Too Fat To Fight?

Y'all:

I picked up the Wyoming Tribune Eagle this past Wednesday (75 cents, damnit!) because of a front-page article stating that unhealthy school lunches could be a threat to national security. I had to read this article!

School lunches = security threat?

Report says U.S. kids in no shape to help military
By Mary Clare Jalonick
Associated Press

WASHINGTON--Too fat to fight? Many American children are so overweight from being fed French fries, pizza and other unhealthy foods at school lunchrooms that they cannot handle the physical rigors of being in the military, a group of retired officers say in a new report.

National security is threatened by the sharp rise in obesity rates for young people over the last 15 years, the group Mission: Readiness contends. Weight problems are now the leading medical reason that recruits are rejected, the group says, and thus jeopardize the military's ability to fill its ranks.

In a report released Tuesday, the group says that 9 million young adults, or 27 percent of all Americans ages 17 to 14, are too fat to join the military. The retired officers were on Capitol Hill advocating for passage of a wide-ranging nutrition bill that aims to make the nation's school lunches healthier.

The military group acknowledges that other things keep young adults out of the armed services, such as a criminal record or the lack of a high-school diploma.

Although all branches of the military now meet or exceed recruitment goals, retired Navy Rear Adm. James Barnett Jr., a member of the officers group, says the obesity trend could affect that.

"When over a quarter of young adults are too fat to fight, we need to take notice," Barnett said. He noted that national security in the year 2030 is "absolutely dependent" on reversing child obesity rates.

Recruitment isn't the only problem posed by obesity. According to the report, the government spends tens of millions of dollars every year to train replacements for service members discharged because of weight problems.

This isn't the first time the military has gotten involved in the debate over school lunches. During World War II, military leaders had the opposite problem, reporting that many recruits were rejected because of stunted growth and inadequate nutrition. After the war, military leaders pushed Congress to establish the national school lunch program so children would grow up healthier.

The program was established in 1946, "as a measure of national security," according to the original bill language.

Today, the group is urging Congress to eliminate junk food and high-calorie beverages from schools, put more money into the school lunch program and develop new strategies that help children develop healthier habits.

The school lunch bill, currently awaiting a Senate vote, would establish healthier options for all foods in schools, including vending machine items. The legislation would spend $4.5 billion more over 10 years for nutrition programs.

The Army is already doing its part to catch the problem earlier, working with high schoolers and interested recruits to lose weight before they are eligible for service, says U.S. Army Recruiting Command's Mark Howell. He added that he had to lose 10 pounds himself before he joined the military.

"This is the future of our Army we are looking at when we talk about these 17- to 24-year olds," Howell said. "The sad thing is a lot of them want to join but can't."

(Mission: Readiness http://www.missionreadiness.org)

That's the article. What I first read and nearly wrote off became something that we should all truly be worried about. If you think the worst of our wars are behind us, think again. My nephews don't have physical education every day in school like I did when I was their age. Hell, I am a soldier and I'm struggling to get my weight back down into the acceptable range! To think that, in another decade or so, we won't be able to staff our military is a scary thought.

There's more to this than what's printed in the article. The consequences our health suffers as a result of obesity are only going to become more severe going forward. For every fitness personality that releases a sure-fire workout DVD program, for every winner on The Biggest Loser, there are many more Americans who choose to live the "comfortable" lifestyle and remain obese. For too long I've been one of them.

Sure, it's easier to just stuff my face with whatever strikes my fancy, to play video games all day, and to let myself get bigger. That's simple. That's a no-brainer. That's what I did for over 4 years after getting off of active duty. When I rejoined the military last year, I was overweight. When I took my last PT test, I failed. I've failed every tape test they've given me in the Guard. And I'm a former soldier, a former pro-wrestler, a formerly active person.

Where did we go wrong? I'm not going to blame video games, reality TV, and teen magazines for why the youth of the nation are sitting around all day. I blame the parents for taking the easy way out. I need only look at my customers to see it in action. There's this big woman and her fat daughter that come into my work all the time, and they never purchase anything healthy. The girl lives on Pepsi and whatever chips and candies she can whine about until her mother gives in, takes the easy path, and buys her what she wants. I saw it at Wegmans, I saw it at GameStop, I see it now. It's easier to give in and give the child whatever she wants than to discipline her and possibly have the little brat make a scene. And the child suffers because she gets what she wants.

