3:40 pm The counting of points is proceeding well so far. I hate to do this to you all. Can anyone see where this is going? I promise to try to talk about other things besides weight watchers points, but it's a very readily available outlet for venting.
I'll try to keep it funny, how is that?
OK, so based on my weight, I am allowed 20 Weight Watchers points a day. That works out to 1000 calories. Which is, actually, not very much. I am allowed 1750 points as a sort of point "slush-fund" which can be spread out throughout the week evenly, or blown in an massive orgiastic festival of eating (or drinking) at one go. As of right now I have eaten 16 points, which leaves me with 4 for dinner. Which is, actually, not very much. The secret is that I go to the gym this evening which will give me latitude of 4 additional points for a total of eight. Eight is doable.
The thing is, I'm hungry now.
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Chaotic
There's been a lot going on. I did close on the house. I had the first walk-through the night before, but it's hard to do a real walk through when there are clothes and furniture everywhere, so I have to do a more thorough check of things this weekend. Loyal newyorquina readers will know that although I have closed, I do not yet have occupancy, because the seller is not able to move out until Saturday. The whole situation makes me a bit nervous, because after all is said and done it's going to be me which has to deal with anything that has to be fixed or changed. Being as it's my house now.
Closing was a funny experience. It's lots of people sitting in a room signing papers, passing things back and forth, everyone is the tiniest bit on edge, but at the same time it's the most mundane set of tasks. People exchanging checks, signing papers, asking questions.
I started packing officially yesterday. I have scheduled a yard sale, although that is only as good as the publicity I do, so there are plans to paper the neighborhood in fluorescent flyers starting this evening.
I have to-do lists, and a schedule of deadlines. I have obtained recommendations for movers, floor sanders, and insurance brokers. I had a bad moment in the middle of the closing when I informed my lawyer that I had not yet gotten homeowners insurance, but I was able to get that into place pretty easily. As complicated as it all seems, I am reminded that actually it's cake compared to how buying a house, like a real house with a roof and a yard and a sewage system, would be.
It is all very exciting and yet anxiety-inducing. In the midst of this there is an deeply ideological and very personally-felt culture war raging between myself and the guy I go out with AND I am starting a job search. I spent Sunday writing the first cover letter.
In the midst of all this, I am managing the thirteen week excercise plan pretty handily. As of today's workout I will be in to the third week. I have a list of scheduled days for working out on my refrigerator at home and in my office. When I do something, I fill in the space provided. So far that is very helpful. Also, I signed up for Weight Watchers online. This is something I resisted all through the times I was going to WW meetings, but lately, I have been more conscious of large meals, eating to assuage stress, and the tiniest bit of softness where before I was more angular. So I feel the need to start monitoring myself a little bit more. In a time of great flux, it might be comforting to implement control over one thing I often feel like I can't control, which is eating.
Closing was a funny experience. It's lots of people sitting in a room signing papers, passing things back and forth, everyone is the tiniest bit on edge, but at the same time it's the most mundane set of tasks. People exchanging checks, signing papers, asking questions.
I started packing officially yesterday. I have scheduled a yard sale, although that is only as good as the publicity I do, so there are plans to paper the neighborhood in fluorescent flyers starting this evening.
I have to-do lists, and a schedule of deadlines. I have obtained recommendations for movers, floor sanders, and insurance brokers. I had a bad moment in the middle of the closing when I informed my lawyer that I had not yet gotten homeowners insurance, but I was able to get that into place pretty easily. As complicated as it all seems, I am reminded that actually it's cake compared to how buying a house, like a real house with a roof and a yard and a sewage system, would be.
It is all very exciting and yet anxiety-inducing. In the midst of this there is an deeply ideological and very personally-felt culture war raging between myself and the guy I go out with AND I am starting a job search. I spent Sunday writing the first cover letter.
In the midst of all this, I am managing the thirteen week excercise plan pretty handily. As of today's workout I will be in to the third week. I have a list of scheduled days for working out on my refrigerator at home and in my office. When I do something, I fill in the space provided. So far that is very helpful. Also, I signed up for Weight Watchers online. This is something I resisted all through the times I was going to WW meetings, but lately, I have been more conscious of large meals, eating to assuage stress, and the tiniest bit of softness where before I was more angular. So I feel the need to start monitoring myself a little bit more. In a time of great flux, it might be comforting to implement control over one thing I often feel like I can't control, which is eating.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
The Liberal Media
Oddly enough, the first review that I read of Michael Moore's newest film, Fahrenheit 9/11 was in Fox News. And it's overwhelmingly positive. Moore's film takes aim at the Bush administration's handling of September 11 and rush to war in Iraq. Reviewer Roger Friedman says:
"It turns out to be a really brilliant piece of work, and a film that members of all political parties should see without fail. As much as some might try to marginalize this film as a screed against President George Bush, "F9/11" — as we saw last night — is a tribute to patriotism, to the American sense of duty — and at the same time a indictment of stupidity and avarice."
"It turns out to be a really brilliant piece of work, and a film that members of all political parties should see without fail. As much as some might try to marginalize this film as a screed against President George Bush, "F9/11" — as we saw last night — is a tribute to patriotism, to the American sense of duty — and at the same time a indictment of stupidity and avarice."
99 Rooms
For something a little creepy and at the same time beautiful visit the 99 Rooms. Just go look!
Via Tower of Hubris.
Via Tower of Hubris.
Summer Mornings
I love summer in June. By July or August, I'm sick of being hot and sweaty, sick of going out in and out of air conditioning, tired of the way you feel suffocated standing on the subway platform, or the rot of garbage on the curb, but the first few weeks of June are always wonderful for me.
