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Reading week is over, and I’m now studying for two midterms.

After that incredibly peaceful weekend, the week kind of took a real busy turn. There was a work emergency on Monday that resulted in lots of stress. What at first appeared like a minor abnormality turned out to be the symptom of a very significant failure – and I’m literally the only one who can fix it.

The nature of this problem has meant I’ve taken a different tact with work. I’ve become very assertive. That’s not in my nature, but if I let others who don’t understand the problem at all decide how to solve it, I’m destined for loads of needless work and they more failures. Since you know, I’m the only one who actually knows how it works.

I did get to do more baking. I bought a stove-top waffle iron, which I had been eyeing for a few months. With it, I made whole-wheat waffles topped with cheesecake.

Which means I also made a cheesecake and coconut cream pie. Unfortunately, I screwed up the cheesecake. I included a water bath, which meant no more cracked top – but then it became extremely runny. I think next time I’ll include the water bath for 20 minutes of baking, then take it out.

I also found a random recipe on the back of my business card. So I made it! It turned out to be gingerbread cookies. Delicious.

I also made myself a grilled cheese sandwich with Brie cheese. I’ve been wanting to do that one for a while.

Coinciding with this three day marathon of bliss was Venus Envy‘s twelfth anniversary sale. Everything in store was 20% off. And they had free cupcakes. So of course I went and spent money I didn’t have.

Among the things I picked up was a book called Two Whole Cakes. It has the caption of “How to Stop Dieting and Learn to Love your Body”, which apparently the publisher tacked on and is somewhat misrepresentative of the contents. I’m okay with that though because it turns out the book was about something much better.

The title comes from an exchange the author encountered, where an individual proclaimed, in capitalized fashion, “SO YOU THINK IT’S TOTALLY OKAY FOR FAT PEOPLE TO EAT TWO WHOLE CAKES EVERY DAY?”

This absurd statement launches the author’s essay about her journey of accepting and loving herself, and a critique of the ignorance and fat shaming that pervades this society. Among some tidbits:

One diet book author who was moved to weight-loss salvation by an unflattering picture recommends that fat people get themselves photographed as a “reality check.” See, lots of people with substandard bodies are walking around feeling happy a lot of the time, and that’s a problem. Body culture tells us in no uncertain terms that fat people are not supposed to be happy; they are supposed to be ashamed. The notion of employing photography as a cure for happiness rests on the idea that seeing ourselves for the gargantuan monsters we really are will kill our lackadaisical contentment and eject us into a sad, dark void of self-loathing and body hatred, where we belong.

A more appropriate caption for the book would have been “How fat shaming is everywhere and how that’s really destructive.” Among the many topics she explores is the humiliation/dehumanization that’s seen as acceptable in the media because the fatness justifies it and double standards with eating disorders:

The actual number of fat people with eating disorders is unknown, as too often these practices are registered simply as diets. Technically, fat people can’t be diagnosed with anorexia no matter their degree of self-starvation because one of the diagnostic criterion is a failure to maintain at least 85 percent of the expected body weight for height and age.

I finished the book in a day and a half. It was the first time that I had read something by someone else whose views mirrored my rapidly evolving own and then went further. I gobbled it up.

We’d be so much better off if we treated weight like cholesterol levels. Where the only person who should give a flying fuck if one at all is you, and no one else would see you as any different. Where public discourse would be about being healthy and fit, which can be achieved at any size or any weight, rather than obesity and illness.

On that note, I made the really unhealthy cinnamon roll pancakes this morning. So good.

I’ve been really catching up on my baking!

Reading Week is about to start.

This semester has been a bit of a mixed bag. I ended up dropping my calculus class, putting me at four classes this semester. I did this because I calculated my ass-in-seat-time™ to be at around 45 hours. That was the time I spent at school in lectures and labs, as well as at work. It did not include the time required to do the four assignments per week I had. It was too much.

This was a great move. While I’m still ultra-busy, I no longer have stretches where I’d sleep for 3 hours a night, three nights in a row. As my calculus class is a prerequesite for most courses next semester, I’ll take it over the summer.

Apart from that, things have been good. I’ve been getting more involved in campus life. My family welcomed a new member, and I was made privy to some absolutely great news happening to close friends. I was able to be creative, and push out a small project. Things are really on a high.

I’ll be spending Reading Week at work, but it does mean I’ll have this weekend to myself! With Family Day, that’s three days of freedom (usually I did work-work on Saturdays, homework on Sundays.) I celebrated the start of this break by baking some caramel apple scones.