Huffing and puffing...

[fajrdrako]

Since Sept. 4 I have lost 9 pounds. This is a good thing, since so far it has been easy. I'm not even really dieting, just trying to eat healthy food, recording what I eat, drinking six to eight glasses of water a day, and doing some sort of exercise every day - usually walking to and from work. Last night I tried using a DVD called Yoga for Weight Loss for Dummies. It was excruciating, really. I returned it to the library today.

For the time being I'm fine, but I know the old pattern. A few weeks from now the weight loss will have slowed to a stop. The nicely descending graph I've been drawing daily will turn into a horizontal line. I'll get impatient, and then discouraged, and stop weighing myself, taking the bus occasionally instead of walking, then more occasionally, and the weight will creep up.... My cycle is usually about six weeks.

Sigh.

Okay, how to break the pattern? "Do more exercise" is one idea, and I'm already commited to doing something physical daily - but more than that?

Maybe it's just a matter of being stubborn.

It might look as if I'm worrying prematurely, since I haven't got to any plateau stage yet and it is likely weeks or months in the future. But it sneaks up on me at a time when I'm ready to - literally - forget about exercise and watching what I eat; just dropping it from my mind. Like having a short attention span, though of course I don't have a short attention span for things I really love.

I wish I could bring myself to really, really enjoy exercise.

And truly, I do enjoy walking out of doors. But not in summer heat. And not when it's icy and slippery outside; it's just too easy to slip and sprain or break an ankle.

Maybe the answer is treadmill and audio-books. That's something to consider, anyway.

I have incentive. I have drive. I can do this. I just wonder how...

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

So you feel about them the way I feel about Ges Vorrutyer.

Yes, that's probably it.

Your comments about Elli are interesting; you obviously interpret her very differently than I do, which is fair enough. She strikes me as vacuous, but that's not really fair - there are characters who are (in various ways) equally vacuous, whom I like. Is she so different from Elena? No, and I like Elena. Makes me wonder what it is about Elli that put me off, and I can't answer that. A negative impression that I can't shake. Seems to me she's flip when she should be serious and vice versa. But - why do I react that way? I don't know. The same could surely be said about Miles.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Elli is the lightning rod of the Vorkosigan series. People either love her or they hate her (there's a whole contingent on the LordV list that refers to her as TQW -- That Quinn Woman), but nobody's neutral towards her. I can't think of another character in the series who generates such a bifurcated reaction.

I don't know if I'd be as much her champion as I am if I didn't identify so strongly with her, but I know I'd still like her very much.

I don't think she's vacuous at all. She's a very strong woman, and not just in the physical sense. It took a lot of emotional strength to turn down Miles's proposal even though she knew it was best for both of them. And she did it over and over and over...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That Quinn Woman

LOL - I think I've heard that.

I can't think of another character in the series who generates such a bifurcated reaction.

Not as such a contrast, or in such quantity. There are a few readers, I think, who strongly dislike Cordelia - but there aren't to many of them and they don't speak up so much.

I wonder if anyone can like the books but dislike Miles. I would suspect not.

I am perhaps misreading Elli, and when I reread, will try to keep your comments in mind to see if my reactions change. It's hard to admire the emotional strength of someone you don't admire in the first place.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

There are a few readers, I think, who strongly dislike Cordelia

And I am among them. Not the early Cordelia, but the "I know all" Cordelia of Mirror Dance and beyond. I never did forgive her for telling Mark that she wouldn't have given Miles -- sorry it's MD and I don't remember the quote exactly, but something like a pocket knife, let alone a mercenary fleet. She's at least as responsible as Aral and Barrayar for how Miles turned out, yet she blames Barrayar 100% for who Miles is. And that annoys me greatly.

And while I'm very grateful to her that she ensured her son's survival in Barrayar because I adore him, I'm highly ambivalent about if not openly morally opposed to her reasons for doing so.

I wonder if anyone can like the books but dislike Miles. I would suspect not.

There used to be a woman named Karen Kuhn on the Bujold list several years ago who professed to do so, although I'm still not sure she wasn't just playing devil's advocate for pure enjoyment since it seemed to be one of her favorite things to do -- she hasn't posted in a long time, so I don't know if she still reads the list. Several other listees have said they don't care for Miles but like the series. I can't quite wrap my brain around that idea, either.

It's hard to admire the emotional strength of someone you don't admire in the first place.

