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

To feel frumpy when you're thirty?
It's not good though, right?

Maybe not wrong as such, exactly, but not something to make one pleased or proud.
Not dowdy though.

I don't think it's wrong... I felt the same way when I turned 30, and have felt since.

Not a nice way to feel, no, but not wrong.

Sorry to hear you feel it, too.

See, once upon a time I was funky, almost cool.

Several (ear only) piercings and two tattoos, odd interests and a devil may care attitude.
Oh, and funky hair.

Now I work in finance, have brown hair, have removed all but the regular one apiece piercings in the ears and cover the tattoos most of the time.

But if one is going to art school then one is supposed to be funky - not frumpy!

Every time I go shopping these days I seem to spend my time cringing at the styles at the moment. It's not good.

It's the same as with you, I guess too. Rocky / punky other half, cool music friends and you're like the most staid one by comparison.

Some days are worse than others, is all I can say. Today was OK.

I've got loads of ear piercings and I do prefer funkier clothes. And my hair's a bit wild, if going a bit gray. I've only toned down the wardrobe a bit because I've gotten too fat for anything else. We've got other more staid people among the circle of friends- I'm just the one who's always too tired to stay out late.

But I don't necessarily think working in finance makes a person dull. I rather enjoy it, just because it gives me an outlet for my attention to detail.

What makes me feel lame and frumpy is that until a few years ago, I had a wonderfully thin figure and looked really young for my age- even still, people guess a decade too young- and I hate that it's such a struggle getting it back. But I'm going to, if it kills me.

How're you feeling today?

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that people that work in finance can't be funky!

It's just that it's never tempted me at all and I never imagined I'd ever do it.

Today I feel fine - had a productive day and have started to think through some of my issues, many of which have to do with my own presentation.

I like sort of laid back casual style - California thing like J. Aniston has got going on.
However, I am rather larger than she is. It's also come to my attention that it's a supremely 'groomed' look, which I've never been one for. So summertime is always difficult for me.

I can do elegant / funky etc in winter hands down. Summer I do frumpy, frizzy and uncomfortable far too often.

And I doubt you're bigger than me m'dear. I don't do imperial, but I'm not shy to say that I'm 160cm, and currently weigh 86kg. That's about 26 kg more than I should. Now, I am curvy and always have been, I carry the weight OK (most people would never imagine I weigh that much) and I have muscle definition and I can run a couple of miles without dying. So I"m not unfit and that is more important to me than the kilograms.

Now, I will catch up with you later tonight - I am now going to go for a run with the dog.

>Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that people that work in finance can't be funky!

Oh, no... I didn't quite take it that way. Just that a lot of people get the impression that we finance workers are boring, staid individuals, and we're not all that way.

I'm not as concerned with fitness at this point- I'm asthmatic so I'll never be athletic- as with looking and feeling better. But just like you, I can do funky in winter but summer is just frizzy and uncomfortable- and the stupid asthma makes it worse. Sometimes during summer I'm too uncomfortable to even try. I miss the old days when I could just slip into a sleeveless top and a loose skirt with some Mary Janes and be perfectly comfortable. Especially as I always worse my hair short in summer, but nowadays short hair isn't flattering because I'm too big.

Have a nice run!

Thanks, I did!

I have discovered that I quite like linen clothes in summer. One must stock up on the good stuff (i.e. 100% linen), like trousers and so on, and then one can wear dresses over those or cotton tops and look mildly smart whilst being comfortable.

I'd guess your office has air con same as places here, so it would only be on the way there / home that the temperature is an issue.

Dresses over trousers can be very flattering, also wrappy dresses. I don't know what shape you are but those will give anyone a nice line.

And my final tip is that it doesn't matter what size you are - wear what you want. Life is too short to worry about wobbly bits.

Oh and Paula Radcliffe is asthmatic.

She's one of the UK's top long distance runners, regularly wins the London marathon.

