Benjamin J Newland

I've been out of town for my past two birthdays (Colorado for 35, Belize for 36), so this year Jieun has been bugging me to do something special. Of course, in her mind "something special" means a fancy (and expensive) dinner. I don't think what I've come up with here is what she was imagining, but hey, it's my birthday!


So I started to plan something fun, and since my Birthday is the day after the MLKJr. holiday, I decided to make it a whole day with Jieun and our four closest friends in the area. One of the most significant things to happen to me this past year is my commissioning as an Army Reserve Chaplain, so I set out to compose a vaguely military invitation to the day. I began by listing the addresses and times of the places I'd made reservations, but before long a theme developed and things had gotten totally out of hand. I've read this three times now and it still makes me laugh (self-entertaining is one of my finer points), so I've decided to share it with you.

Thus: http://bit.ly/wfiNW6

I rearrange my furniture about twice a year. I do this even if I like the way the furniture is already. I'm not sure if this is genetic, or some mutation that has crept into my psyche since it was birthed, but it is a thing, either way.

So yesterday, looking for something to do that my brain would accept (Brain: No! I don't wanna write!), I laid into the gaming cupboard, the pantry, and my bookshelves. The most exciting thing is that I relocated and/or gave away a bunch of books that weren't novels and that J and I didn't need or want anymore. My speculative fiction library now gets the whole corner full of shelves!

As you can see, there are a couple rows of shelves that still need filling, but this is a project I'm happy to embark upon. After mopping the floor of the whole condo (le sigh) I swapped my reading chair for my writing desk, in hopes that my brain wouldn't notice and would happily write things the next time I went to that spot (Brain: Wait, what?)

During the second week of October I’ll be attending a week-long professional development conference called CREDO. Sponsored by the Church Pension Group (official motto: “And You Thought Apple Had a Large Cash Reserve”), CREDO is a multi-faceted vocational retreat, including financial, spiritual, health, and educational components.

CREDO is fairly involved—there are plenty of tasks to complete before the conference even begins. One of those tasks is to collect and submit several pieces of health data. I went into the lab last Tuesday to donate a small amount of blood for testing. Later that evening I checked my email and had a message from my doctor. Apparently I failed the blood test.

High Cholesterol is a fairly common problem. I’m sure many of you have dealt with it. I’m told I have too many LDLs (the bad kind): you’re allowed 100 of these bad boys and I have 191. I can either start taking cholesterol controlling medication or I can radically change my diet. I don’t like the idea of taking a pill every day for the rest of my life, though obviously I will if I have to. I’ve decided to try fixing my eating habits first, and getting more exercise. The exercise part is easy for me; I actually enjoy many kinds of physical activities—it’s just a matter of making the time.

The food part is very much more difficult. I’m not on a specific diet, I just have a set of rules that I have to follow very strictly until those LDLs stop having a party in my veins. 1) minimal to no cholesterol. 2) minimal fats in general. 3) minimal sugar/simple carbs. And 4) less salt. Essentially, I can eat chicken or fish, steamed vegetables, and whole grains.

The new regimen is seriously annoying, but has led to two interesting developments this past week. First, in an effort to make steamed chicken and broccoli more appetizing, I went through my collection of recipes and pulled out all the low-fat sauces I could find. There were actually a great many of these. I am compiling a personal recipe book which I have dubbed The Sauceonomicon. I will be sharing these recipes occasionally here on this BenZen.

Second, to motivate myself towards more exercise, I’ve entered a race at the end of October called the Gladiator Rock & Run. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Warrior Dash? Same idea. It’s a 5k run with 14 different obstacles along the way. You run awhile, you climb over a giant pile of old tires. You run a bit more, you scale an 8 foot wall. More running, and a scramble over cargo-netting draped shipping containers. Finally, a mud crawl over the finish line. It’s like an obstacle course for adults. Adults who are a little crazy.

If you, like me, are a little crazy, come join me! I’ve set up a team (The New Land Manifesto) so we can all test the course together. Shoot me an email and I’ll send you the details.