Half Ton Teen

Like a large percentage of the population I am trying to lose a few pounds following the holiday excess.  I'm never going to be skinny, I don't want to be.  I have curves, or the currently unfashionable hour glass figure.  Even at my lowest weight I still have this shape and I'm happy with it. 

I love food, fortunately I don't focus on things like chocolate, I love lots and lots of food including the healthy stuff.  I'm an equal opportunities foodie.  I often think that if I didn't exercise or at least exercise some self control you would see me on the news.  I'd be one of those people you see getting winched out of a window because they no longer fit through doors!  I'd be dressed in a duvet cover because no company would make clothes in my size.  I seriously could eat myself to death.

Fortunately I do some exercise and I stop myself from eating the entire contents of my fridge most days.

I saw on TV a programme about a 19 year old boy who weighs half a ton.  I watched with a sense of disgust and fascination.  The guy had a giant armchair and foot stool, he spent his days and nights sitting there watching TV.  He couldn't get out of the chair without help.  The programme was about him going into a hospital that specialised in treating massively obese patients.  They did surgery to remove 65lbs of fat from his stomach to ease the strain on his heart.  They put him on a diet so he could lose some weight before having a gastric bypass. 

How does someone get like that?  Obviously they eat too much.  When you reach the stage where you don't fit in the batch or shower and have to have your mum hand wash you wouldn't something stop you eating?  How do you continue eating when you are too heavy to move?

If you have a pet and it is fat it's your fault, they can't get the food.  If you have a young child and it is fat it's your fault, you must be giving them food.  If your teenage son is so fat he has to be home schooled, can't bath and can barely walk guess what, it's your fault.

I wanted to shake this guy's mother, she was feeding him junk, bringing him all the food and watching him get fatter and fatter.  It was a disgusting inter dependant relationship.  She had lost a baby and when he can along she was over protective and wanted him to have everything he wanted, fair enough I get that.  But to assist him in killing himself with food, it made me angry, I cringed in my chair when I saw them together.  She did everything for him and was clearly enjoying his dependency.  She ended up going for therapy to resolve her problems while her son attempted to lose the equivalent of 10 adults in weight.

The programme made me feel slim!  But it made me realise how your childhood and you parents attitude to food stays with you for life.  My family eat really fast, the eat it before someone else does tactic.  The have large plates of food rather than a small plate with an option for more.  My Dad's holidays revolve around planning the meal stops.  My gran used to constantly be trying to feed us all, piece of cake, go on it's only light.  I realise why I love food so much and I'm just pleased they didn't take it to the level of feeding me to death.

So I'll have my healthy eating phase and lose a few pounds and be grateful hat I don't need to lose the equivalent of a few people.

Source

Miner Thoughts

I'm sure everyone has seen the news that the miners in Chile were all rescued earlier this week.  Great to see some good news, I found it quite addictive watching them come out.  I love the reactions they had to their freedom, everything from hugging strangers, kneeling in prayer and handing out souvenir rocks. 

I just want to say before I go on the I have great respect for the miners who seem to have stayed calm during the whole 69 days.  The first days when they didn't know if anyone realised they were still alive must have been awful. 

I get a bit claustrophobic so the idea of being trapped underground in a pretty small place is horrific to me.  My dad was a miner, in fact most of my male ancestors were, my great great grandfather was killed in a mining accident, I found the details on a website.  I have actually been in an a couple of mines, one in a museum and one working mine.  I didn't like either and couldn't wait to get out.   But I have being thinking that apart from the youngest these guys have been miners for a long time.  They are used to these conditions and most likely don't get claustrophobic so the things that would terrify me wouldn't bother them as much.

When I was reading about the preparations for them coming out I got the impression they were going to be kept isolated and that they were expecting them to be really traumatised.  That's not the impression I got watching.  I wonder how much of that is the initial adrenaline rush and excitement of getting rescued?  I'm also wondering how much the press have hyped the expected trauma for the story?  What will the long term effects of these events be for these men, will they get post traumatic shock?  I don't really know, I think I would have nightmares about tunnels and being trapped.

The whole ordeal made me think a few different and slightly random things that I thought I would share:

1) Apart from the first days how different was the miners experience to that of the big brother contestants?  OK it was dark, damp and probably a bit smelly but the rest?  Trapped in a confined space with a group of other people you wouldn't necessarily choose to be with.  Entirely dependant on the outsiders to pass you information, food and water.  Your day broken into tasks to keep you active.  A few TV cameras and 24 hour coverage all we needed was Davina presenting and some kind of voting.  How long before a reality TV show thinks of recreating this?