I try to live without air conditioning because I love the feeling of waking up to a hot day when the windows are open. The way the floor feels on your feet when you step on it that first morning in June that you wake up to heat. It reminds me of visiting my grandmother in North Carolina and waking up in the front bedroom, that was filled with ancient cake tins, tupperware, afghans, and holiday decorations. The bed sagged in the middle and squeaked every time you moved, but the front window looked out onto her front porch and the porch swing, and the gigantic tree in the front yard.
Also, its lovely to be here in New York now that it's warm. Last night, I sat and ate dinner in Washington Square Park and walked across town to a literary reading, of all things. I was a great night to walk across town, to people watch, to watch the neighborhoods change. I have a friend who lives right next door to the Hell's Angels location, which is how I found her house. I was thinking, I know this is where a friend of mine lives, because I remember seeing the Hell's Angels the last time I was here. Then I did something almost unknown in New York, which was to call her home phone and announce I was in the neighborhood and could I come in and say hi? It's fitting because that's a very southern thing to do and she is my pal from South Carolina. She was ready with the bourbon. It was a perfect New York evening.
I try to live without air conditioning because I love the feeling of waking up to a hot day when the windows are open. The way the floor feels on your feet when you step on it that first morning in June that you wake up to heat. It reminds me of visiting my grandmother in North Carolina and waking up in the front bedroom, that was filled with ancient cake tins, tupperware, afghans, and holiday decorations. The bed sagged in the middle and squeaked every time you moved, but the front window looked out onto her front porch and the porch swing, and the gigantic tree in the front yard.
Also, its lovely to be here in New York now that it's warm. Last night, I sat and ate dinner in Washington Square Park and walked across town to a literary reading, of all things. I was a great night to walk across town, to people watch, to watch the neighborhoods change. I have a friend who lives right next door to the Hell's Angels location, which is how I found her house. I was thinking, I know this is where a friend of mine lives, because I remember seeing the Hell's Angels the last time I was here. Then I did something almost unknown in New York, which was to call her home phone and announce I was in the neighborhood and could I come in and say hi? It's fitting because that's a very southern thing to do and she is my pal from South Carolina. She was ready with the bourbon. It was a perfect New York evening.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
No Justice, No Peace
A nice round up of everything that is wrong with John Ashcroft on the New York Times Op-Ed page today by Paul Krugman.
Crunchie
I finished my Advanced III Spanish class last Wednesday, ending the eighth thirteen-week cycle in which I have haltingly and inexorably pursued my mastery of castellano. In the tortoise and the hare parable, I am definitely the tortoise, and I haven't finished the race yet. However, now having completed my course leaves me with the rest of the summer with no committed extracurricular activities. On Thursday I inaugurated a thirteen week commitment to physical activity, which seems to be a arc of activity that will be sustainable. My ventures into language have taught me the value of setting small goals. For example, if in 2001 when I started taking Spanish I had said to myself, by 2004 I would like to be able to argue in Spanish with an Argentinean boyfriend about the feminist critique of the marriage institution as it existed in medieval Europe, I would have thought, "I am setting myself an impossible task." Yet there I was in Borders last month, doing that very thing, in broken Spanish.
So, what this means in practice is that between now and September 2, I have committed myself to do something active every other day, or some reasonable approximation of that. Spreadsheets have been prepared for completion. Entries have been made in my Outlook calendar. Documentation will be kept contemporaneously. The idea is to alternate between swimming, weightlifting, walking and biking, with allowances made for vacations and travel days.
Anyhow, this was all meant as a lead-in to the workout I had in Crunch fitness on Thursday, when I and the said Argentinean fell victim to a slightly manipulative marketing strategy. I was going to explain why I thought Crunch fitness kind of sucked ass, and why I like my gym at the Y better, but I won't elaborate right now. Suffice it to say there is lots of red and purple and orange, loud techno music blasting, weird machines and lots of bulky men in the free weight room. I like the Y so much better. It has the feel of a real gym and not a fitness club. In fact it was a physical space built for physical activity, rather than the first floor of a cheesy apartment building built for various commercial uses. I think that was part of it.
So, what this means in practice is that between now and September 2, I have committed myself to do something active every other day, or some reasonable approximation of that. Spreadsheets have been prepared for completion. Entries have been made in my Outlook calendar. Documentation will be kept contemporaneously. The idea is to alternate between swimming, weightlifting, walking and biking, with allowances made for vacations and travel days.
Anyhow, this was all meant as a lead-in to the workout I had in Crunch fitness on Thursday, when I and the said Argentinean fell victim to a slightly manipulative marketing strategy. I was going to explain why I thought Crunch fitness kind of sucked ass, and why I like my gym at the Y better, but I won't elaborate right now. Suffice it to say there is lots of red and purple and orange, loud techno music blasting, weird machines and lots of bulky men in the free weight room. I like the Y so much better. It has the feel of a real gym and not a fitness club. In fact it was a physical space built for physical activity, rather than the first floor of a cheesy apartment building built for various commercial uses. I think that was part of it.
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Fat Camp
This New York Times article profiles one researcher that calls the obesity epidemic into question, suggesting that there are not necessarily more people who are obese. Rather the people who are obese are substantially heavier than they were in 1991, by 25 to 30 lbs. But the rest of the population remains pretty much the same.
Body weight, he says, is genetically determined, as tightly regulated as height. Genes control not only how much you eat but also the metabolic rate at which you burn food. When it comes to eating, free will is an illusion.
Body weight, he says, is genetically determined, as tightly regulated as height. Genes control not only how much you eat but also the metabolic rate at which you burn food. When it comes to eating, free will is an illusion.