#2576, Thursday, December 31, '20: No, really, happy New Year!

Post 2576

- 9 years and 366 days since I started this blog -

New Year's Eve, 2018 - Faro, Portugal

Daily Comment

I wasn't going to write anything, but really, whoever you are, I am grateful for you for reading my blog. You're a member of a very select few.

I hope the year increases your bounty of things to be grateful for. I hope your healthy and safe, and stay that way.

I hope your cup is full. If not, reach out your hand. I hope the new year quenches your thirst for all things.
 Happy New Year!

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    203.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (12/30/20):        203.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     - 0.0 lbs.

Diet Comment

I was traveling when the year started, and my weight of 200.3 pounds was an estimate based on the most recent actual weigh-in. This entire week, I have weighed the exact same 203 pounds - so, a 1.5% gain over this year's 366 days. That's quite okay. This is 51 pounds less than what I weighed exactly ten years ago.

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Thank you!

#2575, Wednesday, December 30, '20: Happy New Year

Post 2575

- 9 years and 365 days since I started this blog -

New Year's Eve, 2018 - Faro, Portugal

Daily Comment

Tomorrow will be a no-comment, weight-only post. That makes this the year's last comment.

The year before last (2019),  was, comparatively, a bad year. All the time I spent in Syracuse (about nine months), was negatively impacted by dearth of band activity. 

But, to paraphrase Monty Python, nobody expected the Pandemic of 2020. This has been, by far, the worst year of all the time I've been in Syracuse (twelve-and-a-half years now). 

2020 started out well enough: I made an end-of-year trip to LA, left for Chiang Mai, Thailand for there, back to LA for my 70th birthday, then, spent the month of February in Cuenca, Ecuador, a city I fell in love with and decided to move to. Also where I was when the Pandemic began.

After two days at home in Liverpool, including a night at the last real open mic I would see in 2020, it was down to Florida by way of a quick stop in North Carolina to see my friend Jerry.

I was in Florida about a week when things started shutting down. My three week visit turned into eleven, and my friends' generosity saved my sanity, maybe my life. 

The year might as well have ended then. 

But the pandemic put the kibosh on moving to Cuenca.

i did get a fun and engaging music project the entire month of July, but one week after it was done I was in the hospital, where I had open-heart surgery, a quintuple bypass .

The last third of the has been a mostly-perfect recovery. Pandemic closure bookended half a stint in cardiac rehab. Everything else has pretty much involved watching TV.

My investments have partially recovered from the beating they took when the pandemic started - they are behind the general market, but, given my investment goals, I'm still happy with my 7%-a-year capital appreciation and 12% annual dividend on my investment.

My mood of late has not been as joyful - I miss my friends and my scene and my traveling terribly - yet, at core, I'm fine. What I have defines me better than what i lack. 

I'm grateful for all that I have, and for the promise of another year.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    203.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (12/29/20):        203.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     - 0.0 lbs.

Diet Comment

No change, no comment.

Food Log

Breakfast
Skipped. 

Lunch
4:30pm: LEGO (lox, eggs, greens and onions): eggs, smoked salmon, spinach, Spring mix greens, onions), and oatmeal plus (steel-cut oats, chia seeds, hemp seeds, wild blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, cinnamon. stevia, kefir).

Dinner
8:40pm: Carrots with homemade mayonnaise, a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 2;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Water: 68+ oz.; 

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Thank you!

#2574, Tuesday, December 29, '20: No comment

Post 2574

- 9 years and 364 days since I started this blog -

New Year's Eve, 2018 - Faro, Portugal

Daily Comment

I've got nothing to say, but it's pkay.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    203.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (12/28/20):        203.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     - 0.0 lbs.

Diet Comment

No change, no comment.

Food Log

Breakfast
1:40pm: Greens, eggs and cheese, (eggs, spinach, kale, onions, peppers, mushrooms and parmesan cheese), and two slices of Ezekiel 4:9 Flax sprouted grain bread.

Lunch
Skipped. 

Dinner
8:30pm: My friend Jenn's venison chili and corn bread. Cauliflower-ish crust pizza with sausage and cheese (I have one more crust, then this will disappear. Not good).

