Ahh, in the immortal words of the idiot savant David Lee Roth:

I get up, and nothin' gets me down!

The fog has been cleared: I have financial aid to pursue studies in accounting in 2019. It has been trying:

My student advocate thought I still needed my high school transcript and ACT scores although I was already admitted to the University the day prior;

The academic advisor I was assigned has all the work ethic of an unwilling or unable approach;

And the financial aid analyst sent me a form letter denial without doing her homework first.

Fortunately, this isn't my first rodeo as I've been in and around the University of Memphis for the past 22 years, sans that Alaskan Call to Adventure—though I still had FB ties to professors and staff! I've done everything for the University except play organized sports—even in that, I took 4 PE classes and used its rec center regularly. There's been a full spectrum:

1. Undergraduate student
2. Scholarship worker
3. Tested the concrete poured for a parking garage on campus for a summer gig at a civil engineering firm
4. IT employee (2x)
5. Graduate student
6. Graduate assistant
7. Taught a couple sections of English

—I even waited for the cable guy to show up to install broadband access at President Raines' house.

And yes, I was at the Liberty Bowl when we beat Peyton Manning's #6 Tennessee Vols. I could very well bleed Tiger Blue.

During this application process, it allowed me to review my past academic history. I won't lie: it amuses me that my LOWEST score on the ACT was the same subject I taught and once pursued a PhD. Oh, English: we've had such a winding relationship over the years. And think: the AP committee in high school initially wouldn't let me into its AP English class until my Dad went to the mat for me.

All that aside, the English is a waste of time. I'll choose GAAP over MLA any day of the week. Take that to the bank. For I am now in development for the future. As it has been sung by Guns N' Roses:

Yesterday's got nothin' for me,
Old pictures that I'll always see.
I ain't got time to reminisce old novelties.

2020: An evolved and enhanced me.

I am examining what to do with potential disappointment. How should I respond if my initial thrust is thwarted? First off, I should actively refuse to slide into an emotional mire. Emotions that don't inspire a call to action aren't particularly useful to me. But, I am unable to cast emotions aside completely for I am dealing specifically with a core thrust toward the future and clearly, it involves heartbreak. There are those whose response is a copious amounts of tacos.

That's not me.

Look, if it happens, I'll acknowledge that the path is closed off. It's not a loss, a setback, or a failure for frankly, nothing has pushed me backward. Honestly, it's more akin to an opportunity cost, so in this context, I would be able to reconsider alternatives. That said, its ambiguity should not creep into my other efforts—seems, obviously, right? But, emotions left unchecked can nudge toward multiple points of failure. Take yesterday morning for instance: my 3:50 AM went off and I actually considered sleeping in to not only skip my accounting studies, but also the workout thereafter. While there's an intrinsic connection tied between my studies and my weightloss regimen for I consider both under the training umbrella—those pencils aren't going to push themselves—clearly, there's not a direct link!

With regards to yesterday's training, I kept moving.

I am wary of this timespan. I am just 10 days from tying my 86-day diet streak. Back then, I feel like I do now, I was riding for weeks on a momentum of success until I indulged myself with some pork rinds and ribs. Days later, I fell off a cliff at a Chinese buffet, a lapse that basically stole most of July and August from me before I could return to my current rhythm.

I simply don't want that greasy success: cooked-to-rubber bits-and-pieces of butter sponges under heat lamps with all of humanity pawing over it. And frankly, I abhor butter; it's the culinary equivalent of nails on chalkboard.

Isn't that the tricky thing about food: our emotions say, "Great job! You did it!" On a fundamental level, our emotions confuse pleasure with success. On some level, we don't view food as the fuel, but see it as the destination.

In 2019, you'll see me at 155. Clearly, I have no interest in stopping this weightloss train.

...and this is a night train. I cut through the nocturnal, across the deepest hours past midnight. While a lone wolf beneath the glow of the moon, I find that disappointments just cultivate backstory. That rumbling sound you hear off in the distance is me making a break for daylight. "I don't care if it takes all night. Gonna set this town alight, c'mon!"

Two weeks from now, I'll climb atop that medical scale of mine, and see what kind of results I pulled in The 5th Expedition. It won't be close to the production of The 4th Expedition, a sixweek lb loss of 14.9%, the best out of all Expeditions.

That said, I would like to beat out The Second Expedition's 10.8%. Though the two periods dealt with different weights, I may have a shot at beating it. While the first half of The Second was comparable to my current calories, I experimented with a keto diet and was about 242 calories a day more than I do now (1185 kcal). But on the flip side, I spent more of mornings in my cardio...

And quite honestly, with 2/3's of the way there, there's not a lot that I can do; I should beat it, however. That aside, it's a milestone, not a destination. For all the pavement that I've passed this year, I've got a long ride ahead. And big picture: it's just a component of what I'm trying to accomplish. Yet, I really do hope I'm around 215 in two weeks, putting me in striking range for a sub-200 New Year's.

What Happens in the Monomyth When the Supernatural Aid Just Doesn't Show Up?

While I thought my future was multi-pronged, things are in doubt. Yesterday, my biggest issue was just that I was pressing to have time to get prepared for The First Day of School. Yet now, pivotal questions have arose regarding financial aid. While previously I had it on authority that everything was good, in practice, this gambler may be out of aces. I've made an inquiry and I'll see in the next few days which fork in these woods I'll take.

I don't care "'cause when the feelin's right, I'm gonna run all night."