Treadmill update — I’ve…

Treadmill update -- I've used it every day since we got it, as has Kevin, I think. I don't appear to have lost much weight this week, if any, which is discouraging -- but my body fat levels have dropped a percentage point, which is significant and good. And the little proto-rolls of flab that had crept under the skin of my back over the Xmas holidays (and isn't that a disgusting image) appear to have almost entirely dissolved away, leaving smooth skin and teeny tiny little muscles. Watching Alias is making me crave more, stronger, muscles. (I got the first season for Xmas from Jed, and am now watching the second season on Netflix mildly compulsively.) I need to add weights back into my routine; we have dumbbells at home (5 - 20 pounds), but I'm not sure what exactly to do with them without a weight bench. Bicep curls, sure, but what else? Any pointers to useful websites like the https://homebodyguide.com on this subject would be appreciated.

Today I need to read my students' material. I should also write, in theory, but am feeling highly unmotivated. We'll see. In general, I'm behind at the moment -- on writing, on Kriti, on the SLF, on small errands and tasks. I get anxious about falling more behind. It makes me grumpy, and unsettles my sleep.

I woke up this morning from a dream in which I was grading a student paper; the student had written a story about animals, and had for some bizarre student reason decided to bring various animals (lizards, snakes) in as part of the project. Since I was working in a small MFA program attached to a zoo, that seemed okay -- we added his animals to one of the cages and then started going over the story. But then we realized that the cage we'd picked didn't have a top, and one of his snakes was getting out, and he didn't seem to know whether it was poisonous or not. When I started telling one of the zoo administrators about it, he got quite annoyed with me. And then a huge spider/beetle creature -- bigger than my knee -- started scuttling across the floor towards me, climbing right up onto the couch where I was sitting, and I woke up, heart racing.