Today I tested out a new theory at Weight Watchers. Last week, I had shown a gain of some 4.8 pounds. Last week I wore my blue jeans instead of my usual khakis. This week I wore khakis instead. The scale showed a loss of 7 pounds. Based on my Sherlock Holmesian deductive skill, I deduce that the real story is that I lost 2 pounds, rather than gaining 5 and losing 7. This restores my faith in corn dogs and sesame WASA crackers, not to mention sushi, turkey, and murg tikka. I find it curious that in many ways I eat more luxuriantly (but in smaller portions) than I did in heavier days.
Today's absurdist Weight Watchers lecture, done with flair by an elementary school teacher, included a recital of how many "points" the Peeps product consumes. They are, not surprisingly, quite compatible with the program when used in moderation.
This puts my total weight loss at 64 pounds, and propels me to within 17 pounds of the upper range of the "target" weight my doctor wrote on the note some few weeks ago. I hope to achieve that goal by the middle of next year.
I stopped by for the waning afternoon of the Heard Natural Science Center's annual Native Plant Sale. Although most of the plants had been sold, I picked up a dozen or so
native plants--most fairly obscure, which may give some hint why they were still on the sale table. We have had very good fortune with our flowers from that sale, although an effort at making understory trees work in full sun failed miserably. Our new crape myrtles, though non-native, have sprouted leaves, indicating that they weathered their first winter. Now if they can weather August and September, they will be established.
Bea, Ted and I took a walk. A toddler assured me that Bea has sharp claws, although I am reasonably certain said toddler has no direct data on this topic. Bea and Ted watched with rapt attention while a labrador fetched tennis balls mid-pond, but as yet show no inclination for swimming.
This weekend I saw my first scissortail flycatchers, the true harbinger of Spring, remixed a song in an approximation of the "techno" dance style, truly enjoyed refreshing my acquaintance with 1 Corinthians 12th Chapter, a universalist manifesto, but lofted a prayer admitting utter disbelief about the passage in chapter 14 or so imploring women not to speak in church, continued to read the Chronicles of Narnia, working into a Horse and his Boy, and learned how to use the beats per minute counter in my studio software. My current fantasy is to make an ambient album about feeder guppies, and I plan to make that dream come true.
I played my blitz chess rating back over 1400, switching to the 1 e3 2 d3 opening that
I use when I am trying to defend my way out of poor results. My goal this week is to schedule a chess tournament in May or June. I got a nice myspace message from Sara Hickman's husband, which made me appreciate what a help a supportive spouse must be to a musician, as, for that matter, supportive spouses help technical writers and attorneys.
I seem to have some adware invading me through IE that my software is not catching, so that will give me a good project this week.
A huge peaceful demonstration took place in Dallas today, protesting Congressional short-sightedness about immigration policy. In our town, we are some twenty five miles away, thus we just learned about it on the news.
I reconciled myself to largely get over myself, and not to take things to heart that don't matter. Life is simply too short to be quite so self-obsessed.