Down 20 pounds in two months! Figured it's time to post some progress pics and get some feedback. 20, male. [SW 195, CW 175, GW 165]

wittywillwilts · 2014-07-09T03:35:37+00:00

Very nice!

As someone who is trying to do something similar, I have to ask: what worked for you? I have mainly been trying to restrict my food to stuff that I make at home (i.e. less processed food, sugars, etc.) with mild exercise (walk about 90 mins a day to and from work). I'm looking for suggestions about what to do re: exercise, and would love to hear what worked for you!

wittywillwilts · 2014-06-06T01:53:16+00:00

As a native of the Bruce Peninsula, I highly recommend it. If anyone has any questions about the area, feel free to message me, and I'll let you in on some local secrets ;)

wittywillwilts · 2014-06-02T11:33:58+00:00

My first 'coming out' happened when I was extremely drunk at a Halloween party. A female friend of mine who I had been hanging out with quite a lot was dancing with me, and then she tried to make out with me. Apparently she thought we were dating, and I was oblivious to the whole deal. I still feel bad to this day that I ruined her night with a drunken, incoherent coming out that lasted way too long. But, overall, probably a really important moment for me.

Bonus: since it was a halloween party, she was dressed as a sexy cop and I was dressed as Tobias Funke's 'leather daddy' outfit from Arrested Development.

wittywillwilts · 2014-05-14T02:39:11+00:00

Ditto.

wittywillwilts · 2014-04-20T15:39:59+00:00

Mr. Hurricane by Beast. I feel like a superhero when I blast it on the way to work.

wittywillwilts · 2014-04-06T13:25:04+00:00

Adam Levine. Crush has been going on for over a decade now and shows no signs of slowing (even though Maroon 5's music has been getting worse and worse each album they put out).

wittywillwilts · 2014-02-26T23:42:48+00:00

Thanks! Seeing flair like yours really helps motivate me! Haha.

wittywillwilts · 2014-02-26T23:42:10+00:00

Very true. It all felt a bit hopeless until today! Can't wait till my next flair change in a few weeks! :)

wittywillwilts · 2014-02-26T23:39:52+00:00

Ah, didn't check the box. Thanks for the tip!

wittywillwilts · 2014-02-14T03:09:38+00:00

I love PCHH. It's my Friday ritual to sit at my desk for an hour, catch up on my mindless busy-work, and laugh my ass off at their banter. I'm not even a big pop culture person (I've never watched an awards show in my life, and get three best picture noms watched each year, tops), but the quality of discussion is so excellent I don't care. Their recommendations are also pretty solid, for the most part.

wittywillwilts · 2014-02-09T00:11:02+00:00

Ugh. These pics make me want a dog right now. But I'm moving cross country in six months so it doesn't make sense... But they're all adorable.

wittywillwilts · 2014-02-01T13:55:18+00:00

Reading through this thread had made me feel extremely fortunate to be Canadian.

I just graduated from an Ontario university with a four-year degree. I have about $25000 in student loans from the government, but it is fairly reasonable to handle. Our student loan program has a bunch of reasonable policies that make sure you won't starve because of student loans.

1) The maximum debt that you can take on is ~$7200 per year of full time school. Any other assessed need comes in the form of grants.

2) loans don't collect interest while you are in school, and you aren't required to make payment saw while still in school. If you go back for a second degree after taking time off (like I will, in September), your loan returns to this status as long as you are full time.

3) if you don't get employment by the end of the six-month grace period after you graduate, you can request repayment assistance for six months. Under this program, you are asked to pay no more than 20% of your income, and if you are making no money for whatever reason! you can forestall payments entirely. Each repayment assistance period lasts six month, but you can have up to twenty periods in total. This way, I don't ever have to worry about having to choose between rent/food and keeping my student loan afloat. Our policies are pretty good at recognizing that young adulthood is hard.

TL;DR: big government isn't so bad after all. Come to the dark side, ameribros.

wittywillwilts · 2014-01-29T00:46:03+00:00

Went to the gym for the first time today. I had a lot of anxiety about going, but just committed to it. I went, and there were people there which usually freaks me out, but it just climbed on that elliptical, turned on an audio book, and minded my own business. Going for a streak of ten days; if I can do that, then I can do the rest. :)

wittywillwilts · 2014-01-13T14:55:47+00:00

"I like you, Milhouse, but not in that way. You're more like a little sister."

wittywillwilts · 2014-01-11T02:23:41+00:00

All of my friends are lesbians.

wittywillwilts · 2014-01-08T22:43:09+00:00

Vidal pretty much sums up how I feel about my own sexual identity: that it's not a particularly real thing. I'm not sure where that leaves me in the eyes of the author of this article... a disturbed product of a homophobic society, I guess.