2) How long will it be before the Fenix rescue capsule is a new ride at Alton Towers or Disneyland?  Can you stand the terror of the Fenix rescue ride?

3) If in some kind of weird event I ended up trapped with my work colleagues for 69 days there is no way we would all make it out alive.  I work with a man I am going to affectionately call the Prince of Darkness, in this situation there would be a choice between him or the rest of us surviving. 

4) 5 of them were coming out to face the fact that their wives and mistresses had met.  Would you perhaps be taking the next shuttle back down?  5 out of 33 men here have a long term mistress, do you think this is a reasonable representation of the numbers across the rest of men?

5) If you were one of the miners and assuming the TV and book deals don't set you up for life would you ever go back in a mine again?

6) I misguidedly thought my dad as an ex miner would be interested in the rescue but when I mentioned it during the news he wasn't.  I guess when he walked out on the last day he put it behind him although to here him talk after a few pints you would think he was still down on the face.  He did comment that if they had got trapped no one would have drilled down to get them.  Makes sense, they were mining 9 miles out under the North Sea.

Kings of Leon - Why?

This is the only reason I like The Kings of Leon:



It made me laugh!

Douche Bag of the month

My bloggy friend Scrappy always does a douche bag of the month but I really really don't agree with her October bag of douche so I see her douche bag and raise her a Geordie douche bag of astounding proportions:

Yes, Mrs Midnite's very first (and probably only) douche bag of the month is Cheryl Cole.

The reasons are many and not least the travesty that is her single fight for this love complete with weird pants uniform and seriously bad miming.

But that is not the reason why I am douche bagging her, the reason is her really, really, really bad decision in the girls group of the x-factor.

These were her choices:







So which of these girls did the idiot Cheryl send home?
1) The girl who has consistently performed well and managed to sing and remember her words at all stages of the competition.
2) The girl who wowed then in the first rounds but couldn't sing in this final stage
3) The girl who has forgotten her words and given pretty poor performances during at least two stages.

You guessed yet, Cheryl the douche bag put through girls 2 and 3.  I can only assume that she was in awe of the ability of someone so young who could perform so well and consistently.  Perhaps she didn't fancy the competition in the singles charts next year?

Simon can we kick Cheryl off the x-factor and bring back Sharon or one of the guest judges that stepped in while Cheryl was sick.  Seriously Cheryl has no idea.  I hadn't planned to watch x-factor this year because the majority of the acts make me want to stick knives in my ears but as usual the car crash TV has sucked me in and now there will be no escape until I am forced to compulsively buy a Megadeath single to keep one of these monsters from getting the Christmas number 1. 

Did you see Must be the Music, real talent judged by people with real talent, the way forward I think!

Letters the challenge update

Continuing the attempt to write letters to people in my life for blog eyes only as described in the letters challenge post.  Letter number 3 is to your parents and I've been trying to write it for a while.  It's hard, the whole challenge is actually harder than I expected.

Today I was watching a reality TV show, Tough Love where a match maker attempts to help some women overcome their relationship issues.  I've never seen this before but was flicking through the channels earlier and got sucked in to this program.  The women were asked to write letters to their Daddies, he said that every woman has Daddy issues and that until these are resolved they will colour their relationships with other men.  Interesting!

My counsellor has told me repeatedly that I need to learn to deal with my issues with my Dad, that once I can deal with him I will be able to deal with anyone.  The Tough Love guy thinks writing a letter even if the Dad doesn't read it should help.  So I'm going to try to give letter number 3 another try.

There are some others I'm thinking might cause me issues too!

Loser

I'm sitting watching The Biggest Loser and wondering how these people lose so much weight each week.  I know they are very very big, morbidly obese in all cases but there are people loosing 14lbs each week.  How?

I understand they are locked in a ranch with diet and exercise advice and motivation on hand 24/7.  They have personal trainers who are pretty brutal but still 14lbs in a weeks.  How is that possible?  How is that healthy?

Take the biggest contestant ever, a woman weighing in at 476 lbs.  Wow that's scary but she looses 100 lbs in 9 weeks. 

I don't know about everyone else but when I decide I need to lose a few pounds I struggle to lose 1lb a week but she has lost an average of 10+lbs each week.  How?

I'm not a person that doesn't understand healthy diet and exercise, I know about calories, I understand nutrition.  I don't always make the right choices but I at least appreciate where I'm going wrong.  I have in the past struggled with weight gain when I have had certain types of tablets.  One that had a side effect of weight gain, it should have said increased appetite because I just couldn't stop eating.  I was waking up during the night and going to get food, any food.  I only took it for about 8 weeks and piled on.  I had to stop taking them because I felt so huge.  Once I stopped I lost that weight but it took much longer to lose than it did to put on.  A week on The Biggest Loser would have probably done it!

