Wednesday, April 30

Post 1152, Day 120 of 2014
- 1,216 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Music appreciation night. First, a local band of excellent musician/friends at the local Big Mall's World of Beer (checking it out for an i am Fool gig in six weeks). One thing about this place: It's in a mall. The other thing is, it is my only local source of Schmaltz Brewery's He'brew Messiah, the Chosen beer, and my favorite (not big on beer). The band (Los Blancos) was great, too.

Then on to Al's Wine and Whiskey Bar, for more musician/friends, and reggae. I had a nice glass of Irish single-malt, and called it a night.

A night off, no playing. Just friends, music, and really good alcohol. 

I'm so grateful for all the good things going on in my life. Sometimes I feel unworthy of being me.

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 Food and Diet Section

January to June, 2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         205.0 lbs

Previous Weight:        207.0 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      - 2.0 lbs

Diet Comment

Yesterday's on-plan eating brings quick results.

Food Log 

Breakfast
A cinnamon Quest bar. (This is a low-calorie, low-carb, sugar-free, all-natural, stevia-sweetened, mostly organic protein bar using great ingredients that I can get locally at a decent price (less expensive than most of the shitty protein bars out there - that I love so much and make me fat). Luckily, it tastes just good enough, no better, or I'd eat these things at every meal**.)  **No snarking because I had one at lunch today, too.

Lunch
At Ling-Ling's Chinese Buffet and Grill:

Brussels sprouts, kimchee, and, from the "Mongolian Grill", my go-to dish: pork and chicken with cabbage, onions, mushrooms, green peppers and broccoli. This is the same meal, and the same picture, as always. Not shown: A cinnamon Quest bar.

Snack
Pepperoni and cheese. 

Dinner

Grass-fed beef burger, Baby kale sauteed in tomato-garlic oil, and cole slaw.

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 110+ oz  Also: One bottle of Messiah beer, and one pour of Redbreast 12yo Irish whiskey.

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Tuesday, April 29

Post 1152, Day 119 of 2014
- 1,214 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

At rehearsal tonight, J., i am Fool's songwriter, lead guitarist, lead vocalist and frontman had notes for everybody from last Friday's (great) performance.

Everybody but me. He had no notes. Everybody else made fun of me because of it.

I would be laughing, too, if I weren't so busy polishing my halo.

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 Food and Diet Section

January to June, 2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         207.0 lbs

Previous Weight:        205.0 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      + 2.0 lbs

Diet Comment

Uh-oh! Capping a week of bad eating means I have to get serious now, and toe the line.

Food Log 

Breakfast
A BioTrust Protein bar.

Lunch

Roasted turkey breast  on baby kale, baby spinach and chard, cole slaw mix, shaved cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.

Snack
Almonds. 

Dinner

Very late dinner: Cheese and pepperoni and cole slaw and almonds. 

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 96+ oz

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Monday, April 28

Post 1151, Day 118 of 2014
- 1,213 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

My little personal form of Buddhism is missing a basic tenet of the tradition: Community. I do not seek out the community of like-thinking or similar-minded Buddhists (which prevents me from finding out if there are any).

It's a personal thing with me, and it may mean, as I've long suspected, that I'm a bad Buddhist. 

But it isn't that I don't seek community altogether. I do. I just don't seek the community of like-thinking or similar-minded Buddhists.

You don't have to be like me to have value to me. That's a good thing.

Here's a bonus video:

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 Food and Diet Section

January to June, 2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         205.0 lbs

Previous Weight:        204.2 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      + 0.8 lbs

Diet Comment

Sum of bad weekend eating.

Food Log 

Breakfast
A kale protein shake (almond-coconut milk, kale, raw organic cacao powder, hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), chia gel, whey powder (24g protein), cinnamon, celery and stevia-inulin blend.

Lunch

Tuna salad (line-caught tuna, celery, home-made mayonnaise) on baby kale, baby spinach and chard.

Dinner

At Ironwood: A Romaine salad (with fire-roasted red peppers, cherry tomatoes, pepperoncini, fresh mozzarella, grated Parmesan Reggiano, and garlic vinaigrette dressing) and a Mitigan pizza (with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, onions, and black olives) and a dish of tiramisu gelato. 

Snack
Almonds. 

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 84+ oz  and a nice glass of Pinot Noir.

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Sunday, April 27

Post 1150, Day 117 of 2014
- 1,212 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Skipped a day due to post-gig tiredness/laziness. I have no problem staying energized for gigs, but I don't recover very quickly.

Speaking of which, there's a good chance that, rather than blog meaningless drivel (what I consider worthless stuff, not what you consider worthless, which might be everything I write), that I will skip blogging on days that I have nothing to say.

