Oh Glorious Post 200

All hail it in it's full glory, this is the 200th post of my current blogs tenure.
What started off as a poker blog with minimal updates back in June and July of last year has morphed into something that occasionally talks about poker but focuses more on life in general.

This particular run started in November and saw me establish a routine of actually keeping up with writing and gaining some loyal followers (38 subscribed and many others who follow anonymously).

Looking back on my first post I see that I had a lofty goal of trying to post at least once per week and starting to hit the gym again.  In regards to the gym that's still one of my goals.  I did it for a month and gave up and I really want to start it up again but laziness behooves me to stay at home in the A/C (which has not worked since Friday FFS) and watch TV shows on Blu-Ray, play Video Games, read books and Comic Books and whatever else I can find to pass the day away other than getting healthier.
In regards to posting once a week it appears as though what I really meant to say was "once per day" as it's become such a routine for me to shit down and type away my daily thoughts.

In November I also posted about my love for The Lord of the Rings which I'd like to give a short expansion on now.  I'm now up to 4 copies owned of the movies which really wasn't my plan.  Buying the regular editions on DVD when they came out and then years later when they started releasing the extended editions, special collectors edition extended editions with book ends and other goodies at Best Buy, I splurged on all of those as well.  Then Blu-Ray came along and I ended up waiting for the Extended Editions before actually purchasing again because I thought I'd be saving myself money.  Well 9 months later I found myself buying the regular editions as Best Buy (once again) released something I desperately needed - Steelbooks.  yes, each movie with it's own steelbook looking pretty as a MFer and being that they were on sale and then a week later on sale further I gave into temptation - I now own 4 copies of Lord of the Rings (and oddly enough, all 4 copies are sealed).  To this day I have never watched the Extended Editions - though I hope to reconcile that soon with a one day marathon.

One of my more popular posts was about how I won my dog in a game of craps.
November was a decent month for me, it was the start of something beautiful.  Wordy, but beautiful.

The only thing I want to point out in December was that this is when I was introduced to C.S. Splitter who I think is an excellent up and coming author. In a post I talked about his first two books which I really think everyone should go out and read.  Upon introduction I was told I'd probably like his one book and where to get it for free, instead I paid for a copy (99 cents - balla!) and downloaded it for my Kindle Fire and immediately afterwards went and grabbed his second book.  Since then I have been in communication with Splitter and actually feel like I have developed a friendship from our interactions.
I bought both books the day they hit print and am told that they are getting lots of autographs - From the cover artist, from the editor and from the author as well.  I'll believe that the day they actually show back up in my mailbox though :)
The 3rd book is probably coming out sometime around September and once again I'll pick it up the day it comes out - not only because I love Splitters writing style but because I've heard rumblings that there is a a character based loosely off of me in the book (and I understand I will not be dying a horrible violent death).  This will have me giddy to no end and I can't wait to read it and tell the world (by world I mean my 50ish readers give or take) about it.  So, once again - everyone reading this that has not downloaded a copy of it should go and do so.  both books won't set you back the price of a Subway foot-long I believe.

On Feb 29th (that's right, Leap Fucking Day Biznitches) I posted about how I hit 25 followers and 10k page views.  Both of those are serious milestones to someone like me.  Back when I started this blog I was getting like 10 hits a year and had one follower - Carmel - but I felt like she didn't count because we were dating and she was practically required to follow my blog so that it wasn't so lonely.
However, here I sit now with 38 followers of the Cult of grrouchie and almost 35,000 page views in total awe that you all keep coming back to read my babble.  I'm addicted to your comments - and if you read between the lines this means LEAVE MORE COMMENTS!!! heh, do whatever you want - I just had to beg once :)

So, back to present day instead of harping on the past.  This is a long post already and that last sentence means that it's about to get longer.  That's right - you can't split this post in two. You can't have a 200th post part one and 200th post part two.  Part two would be 201 and thus ruin the whole continuity of everything. It would probably rip a hole in the space/titty continuum (two u's back to back - that's one messed up word right there. It's right up there with hemorrhoid with the RRH in the middle) and ruin life as we know it.

I originally wanted to talk about my debt a lot on this blog but have pretty much ignored it and left it out like a bastard step child.  However I am down to under 3 grand in non-house debt and that's pretty damned exciting.  I consider myself debt free when I only have the house to worry about and as a Dave Ramsey devotee I will go outside and make a nice and loud primal scream and then move on with my life.

Now that the debt is basically gone I have a new focus in my life and that is getting healthier.  As I hit 300 pounds I realized that I was within a few cheeseburgers of a heart attack and that shit kind of scares me.
I truly believe that I'm immortal (until proven otherwise) but hitting 300 and at the same time reading about Lightning talking about his heart attack - it got me a bit motivated.

Since that point I have dropped over 20 pounds, I am close to dropping a pant size, I'm still not exercising but baby steps people.  I didn't get fat over night and I won't get thin over night either.  Well, honestly, I won't get thin at all.  But I'll become less fat.

By the way - I wrote this immediately after post #198 but won't publish it until after post #199 which I'm thinking about writing right now just so I can get #200 out of the way.
Someday's I have nothing better to do than just sit and babble.

I'll leave you with this final thought (probably):
As I trudge on towards financial freedom I hope to post about how I am investing in my future and letting you all watch my money grow so that I don't have to be a broke joke when it comes time to retirement (which is the pace I am on now - giving hand jobs for warm sandwiches).
As I trudge towards a healthier me you will all have to suffer about how tasty my salad was and how I measured out exactly one tablespoon just to realize how f'n ridiculous it is to have that as a serving size when eating a large bowl full of lettuce.
As I trudge towards just being a better person in general I won't mention any of that shit at all, instead you'll get to hear about the stuff that I hate, what pisses me off and how small my penis really is.

grrouch out readers!