Staying Focused on the Writing

I am finally immersed in the article that I'm writing for Fade In Magazine. None too soon too as it is due next week. This article is a deceptively difficult one because the topic is fairly narrow; there are a finite amount of ways to explore the subject matter. What's more, the general consensus of everyone that I'm interviewing is the same. There are no real 'good guys' or 'bad guys'. There's not much conflict. It is a philosophical story, more than anything else. Contractually, I must stay vague on the actual subject matter until it hits the newsstands.

It has been interesting to interview good, smart and well known people from the movie and television industry. Their range, career wise, has been enormous. It's exciting when you get to have in depth conversations with people you've admired from afar for years. Now, I must shape these interviews and my thoughts about the subject into something coherent and interesting.

As I write, my stomach is aching. It's not the writing job ahead of me or something I ate. It's a "good" ache.

Recently mid-life concerns about career, future, relationship, mortality, children and money have bulldozed their way to the front of my life, pushing everything in their path to the side. Distracting and unnerving, the angst has caused significant changes in my thought patterns, emotional patterns… and physical patterns; no choice in the matter for me. As was beautifully stated on Deadwood, "Change ain't lookin' for friends." The good news is that these changes are for the better; sometimes the computer needs to be reset.

Due to the "relationship-woes" diet, I've lost a dramatic amount of weight in the last three months. Rather than turn into a pathetic sack of skin and bones, wallowing in misery, I decided not to waste this opportunity and thus -- took it upon myself to begin a serious exercise regime. In addition to being good for my physical health, it saved my sanity. While I've never been "fat", I've have been overweight by several (okay, fifteen or twenty) pounds in the last years. Sitting in front of the computer endlessly, working at home and great meals with wine will do that after a while.

With a speedy return to my college weight, I decided -- once in my life, just once—even if it's only for a couple months, I'm going to try and get those "six pack abs" the commercials on late night television keep telling me women love.
Haha.
Am I insane? Am I vain?
Am I so deeply in the midst of a crisis that the next thing will be a convertible and a hot blonde?

No. I don't think so. It's just a "what the hell" kind of goal. Just so that I can say I did it. And like I already mentioned, the exercise is good for the soul.

Since I won't go so far as to actually join a gym, my workouts have been relegated to lifting weights at home, climbing the hundreds of stairs in the Silver Lake hills, jogging around Silver Lake itself—as well as the usual sit-ups, push ups, etc.

Today, after googling "six pack abs", I began a new stomach workout that requires nothing more than my couch; the perfect price. Here's the video.

That is why my stomach is aching.

Wish me luck, laugh at me or shake your head ruefully. Just don't ask me to post pictures.

Oh, and if I do get a convertible, I promise it won't be a Triumph Spitfire. I learned that lesson the last time I weighed what I weigh now.

Now back to what I should be doing—staying focused on the writing.