Today is a good day to diet!

Forward, sons of the Greeks,
Liberate the fatherland,
Liberate your children, your women,
The altars of the gods of your fathers
And the graves of your forebearers:
Now is the fight for everything.

—Aeschylus, Persians

And now the fight for everything begins...

I had my first weight loss class tonight.  I am utterly disgusted by how much I weighed and I want to get this done!  My diet food is packed for tomorrow, along with the pedometer I got when I joined the program.  Time to get cracking!

I also started Round 2 of my Masters degree tonight.  The next few months are going to be some of the most intense months of my life.  I'm looking forward to it.  Expect lots of posts about that here too.

It occurs to me that my lack of progress in both my weight loss and my education may be linked.  Never have I had something motivating me to make the change to my life--or, more appropriately, I've had a lot of demotivators that I've allowed to take control.  Note that I don't blame the outside for what happened.  I pulled the trigger; I made the decision; and I have no one else to blame for the outcome other than myself.

This is not to lay a negative trip on myself: I'm done with that.  It's recognizing that I need to filter what I influences I allow in my life.  There are individuals and organizations who have claimed to be doing me good but are really no more useful than Job's comforters.  They may be well-meaning, but ultimately their influence was destructive and I should have stopped it a long time ago.

And I've been doing that: I replaced partners who were emotional drains with a wife who stands behind me and supports me.  I replaced a church that emphasized obedience and conformity with one that emphasized faith and compassion expressed as works. Now I replace habits of self-indulgence with habits of self-improvement.

Tomorrow I start the diet in earnest, along with exercise.  I also want to make better use of my time, something that's been a huge issue with me since the beginning.  More on that later.

So here's to the future, and all that it holds.  I want to see my grandchildren someday.  I want to be around when my children are grown.  I don't want my health to deteriorate to the point that I can no longer care for my family or pursue my other personal goals.  I want to live long enough to check off as much on my list as possible.  I want to do some outrageous things, some fun things, and some bold things.  And I can't do that with a whole other person weighing me down.

So, in that spirit, let the battle begin! Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam!