I don't feel like it. But that's what the calendar tells me I am today.
I was telling someone a story the other day about something that happened on my cruise into the Panama Canal. It seems like that trip was just a couple years ago...but that is where I celebrated my thirtieth birthday. How on Earth can that be fifteen years ago? It certainly doesn't seem like that much time has passed.
I remember when forty-five seemed so old. Now, it seems young! I was tickled pink when a couple days ago, the folks sang Happy Birthday to Michelle Obama...Happy forty-fifth Birthday! Today, I'm the age of the First Lady! Can you believe it?! The folks running our country are my age! I'm their age! And we're so young!
Forty-five is a good number. Back when I was a kid, it was the number that produced music. We played our 45's all night long in my friends' basements. We danced and sang and laughed. In astronomy, M45 is the Pleiades - the Seven Sisters. You probably look at them every night in the winter and don't even know it. Jimmy Buffett writes about the Pleiades in Where Is Joe Merchant. The Japanese call the Pleiades "Subaru". If you drive one - or next time you're in a parking lot - look at the logo on the car then look in the night sky. You'll see the Seven Sisters dancing as they tease Orion by staying just out of his reach.
Yep - forty-five is a good number and this is a grand week. The Eagles. The President. My birthday. Definitely a week to celebrate!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
We Can! We Did!! Now Let's!!!
Did you see it? History. One of those "I was" moments that we will all be talking about years down the road. Only today, it wasn't a moment. It was an all-day affair and I couldn't get enough of it. It's official - we're moving forward with a new president, in a new direction, and a new attitude. And, it feels good.
We've got to keep the smiles and the positive thoughts in the days to come. But we've got to do more than that. It's time to actually do something. Our president has asked us to, so let's do it! You might be asking yourself what we can do. I say there is a lot we can do even if we start small.
I know that the readers of this blog have two interests weight-loss (which inherently leads right to food) and all things reading and writing. So, we've automatically got two avenues to take.
Those of us trying to lose weight can do ourselves a favor and help the hungry right now. Grab a bag and go out to your pantry right now. I bet you have at least one bag full of food that you shouldn't be eating if you're trying to lose weight. Pack it up and donate it to the local food bank tomorrow. While you're at it, go to the linen closet and bathroom cabinets. Food banks are in need of toilet paper, tooth paste, and deodorant. If you have any unopened packages of any of those, add them to your bag too, please.
Okay readers and writers, it's our turn. Libraries are very short-funded right now. All those books you've got taking up space - donate them. Some of them will end up on the shelves, some will end up in the annual fundraising sales allowing the library to purchase the books they need. If your area has a literacy association, check with them. They may collect books for annual book sales, too. Do you have two extra hours a week? That's enough time to help teach people to read! Again, check with your local literacy association or library. They can direct you to the literacy program offices in your area.
We can be the change. We can continue to make history. Let's do it!
We've got to keep the smiles and the positive thoughts in the days to come. But we've got to do more than that. It's time to actually do something. Our president has asked us to, so let's do it! You might be asking yourself what we can do. I say there is a lot we can do even if we start small.
I know that the readers of this blog have two interests weight-loss (which inherently leads right to food) and all things reading and writing. So, we've automatically got two avenues to take.
Those of us trying to lose weight can do ourselves a favor and help the hungry right now. Grab a bag and go out to your pantry right now. I bet you have at least one bag full of food that you shouldn't be eating if you're trying to lose weight. Pack it up and donate it to the local food bank tomorrow. While you're at it, go to the linen closet and bathroom cabinets. Food banks are in need of toilet paper, tooth paste, and deodorant. If you have any unopened packages of any of those, add them to your bag too, please.
Okay readers and writers, it's our turn. Libraries are very short-funded right now. All those books you've got taking up space - donate them. Some of them will end up on the shelves, some will end up in the annual fundraising sales allowing the library to purchase the books they need. If your area has a literacy association, check with them. They may collect books for annual book sales, too. Do you have two extra hours a week? That's enough time to help teach people to read! Again, check with your local literacy association or library. They can direct you to the literacy program offices in your area.
We can be the change. We can continue to make history. Let's do it!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Music to My Ears
The Eagles landed in Greenville for, as Glenn Frey put it, the Assisted Living tour tonight. For a bunch of sixty-somethings, those guys can still rock the house! The BI-LO Center was filled with a bunch of folks with sore knees, tired feet, and swollen ankles who were content to sit in their seats and enjoy the show. And that's what we all did. Sat down and had a fabulous evening!
If you've followed my posts, you know that I was ready to wet my pants several weeks ago when I got killer tickets to this show. I'd seen the Eagles when they came to town a few years ago. It was the best concert I'd ever seen. Until tonight. These guys get better with age!
First of all, it's just them. When you go to an Eagles' concert, you see the Eagles. They sing for three hours. They don't have an opening act - or two! They have a short ten or fifteen minute intermission between sets but that's it. But you get three solid hours of music. That you can hear and understand. Their vocals are so good that they don't need the bass to override their voices. Imagine that. Their four-part harmony is so pure that it will send chills through you.
The show behind them adds to the music rather than distracts! Again, nothing to hide the performance of the music itself. Last time they were here, it was four simple screens across the top of the stage. This time, it was one off to each side and a dome-shaped screen behind the stage. No dancers, no pyrotechnics, no flashing lights. More often shots of them. And, on rare occasion, a film that went along with the song. Like Dirty Laundry where all the tabloid reporters and ragsheets were flashed across the screens. But these guys are funny - and clever. So, they ended with their own hilarious tabloid headlines about themselves.
They did that throughout the night. Entertain. Make you think. Then make you laugh. But always make sure you enjoyed yourself. Isn't that a great lesson for a writer to walk away with?!
I had the time of my life tonight. Last time I saw them, it was a celebration - my first venture out after surviving my stroke. This time it was a celebration, too. This is a big week - the country is celebrating a phenomenal new start with a grand new leader. And, I am turning forty-five in a few days. Yeah, things just get better with age!
(btw - for those who read my earlier Eagles posts...it started snowing on the way home from the Eagles concert. I told you so!)
If you've followed my posts, you know that I was ready to wet my pants several weeks ago when I got killer tickets to this show. I'd seen the Eagles when they came to town a few years ago. It was the best concert I'd ever seen. Until tonight. These guys get better with age!
First of all, it's just them. When you go to an Eagles' concert, you see the Eagles. They sing for three hours. They don't have an opening act - or two! They have a short ten or fifteen minute intermission between sets but that's it. But you get three solid hours of music. That you can hear and understand. Their vocals are so good that they don't need the bass to override their voices. Imagine that. Their four-part harmony is so pure that it will send chills through you.
The show behind them adds to the music rather than distracts! Again, nothing to hide the performance of the music itself. Last time they were here, it was four simple screens across the top of the stage. This time, it was one off to each side and a dome-shaped screen behind the stage. No dancers, no pyrotechnics, no flashing lights. More often shots of them. And, on rare occasion, a film that went along with the song. Like Dirty Laundry where all the tabloid reporters and ragsheets were flashed across the screens. But these guys are funny - and clever. So, they ended with their own hilarious tabloid headlines about themselves.
They did that throughout the night. Entertain. Make you think. Then make you laugh. But always make sure you enjoyed yourself. Isn't that a great lesson for a writer to walk away with?!
I had the time of my life tonight. Last time I saw them, it was a celebration - my first venture out after surviving my stroke. This time it was a celebration, too. This is a big week - the country is celebrating a phenomenal new start with a grand new leader. And, I am turning forty-five in a few days. Yeah, things just get better with age!
(btw - for those who read my earlier Eagles posts...it started snowing on the way home from the Eagles concert. I told you so!)