Which means you've seen the last Daily Comment like this one.

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 Food and Diet Section

January to June, 2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         204.2 lbs

Previous Weight:        204.4 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      - 0.2 lbs

Diet Comment

Well, I ate a lot of crap the last few days, but not too bad.

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch

Baby kale, onions, peppers, and cheese with garlic-tomato oil omelet, with quinoa and lentil pilaf and organic bacon. Not shown: A BioTrust Organic Protein Bar.

Snack
Pepperoni. 

Dinner

Almonds and dark chocolate.

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 60+ oz

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Friday, April 25

Post 1149, Day 115 of 2014
- 1,210 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Gig night with i am Fool!

It was a very good gig, poorly attended, but those who came were very enthusiastic, and the band sounded very, very good. I was particularly pleased that we had a pretty relentless groove, and John (the drummer) and I sat nicely in the pocket.

We had people come who had only heard us on CD, and they sang along with their favorite songs - that was pretty cool, and pretty new for the band.

Very gratifying, and, of course, I'm very grateful.

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 Food and Diet Section

January to June, 2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         203.2 lbs

Previous Weight:        204.8 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      - 1.6 lbs

Diet Comment

Daily weight variation is the norm - look at the chart.

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch

Spinach, baby kale, onions, peppers, Swiss cheese and scrambled eggs with garlic-tomato oil on toasted Ezekiel 4:9 Flax sprouted grain bread.

Snack
A BioTrust Organic Protein Bar.

Dinner

Pepperoni and organic Swiss cheese with celery and home-made mayonnaise.

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 94+ oz

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Thursday, April 24

Post 1148, Day 113 of 2014
- 1,208 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Last night's gig was just as good as I had hoped, and, on top of that, I got some new pics out of the deal. The one above was taken on a phone, and I have no idea how he got the collage. Ain't technology grand?

Aside: I am still amazed at how, at this stage of my life, I have become the subject of so much photo-documentation. As is typical of me and my life, it's an unexpected by-product, and, hopefully, not much of an embarrassment to my son. It is a complete surprise to me.

There's something about low-volume percussion support that works really well for me, and the band, too. We hear each other better, and... differently.

Tonight I went to one of my regular open mics, and when I walked through the door, they asked if I would be the house bass player, so I ended up playing with an unusual number of different acts. Even though there were no musically memorable moments, I managed to get that timeless 'now' feeling that comes to me when I play. As always, when I feel that, it feels good!

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 Food and Diet Section

January to June, 2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         204.8 lbs

Previous Weight:        203.4 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      + 1.4 lbs

Diet Comment

I knew this was coming, even while enjoying yesterday's on-plan food. I knew by the timing (and from the extra salt that comes into my diet via restaurant meals) that today's weight would be up. No biggie. One day, nothing more.

Food Log 

Breakfast
Two BioTrust Organic Protein Bars.

Lunch
Cheese, almonds, and a salad of baby kale, baby spinach, chard and balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner

Pepperoni and organic Swiss cheese with celery and home-made mayonnaise.

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 94+ oz

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Wednesday, April 23

Post 1147, Day 112 of 2014
- 1,207 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I used to worship at the altar of 'cool'. Cool was what I wanted to be, how I wanted to be perceived.

Cool was the unit of measure that determined the appeal of things to me. 

My, my, how times have changed. I'm in no danger of being cool by my former standards. However, those old days when it was really important to me have left me with some useful behavior.

For one, I don't catastrophize things. I mean, not normally. 

When my second marriage broke up suddenly, and I saw the ruins that had been my whole adult life, I fell apart. I couldn't sleep - I was marginally effective, at best, in handling anything, and I wasn't coping well. I had a little push in that direction from my best friend, who specializes in seeing the worst in any situation, and whose only comfort was to tell me that when he was in the Army, lack of sleep was one of the few excuses for non-performance. He also comforted me by taking me out to dinner and giving me his assessment of my situation: "You are totally, completely and permanently fucked."

It took a few long conversations with my brother to haul me back off the emotional precipice this situation and that bleak view left me on.

That is the last time I looked at anything short of natural disaster as 'catastrophic' in social/emotional terms. That's a good thing.

Which naturally leads me to anotherAnother important residual benefit of my little obsession with Cool comes from my definition of cool, meaning being both competent and a bit detached and unemotional in any situation, including fight-or-flight emergencies. 

Now, I'm pretty much unflappable in the face of bad events. I cope. I handle. My response is measured and considered, whatever emotional response I might have is background; and I have been tested.

This drove my second wife crazy - she thought if you didn't have an emotional response (always, seemingly, a negative emotional response), it was because you had no emotions.