I don't keep sweets in the house. My fridge is full of water, natural fruit juices, and (when I have money to go grocery shopping) healthier food choices. I don't buy chips; I have organic crackers and cheese (which I eat in moderation). I buy soda once in a blue moon, and usually for other people to drink. Right now I have some chocolate that my Oma and my aunt in Germany sent me as an Easter care-package. The point is that I don't want my son to grow up in an environment of junk food and over-processed "nutrition." I don't want my wife and I to live like that, either. And as I can afford it, I will continue to make even healthier food choices.

There's one of the problems. A 1-liter bottle of water costs MORE than 1 liter of PowerAde. Twinkies are cheaper than a bunch of bananas. The over-processed, HFCS-laden, unhealthy foods far outnumber healthier choices, and the truly good-for-you stuff like Pom Wonderful is just too expensive for most people. Following that thread, the school lunch initiative that Mission: Readiness is proposing will surely fail! Kids today are so used to eating junk food that they will piss and moan when forced to eat good food (recent studies have shown this), they'll complain to their parents, who will in turn either brown-bag some unhealthy food for their kids or (more likely, since it requires less work and more bitching) complain to the school boards until the junk food is back on the lunch trays.

I know I'm painting this in a rather hopeless light, but I don't believe it to be so. There is a way to reverse this trend and to help make America healthier. It starts with people my age, adults with young children. The first step is to live what I'm preaching; buy less junk food, watch your portion size, eat as healthy as your budget allows (which might mean passing on other things to put better food on the table, like cigarettes or going to the bars all weekend). This is difficult, I admit--I love Twinkies, I love cheeseburgers, I love Rockstar Cola. I know this stuff is no good for me, and I know it's part of the reason I'm struggling to reverse over 4 years of damage that sort of eating did to my body. It's hard work, and there are days I want to give up. Luckily, I can't--if I do, I can get dishonorably separated from the military, something I refuse to allow to happen. Most Americans don't have that kind of sword floating over their heads.

Once we get ourselves squared away (or on the road to recovery, such as myself), we need to instill good habits in our children. NOW. Not when they're older; start when they're Milo's age. I remember Nina damn near killed my mother when she gave Milo some icing from a cake once. By not keeping bad foods in the house I can raise him to like good food. I won't be able to control what he eats at a friend's house, but I am the dictator of my own household, and under my roof I can ensure a healthier diet for my children. If more people thought this way, then we wouldn't have to worry about what our kids are eating at the Nelsons' house--because the Nelsons would have healthy food, too.

As we revolutionize our homes, we can more easily extend our reach to external places, such as restaurants and school lunches. Some of this is happening already, with some restaurants offering nutritional information on their menus (isn't that going to be mandatory soon?). It has to start at home before it can truly make a difference, however.

I'm not saying give up on Twinkies completely. I still love them. I had a Twinkie the other day--my first in probably a year. That's moderation for you!

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Heartbreak Cycle Update?

Y'all:

This note is directed at a very small audience, but the rest of you can feel free to read it and/or chip in your two cents. For those of you who have actually read my book and those of you that, ahem, star in it, I have a question:

Would you like to see an expanded edition of THE HEARTBREAK CYCLE?

The goals of an expanded edition would be this:

1) To more fully develop the relationships portrayed in the book.
2) To help make the story presented in the book flow better.
3) To provide better literary value to the reader.
4) To publish more of my poetry.

The end result would not change; Michael will still eventually get the girl, the villainesses will remain as such, and (unless there is some major catastrophe between now and then), the ending will remain intact. However, each relationship will have more clearly defined beginnings and endings, each character will be more fully developed, and a few of the "minor characters" might be introduced.

This is not something that will be done overnight. I have 2 other huge literary projects that I am currently working on--my fantasy novel and my sci-fi novel--that this already-published work will have to play second fiddle to for the time being. However, after getting some honest feedback from some of you (and none from most), I wondered if my debut needed a little something more. Oh, and on that note, I'm hoping to have the rough draft of my fantasy novel completed by the year's end, and those of you who own HBC will be entitled to be the first to lay eyes upon (what I hope to be) my masterpiece.

