"I'm Working On My Abs"

With the school year officially over now, I've got time to focus on a few things that I've wanted to do for awhile. One is work on getting the comic on a more regular updating schedule, which means drafting out ahead of time so I can just draw and go. There's also, oddly enough, a rather academic paper I want to work on about Bruce Springsteen's use of the road as a metaphor for salvation and desperation. I've jotted down notes and know several songs I want to use, but I need to do some deeper research into a few elements before I start actually writing.

One thing I really want to work on, though, is my body and weight. I've let myself go since the heady days of 2002, when I could run three miles without issue in Oklahoma in August (and in less than 30 minutes, at that). Graduate school and my move to Virginia have both taken their toll on me, though really the only thing to blame is my laziness. I've gained a significant amount of weight, and I want to start working that weight off. I know it's going to take awhile to get back to where I was that summer of Yellowstone, but I think I can do it. To start, though, I have to go slow. I'm going to walk everyday for 45 minutes to an hour at least. I'm also going to do stomach crunches. And eat more healthfully. The plan, of course, is to get back to where I can run a mile or two by the end of the summer. I'm already off to a good start. On Monday, I played kickball with the school for a couple of hours and got quite the workout. Today, I walked for almost an hour and did 100 crunches. My goal is to lose 30-50 pounds this summer. If I stick to it, that will be in keeping with previous trends.

There are other things, too. I cranked out a rough draft for a children's book in school this year as part of a project the English class I team-teach was doing, and everyone who's read it so far says it's really good. I want to rework it a bit, fix some dialogue issues, and do up some illustrations for it and see if I can't get it published. That'd be sweet.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: The National, "Start a War"