a new beginning

hello y'all and welcome to the new and improved reflections in a murky stream............I shall be using this as my main blog and am feeling inspired and invigorated. sometimes change is a GOOD thing!
I guess I should start at explaining the sudden change for those who have followed me and any newcomers that are here. I started my old blog TIMOTHOLOGY on march 9 2011, I wrote 634 posts about my life and my journey thusfar with an emphasis on health/weight loss. see I used to be a really BIG boy I topped out at over 300 pounds. I lost 80 pounds easily and then NOTHING...................for 5 years NOTHING.

 I moved and plateaued and since I'm an emotional eater I just stopped dead the water so to speak. I started blogging as a way to keep motivated, accountable, and to network with others of like mind. it has truly been a wonderful journey and I've made some fabulous friends but then someone reported me as objectionable (the coward didn't even have the nerve to comment to me) and my blog died only the dire-hards stuck around any new visitors were scared of the "objectionable" label and having to agree to receive such material. so it kinda withered and died on the vine. I admit I let it get to me because it prevented me from fulfilling the purpose of the blog. it shouldn't but it still irks me to no end and I hope they know karma is gonna do it's job as I'm letting it go.
this has made me look back on a year that was ripe with promise but just kinda went flat. i can say I'm extremely proud of one thing i decided to do my first 5k and i did it! i joined a gym and i trained and trained. when i started i couldn't even do one but i shaved over 10 minutes off my first time and beat my all time gym time too so YEAH! my goal was to do it in under an hour (i have a bad knee) and i beat that by several minutes too (it was 56 something? i have forgotten the seconds)
my nephew did it with me which was awesome for the family support.............here's a pic of us about 1mile in

 

i also got some longed dreamed of ink!

 

this is the first two lines of the litany from fear practiced in Dune.

 

 

the chest piece is 2/3 done i need to have a stack of books added behind the owl so it's the whole night owl/book owl cornucopia that is mwah! lol

and lest i forget on the diet front i drank almost 5 quarts of crystal light but only 16oz of water. now that my taste buds are returning to normal I'm gonna ramp that up again, i suppose i should take this time to let any newbies in on that story. i woke up on a sat with my eye beet red and burning wound up in the ER of Monday it was so bad they wouldn't treat me and i got an emergency referral to the eye dr. well turns out i had Uveitus a severe inflammation of the eye,i had NONE of the risk factors but alas i was so luck as to get it. lol i had to dilate my eyes twice a day and put steroids in every 2 hours, wound up missing work almost a week and having 2 additional dr visits before she released me. it was honestly the most pain i EVER felt, much worse than knee surgery or tattoos!

it was VERY ouchie!

i will admit i quite enjoyed freaking people out with my one eye dilated! it was kinda creepy! lmao
I'm all better now except for the wallet which is recovering from missing a weeks pay, an ER visit, and 3 eye drs.....plus 2 scripts.
 for the holidays mayhaps i'll just put a bow on my forehead point and the eye and scream "MERRY CHRISTMAS! " instead of trying to get gifts for everyone! lolol
ok another side-tangent done back to the dieting!
i ate a venison/beef burger
ruffles
bacon dip (YUMMY!)
a little Debbie Christmas tree
4 sugar cookies
2 hot dogs
now i also need to say i normally do low carb but i gave myself a "break" about oh i guess a month and  a half or so and then life happened and i haven't made it back. eating healthy and on any plan is expensive and while i am definitely worth it if you don't have it sometimes you make do.
one of the major side effects of the steroids is a metallic taste in my mouth/throat which is why my water consumption has been sketchy that is SLOWLY fading away now that I'm off the steroids (today is day 6 steroid free) the upside of this is i have learned i can do better eating even while eating crap. i have a tendency to be an all or nothing guy 100% on plan or rotten , this forced me to evaluate that and to find ways to be "better" even if I'm off plan completely.
i gave up condiments
i used 1/2 a slice of cheese instead of a whole one
i tore off the crust or any excess bread from my sandwich and scooped out the middle on subs.
i used a bowl to put my chips/snacks in instead of holding the LARGE bag and eating mindlessly
i also threw the last bite of EVERYTHING away just to tell my mind/body i could
the result is that even when i'll and off plan in about 3 weeks i lost 5 pounds! i was shocked, i started at 216 and i am now 211 for my official 1st day reflection weight!
i should also say i got 13086 steps which I'm perfectly happy with..............i read somewhere that the average healthy person should get at least 10,000 steps a day so i TRY hard to reach that goal .
I'm deciding what i want to do as far as plan right now and I'm kinda in the mood to just ramp up the water and get back in the gym (it's been almost a month) and continue with the eating as i have been. Christmas is only 2 weeks away and i don't feel like depriving myself right now. plus i can honestly say i like 2 kinds of cookies and i hate chocolate so not much seems tempting right now. i definitely didn't enjoy thanksgiving bein in the midst of metallic land so i want a slice of pecan pie some turkey and cranberry sauce with a buttered roll and i shall have it in moderation!
and for any newbies I'm 45 I'm from Alabama lived in Florida  for 16 years, and have been here in Delaware for 8. i read tarot professionally  and have studied/practiced shamanism and well as paganism for over 30 years. feel free to pop on by and check out my tarot page on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/TimothysTarot
i do a card of the days, giveaways, mini readings all kinds of fun stuff.
i am alos a Gemini so i tend to move quickly from subject to subject, so sorry for the whiplash. i EVENTUALLY get my point across! ~giggle~ and i am also a 100% certified book nerd and hard back snob (no nook for me!) with probably 1000 books in my library that i adore. I'm also a poet, artist, certified herbalist, directional healer, firewalker, reiki master, and trivia junkie.
i don't smoke or drink and i try to maintain a somewhat balanced existence. if there's anything else you wanna know feel free to ask my life is an open book.
one thing i forgot to mention i am OBSESSED with Elvira Mistress of the Dark, have been since i was a kid and still am to this day , she is just so gosh darn marvelously macabre i cant help myself!

i think that's enough to digest on our first day but i have loads of things i wanna get into and discuss. i don't mind a differing opinion and i respect everyones right to their own but play nice!