Which is exactly how I feel about Cordelia. Not that I didn't cheer her on mightily when she tried to make Mehta grow gills, mind you. Or not that I didn't enjoy her romance with Aral (the scene in the gazebo towards the end of Shards is just lovely, although mostly because of Aral).

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Not the early Cordelia, but the "I know all" Cordelia of Mirror Dance and beyond.

Ah. Since I've read them far less, I have less of an impression of her from that: mostly I think of her as she is in the early books, particularly "Shards" and "Barrayar".

Her general attitude that Barrayarans are barbarians who can do no good sometimes annoys me, but I also take it with a grain of salt.

Though I approve Cordelia's heroic actions to keep Miles alive in Barrayar, I don't necessarily approve her politics or morality in many cases. But I can admire her strength of mind and purpose, even while finding her narrow-minded. Her style of mothering confuses me - I think we've talked about this?

I wonder if anyone can like the books but dislike Miles. I would suspect not.

There used to be a woman named Karen Kuhn on the Bujold list several years ago who professed to do so

The name isn't familiar, so she probably hasn't posted in the last couple of years. I know there are readers who like or love the Lymond books but who dislike Lymond, which never makes any sense to me. But hey. People think what they think.

Me, I love Miles.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Ah. Since I've read them far less, I have less of an impression of her from that: mostly I think of her as she is in the early books, particularly "Shards" and "Barrayar".

My favorite part of the series is Memory through ACC, so that's the part of Cordelia that sticks with me. I just don't like her attitude. Among other things, she's way too smug.

Her style of mothering confuses me - I think we've talked about this?

We may have. I think what's most telling about her style of mothering is that Miles's first reaction to her impending visits is to duck the incoming and get out of Dodge (to mix my metaphors completely).

There's part of me that just wonders if she simply doesn't know what to do with him, and so she trys to analyze him to death, but that doesn't make her any more forgiveable.

Me, I love Miles.

Me, too (obviously [g]). He's one of my two most longstanding literary crushes of all time.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I just don't like her attitude. Among other things, she's way too smug.

She does seem so in the later books - a combination of smug and somewhat uncaring. I'm not sure why - I take it as the effect of seeing her through Miles' eyes. And Miles, being her son, doesn't see her as other people do.

I think what's most telling about her style of mothering is that Miles's first reaction to her impending visits is to duck the incoming and get out of Dodge (to mix my metaphors completely).

A sort of exaggerated versions of Ivan's relationship with his mother, where she makes demands and is pushy, and he puts a lot of energy into appeasing her or avoiding her.

Interestingly, Lois McMaster Bujold herself is a mother, so you'd think she'd be sympathetic to mothers, and positive about them. Did she have difficulty herself in mother/son relationships, or is she trying too hard not to write from her own experience here? Is it her way of giving Ivan and Miles autonomy from maternal ties? She makes Miles' tie with his father very strong. It's his approval Miles wants, not Cordelia's.

Who is your other longstanding literary crush, besides Miles?

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I take it as the effect of seeing her through Miles' eyes

It does make a person wonder how she would have been portrayed if Shards or Barrayar hadn't been written from her POV. Or Aral's, for that matter [g]. Or if we'd gotten parts of Mirror Dance from her POV. I for one would like to know what on earth she was thinking when she denigrated Miles to Mark like that.

A sort of exaggerated versions of Ivan's relationship with his mother

I was thinking it was a more subtle version of the Ivan/Alys relationship, actually. Since everybody and his cousin seems to know about them, but no one seems to think Miles's relationship with his mother is odd.

I wonder sometimes about the way Lois writes about certain kinds of relationships, too (her portrayal of the Tien/Ekaterin relationship is so painfully accurate for that sort of thing, I do wonder, well...), but I guess we'll never know, unless someone gets brave/rude enough to ask her.

Who is your other longstanding literary crush, besides Miles?

Walter Peabody "Ramses" Emerson, son of Radcliffe and Amelia Peabody Emerson, of the Amelia Peabody mysteries, by Elizabeth Peters. At least up through Lord of the Silent. Once his honeymoon was over, he turned into a stick-in-the-mud, so the series ends there for me.

He has more than a few things in common with Miles -- great man's son syndrome, high intelligence, disastrous curiosity. And we get his entire childhood, unlike Miles [g]. The Amelias start with how his parents met, just like the Vorkosigan books do, too.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It does make a person wonder how she would have been portrayed if Shards or Barrayar hadn't been written from her POV. Or Aral's, for that matter [g].

I've always thought it would be fun to see Aral's take on the evens of "Shards", but I don't expect it would be much different.

her portrayal of the Tien/Ekaterin relationship is so painfully accurate for that sort of thing, I do wonder, well...

