h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

He did make one other posting at about the same time - something fairly ramdom I think.

Pilates dvd sounds good - where are you going to stash the new body?

Atchly, I'm planning on *wearing* the new body, dahling!

Not sure about where to stash the old one though . . .

az

Hi girls,

Thanks for the Kelli.

Hoo posted in two places four days ago but as Kelli says, the other posting was nothing very significant. Member seems to pop in and out so a four day gap doesn't mean he's disappeared altogether.

There should be a thread for people to gossip about other researchers.

Pilates is very good for relieving back pain and (in my experience) the exercises help strengthen the back without risking further injury. I don't suppose you'll be jumping in and out of your knickers with such abandon for a while though az?

F

Damn!

That's cappuccino for

And this place is running very slow today.

F

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Oh, I thought this was it!

Alternatively, you could join the Yahoo group that Math started up for us recently. It's a good place in case there are ever any issues one would like to talk about off-site or, well, whatever.

Meanwhile, I *do not* leap in and out of my knickers with reckless abandon! Sadly, I have no reason to . . .

az

Hi Fathom

I'm afraid I've spent far too much time in Japan to ever want to see tofu again. It is simply the most disgusting slime jelly , no matter what you try to do with it.

As for Soya and the various Quorns and other tvp's I also try to avoid these where possible. They are mostly pretty yuk anyhow.

No, once I am home I can eat fresh food from the local farmer's market and my friends' smallholdings, then cooked by my own fair hand.

Tall and pale and slim and lovely,
The man from Old Dolgellau goes walking,
And all the little spanish girls go,
aaaaaaah!

Blessings,
Matholwch /|\.

A man with a degree in wishful thinking.

I actually *lurve* crispy fried tofu in a spicy black bean sauce - Math, you have not lived till you have tried this!

Meanwhile, the girl from sunny Seville constantly goes walking and never gets so much as a slight notice these days! Not to sound vain or anything, but I *used* to turn heads when I walked into a room. Ah well, something to fondly remember . . .

I remember once telling Noggin on an msn chat that I actually felt quite relieved about not being 'pretty' anymore. Because having to constantly *be* pretty was such an effort and really not worth it in the end. If that makes any sense.

Sure, I want to be less fat now, but this has nothing to do with being 'pretty' or even 'attractive'. It's more about how I feel about myself. I just want to get rid of the 'fat suit' I've been wearing these past four years and get back to a healthy body state that feels like ME.

My back is slowly getting better, so by next week I should be able to start doing the Pilates dvd workout. I did watch it and it looks . . . well, kind of wimpy. In terms of what I think a proper physical workout should be. But I'll try it. It really isn't doing anything dissimilar to all the various workouts I've been doing since I was 25 years old. Back then I had the very good fortune to work with a dancer and physical trainer who taught me practically all the stuff I saw on the Pilates dvd. Too bad he also didn't manage to make a fortune from this.

az

- never had a stage where I turned heads unless it was for shouting insults. Think I've probably missed my chance...

Glad to hear the back is getting better

Hey, don't feel jealous, Kelli. Most of the time I didn't even realise it because I was convinced (back then) that I was FAT and UGLY - even when I weighed 114 pounds and was far from ugly! I only realised I *had* once been pretty long after the fact.

az

Having said that, walking into a room with *serious* attitude and head held high can 'still' turn heads.

az

Well Joni Mitchell said it...

I am jealous though - it must be nice, even only with hindsight, to realise that you look attractive enough to turn heads. I bet the tribulations of being young and pretty aren't half as bad as the trial that is being young and *not*. I wasn't kidding about the shouted insults - honestly, why? Why go out of your way to ruin somebody's day? I haven't had any for a while (coming up for two years since the last seriously humiliating one) so I definitely look better than I did, but then I tend to avoid the sorts of places where it used to happen a lot too - mainly town/city centres on a night out or busy bars.

Trust me, Kelli,

I grew up being obese and totally FAT and UGLY. I had no friends (who wants to be friends with the FAT kid at school? - nobody! that's who!).

I was always made fun of because of how I looked and kids used to wait to beat me up after school just because I was fat.

