’t seen them. That’s going to take a bit, but I figured if I post an entry a day for each day in NYC, I’ll have it completed by the end of the week.

- I also have to update my Weight Loss challenge. I decided to change the name from “Goal: Weight Loss” to “Challenge: Weight Loss.”

My stomach and soul begged me to order such a delicious temptation, but it’s a whopping 38 points! Considering my lovely roommate made me two eggs for breakfast (4 points) I’m already down to 16 points for the day. So I diligently went through the menu and decided on the Beefeater.

Making the appropriate calculations, it would be 19 points, which of course is bad, but hey, it’s not 38 points!

Beefeater

Does this sandwich look like it’s 19 points?

Hmm, I guess so, ne… At first I thought, there’s definitely no way, but it makes sense. Also genius here didn’t think about a side item and was given house chips, which turned out to be 6 points. I was going to get water, but I had sweet tea instead since I thought I was being “healthy” and that turns out to be….NO POINTS! (since it’s not on the Jason’s Deli nutrition info list :P Alright, I’m just kidding…I guess. According to the Points Tracker on WW’s eTools, it’s about…

Wait, before I say what it is, someone is measure tea in tablespoons on this search list. Who measures tea in TABLESPOONS?? Can you imagine how many tablespoons are in one cup of tea? I don’t even want to imagine the daunting task of doing something so tedious…

Okay, so the points for the tea is about 4. My calculations could be wrong on this one, though.

Challenges:

• I picked up the fudge nut brownie twice. (I did put it down.)
• The need to eat EVERYTHING on my plate. (The other half of the sandwich will be dinner.)

Only two challenges, but pretty good ones. The reason I wasn’t so challenged to get the spud is because I remembered the work I’d done the past two days to follow my plan and I didn’t want to ruin it for one lunch of bliss. I want results!! And the only way to have true results is to challenge yourself and have will power!

By the way, I’m not absolutely sure if I’ll be able to update this blog for the next few days since I’ll have a band in from Los Angeles for the anime convention in town coming tomorrow evening. Lots of work to do and lots to keep track of. Let’s see how well my Japanese improved since another band was in town for a month XD

じゃね！

Depending how I feel at the end of this post, I might show them….

Under normal circumstances, I weigh myself in the morning before I eat anything. So when I got home yesterday and was about to waltz onto the scale, I remembered that. So I waited until this morning to weigh myself.

The result: 158!

I’ve gained 11.2 lbs!!! Ultimate sadness all around! Well, maybe not “ultimate” since that would be returning to my start weight or going over it. So I guess just major sadness would do the situation justice.

Okay, okay…here are the pics:

[edit]I’ve removed the pictures….[/edit]

I will be using this dress for the remainder of this goal to track the progress. Yes, it is quite skin tight, but how best to show results, ne?

Yesterday’s dinner turned out to not be bean and cheese tacos, but Soyrizo™ and beans with corn tortillas. I had four of them which was only 8 points! For the last two points I had a cup of Fiber One Shredded Wheat cereal, which was actually three points. One over isn’t that bad, but that takes away one from my weekly allowance!

On Weight Watchers, every week you’re alloted 35 extra points for special occasions and moments of weakness. As I mentioned above, I used one extra point yesterday, so now I’m down to 34.

Okay, so moving onto today’s foods:

Fiber One Shredded Wheat (1 cup) – 3 points
1% milk (1/2 cup) – 1 point
1 banana – 2 points

Points eaten: 6 points; points left: 14

I have to say that changing my breakfast from oatmeal to shredded wheat has really made my soul very happy. The day just seemed to start better. I still have one more packet of oatmeal left, but I’m going to only eat it when I happen to come to work and didn’t pack anything or eat something else.

Lunch is approaching and I’ll be having Lean Pockets® Pepperoni Pizza, which is 6 points. So that’ll be a total of 12 points and 8 points left for dinner. Which means, I can have another 4 small soyrizo and bean tacos! Though, I did buy a cute pasta package that I might try out depending on the points.

I might post a recipe of my soyrizo & beans…I’m not sure everyone knows how to make it and if you don’t then why should you be denied such a delicious meal! Though, I’ll think about whether to do it via video or photos. Though, right now photos sounds like a better idea :P

So long until later! I want to eat lunch!
じゃね！食べたいよ！