Yup, I had another visit from the police last night, this time the one who'd just driven past my house before. He drooled over my sword collection. "I've never known a girl who liked edged weapons before!" he said in a voice heavy with surprise.

I got my hair cut today, and went even shorter. It's now right below my ears, and I'm in love with it. I did some blond highlights again, but nowhere near as much, and I think that I'm not going to bother with them next time. The red I'm having put on now is pretty electric, and I really don't need the blond effects.

My weight loss is finally starting to show. I've been going really heavy on the weights in the hopes of building my muscle mass and upping my metabolism. I read in a walking magazine that a 3% increase in muscle mass gives you a 7% increase in metabolism.

I used to be extremely serious about the weightlifting and bodybuilding during college. I trained really hard and heavy, and even did some training for a bodybuilding competition, though I chickened out at the last minute. (And then kicked myself after going to see the contest, because I probably would have placed pretty easily.) But I've been away from any sort of serious weight training for at least five years, and probably closer to about seven. But I'm amazed at how quickly my strength is coming back. It's almost like the muscles had a certain strength programmed into them after all of the training, and just needed to be reminded of it. My leg strength is coming back amazingly fast. My goal is to get back to where I can squat the olympic bar with the big plates on it. (135 pounds.) I can already do the leg press with 2 big plates on either side, which was a total thrill for me. Weird to get excited about stuff that makes you hurt the next day, but I'm feeling a lot better than I've felt in a very long time. I've settled into a routine of working out which I think I'll be able to stick with for a long time--or at least as long as I'm living where I am now. I've lost about 8 pounds now; I'd like to lose about 15 more.

Of course it helps to know that it will be appreciated.