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 2;   Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 64+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2573, Monday, December 28, '20: Old memory

Post 2573

- 9 years and 363 days since I started this blog -

New Year's Eve, 2018 - Faro, Portugal

Daily Comment

I remembered. something today - one of those. memories that seemingly comes with no prompting, no. stimulus.

I was in second grade. There was this kid, Stu - I can't remember his last name. He was, like me, an attention-seeking class clown. He used to try and get me in trouble.

Every time I tried to thwart him, he would go to the teacher and accuse me of doing what he did. If I tried to defend myself, he would talk over me.

What a dick. 

I got very frustrated. I wasn't a fighter, really, but if I'd thought I could beat him up, I would have. He didn't think I could either, or he wouldn't have done it in the. first place.

Luckily, it didn't last long - I stopped engaging, stopped talking with him. After first trying to provoke me, he got bored, I guess, and it stopped.

The memory came complete with emotional recall, and I had to do my 'letting go' exercise, because those emotions didn't serve me then, and certainly don't serve me now, sixty years later.

I'm grateful for all my past, which has delivered me to my 'Now'.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    203.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (12/24/20):        202.6 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     + 0.4 lbs.

Diet Comment

Big appetite ruled over the weekend - I'm lucky I didn't gain more weight.

Food Log

Breakfast
1:05pm: A LEO (eggs, smoked salmon, onions), and oatmeal with chia seeds, hemp seeds, wild blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, cinnamon, stevia and kefir.

Lunch
Skipped. 

Dinner
7:05pm: Vegetarian sloppy joe (Quorn Grounds, Wegman's 'Grandpa's Sauce', kale, spinach) and brussels sprouts with olive oil and shaved parmesan cheese. Also, a Quest bar.

Snack
10:30pm: Whipped cottage cheese with blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, walnuts, vanilla and stevia.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 2;   Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 84+ oz.; 

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Thank you!

#2572, Thursday, December 24, '20: Counting down

Post 2572

- 9 years and 359 days since I started this blog -

Christmas in the Chapel of Skulls, Faro, Portugal. December 28, 2018

Daily Comment

Let's face it - while the first two-and-a-half months of the year were wonderful, the rest has been pretty shitty.

Yes, July was saved by a one-off music project that, itself, failed, largely for technical reasons.

But once the pandemic reared its head in March, everything, pretty much, went to shit.

I'm not going to detail that too much. My health, social life, finances and plans all took heavy hits. All of these things will exit 2020 in far worse shape than when they entered it. 

I'm not complaining. I'm still here. I'm at an age where these things are not entirely unexpected, but there were levels to them that were.

I'm counting down the time until the arrival of 2021. I can't wait to put 2020 behind me, behind us. 2021 will be better, although the bar is very low.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to see the never-promised future, no matter what.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    202.6 lbs.

Previous Weight (12/23/20):        203.1 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     - 0.5 lbs.

Diet Comment

The week's first (and last, actually) recorded weight. Long weekend, back Monday.

Food Log

Breakfast
1:15pm: An ESSOM (eggs, smoked salmon, onions and mushrooms), and oatmeal deluxe (steel-cut oats, peanut butter, chia seeds, hemp seeds, wild blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, cinnamon and stevia) with kefir.

Lunch
5:30pm: A Quest bar. 

Dinner
8:40pm: Lentil curry on riced cauliflower and salad (arugula, cabbage, chard, kale, parmesan cheese, walnuts and creamy balsamic dressing).

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 72+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2571, Wednesday, December 23, '20: Merry Christmas

Post 2571

- 9 years and 358 days since I started this blog -

Christmas in the Chapel of Skulls, Faro, Portugal. December 28, 2018

Daily Comment

I got a 'visit' today from Santas Melissa and J. They dropped me off an 'i am Fool' nutcracker doll and a box of homemade Christmas cookies. Which I immediately ate because it was breakfast time. I ate the whole thing (it did take a while).

I also picked up a grocery order at BJ's, my first curb-side pick up, and it was almost okay (no idea why, but although they said my order was ready and gave me a pickup time three hours later, they didn't pick it until I was there and checked in, so I waited twenty-five minutes for my order to come out).

