Health – Page 2

Thoughts & Sayings (June 2012)

Here are some thoughts and sayings I posted on Twitter and/or Facebook in May. To my knowledge, I made these up (for better or for worse). Sit back, relax, and enjoy the write!

Encouraging Words

1. Traveling is always one trip forward and two setbacks.

2. Behind every good gadget is a processor.

3. When mining for knowledge, it’s important to filter the gems from the slag.

4. The distance between ahead and behind is half a body’s length.

5. Think twice about bullying someone. They may be your future boss.

6. My weight has held me captive for so long that I feel like going on a hunger strike.

7. Is it better to be sharp, well-rounded, or a square?

Twisted Words

8. Transfarmers: Robots that turn into domesticated animals and agricultural equipment.

9. You can cross your eyes, but can you dot your T’s?

10. Sometimes I crack myself up. I really have to stop egging myself on.

11. I’m a fruit, and you’re nuts. Let’s make trail mix.

In Its Own Write

12. When you’re a writer, the work never stops. You have to decide when to stop working.

13. Make every word count. Enroll them in a math course.

Holidays & Events

14. April showers May bring flowers.

15. Overheard on the radio: “May Day! May Day! We’re going down…to occupy the park!”

16. This Cinco de Mayo, try not to eat at a French restaurant.

17. A haiku. Mother, mom, and friend. Today honors you all year. No one else but you.

18. Beware, beware, the Ides of May! Oh, wait. Never mind. Caesar has passed.

19. Perhaps the movie “Men In Black 3” starring Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin should been have called “No Country for Old Men in Black.”

20. “Snow White and the Huntsman”: Bella Swan and Thor team up to fight the evil Meredith Vickers on the Prometheus.

Random Musings

21. I’m trying to see what’s happening on the other side of the world, but the horizon is blocking the view.

22. It’s bad luck to throw salt into your coffee.

23. Today I made coffee with sugar instead of salt. It’s going to be a better day. I can feel it. Less bloating.

24. How in the world do I feel tired when you’re just getting started? I must have my days and nights turned around.

25. Get 10,000 Twitter followers in minutes! Be a celebrity. Double it! Tweet crazy stuff too. Triple it! Get in trouble for tweeting crazy stuff.

26. In our 140-character world, wouldn’t it be easier to greet people with acronyms instead of salutations? GM. HRU2day? HAGD.

27. A few years ago I received e-mails from friends. Now my inbox is filled with messages from my pals Facebook and Twitter.

28. My son is a really good back-seat driver. It’s too bad that he doesn’t know how to drive.

M.G. Edwards is a writer of books and stories in the mystery, thriller and science fiction-fantasy genres. He also writes travel adventures. He is author of Kilimanjaro: One Man’s Quest to Go Over the Hill, a non-fiction account of his attempt to summit Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain. His collection of short stories called Real Dreams: Thirty Years of Short Stories available as an e-book and in print on Amazon.com. He lives in Bangkok, Thailand with his wife Jing and son Alex.

For more books or stories by M.G. Edwards, visit his web site at www.mgedwards.com or his blog, World Adventurers. Contact him at me@mgedwards.com, on Facebook, on Google+, or @m_g_edwards on Twitter.

Thoughts and Sayings (May 2012)

Here are some thoughts and sayings I posted on Twitter and/or Facebook in April. To my knowledge, I made these up (for better or for worse). Sit back, relax, and enjoy the write!

Encouraging Words

1. When I was younger, I had health and time but no money. As an adult, I have health and money but no time. When I’m old, I will have money and time but not health.