Friday, January 16, 2009
I'm Activated!
Yesterday was the kick-off of Activate Upstate. I - along with 3000+ of my closest overweight friends - went to the local convention center to weigh in and get the new year off to a healthy start. For the next six weeks, we'll weigh in once a week. After that, it's once a month. The goal is to end up being losers!
I posted on New Years that I wanted to lose five pounds a month. Well...I'm happy to report that when I stepped on my scale yesterday morning, I had already lost five pounds this month! I am w-a-y ahead of schedule.
The key is to keep moving in the right direction. Heck - the key is to KEEP MOVING! That will ensure the scale heads in the right direction.
Good luck to everyone who is Getting Active! Wear your t-shirts with pride. Hope to see less of you next Friday when we hit the scales again.
I posted on New Years that I wanted to lose five pounds a month. Well...I'm happy to report that when I stepped on my scale yesterday morning, I had already lost five pounds this month! I am w-a-y ahead of schedule.
The key is to keep moving in the right direction. Heck - the key is to KEEP MOVING! That will ensure the scale heads in the right direction.
Good luck to everyone who is Getting Active! Wear your t-shirts with pride. Hope to see less of you next Friday when we hit the scales again.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
What the Health?!
The Upstate of South Carolina is gearing up for the kick-off of our annual fitness campaign. It's the time of year when everyone gets excited about it - the community weigh-in is always a big, fun event.
And from what I read in today's newspaper, there better be a helluva lot of people standing in line for that first weigh-in on Thursday! I was stunned to read the following:
"Greenville may be a wonderful place to live -- but it's not a healthy one. A health assessment from Greenville Forward showed skyrocketing diabetes and heart disease rates and a nearly 60 percent obesity rate -- the fifth highest in the nation." Dana R. Ray, MD
WHAT?! Can that be right? I mean, I know it's wrong in oh so many ways! But can that statistic be correct? I just read on AOL's homepage that there are more people in the US classified as obese than overweight for the first time in history.
Are the healthy really the minority in this country now? Apparently they are in Greenville! Well, I'm making it my mission to join the minority! I've already registered for Activate Upstate. It's just another tool in my toolbox for getting healthy and reaching my goal this year. I'll post my progress after each of the weekly weigh-ins.
I hope the majority of you out there join me in becoming part of the minority...for the health of it!
And from what I read in today's newspaper, there better be a helluva lot of people standing in line for that first weigh-in on Thursday! I was stunned to read the following:
"Greenville may be a wonderful place to live -- but it's not a healthy one. A health assessment from Greenville Forward showed skyrocketing diabetes and heart disease rates and a nearly 60 percent obesity rate -- the fifth highest in the nation." Dana R. Ray, MD
WHAT?! Can that be right? I mean, I know it's wrong in oh so many ways! But can that statistic be correct? I just read on AOL's homepage that there are more people in the US classified as obese than overweight for the first time in history.
Are the healthy really the minority in this country now? Apparently they are in Greenville! Well, I'm making it my mission to join the minority! I've already registered for Activate Upstate. It's just another tool in my toolbox for getting healthy and reaching my goal this year. I'll post my progress after each of the weekly weigh-ins.
I hope the majority of you out there join me in becoming part of the minority...for the health of it!
Friday, January 9, 2009
I Can See Clearly Now...
...the bifocals are gone! But not before I went batcrap crazy and nearly crashed the car.
I didn't make it three weeks. I made it three additional days. And in those three days I hit the cement landing at the front of my garage (thank goodness it was there or I would have hit the bed on the other side of the wall at the front of my garage!), I knocked two bottles of Diet Pepsi off the table trying to catch them before they fell (from the flat surface), and I made a total ass out of myself asking to be moved from a table at one of our local restaurants. My family sat down to dinner, I looked at the table, and immediately asked to be moved. You should have seen the ridiculous slope of the table! Our dinners would have ended up on the floor in no time flat. The waitress looked at me like I was a loon. My parents laughed. I took off my glasses and saw the perfectly level table. My vision was getting "progressively" worse with the glasses - not better.