I generate Christmas spirit as needed. Historically, most of the Christmases have needed little of it - I'm a non-celebrant. I tried to spend Christmases away from home, and have been successful more times than not.

The exceptions have been while my marriages were intact, since both wives were Christians of some sort and made a big deal of the holiday. 

Except for one year when I rebelled against the idea of Christmas lights for the house, I always tried to match my wives level of Christmas enthusiasm. I regretted that one year's resistance - I was wrong, and only created tension by doing it - which I admitted/confessed, without feeling any forgiveness.

Anyway, this Christmas is, in many ways, unique. Unique for the various catastrophes that occurred and to a sad degree still plague us (pun intended). Interestingly, though, in the Time of Covid, I still feel some of the desperation that initially wholly represented the Christmas spirit to me, but the cause isn't the holiday this year.

I'm grateful for all that I have, and for the skill of giving little consideration to what I don't have.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    203.1 lbs.

Previous Weight (12/22/20):        203.1 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     + 0.0 lbs.

Diet Comment

Same, but disappointing. I haven't been able to post a loss this week.

Food Log

Breakfast
12:15pm: A box of Brazill family Christmas cookies.

Lunch
Skipped. 

Dinner
8:40pm: 93% lean grass-fed beef burger with coleslaw and brussels sprouts with olive oil and parmesan cheese.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 2;   Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 72+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2570, Tuesday, December 22, '20: No comment

Post 2570

- 9 years and 357 days since I started this blog -

Christmas in the Chapel of Skulls, Faro, Portugal. December 28, 2018

Daily Comment

I've got nothing to say, but it's okay.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    203.1 lbs.

Previous Weight (12/21/20):        201.7 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     + 1.4 lbs.

Diet Comment

Not what I wanted to see. I'm now going to have to take steps to lose weight - intermittent fasting comes to mind (two meals a day in an eight-nine hour window).

Food Log

Breakfast
1:45pm: Greens and eggs (spinach, kale, mushrooms, onions, peppers, eggs, parmesan cheese). Oatmeal deluxe (steel-cut oats, peanut butter, chia seeds, hemp seeds, wild blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, stevia) with kefir.

Lunch
Skipped. 

Dinner
8:10pm: 

Arugula, cabbage, chard, kale, spinach, roasted turkey breast, shaved parmesan cheese, walnuts and creamy balsamic dressing.. Not shown: A Quest bar

Snack
12:40am: Peanut butter and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 2;   Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 84+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2569, Monday, December 21, '20: Becoming boring

Post 2569

- 9 years and 356 days since I started this blog -

Christmas in the Chapel of Skulls, Faro, Portugal. December 28, 2018

Daily Comment

Boredom. It has set in to a degree, because I'm hitting a block on good television shows. I started watching two, and realized, hours in, that it was just shit.

I'm having some motivational problems doing anything, though.

So it goes. It isn't as though there aren't a few good (meaning, not completely irrelevant) distractions. I have friends who check in with me via video and phone. I have a few friends in need.

But this pandemic has largely freed my life from context. I'm more defined by what I'm not doing than what I am - at least, that's the way I feel. All previous-to-this-year self-defining activities have fallen by the wayside. 

I'm not a traveler, performing musician, social drinker, audience member, worker. While my relationships to people hasn't changed much, the way I interact with them has, largely falling away.

I feel a bit undefined. I feel a bit redefined, but in a non-progressive way. I've become something I would describe as a mush-brained couch potato.

Which is in the lower-middle hierarchical position of self-description - no self-harm, no destruction. Boring.

I'm grateful for what I am and what I have, not for what I was or could be, or what I want.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    201.7 lbs.

Previous Weight (12/18/20):        199.6 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     + 2.1 lbs.

Diet Comment

My appetite was borderline insatiable over the weekend - I feel like I spent the whole time eating. Comeback begins now.

Food Log

Breakfast
12:55pm: Scrambled eggs and turkey bacon. Oatmeal deluxe (steel-cut oats, peanut butter, chia seeds, hemp seeds, wild blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, stevia) with kefir.