2. I have 24 hours, 2 hands, and 1 brain at my disposal every day. That’s a lot to manage at the same time.

3. Coercion will get you anywhere. Of course, you may not like where it takes you.

4. Success blossoms when others cultivate it.

5. It’s easy to pretend that everything is roses, but it’s hard to hide the wounds when the thorns cut deep.

Twisted Words

6. I’m so plugged in that my feet are in the holes and my head’s in the ground.

7. Inspiration is like lightning. Once it strikes, it quickly bolts.

8. Divided, we Fall. United, we Spring.

9. Why are football (soccer) clubs united? Why can’t one be divided?

10. Someone told me my singing is so cheesy that it sounds nothing like that famous opera singer Pepperoni.

In Its Own Write

11. Writing: The ability to put something back on the page where it belongs.

12. “Write” is a combination of “rite” and “wit.” To do it well takes discipline and whim.

13. Forcing a writer to become a plotter is de-pantsing.

Holidays & Events

14. This year’s April Fool’s Day is now on Friday, the 13th of April, so that you can make people look like fools and give them bad luck.

15. Easter is in April. When is Wester?

16. Completing the monstrous IRS Form 1040 to file U.S. taxes is a reminder why those who file in the Cayman Islands or the Bahamas do.

17. There’s been some kind of mix up. The taxman showed up on my deathbed, and I cheated the Grim Reaper.

Random Musings

18. Today is a good day. I woke up, got the kids off to school, made some coffee, and am now sitting down to work with no interruptions. *knock, knock* Oh, sorry, be right back. Someone’s at the door.

19. I can’t decide who’s tougher — the Iron Lady or Iron Man.

20. Waiting in traffic for a dignitary to pass is such a royal pain.

21. Nothing is hot; everything is hot. All deadlines are imposed.

22. Have gum, will travel. Except to Singapore.

23. Good night to all, and to all night good.

Click here to read the previous batch of Thoughts and Sayings.

The “Paraguay” Diet

Now that life is starting to settle down here in Virginia, I’ve focused more on getting in shape. Once upon a time, I thought rather foolishly that I could go on the “Korean” diet and miraculously lose weight. What’s the “Korean”diet? Well, I’m not quite sure–I never figured it out. It’s essentially the contention that most Koreans are in decent shape, despite the fact that Korean food–at least what you buy in the restaurant–is rather fattening, and not a few Koreans smoke, drink, and work too much (read: sit most of the day at a desk). I assumed that if I acted Korean, at least in terms of consumption and activity, I too would lose weight. Au contraire (that’s French, not Korean). I gained weight. Someone let me know that Korean physiology lends itself to thinness, and I am of stout Anglo-Scandinavian stock that gravitates towards rotundity and portliness.

So the “Korean” diet didn’t work. Now that we are headed to Paraguay, I decided to go on the “Paraguay” diet. So, what’s that? Well, it doesn’t have anything to do with the cuisine. As I understand it, Paraguayan cuisine is rife with red meat (read: beef) and starch (something called “sopa,” a potato-ish vegetable). The “Paraguay” diet has more to do with having a significantly heightened level of physical activity. The January edition of the Foreign Service Journal rated Asunción, Paraguay one of the worst Foreign Service posts because it is so “boring.” (That is obviously an unscientific observation by someone who either doesn’t get out enough or needs to find some new hobbies.) Frankly, boring is fine with me. Boredom is preferable to bullets, blackouts, blizzards, and excessive beasties found at some posts worldwide. It lets me focus on the “Paraguay” diet; that is, fill the down time with physical activity that necessitates the slendering of my body.

Whereas the “Korean” diet focused on what I eat, the “Paraguay” diet focuses on what I do. I’ve never found that dieting helps me lose weight, unless I completely cut out eating sugary foods. My body responds much better to physical activity and beating it into submission by working out until I am sore (like today, when I rode my repaired bicycle back and forth from home to work.

I’ve already started the “Paraguay” diet by doing sit ups, cycling, and walking as much as possible. I bought a pedometer to measure my caloric burn rate, but so far, it’s been disappointing. It’s disheartening killing yourself to burn 300 calories. I’m hoping that by the time I arrive in Paraguay I will be so far along on my regimen that it will be easy to continue; bad streets, cobblestones, tropical weather, and petty theft be damned!