Dear Diary . . . day by day

Wednesday, July 19th - Muscles to hold in all the flab . . .
I'm still having trouble sleeping this week. I don't like that at all - it seriously fucks with my ability to get anything at all done. One thing I have started doing (aside from taking Valerian an hour before I want to go to bed) is sitting down right before I get in bed and making a list of things (both work and personal) that I need to get done the next day. It's actually working, I think, by letting me relax and know that I'm not going to forget something vital the next day. It has cut down those drifting off to sleep jolts I sometimes get when I think of something important . . .
I've noticed that I'm not as flexible as I used to be. I mentioned this to Krista (who has become my unofficial workout advisor) and she tsked at me, "Heather, I keep telling you - you MUST stretch AFTER working out - as well as before!" Oh, yeah. I guess I'm always so excited to be DONE that I just bolt down those stairs and into the steam room. Now that I have, well, consequences, I'm sure I'll take that extra 5 minutes.
On the workout front - well, it's working! I was doing dips (lowering oneself between two parallel bars until your elbows are 90 degrees, then pulling yourself back up) the other day and I noticed that my tummy didn't stick out the way it used to under my baggy t-shirt! Further examination (nude, in front of the mirror at home) confirms: my gut is being held in (somewhat) by my new stomach muscles! I am still not satisfied, of course, as I don't think I've lost any weight, I'm just being held more compact by my firmed up muscles. (Ok, I have lost 5 pounds after 2 and a half months of weight-lifting; I'm just hoping that's not because of going off the pill, because I've decided to hell with pain, I'm going back on the pill again next month!) Anyway, I also have more defined arms and leg muscles. Elle even commented when she saw me in a tank and shorts the other day "You look more toned." It's good to see payoff.
Speaking of payoff - well, the writing class is definitely working too! I'm certainly writing more, and every news story I hear on the radio spurs a new speculative fiction piece. It does strike me as strange that everything is coming out spec fic these days - I can't seem to write a realistic story. I know - it makes sense, since that's all I read any more - but I tried for years to pin down the art of science fiction . . . Actually, I think it helps that I think of it now as speculative fiction instead of science - the factual basis of science is too daunting to my fragile writer's ego (what if I get it wrong and they laugh at me?). Kate Wilhelm's and Robert Sheckley's styles have been a huge influence here.
I'm sure there's more, but this will do for now.
Exercise log:
Yoga class, which went well. I think I'm getting stiffer the more I lift weights; I should probably do a full stretch session everyday now, to keep my flexibility.
Writing log:
Left my notebooks with all my ideas and plot sketches at work, so I couldn't do much of anything. David was sweet enough to point out that a similiar theme to what I'm doing has already been explored - in novel form - by Silverberg. Yes, Virginia, there are NO original thoughts!
I'm currently reading:
The Infinity Box by Kate Wilhelm
Slowly reading:
Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany

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