I could do with losing some weight, at the moment I must have gained some because my smaller clothes feel tight and uncomfortable.  I don't want to buy new bigger clothes.  I need to take inspiration from people I know who have lost loads of weight, people who can barely walk but have forced themselves to do it.  This woman at nearly 400lbs walk/jogged 2 miles.  I can't jog 2 miles. 

I walk a lot with the dogs but it isn't exactly power walking when you go at sniffing speed.  I do my yoga 2 to 3 times a week and that generally works up a sweat and leaves me with various painful muscles.  I also do all the dog training and agility but that isn't focused on me.  Maybe I should try to move about a bit more.

But my main problem must be food, I love food.  I also don't really like cooking so eating out works for me.  I love chocolate.  I like too many things that are not good for you, I eat them.

So how do I take inspiration from the Biggest Loser and lose my spare pounds?  Having just watched the last chance work out I realise they are pushed / push themselves so much harder than I do.  They look like they are about to have heart attacks.  One guy just collapsed on the treadmill and rolled off the back.  I guess you might need the brutal trainers to do this. 

Maybe a pound a week suits me!

Dr Who series finale pt 1

OMG can't believe I have to wait a week to find out what happens!

Part 1, no spoilers, fantastic.  So didn't see where this was going.  Can't wait for next Saturday, my parents are going to have to let me watch at their house.

43 minutes and 56 seconds

Until the commentator for the England game mentioned 1966.  Note, this is how you really annoy the Scottish, try not to mention it again.  It was a really long time ago and it's sort of embarrassing that we haven't won since!  Just stop now.

Another World Cup ish comment.  Does anyone else think Fabio Capello is a name that belongs to a dance DJ not an England manager.  Fabio Capello live from Ibiza type of name!  Perhaps that's the problem? 

Currently its 0-0 in the England vs Algeria game.  Fabio is having a 15 minute talk with the team, the commentators are hoping a different England emerge from the tunnel for the second half.  Some South African teens quickly shoved into the England strips perhaps?  Not sure you could get away with that, even I would notice if you swapped Rooney.  Perhaps if Fabio spun some rave tunes they would come out a with a bit more enthusiasm?  Got to be worth a try.

Misfit in Misfits

OK I know I'm way behind the rest of the UK but I just finished watching Misfits. It was on E4 before Christmas.

I was really enjoying the first 4 episodes, it was like the UK, pretty adult version of heroes. Some young offenders and their probation officer get hit by a strange bolt of lightening during a weird storm. In the days after the storm strange things start happening, Kelly the chav girl can hear what people and animals are thinking, very funny when her dog is licking her face thinking "I've just been licking my balls you dirty bitch". Simon the strangest character realises he can turn invisible, unsurprising as he is pretty invisible most of the time. Alisha's power is a bit odd, everyone that touches her becomes really attracted to her but not in a good way. Nathan doesn't seem to have a power, in his opinion because you can't improve on perfection. Curtis discovers that he can rewind time. Just in time because this happens minutes before their probation officer goes crazy and tries to kill them.

Because of the warning from Curtis the group are able to kill their probation officer and save themselves. The next few episodes are pretty good with the relationships developing between the group as they try to cover up the death.

The 4th episode sees Curtis travelling back in time to the night he got arrested with his girlfriend for buying drugs. He has a chance to save himself (his budding athletics career) and stop his girlfriend from going to prison. It takes him a few goes to get it right and during this you see why some of the other characters are doing community service. Nathan's crime is, as he has said, stealing some pick and mix.

Finally Curtis wakes up to find that he has corrected his life and everything is fine. Then he discovers that the rest of the group were killed when the probation officer went crazy and has to go back and get himself arrested again so that he can save them.

So up to this point I'm enjoying the series, it's pretty funny. Loved Nathan's loud mouthed and offensive character and really liked Kelly's straight talking. Then in the next episode it all goes a bit weird. Another storm effected person has the power to change people's behaviour and is turing the youth of the area into some strange perfect kids that look like they stepped out of a Little House on the Prairie scene. The characters then have a fight to prevent themselves from becoming brain washed. Eventually only Nathan and Simon are left as the yobs we know and love. Simon by this stage has killed a second probation worker (lets no go into that). Nathan manages to masquerade as a converted teen and gets the brain washer onto the roof of a building where they both fall to their deaths. All very sad but totally unconnected from the previous episodes and it just seemed like two half's of a story welded together. Kind of like a Misfit really!

