Aug

There are approximately 34 weeks between September 1st and my birthday. The “safe” rate of weight loss while on a decent diet and exercise regimen is about 2lbs. So if I stick to it, I could safely lose 68lbs. in that time span. I’d like to lose 75lbs. by then. Accounting for the fact that on people my size, there’s about 10lbs. or so of water weight that is typically lost the first week or so of a diet, that would actually take me right into the 75lbs. range. So 75lbs. it is. Over all, I’d like to lose 105lbs. in total, but the remaining 30lbs. can be worked on through the rest of 2011.

Now, you might think, “Damn, how fucking fat are you that you want to lose 105 pounds in total?” Well, I’ll tell you: two-hundred fifty-five pounds. That’s right, 2-5-5. Most people don’t believe me, because of the way I carry it, my broad shoulders, and the fact that I have a large chest which, unfortunately, doesn’t diminish much with weight loss; yes, I’ve tested the theory and they stay way larger than I’d like them. For my height (just under 5’7″) and body type (broad shoulders, wide hips, long legs), 150lbs is perfectly acceptable and is actually the weight at which I feel most “normal” and attractive. So 150lbs will be my ultimate goal.

Why the sudden change of heart? Well, I really don’t want to have to worry about my heart health more than other people, nor do I want to deal with the plethora of other maladies that affect fatties, especially as they age. It really is more about my health than looks. I have other health issues that require my attention far more than anything that could be brought on by weight, so I’d rather be able to focus solely on those, rather than flipping out about high blood pressure or diabetes.

So, as of September 1st, 2010, I’m going to cut soda totally out of my life (I’ve already started weaning myself out of a ridiculously horrible Diet Coke addiction), cut drastically back on salt and carbs, and start doing regular low impact exercises. No meal programs or personal trainers or fad diets. I just want to do this on my own. It will be altered here and there as I find what is or isn’t working, but I’m not going to strain myself by running several miles a day or becoming a gym rat. My body can’t handle that, anyway. So I’ll just do my best and if I manage to even lose half my goal, I’ll be okay with that, because it’s a start.

I may or may not use this blog to write about this. Hell, I may start another one and anonymously chronicle the journey. Who knows. All I know is that I want my thirties to start on a much healthier note than I’ve lived my twenties.

Jun

Jun

Luciferins. Created & made by Lish Daelnar. Can be purchased in numerous places, in a variety of colors. However, they’re always in limited supply and usually need to be pre-ordered from the semi-annual batches that are created. Online, you can purchase them on Steel Navel and BodyArtForms. The colors currently available are red on clear, cobalt, or white; lemon (yellow) on clear, cobalt, or white; purple on clear, cobalt, or white; silver on clear or cobalt; blue on cobalt; green on cobalt. You can see a color chart here. Or you can see my three pairs (silver, blue, and green; all on cobalt backing) below. Included are three varying shots of the green on cobalt, to show off their various sheen properties, dependent on angle and lighting.

…the last picture are two pairs of Gorilla Glass “Lifesavers” that are being included just because they were taken at about the same time the Luciferins pictures and I hadn’t taken any decent shots of them since they were acquired. The purple pair are definitely one of the favorites from my overall collection.

May

These are pictures of dichroic (aka dichro) glass jewelry (intended for wearing in stretched lobes or other piercings) that I am soon trading or selling. They are just a small portion of my jewelry collection:
All of these were made by Industrial Strength, which discontinued their production of dichro in 2007, making many of these hard to find now.
Row 1:
double-flare pink dichro
double-flare rainbow dichro
double-flare violet dichro
Row 2:
single-flare silver dichro
single-flare transparent silver dichro
single-flare blue dichro
Row 3:
single-flare red dichro (coated with red glass paint to darken the color)
single-flare red spiral image dichro

Sep

Lately, I’ve been missing my lip piercings, which were removed in 2008 after a few good years of jacking up my grill. Being one who is obsessed with perfection when it comes to modifications, how did I allow myself to chip a tooth and create a gap between two of them? Simply put: a nervous habit of gnawing on my lower lip, which I have been doing for as long as I can remember. Biting lip + jewelry + teeth = disaster. Out the jewelry came, despite having loving stretched the piercings from their original 14g (1.6mm) to 10g (2.4mm) in size and I now have two indentations below my lower lip to show for it.

Almost every piercing I’ve obtained has been received on whim and has been cared for & appreciated for whatever length of time it happens to be given as being part of my bodily aesthetic. So, today was no exception to my track record of being pierced on a whim: thanks to Matt Southwood, at Enigma, in San Diego… I am now the proud bearer of a vertical labret!

One of the nicer things about the vertical labret, as opposed to “standard” lip piercings, is that the jewelry does not enter the mouth. This makes it a touch easier to heal, as it is not fully (only partially) exposed to the disgusting cesspool that is the human mouth and it does not touch the gums or teeth in any manner. I’m hoping this will help me to avoid tapping it with my teeth when I do bite my lower lip (which I tend to do on the sides, rather than the front portion where the piercing is) and thus, allow the piercing to remain in place for a long time.

Eating and drinking has been a challenge and will more than likely remain as such for quite some time. I’m failing at drooling when I drink water (you can laugh, it’s okay) and I need to cut my food into tiny bites and use utensils to deliver the food into my mouth – even if I feel completely silly doing so… ever eaten a cheeseburger with a fork and knife? – without touching my lower lip or the jewelry itself. The swelling isn’t helping matters, either, but ice water is definitely helping combat the soreness that accompanies swelling (and is, of course, keeping the swelling to a minimum).

Jessy used my Flip to video the entire procedure, and I extracted some shots from that, to share here. They’re not as detailed as in the video itself, since they are frames taken from video, but they’ll do fine for illustrating the fun. I chose to make them black & white, as you can see detail a bit better without the color being washed out. The last shot, in color, was taken with my iPhone about an hour afterward. The pictures show Matt marking my lip, the piercing procedure itself, inserting the jewelry, adjusting it, clean-up afterward, and voila… the final product!

If you’re wondering… on a pain scale of 1-10, this was easily a 7 and amongst the worse I’ve felt. Matt did a spectacular job, but my face – and lips especially – are extremely sensitive, to the point of being ticklish. Nowhere else on my body am I ticklish or sensitive in the same manner, so I’m certain this factors into the higher rating for this piercing. And since I’m asked a lot: the septum was a 0.5 ;)