Nareed's Blog

A work in progress:

1) Safety first. Knives, pots, pans, stoves, ovens, graters, and other things are sharp or hot. Exercise care at all times. Mind your fingers, use oven mits and grab tools only by the handle. Also, wooden utnesils can and will catch fire, so may plastic utensils. Don't leave them in the pot or pan while cooking.

2) Recipes should be seen as guidelines, not absolute rules. You can change them to suit your tastes.

3) All the ingredients you're using are already dead. Don't be afraid to experiment.

4) Try to always get the ingredients yoruself. That way you can make sure you get what you need or want, especially you want or need to make substitutions.

5) When possible, sample the ingredients first (this doesn't apply to raw meats and eggs).

6) Tasting while coking is a valuable thing to do. Just remember it's VERY HOT. Let it cool a bit or blow on it before tasting.

7) A bit too much spice is often better than a bit to little, the major exceptions are very hot chilies.

8) Cooking is supposed to be a fun, enjoyable activity. If you don't like it look for alternatives. Restaurants are expensive and leave you little choice of ingredients, but perhaps you can pay a neighbor or colleague or the maid to cook for you.

9) When learning to cook you will ruin things, make mistakes and otherwise produce some things that are not very good or downright inedible. Aceept it, learn from them and move on. But don't get discouraged. Unless you lack all sense of taste and smell, you will get better in time.

10) If in doubt about cutting or trimming off a piece of vegetable or meat, cut it off.

11) Changing a recipe makes it your own. Accept the responsibility if the result isn't good.

Last) Always clean up after you're done cooking.

When I started electrolysis I assumed it would be a long, arduous and painful process. I calculated a total of around 150 to 200 hours would be needed to fully clear the unwanted facial hair.

According to the records kept by the electrologist, I've had 1,085 minutes so far, which equals just over 18 hours. All but one hour have been spent on the neck and cheeks, with the neck thus far getting perhaps 3/5ths of the time. The other hour was applied to part of the chin (hair is thicker there).

The progress has been very good. About 2/5ths or so of the neck are clear now, as is a respectable fraction of the cheeks. What remains is growing back softer and weaker. And there's been no scarring at all. Also after some trial and error, I've managed to learn how to apply the topical anesthetic so that it works (most of the time).

My new estimate based on results so far is for between 80 and 100 hours total. That's actually very good compared to what I gather the average, not to mention the worst case, should be. Of course I'm being conservative in this, and hoping I'll be done in 60+ hours or less. In fact it's going so well, I'm thinking of having other parts done later on.

What concerns me most is the upper lip. it's as yet untreated, it has thick growth, and it should hurt despite the anesthetic. Well, I can hardly wait ;)

Starting tomorrow, June 14ht, I get time off til July 4th. I won't call it a vacation because I'm not going anywhere, but it's the next best thing.

I figure I can retake my morning workout, at least there won't be any excuses any more (and isn't that too bad?) I may even finally try out the building's pool.

But far more important now I can write the novel I began to outline in late November of last year. I have the outline, the first of nine parts (or chapters? I'm unsure about it), and a good portion of the dialogue already. Over the next three weeks I'll either finish it or get close to. I may also do a short story I've also outlined. I figure I'll take a day or two to unwind, then get to work on it.

Curious thing. I more or less neglected my diet these past 9 weeks or so, and have not resumed exercise since early March. I still watch what I eat, but found more occasions for making exceptions; but the past two months were a hard time and special circumstances.

So I was surprised yesterday when I weighed myself, with the intention of re-booting the weight loss regimen, to find I had lost a little over one and a half kilos over that time. :)

Not too bad.

Another minor item. I tried mixing the textured soy protein with ground beef to make meatballs. I also subbed the whole eggs in the recipe for egg whites. Surprisingly they tasted almost exactly like regular beef meatballs. The texture was fine, too. I think the processed soy is tasteless but absorbs any flavors it's cooked with. Next I'll try mixing it with ground chicken to make burgers.

Now you can turn back to Teddy's much more itneresting postings.

I've fallen down on exercise for various reasons. Even so, I'm averaging 1 kilo per week for the past three weeks. that's not bad at all. I've ammended my diet to include red meat only twice per month rather than once a week. I think that helps. I'm down at least two, maybe three waist sizes from where I started, too. that's just great :)

Also for various reasons I've missed an electrolysis appointment for the past two weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to go next Saturday. In any case, I'm amazed at the progress we've made. Some areas have shown no re-growth at all for 3 or 4 weeks. Much of what's grown back is thinner and weak, too. I'm hopeful I'll be done in a year rather than 18 months, assuming I can keep up the appointments. Seeing that, the pain is worth it.