The glasses were not right because the prescription was wrong! Not sure whose prescription I got but it wasn't mine. I hope there's not someone else running around Greenville blind as a Magoo this week, too!
And BEST of all...I lost two chins just by returning the glasses! Now, I've only got the one extra chin to concentrate on getting rid of again! Life is good!
I didn't make it three weeks. I made it three additional days. And in those three days I hit the cement landing at the front of my garage (thank goodness it was there or I would have hit the bed on the other side of the wall at the front of my garage!), I knocked two bottles of Diet Pepsi off the table trying to catch them before they fell (from the flat surface), and I made a total ass out of myself asking to be moved from a table at one of our local restaurants. My family sat down to dinner, I looked at the table, and immediately asked to be moved. You should have seen the ridiculous slope of the table! Our dinners would have ended up on the floor in no time flat. The waitress looked at me like I was a loon. My parents laughed. I took off my glasses and saw the perfectly level table. My vision was getting "progressively" worse with the glasses - not better.
The glasses were not right because the prescription was wrong! Not sure whose prescription I got but it wasn't mine. I hope there's not someone else running around Greenville blind as a Magoo this week, too!
And BEST of all...I lost two chins just by returning the glasses! Now, I've only got the one extra chin to concentrate on getting rid of again! Life is good!
Monday, January 5, 2009
The Way I See Things
Very little is clear right now. And, everything is skewed a bit to the left. "Give it three weeks." THREE WEEKS!!! I'll be batcrap crazy in three weeks! Heck, I'll be batcrap crazy by this time tomorrow!!
I got progressive lenses today. Actually, I got them on Friday. I wore them on Saturday until I almost puked. They sat in the pretty glass case the rest of the weekend until the eye doctor's office opened this morning. I got a woman who actually knew - and cared about - what she was doing today. She adjusted the glasses correctly so I can see through them. (I told the gal on Friday they weren't adjusted correctly but she cared more about lunch than my lopsided lenses.) But, there seems to be a problem with the left lens - so when I look a the computer screen, it looks like the Star Wars screen. It's bigger on the left than on the right...kinda like the left side is coming in from outer space. I spent five minutes trying to fix my "bent" laptop screen before I realized I was about to bend it and break it and stopped. When I look at the dinner table, it looks like the left side is about four inches lower than the right side and everything is going to slide off the table and onto the floor. I've "caught" stuff from falling off the side table next to my chair. You know - the flat table where everything is laying safe and sound. (Come to think of it, I might already be batcrap crazy!!!!)
But here's the kicker...did you know that when you have progressive lenses you have to tilt your head down to see things?! OMG! I already have two chins! I don't need a third and fourth!!! Why don't these glasses come with warnings BEFORE you buy them? Guess I'll lower my goal weight by ten or fifteen pounds. (Thanks, doc!)
I'm not exactly sure what's magic about three weeks. I don't know if they think that my eyes will change or my brain will straighten out the crookedness of the left lens. In the meantime, I am fighting the urge to adjust every picture in my house and move every item on every flat surface. So if you come for a visit, please let me know if something really is crooked. (I'll take off my glasses and straighten it.) And, if you're going to take my picture, PLEASE remind me to lift my head so that you don't get a picture of me looking like one of those lizards running through the desert...the ones with their chins down to their chest and the skin flapping in the breeze. PLEASE.
