Back in the very first issue of Neil Gaiman's groundbreaking Sandman comic book series, the story ends with a character being punished with the Curse of Eternal Waking. You might think, from the name, that he is cursed to never sleep again. That isn't the case, though. Rather, he is cursed with endlessly finding himself trapped in a nightmare and waking in terror, only to find that he is still dreaming and trapped in another nightmare, on and on for all eternity. I bought that issue back in January of 1989 when it first came out, and that ending has haunted me forever. 

Apparently the same idea haunts Steven Moffat as well, and he thought it would make the perfect theme for a Christmas special. Huh? Let's talk about that.

For the first nine months of this ridiculous project, my weight dropped slowly and steadily (with the normal expected daily fluctuations). Then around last Christmas it pretty much leveled out and I assumed I was done losing weight and that my body had found its new normal. I was perfectly fine with this. I started strength training and actually bulked up a bit, building muscle mass and gaining back the right kind of weight. I was also perfectly fine with this. In the past month or so, though, I have begun trending back downward again. In fact, I am currently beck to within 1 lb of my lowest weight since starting this project, which is... disorienting. I keep saying I don't care about any specific number, that this has never been about weight per-se, and my rational brain absolutely believes that. But my crazed target-oriented brain is totally locked in on maybe pulling off a late rally and finishing this project on a serious high note (or, I guess, low note as the case may be). With only a month left to go, where will I end up? Time will tell.

Anyway, I also watched the season finale today for the Twelfth Doctor's first season this morning. So let's talk about that.

I have been very clear from the start that this ridiculous project isn't about weight, and that although I am tracking number as a gross indicator I do not have any specific goal other than "feel better". I keep on saying it (because it's true), but that doesn't change the fact that it made me ridiculously happy this morning when I registered the lowest weight and lowest five-day moving average weight since mid-February when I added strength training to my routine. I am vain enough to admit that, yes, I would be very pleased if I were to drop just a bit further. That doesn't change the fact that I am perfectly happy with the results I have achieved thus far, I think it just makes me human. Not a whole lot I can do about that.

As for Doctor Who today, well: Danny Pink died. Let's talk about that.

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

William Blake's The Tyger is so much more entertaining than today's episode of Doctor Who. So let's talk about that.

After having gotten back on track yesterday, I almost blew it today. I just couldn't drag my butt out of bed at 6am, and my son had an early doctor appointment (which, ironically, caused me to miss my early Doctor appointment.) I managed to squeeze in my fifty five minutes on the treadmill over my lunch break, though, so I am still on track to finish this ridiculous project on Monday, August 6th.

As for my viewing today, of course it included an "are you my mummy" joke. So let's talk about that.

It's Independence Day, a day off from work for me (notwithstanding the fact that I did, in fact, fix several bugs and do a code deployment to Production), so I took advantage and did another two-fer today in order to catch up. As of this moment I am on target to complete this ridiculous project on Monday, August 6th. That, of course, presumes that I will not miss any days between now and then. I am so going to take a nap on the plane to Vegas on August 7th...

So anyway, let's talk about Doctor Who.

Holy cow, it's five minutes to midnight and I need to go to bed. So. let's talk Doctor Who?

Today was my first "twofer". Because I have a two-week business trip planned in August, and I very much want to complete this ridiculous project before I go party in Vegas for two weeks, I needed to pick up two extra days to put me on target for completing on August 6th. So this morning I put in a full 99 minutes on the treadmill and watched two episodes back-to-back. That's the first time I have ever done that (not counting the whole classic era where the episodes were only 24-25 minutes apiece.)

So let's talk about a good one and a bad one.