Updates

       Man, oh man, you guys! Things have been happening!! They weren't always good things, but they were definitely things. Let me catch you up on what I've been up to for the last few months.

      So let's see. Well in January I started officially dating a guy I'd been seeing for a few months. His name is Bavard. He's Persian, and originally from Atlanta, finishing up his Master's in English Lit at a local university this semester and working at a homeless shelter for women and children on the weekends. He has a really cute two year old pitbull named Shogun.

         Also recently, I began seeing a clinical nutritionist to help treat my migraines. I started a really strict new diet right after Thanksgiving. It eliminated basically any sort of possible inflammatory or food trigger type food, including gluten, sugar, alcohol, dairy, nightshade plants (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants), beans/legumes, nuts and seeds. So basically, that left me with lean proteins, veggies, and low glycemic index fruits, and water, tea or coffee to drink. (I insisted on keeping the coffee, as much for everyone else's safety and well being as my own.) I also started on a number of nutritional supplements, including a probiotic, and got a whole bunch of blood work. The diet has honestly been REALLY hard, especially at first. The first two weeks were brutal. I literally broke down in tears at one point and was sobbing "I just want to eat an entire pizza so bad right now!!" But it's definitely paid off. My migraines have been noticeably better, my cholesterol and blood pressure and BMI have dropped, and I've lost 25 pounds, with 15 of those pounds being pure fat. I've also learned a lot about food and nutrition and how to fuel my body in the process. Also, through my doctor, who is awesome and literally one of the nicest men on the planet, I've been able to pinpoint some sources of my migraines that I had no idea about before. I've been able to add in a few things slowly now, so that's been good. Also you can definitely see a change in my body with the new diet and added exercise, which is super encouraging.

Here are some of the main things I've learned:
1) Low blood sugar/Hypoglycemia- This is a big problem for me, and a big trigger. If I don't eat enough or often enough, my blood sugar gets too low and I get a migraine. This is one of the very biggest things I've found that effects whether I get a headache or not. So I've been making sure to eat at least every three hours, so I maintain a consistent blood sugar level. I try to eat healthy and within my diet as much as possible, but it seems most important that I eat *something*.
2) Vitamin D- Apparently I have really low Vitamin D, so I've been taking a supplement. I've also found that it helps my mood a lot, and improves anxiety/depression.
3) Pure Food- Rather than a specific food trigger, I've found that I've been helped a lot by avoiding prepackaged food that's packed with sugar and salt and chemicals. The simpler and purer, the better. This seems really simple, but it's crazy how much better your body feels when you give it real food.
4) I already knew that stress and hormones were a factor for me, and they continue to be so. There is only so much I can realistically do about that though, so at this point I just have to be aware of it and do my best to manage stress and get enough sleep and take care of myself. You know, all that stuff that you should be doing for yourself anyway.

*I was about to post this, and then I remembered another thing that happened, that was really crappy. At the end of January, I ended up having to go to the ER for gallbladder problems. So that sucked. Turns out I had gallstones and my gallbladder was all angry, and at least a good part of it was due to my new diet. The main causes of gallbladder problems are a diet full of too much fat (not my problem at all) or a major weight loss and a diet really low in fat. It was less the amount of pounds I lost, but more the fact that most of what I lost was fat. So the fat composition in my body shifted radically, and it made my gallbladder angry. Which made me really angry, because I was doing this really difficult thing to improve my health, and it ended up making me sick. What the fresh f**k is all that about?! I didn't want to have my gallbladder removed, because I didn't want surgery and it causes you to have at least some manner of digestive issues for the rest of your life. So I talked to my nutritionist and he gave me a supplement to help with bile production and the function of my gallbladder, and that's helped a lot. It still gets angry on me sometimes, when I haven't eaten enough all day, or when I've eaten something that is really processed and fatty. But overall it's a lot better. But those few weeks when I was struggling with the gallbladder symptoms and also still having migraines and I was angry and didn't know what the crap I was supposed to be doing with my diet....yeah that sucked. Pretty hard.

           But anyway, big reduction in the migraines, which is great. Because it opens up the possibility of being able to do the next thing I've got to tell you about- working full time. Remember that status I posted ages ago being preliminarily happy about a new job? Well.

          There has been an ENORMOUS amount of waffling and going back and forth about this one. It's been incredibly annoying, because I only wanted to tell everybody when I was certain I had the job, but everything kept changing and being uncertain!! Bah!! So I'm finally talking about it now, when it's more of a sure thing.

           Anyway, a bit more about the job. I've been offered an Assistant Producer position at a local news station. I first got word of the job, what, last November, when a friend of a friend and I started talking out at a bar and she mentioned the position after I gave her my business card. Many many moons later- a phone interview, an in person interview, a writing test, a tour, and a drug/background test  later- I've been offered the job. Unfortunately the start date has been pushed back to the beginning of April, for like a dozen legitimate but annoying reasons that I don't feel like explaining. This job would be great for me, and I'm so excited to start doing it. I've been wanting to just hurry up and WORK THERE for months. Basically what I would be doing is taking stories off the AP wire and writing them for a news broadcast, for whatever the time allotted happens to be. I write what the anchors read off the TelePrompTer. But its an entry level position, and they will train you on every single area of producing a news broadcast, including shooting, editing, directing the show, setting up the segments, stacking the show, etc. It's up to your own effort and initiative- you can learn as little or as much as you want. So basically I plan to come in and learn everything possible and win all sorts of broadcasting awards (do they even have those for producers?) and run that shit in a few years. I'd learn a lot, and be able to add a ton of great and really versatile experience to my resume. They often promote from within, which is actually how this position became open, when an AP got promoted to a Producer. Also it is an ABC affiliate, so realistically if I wanted to move up and on I could try to go on to work for any other ABC affiliate in the country. You guys, this job is great for me. I am going to KICK ASS at it.

Now all they have to do is let me start....

Whew, I'm tired. Are you guys tired from reading this? Lots of things. Good job keeping up with me for so long. So what's been going on with you? Now you know why I haven't been around a whole lot lately and what I've been up to.

Now then, tell me all about you!