When I left home at age 15 (yes, way too young) I suddenly got so thin I barely recognised myself. And then *suddenly* I was 'pretty'.

Yet I never believed it. Not until years later, looking back on photos. All those wasted years still thinking I was fat and ugly when I wasn't.

By the time I realised and accepted that I once *had* been pretty, I was no longer pretty. So there.

But I still maintain that 'attitude' goes way further than just being pretty!

az

Ack, don't mind me - feeling rather blue this week for some reason.

That last incident seemed to nip my budding confidence, and therefore attitude. Really don't handle social situations in public places well any more. It was after I'd started my big diet, had lost a couple of stone and was feeling much better about myself. Was out with a big group of people from work. Some unknown chap came over to talk to me, then came over again a bit later. The third time he chatted a bit and finally he said something on the lines of 'you're not too bad for a fat bird' in front of everyone. I was mortified. Somebody asked why he would say something like that and it turned out that his mates had bet him that he wouldn't chat up the fattest girl in the bar. I was so ashamed. Takes quite a lot to get me into a bar these days, going to the summer meet last year was a bit of a trial but I am glad I did it. Hootoo people are lovely

Do you ever spend any time in the Atelier az? I don't remember seeing you there (mind you it moves so fast I may have missed you in the backlog) but it strikes me as your kind of place

What a f**king moron!!!

And then *you* end up feeling ashamed when this total sh*t-for-brains creep and his scumbag friends are the ones who should be ashamed of their crass and unspeakably rude behaviour! Except that type never would, of course, because they probably don't have two brain cells between the lot of them to rub together. Well, all I can say is that if I'd been with you in that group that complete waste of skin would have been verbally castrated by me! (I'm actually quite scary when I get angry - heck, I can even scare myself!)

Anyhow, I *have* seen your photos and I happen to know that you're pretty, so I don't know why you don't.

Re: the Atelier, I was invited there a couple of months ago by Ben after the whole Oetzi problem. I was there for awhile but somehow I don't feel like I 'fit in' there. Maybe because there are so many people (I'm not really a group person) and also it moves so quickly. Anyhow, I still pop in from time to time.

az

ps
Also, great postings on the 'Big Fat Lie' thread, Kelli! You have really got things going there.

az

I suffer from the 'you have a pretty face' problem. It is the only compliment I've ever had, often from relatives who say it in sad and wistful tones that add the follow-on 'shame about the rest' without actually voicing it. I have good cheekbones now beginning to show themselves again

Yeah that guy was a twat, I replied something along the lines that he was a shit excuse for a human. A couple of my colleagues said some things to him and his mates but that made it worse somehow - just prolonged the agony. I'd rather everyone had pretended it hadn't happened.

Seriously - why do people do things like that? It must have seemed like a jolly drunken jape to them but did NONE of them consider that their target is a person? I have never really understood what any of the idiots that hurled insults at me got out of it. Do they think 'ah good, that has upset a random stranger - excellent'?

I'm getting better, don't seem to attract the abuse anymore, and actually got wolf-whistled at last weekend (hooray for bravissimo tops) .

Who are those two curvaceous babes over there?

Hi girls!!

Blessings,
Fatholwch /|\.

Why sir

You do know how to flatter a girl *flutters eyelashes*

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Poor darling!

Ha! Told you you're pretty. And anyhow, when people call someone pretty they usually *are* referring to someone's face. So there!

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Um, because they're idiots?

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It would appear so. However, one always has to remember that *they* have to live with being themselves 24-7, which honestly cannot be much fun. So then they try and take out their self-directed anger and feelings of little-or-no self-worth on others. Pathetic.

btw, my 'verbal castration' would not have taken the form of hurling insults (was just letting off some in that previous posting). It would have been a far more subtle, *withering* sort of experience for them. I'm told I do *withering* very well. Though to be honest, I almost never lose my temper. I'm sort of from the 'don't get mad, get *even*' school of dealing with utter j*rkoffs.

az

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Um, the curvy one in the bravissimo top is Kelli. The lumpy one in the baggy sweatshirt is me!

az