Yup. It`s been one year (or it will be tomorrow rather) since I started on this path to be a better, more awesome me. The part that you all see, the drawing part, has unfortunately come to a standstill in the face of an immense amount of schoolwork and being busy, and for that I am sorry. But the good news is that my schedule next semester is far easier and more relaxed, so hopefully I`ll be able to pull myself up by my bootstraps and get back into drawing for all you people. And I have a few projects kicking around in my head that I havn`t been able to shake so I`ve gotten some sketches down for that, but not much else yet. The other half of this, the part you can`t see, is that I`ve been improving myslef physically and spocially as well. Right around the same time I started here I decided that I wasn;`t happy and set out to see what I could do to change that. I began to say `yes`to things far more often (inspired by the book ``the Yes Man``, which you should all read!) like going out with friends and trying new foods and new genres that I wouldn`t have originally. And the biggest change was that I started working out. I began to run 3 times a week, but that was sort of hit or miss until earlier this year, around march or so, when I actually joined a gym.
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I will pause here so that you may all clean up after your respective spit-takes.
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Ok, so now that we`re over that, it`s true. I began to go to the gym to run three times a week on a treadmill with my father, and with someone there withj me it made me keep my schedule and then progress just sort of happened. Anbd finally, 2 months ago I began to add weightlifting to the regiman. this is again sort of hit or miss since I`m using a general plan instead of something customized, but that`s going to change soon (getting a trainer). I am happy to report that I`ve gone down 2 pant sizes, my stomach is finally in past my chest and I can feel my muscles getting stronger. I am standing up straighter and I`m getting many more looks in public then I used to (and this time they`re not disapproving ) Combined with new clothes (that are not T-Shirts!) and my new outgoing attitude, I am happy to say that I am almost a new person, and I`d like to think that part of it was started with me joining this community. Got the ball rolling by making me feel accepted.

So to close the journal portion of this entry this time, I`d like to thank all the people that have helped me in the last year: Hugo, Montalve and the rest of the Paizo community, the entire dA membership that made me feel at home and in fact started to watch me and fav my stuff, my parents, the people online who dumbed down workouts to the point where I wasn`t intimidated, and finally my friends, both the ones here in Montreal and the ones out in Calgary, who managed to not make fun of me in workout clothes and in fact enouraged me far more then I did myself. Thank you all!

And no, I`m not posting a before-after shot. Though you can prolly find one on my facebook page eventually.

Now on to "my tiny reviews of the week"{tm}, The Yes Man by Danny Wallace. This is the one book that has actually changed my life. This is (supposeedly) a true story where Danny was feeling like his life was at the bottom opf a hill and he wasn`t happy. Hew decided that he wanted ot to change and found inspiration to just start saying yes to things. Invites to lunch, mettings, classes, trips, etc. The book becomes a whirlwind of movement as his new positive outlook takes him places he never thought he`d go. I don`t want to get into it too much more since I don`t want to spoil anything, but I honeslty believe this should be required reading in high school (Then again, I also thing Ishmael and My Ishmael should be too, but that`s another review). The writing is easy to read and follow and he doesn`t seem to get bogged down in prose, iunstead choosing to get to the grit of the matter: what was happening, how he felt at the tiome and what choice he makes and why. This is great inspiration for anyone who maybe feels their life is too stagnant and wants a change. Or at least it was for me.