Downtrodden

"HELP! I'm being oppressed!" That's one of my favorite lines from Monty Python (also, one of the only ones I know).

Went back to Weight Watchers today - the first time since getting back from vacation. I gained 3 pounds. It stinks. Yes, I was on vacation for a week. Yes, AF was visiting. It still stinks, though. Pouring organic sea salt into the wound was another celebration of a woman making lifetime member by losing a whopping 21 pounds. Twenty-one freaking pounds, people!

What was the ticket for her? Exercise and not eating crap. Thanks, ma'am. Yeah, she's one of those people who have a problem with the food that they are eating, not with eating in general. She is not an IT-getter.

One of the reasons that I generally love the WW meeting I attend is that the leader and the assistants are all IT-getters. They've all lost lots of weight (out of the 5, I think the smallest amount lost was 75 lbs) and been able to maintain that loss for years. The leader lost 115 lbs! She's awesome. I very much admire her.

Anyways, I was just so down the whole meeting and then when I came home I just broke down, sobbing, all the pain deep in my soul coming in these body-wracking gasps and moans. John Dear tried to be helpful and comforting - he really is a dear. He even made The Boy come sit with me and give me doggy kisses.

This 40 pounds might as well be 40,000. It just seems like it will never come off, we'll never be able to do treatments and we'll never have a baby. It all just stinks right now.

"Everything is horrible. I'm really depressed. I'm really downtrodden. I'm downtrodden squared. Boo hoo. Boo hoo. Boo hoo. The whole world is doomed. Yeah, we're all gonna die!" -- Denis Leary

I'm just trying to pick myself up and get back to the basics of the program. My fitness goal this week is to exercise every day from Sunday - Thursday. My food goal is to record everything I'm eating this week. Hopefully, it will make a difference.

Book Review - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

I was eager to read this book because I really enjoyed Michael Chabon's latest, The Yiddish Policemen's Union. Plus, K&C won the Pulitzer Prize, so you'd think this book should be as amazing as the title says.

Was it good? Yes with hesitancy. I really enjoyed the story and the characters - for the first half of the book. The first half of the book was tightly packed and concise, much like the comic books that the title characters are responsible for. Then it seemed like the book ran away from the author and just travelled all over the place. Threads unravelled and were loosely knotted together.

There didn't seem to be a reason for much of the whirlwind activity in the second half of the book - a pregnancy, an abandonment, a betrayal, true lives unlived. Even one of the title characters stresses the importance of the story and their relation to character motivation. Maybe he was speaking to the author?

I suppose the unravelling of the story matches the unravelling of the world around these characters in and around World War II. It's not that I was looking for a happy ending, just one that made sense in the story. It seems as if the author got through 800 pages of a story and then said, well, the book ran away from me, so I better just wrap it up now.

I liked it, but it wouldn't be the first on my recommendations list.

647

Answer: The number of unread posts waiting for me when I got back from vacation.

You internets have been busy while I've been gone.

Reading, reading, reading.

Happy Anniversary

We're sunburned and exhausted from our hike up Diamond Head, but happy to be together for another year. Today's plans include: breakfast, lounging by the pool underneath an umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh, lunch, more lounging by the pool underneath a burka (or lead shield), tea w/ pastries, nap, special dinner.

View at sunset from Rt. 99 driving northeast towards the North Shore of Oahu

Aloha

Yeah. That's right. Arrive in Honolulu at 9:30 PM (that's 3:30 in the morning our time), to find that John Dear's bag had safely made the trip, but that mine was still on the ground back in DC. I was none too thrilled.

The hotel is beautiful and I'll be posting pics upon my return if not sooner.

UPDATE: Bag arrived at 3:30 PM when JD and I returned from our couples' massage. Yay!

Visits

The past few days have been spent catching up with friends who live far away. Yay! I love when people visit!

A, a friend from law school, was down here for a couple days to visit with friends and family, as well as do some stuff for work. It was sooo good to see her! We wound up spending about 3 1/2 hours sitting outside a Starbucks talking about anything and everything. On Monday night, a bunch of us from law school ate dinner together and had a great time.

Last night, we spent the evening with Roger, home for a few days before he returns to school. As always, it was wonderful and way too short. John Dear's parents wound up walking into the restaurant as we were finishing our meal, so they sat down with us. After JD's parents left, we went back to Roger's house for dessert and hours of talk with Roger and his parents. I had a lovely time, but wish we could just have Roger to ourselves. He is so on the go, I guess all of us in his life feel that way. :)

Things on the home front are going OK; we're getting along well and there have been no arguments. I'm sort of getting antsy about it though, like I'm anticipating a big fight soon. Maybe it's just stress as we get ready for this weekend and vacation.

That's right! We're going on vacation. To Hawaii! I'm so excited! Never been there and we are staying at the hotel from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Before we leave though, BFF, JD and I will be seeing Maroon 5, Counting Crows and Sara Bareilles. Yay!!

Bliss

Oh yeah. Definitely one of my gaggle of husbands. What am I up to now? 4? 5?