Assuming enough of you think it is, in fact, a worthwhile endeavor, I will expand THE HEARTBREAK CYCLE. The new, expanded version will then be uploaded to my publisher, in effect overwriting the existing edition. Once this occurs any future purchases of my book will be of the new version, as the old version will have been both discontinued and superceded by the the new edition. For those of you who don't own the book yet, there is no issue. For those of you that do, I am formulating a plan that will get you the new edition without having to pay for it, while being allowed to keep the old version as a MAC III collectible. Positive feedback on Amazon (for the print, Kindle, or preferably both versions) would be appreciated as well, and will help me to reach this important decision.

Again, this update would not take precedence over my other literary projects and thus will not come to fruition for quite some time. I am deeply devoted to keeping my fantasy novel on-track, and from what I've heard about my sci-fi book, I would like to make more headway on that as well. An update to HBC would be third on my Literary To-Do list.

I would like some honest feedback from those of you who own it, are in it, or who have at least read it; do you think an updated/expanded edition is something that you would like to see? Something that is worth my time and effort to put together? Or is the current version fine as-is, and I'm just worrying too much?

Thank you in advance for your feedback on this matter.

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Thinking Too Hard

Y'all:

Just to be fair to anyone who actually bothers to read this drivel, I'm not in a particularly good mood as I write this. Deal with it.

I need to put in a request for vacation time at work for when Nina finally comes home. IF she comes home. Among the myriad of issues feeding into that is the volcanic activity in Iceland which is grounding planes all over the place. I wish she would've chosen to come home early since I didn't go to my Guard school; now doubly so. To think that an act of nature might keep her and my son away from me longer is maddening...not good for someone who's mental health is questionable at best.

I put on a happy face. Even my craziness is still not enough to tip most people off, and that's how I like it. To call me crazy and to suggest I need help might not be so far off the mark, however. Who knows? Would you trust a crazy person to speak credibly on the status of his mental faculties? Exactly.

So there is a growing list of people I want to punch in the face, notably a couple of my co-workers. Not because I hate these people, but because I want to knock some fucking sense into them. These are people who sorely need a wake-up call, and one of these days I won't be able to hold my tongue. It's so rewarding to love one's vocation, right? Right.

Here I sit, waiting for the trim in my room to dry so I can go touch up what needs it and then hopefully declare my room's new paint job complete. Then it's a matter of adding furniture and putting things away and all of that stuff. Then I get to start work on Milo's room...hopefully I can conscript some help for that project, as his room is twice the size of mine, and my room was the first I've ever painted.

Here I sit, with paint speckled along my forearms, running down my wrists, even spattered on my balding pate. I picked the wrong CD to listen to while I was painting, because rocking out to it alone, I began to wonder, to worry. Was it all for naught? Would someone look at my accomplishment and see only the flaws, and none of the good? Will she even like what I've done? Is the ache in my body from this foreign activity worthwhile, were the time and money well spent? Does this change anything, or do I have another 5 years of the same empty promise to look forward to? Does my busting my ass to transform this house into a home to surprise my wife and son with really matter, or am I just fooling myself as usual? How can I hold on when I can't hold them?

Yeah, these are the questions, thoughts, and fears swirling through my head as I paint, as I go about my day-to-day, as I lie awake at night. Am I crazy? Yeah, probably. What's it to ya?

Well, time to go back to my room and finish what I've started, come what may. Then I want to sit down and work on my writing a little bit. I was really on a roll the other night, but I get thrown off-track too easily these days. I feel deep in my core that if I can just finish this book and get it published, I can get picked up by a publisher bigger than CreateSpace, someone who will pay me handsomely to write, and that I can become a full-time author. It is the biggest dream I've ever dared allow myself to dream...and I must say I'm more than a little afraid to see it through.

These thoughts are far too heavy for a Wednesday evening. Stop reading this garbage and go have fun!