Ugh, and I can't run up a flight of stairs. I can swim all day long, but running triggers asthma. Maybe someday soon it won't. One lives in hope- the best I can manage these days is a half-assed jog.

We have central aircon in the office and at home. So it really is only the trip home that gets to me- the morning trip isn't always that bad. I just hate being sticky and frizzy. The trains can get a bit stuffy.

And art school sounds like fun.

I've been contemplating going back to school, to either get an MS in accounting or else to switch to something that I can't think of right now. Which is probably a good indication of how motivated I am, and what kind of hectic day I've had.

How far is your trip home? Is it bikeable?

I have about a 30-40 minute motorway drive, so it's not an option for me, but I've always wanted to try it.

Art school had better be fun! I'm going into it very decisively upbeat, which for me is kind of forced. It's not that I'm intending to like it all, but I am going to honestly try it all and try my best.

First year is only part time as it's a foundation / access thing so they wean us slowly off of real life. Well, that's what I'm telling myself.

I'm aiming for one of two things as a field of study and I'm ridiculously unsure which I'll do.

One is obviously photography and the other is interior design. I can better visualise myself as a photographer, mucking about and being all action girl, than being all sleek and suave and designery. But all I ever did with my Barbies was play design, as opposed to playing house. And same went for Lego and everything else. If I draw, it's interiors.

So I'm split. I seem to have this idea that photography would be more fun to study and also easier. But that's just bull, realistically I have no concrete basis for those thoughts.

I do admire many of the American people I know for their almost unmatched ability to plan and be ambitious. Europeans don't do 5 year plans - I should know, as instant-gratification girl (did you ever see 'Whose Line is it Anyway?' The UK version with the super hero game? That's who I'd be).

Anyway. My original point I was trying to make to you was that it's better to be healthy than thin, not that those are mutually exclusive. But it's easy to be unhealthy whilst fashionably skinny, but I appreciate that if the extra weight thing is new to you and brought on by illness that you might feel that your body isn't yours anymore. Mine's always been mine.

Distance-wise, the trip would be bikeable, during cooler weather, though perhaps not the trip there, since I don't have access to a shower or anything.

Interior design was actually always an interest of mine, even when I was fairly young. I lost interest in high school when I decided on another chosen course of study and career path (which ultimately didn't pan out, but such is life). Photography, though- having seen your photos, you've clearly got both technique and a good eye. It might seem like it'd be easier to study and more fun to do just because you've got inherent talent for it- and that might well be true. Ease isn't always an indicator of satisfaction, but fun definitely is. Hopefully during the course of your studies, it'll come to you which path is the right one to take.

You said something in your last sentence that sums up exactly how I've been feeling, for a few years now- "if the extra weight thing is new to you and brought on by illness that you might feel that your body isn't yours anymore". That's exactly it! I don't recognize myself anymore. I look nothing like me, I don't move like me, I don't feel like me, and I don't like what I've become.

I think the thing is though, although weight gain comes quickly, weight loss doesn't. You already control your diet quite stringently in terms of what you eat (vegetarian, veering towards vegan, cook lots yourself) - which I do too, to a lesser extent.

The thing with the allergies though, I find, is that being limited in what I can and can't eat, I don't want to limit myself any further.

So I eat dessert if I fancy it. I eat lots of carbs and dairy, not so much protein. That suits me quite well in terms of intake and I am happy with it. If I feel the need to 'diet' I start having a naughty day a week, with the rest of the week limited to no sugar and mostly veg.

But then, I run. Not as steadily as I'd like in terms of scheduling, but I do miss it when I don't. So my fitness level may be higher than yours, even if I weigh more.

Maybe that's what you should concentrate on first - before the weight loss - get a grip on the asthma.

Plus exercise is good for stress, energy levels, fitness, weight loss and general well being. Oh, and sex.
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Thank you again for the kind words about my pics. I've learned that the trick with photography is to shoot absolutely everything you see - and then to edit. We'll see what happens in the long term.