The fabric of my life: blue and silky, but still theoretical

[holdouttrout]

Yesterday I was trying to think about something, anything, to say about my life the last few days. Really, I've felt like there hasn't been anything much going on--I've felt under the weather, but not terribly, and I've been resting and watching bazillions of episodes of West Wing, which has been pretty amazing. I hear that people didn't like it so much after season 4, but please don't tell me why, since apparently I'm immune to whatever it is that made people dislike it so much. After I finish watching the whole thing, or until I do see whatever it is and can't watch anymore, then I will go looking for opinions. (I'm currently in season 5.)

Also, I'm totally Donna, only not blonde.

I am, however, a redhead.

I dyed my hair for Halloween and went as my alternate universe evil twin. This may have been partially due to Fringe, which is my favoritest show on TV right now. I want to have its plot babies, though I haven't (yet) written fic for it. I'm in total love with the Red Universe storylines and was literally gripping the coffee table last night at the end of the episode.

I still have faith in the Blue Universe storylines, despite my worries.

(There may be spoilers in the comments, if anyone else is around to obsessively talk about this season with me.)

Anyway, TV aside, I was writing an email yesterday that made me realize that actually I'm not as much of a lazy, unmotivated loser as I thought--it just seems that way because I've cut back on a couple of obligations at church, which has done wonders for my schedule. And also because it was probably the time of month where my self-worth takes a dive.

You'd think the Unsuccessful and Grueling Shopping Expedition to find a blue dress for a wedding I'm sorta-in in April of next year would have further depressed me, considering that most of the dresses I tried on didn't fit, didn't look right on me, weren't the right color or level of formality, or were too immodest. You'd be wrong, however, because I didn't expect to find ANY dresses to try on at all.


Look, I'm a size 22-24 in dresses. I have a nice round stomach that makes most dresses that fit also make me look slightly pregnant. I do not have an easy body to fit. Also, I was looking for a knee-length blue dress that wasn't formal, cocktail, or casual. How many dresses would you guess fit that description in straight sizes, let alone plus sizes?

The first two stores were really discouraging: barely any plus-size clothes, and the dresses were depressing, black, and matronly. Then we hit another store, and despite this store not having any blue dresses at all, I found two nice blouses and a sweater for work. I can't even get into how many shirts I've tried on in recent memory that didn't fit, so I was over the moon. Then, at the next store, I found two dresses that almost fit. I won't go into the whole list of what I found, but my mood was markedly improved just by virtue of having something to try on.

Also, because I spent 7 hours shopping with my mother, I totally got her to take back my "wimpy shopper achievement," an "award" I won when I was like, twelve, which was worth the whole trip, right there.


What else? Oh! I've been working out in the mornings--walking/attempting to jog M/W/F, weightlifting T/TH, and swimming (with my bro!) Saturday mornings. Swimming is hard, y'all. I used to be on swim team, and man, am I out of shape. I didn't realize how good of shape I was in until I tried to swim 100 yards without stopping. Eesh.

The last time I went, my brother and I were sharing one of the two lanes, and the other was being used by the water-joggers. Anyway, this girl came over and asked to share our lane, and right away I knew two things: 1) She was going to swim really, really fast and 2) It was good Paul and I were almost done, because otherwise we would have been really awkward.

Anyway, she takes off, does a couple of laps, and then pulls on her swim cap, which says "National Team." Now, I honestly don't know if that means she was you, know, ON a national team or not, but my brother and I shared a look--sort of a cross between "you've got to be kidding," "oh, lord," and "hahahahaha."

Nevertheless, we managed to not completely embarrass ourselves and finished our last 200 yards without getting in her way too much.



The most exciting thing to me is that my gym has one of those pull-up machines that takes some of your weight so even a really heavy wimp like me can pretend to be in awesome shape and do pull-ups. I have to use the very highest weight setting (120 pounds), and so far I can only do three, but it's awfully fun and, according to my mom, impressive-looking.

:-)

Anyway, that's probably enough for this poor, overloaded post. I should also say, however, that I am theoretically doing NaNo. Which might tell you all you need to know about how well that's going.

Comments

[thothmes]

I too used to be on the swim team at my college (I was the slowest, shortest, chunkiest one there, but I was there for the workouts not the competition, and I had a wonderful time with it), and I can remember the days when I genuinely had trouble concieving of a distance that was too far to swim. I still teach swimming in the summers, but the days of thinking I could just keep swimming forever are long gone.

On the plus side, I now run five miles most days, and back then I could never have done that without feeling it seriously for the following week, so I guess it's win-some-lose-some.

I think I won that same shopping award when I was twelve. I warned my mom it wasn't a good day to shop. I warned her I was really hungry. She took me to the store with the lady who came in the dressing room and physically dressed you like you were Marie Antoinette or something, and who talked in the Nursery/Royal we: "Now we should try this one on. The a-line will draw attention away from out tummy, and slim us. Do we like purple?" I lost it so badly that my mother was so embarrassed she wouldn't enter that shop again until my little sister (seventeen years younger than me) was old enough for its wares. From time to time my mom brings the whole debacle up. I remind her that I did warn her, and I was very, very hungry. We can both agree that the old biddy who was "helping" me in the dressing room was insufferable.

[holdouttrout]

I wasn't the slowest person on my (high school) swim team, but that's mostly because my high school was really small and our team, while enthusiastic, wasn't made up of people who had been swimming since they were pre-teens. I loved that team, though, despite my own frustration with my slow progress. Looking back after the past few weeks and how slowly I'm swimming, I wonder how much of that frustration was unwarranted. :-)

[sue-parsons.livejournal.com]

I totally dig the trying-on trials, having lived with that my whole life. And good on you for working out. The swimming, especially, will do wonders for you inside and out.

NaNo! I has it!

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

gotta love retail priorities. *g*

[beanpot.livejournal.com]

Oh man - sharing lanes while swimming is so awkward - esp when you can really only doggie paddle like myself.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

Hee. Yeah. it's slightly better if you have more than two lanes, too, so you can have Molasses, We're Trying Really Hard, Steady Steady, Delusions of Grandeur, and Michael Phelps in separate lanes.