But it makes me very efficient when dealing with emergency situations, like when an amp caught fire at a gig I was at, and other people were yelling and, yes, fleeing for the exits (it really wasn't that big of a fire), I walked over and pulled the plug, then smothered the fire with the amplifier's cover. 

Then finished the song (the guitar player whose amp was smoked played 'air guitar' on his actual guitar, then borrowed an amp and laughed about the whole thing later).

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 Food and Diet Section

January to June, 2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         203.4 lbs

Previous Weight:        202.2 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      + 1.2 lbs

Diet Comment

Bad late-night snacking has undone me today. Today's restaurant meals are not going to help.

Food Log 

Breakfast
A kale protein shake (almond-coconut milk, kale, raw organic cacao powder, hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), chia gel, whey powder (24g protein), cinnamon and stevia-inulin blend). Special added ingredients: Almonds and celery.

Lunch
At Ling-Ling's Chinese Buffet and Grill:

Brussels sprouts, kimchee, and, from the "Mongolian Grill", my go-to dish: pork and chicken with cabbage, onions, mushrooms, green peppers and broccoli. This is the same meal, and the same picture, as always.

Snack

Pepperoni and cheese, almonds, and a salad of baby kale, baby spinach, chard and balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner

At Eskapes: Blackened salmon on a romaine, spinach, bacon and tomato salad, with sauteed spinach on the side.

Late-night snack

BioTrust protein bar.

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  32 oz.   Water: 64+ oz

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Tuesday, April 22

Post 1146, Day 111 of 2014
- 1,206 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

It seems to me that all our personal communication devices (I'm talking about personal computers, tablets, smartphones, cell-phones, you get the idea) are degrading human communications.

They put a porous layer of accessibility between people, which lets you easily communicate with remote people, but forces you to do so at the expense of interacting those immediately at-hand, creating an environment that favors reach over content, and information over intimacy.

I am grateful for the ease with which I can speak with (even see and speak with) my friends, family, or salesmen not near-at-hand. On the other hand, I am very dissatisfied with the way having 'private' conversations in public has become acceptable. Then, again, I also don't like wearing earphones in public (private listening in a public environment.

And having text conversations (texting, instant messaging, so on) is not really conversing, and has caused me a lot of confusion and misunderstanding, especially when there is a group involved (as in my bands). Possibly useful for simply communicating a fact (location, item, data, address, etc), discussion and debate aren't possible in this format.

Human communication actually requires colocation. And if your device is disconnecting you from your surroundings while you're active, its on you when you're eaten by a dinosaur.

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 Food and Diet Section

January to June, 2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         202.2 lbs

Previous Weight:        202.8 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      - 0.6 lbs

Diet Comment

Good day yesterday.

Food Log 

Breakfast
Two BioTrust protein bars.

Lunch

Roasted turkey on baby kale, spinach, chard, cole slaw mix, shaved parmesan, almonds and balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner

Pepperoni.

Late-night snack

Almonds and cheese and cole slaw.

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  32 oz.   Water: 96+ oz

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Monday, April 21

Post 1146, Day 111 of 2014
- 1,206 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Well, don't I live in exciting times. The US is turning into 18th Century France (pre-Revolution) except worse.  If the US government fails in my lifetime (I'm not talking about failing to live up to its ideals, either; I'm talking about the government being replaced by... something else), I'm screwed no matter where I am when that happens.

So party on now. 

I just finished an incredibly weekend of music, so I'm doing fine myself. 

I'm doing so well, I'm revisiting my retirement date. Maybe I'll push it out a few months until the weather's better for moving and traveling. Just thinkin', here.

Of course, having plans like that, I always have to remember that my plans mean little - a thousand-thousand and more things could make me change my direction, and there are almost 650 days (as of today) for any of those things to happen.

Maybe it helps that I visualize and try to move in my desired direction, but these things unfold like an O. Henry story. Even when everything works out in the end, there's a plot twist you didn't see coming to get there.

So, I assume, it will be for me.

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 Food and Diet Section

January to June, 2014 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         202.8 lbs

Previous Weight:        203.8 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      - 1.0 lbs

Diet Comment

Yesterday's off-but-mostly on gave results that seem like the average of the last few days eating - mostly off.

Food Log 

Breakfast
A kale protein shake (almond-coconut milk, kale, raw organic cacao powder, hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), chia GEL, whey powder (24g protein), cinnamon and stevia-inulin blend).

Lunch

Tuna salad on baby kale, spinach, chard and cole slaw mix.

Snack

Dark chocolate.

Dinner
Pepperoni, organic cheddar, celery and home-made spicy mayonnaise.

Liquid Intake

   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 90+ oz

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