It creeps me out because it reminds me too much of my marriage. And yes, I think it must be at least partly autobiographical, but that sort of thing in an author's life - you either are already close enough to the person to now what parts are from life, or it's none of your business. Even if you are curious.

I obviously have to read the Amelia Peabody novels. I started one, and was put off by Amelia in her first scene, and stopped. I really shouldn't have been so faint of heart. If nothing else, the author is a Dunnett fan - that should encourage me! - and many people say her hero is like Lymond.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I've always thought it would be fun to see Aral's take on the evens of "Shards", but I don't expect it would be much different.

Except that he claimed to have fallen in love with her first [g].

It creeps me out because it reminds me too much of my marriage.

You, too, huh? I was Ekaterin to my first husband's Tien, and Elli to my second husband's Miles (only without as much heart, and I was weak enough to have married him). The worst of both worlds [sigh].

but that sort of thing in an author's life -

Yes. Although it does make me wonder what people would deduce from my own writing. It's probably just as well I'll never know.

I obviously have to read the Amelia Peabody novels.

Oh, yes. Right after you get done with Paladin [eg]. Or you might find the audio versions at your library (which are read by the best reader I've ever run across -- the divine Barbara Rosenblat). Which one did you try to read? They should be read in order (see http://www.mpmbooks.com/amelia/SYNOPSIS.HTM, but do mind the spoilers).

Amelia has to kind of grow on you (and I have some of the same issues with her that I do with Cordelia -- which has made me think on occasion that perhaps it's me, not them -- but only on occasion). Her son, OTOH, was pretty much love at first sight on my part, even though he first showed up at about the same age Miles did (i.e. while he was still inside his mother). There's something to be said for a writer who can make a full-fledged character out of a toddler. Or a fetus [g], although Ramses's debut in the world wasn't the dramatic event Miles's was. He does make up for it later, though. In spades.

The other nifty thing about the Amelia books is that they're set in a fascinating time and place, Egypt from the 1880s up through 1922 (when Tut's tomb was found), including World War I. There's lots of archaelogical lore and history, and very little in the way of boring infodumps, which is quite an accomplishment.

Elizabeth Peters is one of the pseudonyms of Barbara Mertz, who has a PhD in Egyptology, so she knows her stuff inside and out. Another of her pseudonyms is Barbara Michaels, under which name she wrote a great many wonderful Gothic romantic suspense books. Those are worth searching out, too, esp. the early ones.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Except that he claimed to have fallen in love with her first [g].

I have no doubt! it would be fun to see what he perceived differently.

The worst of both worlds [sigh].

Funny how things go. It looks like a good idea at the time - and then isn't.

My first impression of Amelia (which is the only impression I've had so far) is that she's very domineering and bossy. Funny thing is, I've known people like that and liked them, but I don't seem to like it in fictional characters. Did I misjudge her?

I read many of the Barbara Michaels gothic romances, a long time ago.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

My first impression of Amelia (which is the only impression I've had so far) is that she's very domineering and bossy.

She tries to be [g]. But I wouldn't say she's more domineering than, say, Miles... And she does meet her match in the first book, which tones her down considerably.

The first few books in the series are much more lighthearted than later entries. If you didn't like your first acquaintance with Amelia in Crocodile on the Sandbank, you might try another entry point, which is Seeing a Large Cat. It's the first book in the series with excerpts from "Manuscript H," which provides another narrator to alternate with Amelia, and it's sort of a mid-point entry the way Komarr is in the Vorkosiverse. If you decide you like the series from that point, then once you've read the Quartet (the internal series-within-a-series that Cat begins), you can go back and read from the beginning and get the background. The Quartet is much more serious than the rest of the series, and much more Ramses-centric.

Or, to give you a third option [g], but only if you're familiar with and like H. Rider Haggard's "thrilling tales," you could read The Last Camel Died at Noon, which, IMHO, is the best of the little boy Ramses books (in the Quartet he ages from 16 to 26, in Last Camel he's ten). But it's not really typical of the series as a whole, and it will seem rather silly unless you recognize it for the Haggard homage it is.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say she's more domineering than, say, Miles...

That sentence strikes me as being very funny. But it does give me a lot of hope for Amelia!

Thanks for the rundown, it gives me a sense of where to start. I think I might start at the beginning agian, but not soon.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Well, I think it's a pretty accurate assessment [g].

When you do get to them, let me know what you think.