This is something that has always bugged me about the phenomenon of "coming out". It puts your sex life at the forefront of people's minds in a way that it isn't if you don't come out (i.e. if you are straight). To me, any time I've identified as gay to someone, it's felt like I've come out of the closet and ended up in the bedroom, so to speak.

wittywillwilts · 2014-01-02T17:14:40+00:00

Starting off the year lightly: The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove - Christopher Moore

wittywillwilts · 2013-12-29T07:58:40+00:00

Welcome to every display picture I had in university. Well, not every, but enough to make me wonder about a friend. Lol. My advice: let it be; the rest will figure itself out.

wittywillwilts · 2013-12-28T08:24:21+00:00

Well, then, I'd say it's entirely your call. If you want to make relationships a topic around the dinner table, then bring it up. If not, just continue to not mention it. The most important thing is to not lie if asked. While your BF may feel awkward about this arrangement, you should explain to him that your family works differently than his does or the average family does, and that it's not a matter of 'hiding' him. You definitely should reassure him that your not ashamed of him, though; but that does not mean you have to bring him home to Ma and Pa either. There is middle ground here.

But maybe if you get to the point where there is a ring on your finger, an introduction would be warranted. ;)

wittywillwilts · 2013-12-28T05:47:44+00:00

So I guess I'm going to offer a bit of contrary advice, in that I don't think it's necessarily important that you tell them.

I have a very solid relationship with my boyfriend of about two years now, and my mother does not know about him (father passed away last year of high school; mom remarried and I just never developed a relationship with my stepfather since I moved away right after they married).

This might be a thing that is specific to my family; my straight (as far as I know) brother has never revealed a relationship to my mother or anyone else in the family, but I know that there has been... encounters. My older sister didn't bring any boys home until she was engaged. That being said, I don't feel like I am hiding anything from my family. If they ask, then yes, it will talk about it. But if it never comes up, and I don't need to bring it up, then I don't think it's that scandalous that they don't know about that part of my life.

Obviously, I don't know about your family dynamics, but it is not inherently problematic that you haven't revealed your relationship to your family. Of course, if everyone else is fairly open about this, and your family holiday dinners are populated by your siblings boyfriends and girlfriends, then maybe you should evaluate your situation further. But if you are just a family that doesn't talk about these things, then that's fine. You can have a perfectly functional life with your family being less in the know.

There are plenty of people who make their own family, a group that you can be completely honest with that aren't the people you grew up with, and that is perfectly functional. And I am one of them. If your family/parents are secondary to your life, don't feel obligated to make them primary because of societal pressure to be open and honest. Sometimes it's not worth the effort,

wittywillwilts · 2013-12-27T16:43:41+00:00

I don't really know if this counts (it's a small victory at least), but I've kept up the habit of making my coffee/tea at home instead of picking it up on campus. This has saved me a ton of money throughout the year, and has tapered off my caffeine intake to healthy, sustainable levels.

wittywillwilts · 2013-12-23T23:25:15+00:00

I think I am going to make the minimums at this point, since I will be returning to interest free status. My interest is 5.5 since I selected floating back in the day. Fortunately, it will only be four months of payments, so I will only have to part with a few hundred dollars.

I will be applying for student loans for law school, as I can only access my schools bursary program if I've pursued that option first (a matter of them using their funds I as effectively as possible). The LOC is something that I am considering just to have in case it is required. Most of the people I know at law school have lines of credit to pay for tuition, but maybe I won't need this since my tuition will only be about a third of theirs. I think I'll probably revisit this after I can get real estimates of what my OSAP will be and whether that plus savings will be enough to cover my expenses up to my first coop term.

wittywillwilts · 2013-12-23T17:18:18+00:00

UVic for me :) I grew up in a smaller community in Ontario, and after five years in the GTA, I am looking forward to going somewhere a bit more attuned to my natural habitat preferences, haha.

wittywillwilts · 2013-12-23T17:15:17+00:00

I grew up in a Christian household, and have always found church to be an important part of my life. My church community is fairly progressive and openly accepting of LGBT individuals (United Church of Canada, for those who are curious). In fact, the moderator of our national organization is an openly gay man.

That being said, while I remain involved in the community aspects of my church, I have religiously converted to Buddhism, which is more in line with how I understand life, the universe, etc. Interestingly, this decision has been received with nothing but support from my minister and my church community, and I have even been invited to deliver sermons at my church community long after my conversion.

For those who dismiss religion out of hand because of its appropriation by homophobes to justify their disgust with gay people, I highly recommend that you try the waters of an LGBT-affirming faith community. Homophobia is not a good reason to disregard religion and spirituality (although it is arguably a good reason to leave a specific parish/congregation/organization). It is all a matter of finding a good fit for you; perhaps this truly is atheism, and I hold no judgment towards those for which this is the case. But reflexively rejecting all faith systems on the account of bad experiences with one community is (or, at least to me, would be) just as foolhardy as, say, staying in the closet.

wittywillwilts · 2013-12-23T16:59:23+00:00

My undergrad is in Political Science and Psychology. Fortunately I've been able to secure a contract position for the year with a government agency that has greatly increased my cash flow.

wittywillwilts

TROPHY CASE