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Just Faffing About

Y'all:

Well, today's been pretty strange. Went to work, then to the Guard to sign for a bunch of expensive equipment, then back to work. Today was audit day at work, oh joy. It does wonders for the attitude of a certain coworker...but I digress. Then it was home to speak to the missus, work out, chat with someone about a variety of topics ranging from my book to religion, then when I was settling in and getting into the groove for the rest of my evening...BAM! Crisis at work, I had to go deal with it. Good thing about that was the little bit of extra time, but the bad news is it totally threw off my mojo.

I was working on my campaign setting and was planning on typing up the next chapter of my book, but now I can't focus. So I guess I'll play some more Mass Effect 2, that game totally rules and it'll hopefully kick the spiders in my head in the lower abdomen and get my creative juices flowing again. I'd kill for a blowjob right now, but I'll have to settle for some hot cocoa. Gonna be a long time until I get that right, but hopefully not never. ::sigh::

On that note (what note?), I did all of my measurements today. The Guard weighed and measured me yesterday, and their numbers and mine don't match up. It could just be an error in the tape test, who knows? By my reckoning I am seeing improvement. Not quite as much as I'd like, but I'm getting there. Here's hoping it continues and starts to show enough that the military takes notice.

I have nothing else of interest to report at this time. Click Here And Ask Me A Question!

Read This: It'll Rot Your Mind

Y'all:

I just looked back over the list of notes I've written, and there's a streak of them around this time last year that were all surveys. What this tells me is that, if anyone has ever read these notes, they know every last little thing about me, from my sexual appetites to my favorite colors to the names of my lizards. But do they know me?

I swear I won't fill out another survey for the rest of the day. ;)

No, today's been all-around odd. I could barely drag myself out of bed this morning, which sucks because I had plans to do stuff before work if only I had gotten up early. I used to be such a morning person, and I still am to an extent. However, lately it's been hard to get up before 7 unless I have to. I keep weird hours though. Moving on. After work, which wasn't as bad as it has been, I went out and hit 3 bars with my boss, 2 of which to play pool on various sized tables. It was a lot of fun, and it got me out of the house. I swear, I'm such a homebody (of course, home is where my fun is). Then I came home, messed around on the computer for a while, reading articles on giant killer wasps in Asia instead of looking at porn, and now here I am, feeling very introspective, with a bottle of water and the rest of the night lying naked before me.

I say "naked" because it makes perfect sense. Naked's also a lot like a blank sheet of paper (or, in these days, a blank Word document)--ready, waiting. Empty and needing to be filled, like the text box that opened up when I deigned to write a new note a few minutes ago. Like the infinite expanse that lies beyond the last few lines I've typed in my novel, a naked expanse that needs to be shaped and filled and turned into something more than it could ever be if left to its own devices.

Yes, I'm still plugging away at my fantasy novel. While it has the most content in it so far, I find myself thinking I have the least to show for the effort I've put there. I'd much rather send out the PDF of the prologue to my sci-fi novel than let anyone see the many chapters I've written for my fantasy novel. Isn't that odd? This, book one of what I plan to be an epic fantasy trilogy, is what I am least inclined to divulge, while the modest prologue to a stand-alone sci-fi novel is something I'm willing to distribute? Let alone the Amazon: slim volume of poetry that I've already released, which has met with modest praise and a lack of Amazon.com reviews. Don't be looking for the follow-up I'd planned for that one anytime soon. Yeah, that's right: no sonnets for you!

I just find myself possessed of an odd humor this eve. Hell, when am I not odd, right? I'm sitting down to work on my labor of love, this book I've been forced to restart time and again, and yet I find myself oddly unable to concentrate. Sometimes I feel like my head is too full, like there's something in there that should not be, and it's limiting my ability to function. Like junk files on the hard drive, but I can't seem to get rid of them all. Maybe I have a computer virus in my noggin? Of course, I've been saying for a few years now that I don't have a brain; that my cranium is instead inhabited by 2 spiders who each have 3 typewriters, and that it is through their typing that my body functions. Maybe one of them called in sick today?

Well, I should stop goofing off. The problem with writing my book on the computer is that I have ready access to the internet and all of her bounty. While I frequently look things up on Dictionary.com and Wikipedia.org, it's just as frequent that I'll get distracted by Facebook or RedTube or something less constructive. I'm sure I'll be back on here before long, and I'm sure that I'm just a click away if any of you want to help distract me.