it only works if you talk back.

Well, I have been absent from the blogosphere for quite some time now. Last time I was here I was telling tales of weight loss… Pounds which I have likely gained back. I don’t even recall if I spoke of romance much, but now I find myself betrothed to the love of my life. School was coming to a close, now I am struggling through an online course. Work was on the horizon, and now I’m struggling to make ends meet with a low-ish paying job. I’m looking forward to the end of July, mostly because of this past week and the week coming. August seems like greener pastures right now, with paychecks not being claimed by large deposits or purchases to be made. Yet August still means I’m doing my course… I can’t wait for that to end…

So, going for my second time for this analysis, I was hoping for good results… and they sure were!

Weight: 209lb (down 14lbs from 223)

Total Body Fat %: 25.5 (down 5.8% from 31.3%)

My goal weight is up (3lbs) to 181lbs with 14% body fat.

Some other interesting things:

- my lean body mass is up around 2.5lbs (this is why my goal weight went up)

- my lean body mass to fat ratio is up to 2.9 to 1 (from 2.2 to 1)

So there have been some awesome improvements in my physical shape!

So a few weeks ago I heard about this idea that TOMS shoes had, to have a day where people went without shoes. I have a pair of TOMS, love ‘em, dig their business, and I thought it was a good & cool idea to go sans shoes for a day.

The hardest part I’ve found about going barefoot all day is the looks I would get from people. I mean, I don’t really care what they think but so many people have given me a look like “why the hell aren’t you wearing shoes?”…

A question that TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie likely wondered. After all, shoes are a fairly basic thing (I’ve realized this from all the looks I get) yet there are so many children in this world who do not have any.

It’s sometimes harder to walk in someone’s shoes when they have never owned a pair. If only I’ve engrained that more in my head today then it’s been worth it. Once I can afford it I’ll likely buy another pair of TOMS, and a child will get a pair. I hope others will do the same. do it here.

Resurrection: Rob Bell from The Work of Rob Bell on Vimeo.

So, this past week has been hard in regards to money, mostly in the realization that I don’t have much…

I would not consider myself to be a financially irresponsible person, for the most part I think I am pretty good. That being said though, I haven’t been living as though I’m poor, I have gone to movies and eaten out when I probably shouldn’t have, etc.

So, it takes big things like this week for me to finally leave my debit and credit cards at home…

It all started Wednesday when a retarded automobile incident brought me to finally plunking my credit card down for $953.35 on Friday. I was also (for some reason) compelled to do my taxes on the same day… bad idea.

Yes, I am a full-time student, so paying taxes aren’t really an issue… what is an issue is that I was technically “self-employed” for 2 months, making a fair amount of money. This means that I need to claim this amount as self-employment, and pay CPP on the amount, both as the EMPLOYEE and the EMPLOYER. Minus what I have paid in taxes (a minimal amount this year) I will owe approximately $750 in CPP. This amount may go down a bit when I enter expenses, but likely not enough…

That means that by the end of April, I will owe approximately $1700.

Unfortunately, I get paid once a month, and at the worst possible time. Not only that, but all my wages are essentially claimed by my fixed expenses. I won’t be starting my summer job until Apri 24th at the earliest… which will actually also bring added charges of insurance… ugh.

All in all, it has just been a bad week financially. Really bad.

So I am confined to my home, eating the remaining scraps in my fridge and cupboard, and I will collect as many damn cans as I can.

I’ve also applied for another part-time job, at the Telus World of Science which would actually be awesome, and I’m hoping that might work out for some additional income, and a foot in the door there…

I can’t wait for school to be done.