Anyway the end was clever but really really annoyed me! As mentioned Nathan dies, they all go to his funeral. The final scene sees the camera moving through 6 feet of soil until you see Nathan lying in his coffin. He wakes up and has a major celebration because he has a power "I'm immortal". Next he realises he is buried alive has a bit shout then puts on his ipod and just lies there. That's it, the end. Through the magic of the internet I can share that with you:



So since then I've been wondering what happens, if he is immortal will he suffocate and then come back to life as some oxygen filters in only to die again when it runs out? Will he just lie there for eternity? Clearly the ipod battery will run out pretty quick. Thinking an iphone might have been more useful, do any networks guarantee a signal when buried alive?

I just can't get this last scene out of my head. I'm developing a new fear, buried alive. I was dreaming about it last night, thanks E4! I think that they can insert a pipe into the ground that reaches into a coffin. You can hang a rope down the pipe and connect it to a bell so you can ring if you get buried alive. I think I might have to put that in my will.

BUT just found out there is a second series so I won't be left wondering for too long :0)

World What?

Not sure if anyone has heard but allegedly the World Cup starts on Friday. Yes really!

I am not really into sports but it tries it's best to sneak into my life. My ex and his best friend were very sporty and my best friends do all sorts of crazy sporty things. Despite this I manage to ignore sport most of the time.

However, constant media coverage of planes landing in South Africa has finally alerted me to this event. The World cup was mentioned on the radio while I was driving Mr Midnite so I decided to mention it in some sort of cool girl way.

"Are Nigeria in the World Cup Mr Midnite?"
"No, don't think so sweetie pie"
"But there will be some West African countries, won't there? Like Ivory Coast and Ghana."
"Don't know, honey bunny!"

So a few days later the boys at work were happily sticking up the World Cup wall chart and to show interest I asked "Which countries are in the World Cup?" The list of countries ran like this:


So I sent Mr Midnite a text saying "Nigeria are in the world cup, shame on you sexy man".

His response when I next saw him was:
"I'm Scottish and we are not in the world cup"
"Umm didn't ask if you were, I asked if Nigeria were in the championship"
"But sweet cheeks I live in Scotland"
And so it went on.

So while wives and girlfriends across the world will be forced to watch multiple football matches or be banished to watch the old TV in the bedroom I will be free to ignore the whole event.

That said I like the world cup, good football is exciting and there is a good chance of England ending in a penalty show down, so will probably watch some of it anyway.

England vs USA on Saturday. We will be playing football hope they aren't, could be some injuries!

Dr Van Gogh, Who?

I love Dr Who, have done since I was little. I loved K9 with the 4th Doctor and used to hide behind cushions when the scary darleks came on. By far my favourite Doctor so far has been David Tennent, I thought he made the perfect Doctor. I am just starting to adapt to the new Doctor, it has been hard but Matt Smith is doing a good job. The 10th episode has been my favourite of this series and new Doctor so far.

***SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN EPISODE 10 STOP READING!***

The episode involved the Doctor and Amy going back in time to hunt aliens with Vincent Van Gogh. I just loved the links in to Van Gogh's paintings and the way they handled his mental illness without it getting too depressing.



There were some fantastic bits in this episode. I loved Vincent tryingto explain how he sees colour, the Doctors response was along the lines of having seen so much (10 life times worth so far) but he would never be able to see the world the way Van Gogh does.

My favourite part was when the Doctor takes Van Gogh forward to see his paintings in a museum, just fantastic casting, writing and acting. Vincent's reaction was perfect.

I loved Amy's optimism that they had changed things and that Van Gogh would live longer and paint more. The Doctors explaination of why showing him the future didn't help was so true, the good days can be fantastic but they don't stop the bad days.

Great episode, hope Richard Curtis writes more!

(NB. Pctures stolen from the BBC, sorry)

Love CSI but........

............. they have to tell us where they get their mass spec.

It runs samples in 30 seconds. It gives them every bit of information. Yes the paint is Ford moonlight blue from a 1997 Ford Fiesta made in Oxford but sold in Devon.

Our mass spec gives us the molecular weight. Is it broken? Or do CSI have a better model?

Glee - don't get it!

Everyone over in the UK seems to be raving about Glee. It's alright but it's not the best thing ever. There are some funny one liners and I like the music but I don't get why it is getting the reception its getting. Anyway for all those Glee-ers out there who might have missed it here is my favourite, most politically incorrect Sue Cs It:

Disclaimer - the opinions expressed by Sue Sylvestor are not those of Mrs Midnite!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLDrntGjvo8