Thursday, June 25, 2015
Dodging Sunbeams
This Halfling ninja has had to stay in the hobbit hole apart from leaving to go to work or run necessary errands lately. Why? I fried like an egg at the pool the other day. I may have not mentioned this before. I am the second of five children. All my siblings have a different skin tone from me. When they get out in the sun they get dark. It comes from my mother's genetics. She's Hawaiian. I took after my dad. He's Irish and photosensitive. Dad raised me to be cautious and take care of myself in the sun. I know the best sunblock brand. I naturally reapply. I don't tend to swim on cloudless days or between 10am and 2pm. I even stand in the shade a lot when I'm outside for extended amounts of time.
So what happened?
I had one of those feeling young and invincible moments.
I had been going to the pool all week and had been fine. My roommate's sister was visiting and we have to be with our guests at the pool or they'll be asked to leave because they aren't residents. She loves to swim so I had agreed to go with her over and over. The day was cloudy and it looked like it might rain or even storm. We only got maybe 3 whole minutes of direct, unfiltered sunlight. However, my arms started to get red blotches and they spread quickly. Once I start to burn I burn fast! We had to get the heck out of dodge.
The damage? I lightly burned my face and legs, I had angry blotchy pink spots all over my arms, and I was bright pink all around my collar. We broke out the After Sun Aloe Vera. I even started storing it in the fridge so it would be cold. I was angry with myself for not picking up a section of my grandma's aloe plant when I visited several weeks ago. I decided to wait and I can't remember my reasons anymore.
I'm not likely to get one of the "invincible" feelings about sun exposure again any time soon. I've had to wear sunblock at work (the strong, spray on kind that makes you look stiff and shiny, bleh) and I've had to dodge the sunlight between 10am and 2pm. An already established burn doesn't need any encouragement to get worse. I've been walking faster in the sunlight and slowing down in the shade. I've even been holding my arms in shady spots in the car while driving. It's been interesting. I feel like a ninja trying to hide from the sun. Needless to say I've learned my lesson.
Ninja Lesson: Don't overestimate your abilities or toughness.
That's it for this post! Thanks for reading. If you have any feedback for me just leave a comment or send a message to thehalflingninja@gmail.com
You're never too small to make a difference in the world.
-The Halfling Ninja
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Ninja Training Update # 1
I've made great progress in my ninja training since I started several months ago. My strategy has been to take one small, simple step at a time. Often what causes a lifestyle change to fail is doing too much too fast. We only have so much willpower and taking on a lot of change can sap that power and cause us to crumble. It's one of the wisest pieces of advice on health I've ever heard and it really works.
My first small step was taking caffeine out of my diet. I have an anxiety disorder and caffeine was just fuel on the fire. That one small step led to taking pop out of my regular diet. It's something I can only have as a treat, but funnily enough it's been over 6 months and I don't crave it. That step led to water being my main drink. Anything else is a treat. I never thought I could be a water drinker. I hated water and drank soda all day every day. The change is amazing! I love water now and pop doesn't even look desirable anymore. My next step from there was focusing on basic healthy habits. I was terrible at taking care of myself. The basic daily habits I worked on was eating 3 meals (I was averaging 1 and a half), drinking 6 glasses (50 oz) of water, and sleeping at least 7 hours. Creating solid habits in those areas taught me a lot about myself and my anxiety triggers.
My newest small step has been to tackle the added sugar in my diet. I took a week and just recorded my daily amount of added sugar in grams. At the end of that week I calculated my average: 61g. For several weeks now my focus has been to limit my daily added sugar. I started with 50g and slowly worked my way down. This has led to me naturally making small changes in my diet that limit added sugar. Sugar is hidden in a lot of foods and many foods that appear healthy have more sugar in them than you'd expect. I am now at my goal of 25g of sugar or less a day! I learned the hard way when I made the move to drinking only water that sugar is addictive. You have to take it slow to get off the stuff or you'll suffer. My final goal of 25g or less is actually the recommended daily maximum according to my research. And I just hit it so YAY!
It's been 9 months since I started. I have lost around 40 pounds and solidly built many healthy habits into my daily life. The best part is maintaining this is easy since my strategy is to turn the changes into habits. When I reach my weight goal, staying there will come naturally. But my main focus is my health and not just my weight. I'm so excited about my progress and the road ahead.
That's it for this Ninja Training Update. Feel free to send any feedback to thehalflingninja@gmail.com or leave a comment. Thanks for reading!
You're never too small to make a difference in the world.
The Halfling Ninja
thehalflingninja@gmail.com
My first small step was taking caffeine out of my diet. I have an anxiety disorder and caffeine was just fuel on the fire. That one small step led to taking pop out of my regular diet. It's something I can only have as a treat, but funnily enough it's been over 6 months and I don't crave it. That step led to water being my main drink. Anything else is a treat. I never thought I could be a water drinker. I hated water and drank soda all day every day. The change is amazing! I love water now and pop doesn't even look desirable anymore. My next step from there was focusing on basic healthy habits. I was terrible at taking care of myself. The basic daily habits I worked on was eating 3 meals (I was averaging 1 and a half), drinking 6 glasses (50 oz) of water, and sleeping at least 7 hours. Creating solid habits in those areas taught me a lot about myself and my anxiety triggers.
My newest small step has been to tackle the added sugar in my diet. I took a week and just recorded my daily amount of added sugar in grams. At the end of that week I calculated my average: 61g. For several weeks now my focus has been to limit my daily added sugar. I started with 50g and slowly worked my way down. This has led to me naturally making small changes in my diet that limit added sugar. Sugar is hidden in a lot of foods and many foods that appear healthy have more sugar in them than you'd expect. I am now at my goal of 25g of sugar or less a day! I learned the hard way when I made the move to drinking only water that sugar is addictive. You have to take it slow to get off the stuff or you'll suffer. My final goal of 25g or less is actually the recommended daily maximum according to my research. And I just hit it so YAY!
It's been 9 months since I started. I have lost around 40 pounds and solidly built many healthy habits into my daily life. The best part is maintaining this is easy since my strategy is to turn the changes into habits. When I reach my weight goal, staying there will come naturally. But my main focus is my health and not just my weight. I'm so excited about my progress and the road ahead.
That's it for this Ninja Training Update. Feel free to send any feedback to thehalflingninja@gmail.com or leave a comment. Thanks for reading!
You're never too small to make a difference in the world.
The Halfling Ninja
thehalflingninja@gmail.com
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Re: Pride And Prejudice And Zombies
5 Stars = Favorite, would read over and over again
4 Stars = Highly enjoyable, would read again
3 Stars = Enjoyable but would not read again
2 Stars = Tolerable
1 Star = I hated it
Pride And Prejudice And Zombies is a retelling of the classic Pride And Prejudice with a zombie spin. The essentials of the story stay the same, but with some added color, particularly red. Zombies make many appearances and normal scenes from the original version are spiced up a bit. Arguments become actual fights. Slight changes, inessential to the plot, occur here and there and serve to make the story more lively, action oriented, and gruesome. After reading the original so soon before reading this version, I also noticed that the story was more direct, with some unnecessary details and complicated phrasings taken out. The end product was a more direct telling of the classic story with a splash of blood-lust.
I'm not sure what was more fun, reading this version soon after reading the original or if I had read the zombie version first. Reading it second, I was able to see where the additions and omissions happened. But it would have been so fun to read the zombie version first. I wasn't a stranger to the plot. I'm a big fan of the movie. The movie is one of my 5 star ratings. I could watch it over and over. So I knew I would be a fan of the book, whether original or zombie version.
I enjoyed this book. In several places, particularly key scenes, the addition of sword fighting and zombies made things epic! Of course I say that after knowing what the original scene really was. But the additions were so funny and at times movie worthy. I actually wish this was a movie. I would definitely watch it! That said, this book does not make my 5 star list. In all, I give it 3 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed it but I probably wouldn't read it again. In many places the book read almost exactly the same as the original. The additions sometimes had a choppy quality, like they were just sprinkled throughout the story instead of made to be an integral part of the story. But there were moments when the additions made the story better or caused a normal remark from a character to change greatly in meaning.
Abuse Survivor Warning
This retelling involves a slight change in scene during the Lydia/Wickham incident that might be triggering to some. Also I use a triggering word beyond the spoiler warning.
SPOILER WARNING!!!
Okay, that fighting scene between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine was EPIC! I thought it might happen since so many of the big scenes were zombified, and I was so happy to see that I was right! It was so much better than just the argument in the original! Especially since Elizabeth bested Lady Catherine and then spared her life, letting her live with the humiliation of being beaten by someone of inferior birth and training.
The fight between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy was also great. It wasn't as epic, but I pictured it as being just as full of passion as the argument in the rain in the movie. Charlotte getting infected with the plague was an interesting long term plot twist. Mr. Collins hanging himself after sending his advice about Lydia was a nice touch, tragic, but given the tone of this whole retelling, it fit. I was a little confused about the twist in Lydia's running away with Wickham. At some points it made it out to be a kidnapping, rape, and murder. But Lydia wasn't taken against her will. Once Mr. Darcy found her, she refused to leave Wickham. They never said rape, but I took the term dishonor to mean that. I could be wrong. I do understand that Wickham taking her with him, her wishing for marriage and him having no intention to marry her, as greatly dishonoring her, especially in that day and age. Wickham being rendered lame was an interesting change in the story. I'm sure many fans of the story who hate Wickham got a lot of satisfaction out of that. It did make for some funny scenes. Also, yay! There were ninjas in the story!
That's all for this Re:View! Thanks for reading! Send any feedback to thehalflingninja@gmail.com or leave a comment.
You're never too small to make a difference in the world.
The Halfling Ninja
4 Stars = Highly enjoyable, would read again
3 Stars = Enjoyable but would not read again
2 Stars = Tolerable
1 Star = I hated it
Pride And Prejudice And Zombies is a retelling of the classic Pride And Prejudice with a zombie spin. The essentials of the story stay the same, but with some added color, particularly red. Zombies make many appearances and normal scenes from the original version are spiced up a bit. Arguments become actual fights. Slight changes, inessential to the plot, occur here and there and serve to make the story more lively, action oriented, and gruesome. After reading the original so soon before reading this version, I also noticed that the story was more direct, with some unnecessary details and complicated phrasings taken out. The end product was a more direct telling of the classic story with a splash of blood-lust.
I'm not sure what was more fun, reading this version soon after reading the original or if I had read the zombie version first. Reading it second, I was able to see where the additions and omissions happened. But it would have been so fun to read the zombie version first. I wasn't a stranger to the plot. I'm a big fan of the movie. The movie is one of my 5 star ratings. I could watch it over and over. So I knew I would be a fan of the book, whether original or zombie version.
I enjoyed this book. In several places, particularly key scenes, the addition of sword fighting and zombies made things epic! Of course I say that after knowing what the original scene really was. But the additions were so funny and at times movie worthy. I actually wish this was a movie. I would definitely watch it! That said, this book does not make my 5 star list. In all, I give it 3 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed it but I probably wouldn't read it again. In many places the book read almost exactly the same as the original. The additions sometimes had a choppy quality, like they were just sprinkled throughout the story instead of made to be an integral part of the story. But there were moments when the additions made the story better or caused a normal remark from a character to change greatly in meaning.
Abuse Survivor Warning
This retelling involves a slight change in scene during the Lydia/Wickham incident that might be triggering to some. Also I use a triggering word beyond the spoiler warning.
SPOILER WARNING!!!
Okay, that fighting scene between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine was EPIC! I thought it might happen since so many of the big scenes were zombified, and I was so happy to see that I was right! It was so much better than just the argument in the original! Especially since Elizabeth bested Lady Catherine and then spared her life, letting her live with the humiliation of being beaten by someone of inferior birth and training.
The fight between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy was also great. It wasn't as epic, but I pictured it as being just as full of passion as the argument in the rain in the movie. Charlotte getting infected with the plague was an interesting long term plot twist. Mr. Collins hanging himself after sending his advice about Lydia was a nice touch, tragic, but given the tone of this whole retelling, it fit. I was a little confused about the twist in Lydia's running away with Wickham. At some points it made it out to be a kidnapping, rape, and murder. But Lydia wasn't taken against her will. Once Mr. Darcy found her, she refused to leave Wickham. They never said rape, but I took the term dishonor to mean that. I could be wrong. I do understand that Wickham taking her with him, her wishing for marriage and him having no intention to marry her, as greatly dishonoring her, especially in that day and age. Wickham being rendered lame was an interesting change in the story. I'm sure many fans of the story who hate Wickham got a lot of satisfaction out of that. It did make for some funny scenes. Also, yay! There were ninjas in the story!
That's all for this Re:View! Thanks for reading! Send any feedback to thehalflingninja@gmail.com or leave a comment.
You're never too small to make a difference in the world.
The Halfling Ninja
Friday, June 5, 2015
Re: Olive and Sinclair Chocolate
My roommate and I were at the grocery store picking up a few things. Near the artisan cheeses we came across a display for artisan chocolate. We love artisan bread and cheeses, so naturally this grabbed our interest. My roommate was the person that originally taught me that not all chocolate is created equal. She was the first to introduce me to higher quality chocolates like Lindt. Needless to say, after really only knowing Hershey, it opened up a whole new world of chocolate to me. But I wasn't prepared for what we just discovered.
Olive and Sinclair Chocolate is southern artisan. It is hand crafted in Nashville, Tennessee. They start with the raw cocoa beans and expertly craft them into bars of solid deliciousness. The beans are select single origin and taken in small batches. They are slow roasted and ground, but not just ground, stone ground. The makers combine traditional methods and modern European technique. The ingredient list on the package boasts only 3 ingredients: Cacao Beans, Brown Sugar, and Cacao Butter. It is also a fair trade item.
But no.
This chocolate is the ABSOLUTE MOST DELICIOUS chocolate that I've ever had the pleasure to taste! I literally had to use a lot of self control to spread it out over several days. I wanted to eat the whole thing, but I loved it so much that I hated the idea of the bar being gone. That may sound odd, but here's the context: This chocolate bar is normally around $7.00. Who buys a chocolate bar that expensive? I'm not one to throw that much cash on a sweet tooth fix. The bars were on sale when we picked them up. The sign said $4.00 Buy One Get One Free. My roommate says that she thinks they rang up for regular price at the checkout. I don't know. I was returning an item to the shelf while she was checking out. We didn't check the receipt.
We got the regular 67% bar (there are a variety of flavors). It's not like your ordinary chocolate. It's a bit harder and crunchier. You can hear a person bite and chew it. The flavor is not super sweet like many chocolates. It runs closer to dark chocolate. There's a richness that's not bitter and not overpowering. To me personally, it's chocolate the way it was meant to be. I am a minority in my household however. My roommate didn't find it remarkable and says it must be an acquired taste. My other roommate didn't like it at all, but I suspect her hatred for dark chocolate influenced that considerably. This chocolate isn't for everyone. I totally get that. But for me, it is the king of chocolate bars.
That's it for this Re:View (can you review chocolate?). Thanks for reading! Send any feedback to thehalflingninja@gmail.com or leave a comment. And don't forget:
You're never too small to make a difference in the world.
The Halfling Ninja
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