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28 octubre An evening with David SedarisMy friend and I went to see David Sedaris read from his recent writings last night at San Francisco War Memorial Theater. I have read most of his books and love his cutting, honest and hilarious sense of humor. One of my favorites is: Me Talk Pretty Some Day. It was such a pleasure to listen to him read. The theater was booked to capacity I think, holding several thousand people. We all laughed so hard as he recounted stories from his past, some as recent as this current book tour. I don't usually talk about politics on this blog, but he started reading from his recent piece from the NewYorker and I thought this exerpt about undecided voters for this presidential election was just priceless.
“I look at these people and can’t quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention? To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. 'Can I interest you in the chicken?' she asks. 'Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?' To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.”
23 octubre Fitblogging report #4: Size 14Well, that didn't take very long. I can't believe I have lost a full size already. I am now officially addicted to exercising! Last night was definitely an Epic OMG! moment for me. I haven't lost any weight on the scale in the past few weeks, eventhough I've been working out at the gym 5 days a week. I had bought a pair of pants size 16 without trying them on in the store. Last night when I put them on they were loose on me. I thought maybe it's just the brand. I went to my mom who is a size 14 and asked to try one of her pants on. It fit me just perfect. I was so happy I wanted to jump up and down.
I haven't been size 14 since my first year in college. That was eighteen years ago people. OMG! I am so happy.
If I can do this, anyone can do this. If you are thinking about being more fit and living healthy, here's what has been working for me:
1) Be more active. Pick something you like, walking, swimming, going to the gym, etc. and do it on a regular, no B.S. excuses basis. It may be hard in the beginning, but before you know it, it becomes part of your life and you don't want to go without. In the last six months I have lost ten pounds and two full dress sizes and I feel great. It really is worth it.
2) Eat more frequently but in lesser portions. I eat six times a day, three meals and three snacks, but in smaller portions. I don't diet. Something in me rebels when I tell myself you can't eat this. I eat whatever I want, just not too much of it.
3) make homemade meals and eat more fruits and vegetables. When you make your own food, you know exactly what you are putting in it and you can control the portions. I always gain weight when we eat out too much. You save money, eat healthier and lose weight. It's a win, win situation.
4) Instead of eating artificial sweets, try natural sweets: raisins, dates, honey, oranges, berries will satisfy your sweet tooth.
5) Instead of making plans with friends to go out to eat and drink, pick an activity you can do together. I am meeting my friends to go for walks now, instead of going to a restaurant to stuff our faces. We can still sit together after our walk and share some relaxing moments over a couple of cups of tea. In fact, I need to go get ready to see my friend to go for a walk.
When was the last time you went for a walk? 17 octubre New Flickr Homepage Makes Babies CryThe new Flickr Homepage redesign is making lots of Pro and casual Flickr users frustrated. I don't use Flickr, unless I am looking at others' pictures, so it doesn't affect my life directly. I hear though, that it is making babies cry! How is it working for you? 16 octubre Undeserving There is a monster that haunts my dreams; the nightmare that repeats and repeats. He whispers my worse fears, whispers until I scream. Then I wake up and see your face, the monster disappears without a trace. You are goodness, light and grace, you have the angels' soft embrace. But at night time the fear grows, and this secret the monster knows. I am afraid of losing you, for sins I may have done or do. Those above who decide our fate, may make their judgment in haste. They may look down upon me and take you away from me. I'll take any oath I need to, will give up everything I have too. I'll beg, steal and kill for you, if only they'd let me keep you. 13 octubre Fitblogging report #3 This time I really thought I had no more excuses left. The swollen ankle had been nursed and was on its way to recovery by taking Advils, using ice packs, and a good pair of tennis shoes that gave my ankles more support. There were no more trips planned for a while. So I started to go swimming everyday. I was walking to and from the swimming pool for about 20 minutes and then swimming for about 40 minutes. Great plan...which lasted about 5 days and then I got a cold. That cold put me out of commission for a whole week or so. The problem with being sick or being on the road is not that you necessarily gain weight. In fact, most of the time, especially when you are ill, you lose a couple of pounds or so. The problem with these interruptions is that your diet and exercise routine is broken and once you break out of that plan, it is hard to get back into it. You get lazy, and lose sight of your goals. Getting sick has always been the bane of any diet and exercise plan I've ever had. This time is different though. I am playing for keeps. Somehow I got my motivation back and I am happy to report, that I did get back to the routine. Last week I went to the gym for 5 days and the good news for me is that I haven't gained back any of the weight I lost during the summer. I am still a size 16. So here's my next goal: to lose another 10 pounds or a full size (whichever comes first) by the Christmas holidays. I think it's hard to say I want to lose 65 pounds in the next year. It is overwhelming when you look at the big picture, but concentrating on smaller goals that could be reached faster works best for me. My goal in the summer was to lose ten pounds in time for my cousin's wedding and fit in the dress I wore at Chris and Ponzi's wedding, right before I got pregnant. I achieved that goal and felt great. Next stop: size 14 by Christmas holidays!!! Wish me luck and good luck to all of you who are in the same boat as I am. It's a hard battle, but we shall prevail! I am going to the gym right now. When are you planning to go? 07 octubre The Shams Ensemble and VH1 100 Greatest HipHop songsLately it seems that the only music I hear is the sound of our cell phones' ringtones or the baby's toys singing ABCs or 123s or beepbeepboo. Sunday night though, we took my inlaws to see The Shams Ensemble, a traditional and mystic Persian Music group, in San Francisco.
Truth be told, I've never been a fan of Persian Classical and Folk music, disregarding it as something my parents' generation would listen to. I grew up listening to Persian Pop Music and my favorites have always been Dariush and Googoosh. My friend Teresa from TangoDiva was doing the PR and Press for this group in SF though and they were reciting some of Rumi's poems and had brought along some women who were allowed to perform on stage for the first time after the revolution in Iran. Partly to support my friend, partly to support the women's movement in Iran and partly to listen to Rumi's poems who is a favorite of mine and my mother-in-law's, I decided to go to the concert.
The Shams Ensemble's performance was above and beyond my expectations. Their music has a power to transcend cultural, social and political barriers and inspire peace and goodness. Here's one of the highlights of the concert. We had an incredible night and I felt spiritually rejuvenated after the concert.
Yesterday, I went to the gym after a long hiatus of being on the road and being sick and watched VH1's 100 Greatest HipHop songs Ever show on tv while fast walking on the threadmill for 45 minutes. Obviously, this was a completely different genre and completely different theme and mode, but man was I energized. I almost broke down dancing when they were playing the Humty Dumpty song.
It's great to have some music back in my life; I've been missing it for such a long time. A big shout out to the Shams Ensemble and VH1 for rocking my world for the last couple of days. 01 octubre INSTALLING A HUSBANDGot this email and had to share: Dear Tech Support, Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0. In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as: Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as: NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1. Also, Conversation 8.0 no longer runs and Housecleaning 2. 6 simply crashes the system. Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do? Signed, Desperate. DEAR DESPERATE , First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5 , Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Please note that Beer 6. 1 is a very bad program that will download the Farting and Snoring Loudly Beta. Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.) In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program, These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0. In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7. Good Luck! Tech Support |
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