Sunday, September 29, 2013

Dream: Sudden, Unexpected Downpours

I'm standing in the back doorway of my childhood home looking out.  There are two people sitting at a wooden picnic table in the backyard, in front of me and slightly to my right.  One is a man and one is a much older woman.

I look at the sky in the west, while the sun is setting in the opposite direction in the east.*   The view is amazing.  There is much moisture in the sky.  I see a rainbow in front of a line of white clouds.  The rainbow itself is straight, not curved.  And in front of that I see floating islands of dark grey clouds with long, smokey tendrils hanging down.  And I can see volumes of sudden, intermittent heavy rain, too.

I call out to the two people, "Sudden downpours are coming!"  But they carry on talking as if I they didn't hear me.

And then the rain does come, heavy and pounding, so I step all the way inside and close the door.


* Apparently, the entire house and the land it's on is turned around in the opposite direction.  Or the sun really does set in the east in this dream world!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Wednesday Weigh-In 20130926

I ate half a bag of potato chips last night right before going to bed. I'll decline to describe the size of the bag to spare myself some embarrassment. One way to can prevent this is to make sure there are no chips in the house. Another way is to go to bed right after supper. Staying up late is sure to bring about the temptation to eat things I shouldn't.
Waist = 38.0"
Height = 5' 9"

References:
  1. Wikipedia BMI page
  2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
  3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Dream: Aunt & Uncle at NYC Church

It is Christmas time.  My wife, daughter and I are driving through NYC on our way home.  We decide to stop and visit a church.

I'm walking up a double-wide set of outdoor concrete stairs, which are covered by snow.  I consider stopping to clear them, but instead I decide to continue on my way.

I enter the church with my daughter.  I had dropped off my wife and plan to meet her inside.  But it's so crowded that I enter a smaller chapel adjacent to the main sanctuary.  Hopefully my wife will find us, but I doubt it.

My daughter begins talking nonsense.  The fact that she's loud and saying bizarre things makes her seem blasphemous.  I try to quiet her down.

As I sit passing the time, I suddenly see Uncle D. and Aunt E. walking toward us, dressed in Sunday attire.  I catch their attention and they walk over to me and greet me.  I kiss my aunt's somewhat ancient hand, and I move to hug and kiss my uncle, but he leans away.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Mindless Games

At first I thought to title this "Mind Games."  But that phrase has negative connotations of manipulating another person.  In my case, there's no other person.  And it's not so much manipulation as it is boredom management.

The gist is that when I do something that requires little thought, my mind plays games.

For example, when I take my lunch time walk, my mind will seize upon a thought or idea and chew upon it as if were a wad of gum.  When I visit the local cemeteries, I'll read off the names on the markers as would a school teacher calling out names for attendance.  The teacher is invariably an annoyed, bored and insensitive middle-school gym teacher, one who likes to crack jokes and one for whom English was not his best subject.

"Stein" "Gladstone" "Cohen" "Ginsberg" "Fleiss"  "What the hell is this, a synagogue?  You guys wanna send out for some bagels or sumthin?"  I've had gym teachers like that, actually.

Cleaning out the litter boxes, I'll be entertained by various scenes from "The Karate Kid."  It probably started by associating the drudgery with all those chores that Danny had to do in exchange for learning karate, such as waxing cars (wax on, wax off), painting the fence, and scrubbing the deck.  But now, arbitrary scenes from the movie (and its successor) effortlessly pop into my head.

Does your mind do this, too?  What chores are most likely to get your mind chewing gum?  What do you think about?

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Wednesday Weigh-In 20130919

I've been taking lunch time walks while the weather is nice. And my wife didn't bring home too much ice cream last week. So I've had a chance to reverse the recent weight gain.
Waist = 37.75"
Height = 5' 9"

References:
  1. Wikipedia BMI page
  2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
  3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Wednesday Weigh-In 20130913

I've been really lax, both in performing the weigh-ins on time, and with maintaining a good diet and exercising. Hence the increasing numbers. This week was especially bad with the pizza. Normally, I eat just the pizza topping and discard the entire crust. But on Tuesday, I ate the crust as well. By crust, I mean the entire bread part, not just the outer rim of the piece.
Waist = 38.0"
Height = 5' 9"

References:
  1. Wikipedia BMI page
  2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
  3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Wednesday Weigh-In 20130904

Potato chips are another food that's contributing to my recent weight gain.

Waist = 37.75"
Height = 5' 9"

References:
  1. Wikipedia BMI page
  2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
  3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.