I got progressive lenses today. Actually, I got them on Friday. I wore them on Saturday until I almost puked. They sat in the pretty glass case the rest of the weekend until the eye doctor's office opened this morning. I got a woman who actually knew - and cared about - what she was doing today. She adjusted the glasses correctly so I can see through them. (I told the gal on Friday they weren't adjusted correctly but she cared more about lunch than my lopsided lenses.) But, there seems to be a problem with the left lens - so when I look a the computer screen, it looks like the Star Wars screen. It's bigger on the left than on the right...kinda like the left side is coming in from outer space. I spent five minutes trying to fix my "bent" laptop screen before I realized I was about to bend it and break it and stopped. When I look at the dinner table, it looks like the left side is about four inches lower than the right side and everything is going to slide off the table and onto the floor. I've "caught" stuff from falling off the side table next to my chair. You know - the flat table where everything is laying safe and sound. (Come to think of it, I might already be batcrap crazy!!!!)
But here's the kicker...did you know that when you have progressive lenses you have to tilt your head down to see things?! OMG! I already have two chins! I don't need a third and fourth!!! Why don't these glasses come with warnings BEFORE you buy them? Guess I'll lower my goal weight by ten or fifteen pounds. (Thanks, doc!)
I'm not exactly sure what's magic about three weeks. I don't know if they think that my eyes will change or my brain will straighten out the crookedness of the left lens. In the meantime, I am fighting the urge to adjust every picture in my house and move every item on every flat surface. So if you come for a visit, please let me know if something really is crooked. (I'll take off my glasses and straighten it.) And, if you're going to take my picture, PLEASE remind me to lift my head so that you don't get a picture of me looking like one of those lizards running through the desert...the ones with their chins down to their chest and the skin flapping in the breeze. PLEASE.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Time To Make A New Plan, Stan!
It's New Years already! Where did 2008 go? It just flew by. So now it's time for all those positive thoughts and plans for a new year...a new start.
But let's look back for a minute. How was 2008? I had a pretty darn good year when all was said and done. First of all, I took THE BEST EVER vacation with my parents. We spent 3 weeks in Maui that were pure magic. Second of all, I finished my novel - I mean really finished it...in a way that makes me truly happy. Sing-song happy. I hope you will all be reading it one day soon - and that it will make you happy, too! I got thisclose to finishing my memoir in 2008. So it will be done very early in 2009. That was a big accomplishment in the year passed! I re-established a healthy exercise routine and dropped fifty pounds.
What about you? What were the good things that happened - that you created in your life - in 2008?
What are your plans for 2009?
I'm going to do the following:
But let's look back for a minute. How was 2008? I had a pretty darn good year when all was said and done. First of all, I took THE BEST EVER vacation with my parents. We spent 3 weeks in Maui that were pure magic. Second of all, I finished my novel - I mean really finished it...in a way that makes me truly happy. Sing-song happy. I hope you will all be reading it one day soon - and that it will make you happy, too! I got thisclose to finishing my memoir in 2008. So it will be done very early in 2009. That was a big accomplishment in the year passed! I re-established a healthy exercise routine and dropped fifty pounds.
What about you? What were the good things that happened - that you created in your life - in 2008?
What are your plans for 2009?
I'm going to do the following:
- Lose 5 pounds each month. That's 60 pounds next year! I'll almost be at goal by 2010! C'mon, 5 pounds! That is SO do-able!
- Finish my memoir by my birthday - January 22
- Have a Maui party and bring the joy of the island to my friends. (I had wanted to take my parents back to Maui this year but I got laid off in May and am still looking for a job. Instead of going to the island, the island will have to come to us this year! Remember when they told us that if you had a degree in computers you'd have a job for life? They lied! That's okay, I'm taking it as a sign that I'm supposed to be a writer - not a systems analyst.)
- NO plastic bags! I'm not taking any from any stores. (I read that the average person gets 700 plastic bags per year!)
- I am not going to cuss any more. I probably won't cuss any less, either - but I'm definitely not going to cuss any more!
To those of you that I was lucky enough to spend time with last year, THANKS! You added to a FABULOUS year in my life. I hope we cross paths again in 2009.
To everyone, I wish you a happy, healthy, fun and fabulous 2009! Go out and create the year you want! I'm going to!
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