Shamefest Update and Official Announcements

I have two announcements today. One is affiliated with a post from last week, while the other is in relation to a post I wrote back in September of this year. Both are extraordinarily good news and both I'm excited to share.

First off, I have an update on my potential new writing gig. It turns out I will be writing for the Play section of the Anchorage Daily News after all as a freelancer, and my first assignment will likely be previewing Ludacris' upcoming show. For a person who really started writing again because of my incessant need to over share, actually being paid to do so is quite surreal. Quite literally, I am a journalist now. Or I suppose I will be once I actually get paid for it.

Second off, I have an update on Joanne, Cate, Lorna and I's weight loss campaign called Shamefest 2009. While I got off to a rather inauspicious start, as I a ballooned four pounds in the first week, I have since responded with vigor and tenacity. Every week I've either stayed flat or I've lost weight, dropping from my second week weight of 221 down to 207 at this point. Not only that, but I'm back to running sub 6 minute single miles while my endurance is up as well (1.5 miles in 9 minutes and forty six seconds) and I've gotten my strength near pre-Europe levels.

It turns out when you go to Europe for a month and only walk from place to place and eat tons of food, you don't lose a lot of weight, and it makes you really not want to work out upon your return. It's taken me that long to get back on the horse, so to speak. Throw in the fact that I've now added the stellar Group Centergy class taught by my friend Stephanie to my repertoire, and even my flexibility and core strength have improved dramatically.

So yeah...it's been a pretty quality couple months for me. I'm really looking forward to keeping all of this going as I move along as well. Assuming I don't rediscover my passionate love of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and become illiterate over night, I should be fairly safe.

Going Legit

This past weekend I was departing Middle Way Cafe after scarfing down another of their tasty avocado breakfast burritos when a stranger stopped me.

Guy: Slicedfriedgold?
Me (wondering who the hell would be named such a thing): Ummm....
Guy: It's me, DJ Encyclopedia Brown
Me (realizing this is a Twitter friend): Oh...hey there.
Guy: Your name is David right? I'm Spencer.
Me: Oh yeah, Spencer Shroyer right? From the ADN?
Guy: Yeah...let me give you a business card.

Of course, I'm perplexed. Why am I getting a business card? This was a similar situation to a few years back while on a ferry to Victoria, British Columbia when a really intense looking man with a shaved head came up to my car, knocked on the window and said "Are you Shaft?" and turned out to be someone I played Counter-Strike with. Except far less creepy and much cooler. Why was it cooler?

Well, it turns out I may possibly end up writing for the Anchorage Daily News as a freelancer. I'd be writing about music and pop culture, which is pretty much my thing. I have not actually been officially added on as a freelancer yet and it only would pay a minimal amount per piece I write, but I felt I needed to share. If I do get hired on, I'll have to learn how to write. That part is problematic, at best.

Hopefully I become the Bill Simmons of the ADN, as my friend Erik suggested. I really cannot imagine something I could want more than that. Okay...there are a few things (the ability to fly, a golden ticket that allowed me to get on any airplane first class, a debit card with infinity dollars on it, other things that will go unrevealed) I'd want more, but this is better because it's real.