Lunch
5:55pm: Carrots and homemade mayonnaise. A Quest bar. 

Dinner
9:20pm: 93% lean grass-fed burger with guacamole. Chopped salad (arugula, chard, kale, spinach, cabbage, parmesan cheese, walnuts, creamy balsamic dressing).

Snack
9:20pm: Cottage cheese and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 2;   Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 84+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2458, Friday, December 18, '20: Been bad

Post 2568

- 9 years and 353 days since I started this blog -

At the end of Friday's walk (Liverpool, NY) 

Daily Comment

It's been a week since I 'formally' exercised.

My fall off the routine began with me not feeling up to it after a bout of a-fib.

But, since early in the week it's been more about laziness.

This weekend, I'll do better. 

I think of times I really enjoyed exercising. The same environment (internal and external) is definitely missing these days.

Still, it's pretty important to my health to do it, so I will. Tomorrow.

I'm grateful for the confidence to move forward.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    199.6 lbs.

Previous Weight (12/17/20):        200.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     - 0.4 lbs.

Diet Comment

Closing out the week on a good note, a slight loss after a couple of good, but higher, readings.

Food Log

Breakfast
12:30pm: Chicken bone broth bowl with tofu, sliced almonds, walnuts, kale, quinoa, spicy broccoli, sriracha sprouts, shredded beets, roasted peppers, ginger and hardboiled egg. 

Lunch
Skipped. 

Dinner
8:10pm: Almonds, walnuts, manchego cheese, homemade coleslaw and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Water: 72+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2567, Thursday, December 17, '20: No. comment

Post 2567

- 9 years and 352 days since I started this blog -

At the end of Friday's walk (Liverpool, NY) 

Daily Comment

I've got nothing to say, but it's okay.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    200.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (12/16/20):        197.7 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     + 2.3 lbs.

Diet Comment

I think my episodes of a-fib over the weekend killed my appetite, and resulted in my weight loss. With new meds and no new episodes, my appetite has returned and yesterday I ate a lot (quantity-wise). Also, an unusually high-carb day, although they're all heart-friendly carbs, it was still high quality, high quantity. Today I see the resulting weight gain. It's okay.

Food Log

Breakfast
12:30pm: Scrambled eggs with turkey bacon. Oatmeal deluxe (steel-cut oats, peanut butter, chia seeds, hemp seeds, wild blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, stevia) with kefir. 

Lunch
6:45pm: Carrots and homemade mayonnaise. 

Dinner
8:10pm: Vegetarian sloppy joe (Quorn Grounds, Wegman's 'Grandpa's Sauce', kale, spinach) on edamame and mung bean fettuccini, with shaved parmesan, and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 2;   Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 84+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2566, Wednesday, December 16, '20: Not much, you?

Post 2566

- 9 years and 351 days since I started this blog -

At the end of Friday's walk (Liverpool, NY) 

Daily Comment

Thanks to exigent circumstances, things were interesting from the time I first came back home this year through the beginning of Autumn.

There was beginning to contemplate starting to downsize to move to Cuenca when I first got back. There was catching up on stuff, too. And, of course, all while navigating life in the new pandemic sea.

Then there was the Wandering project, finished by the beginning of August - luckily, as things turned out.

Because, before the dust had settled on that great musical time, I was entering my next stage of life - post-heart-attack (I'm not going to quibble about not ever having an actual 'attack'. Even if atypically symptom-free, I went to the ER). 

There were ten completely weird weeks of living at my friend/benefactor J.'s house, an exercise I thought I completed with minimum drama.

And coming home, in October, to a somewhat new life, having new restrictions that changed my previous home motto of "Don't do what you don't want to" to "Do what you can." Early on, that wasn't much. 

I began watching lots of TV, and, to give myself something productive to do, adding in a little day-trading. It wasn't very profitable, though. I'm not that good at it. When it turned into a loss, at the same time becoming more distracting, I cut it out.

Then Cardiac Rehab started up, as the Covid-19 restrictions relaxed a little bit and cases started dropping. That gave me some schedule structure, which, it turns out, was the worst part of it. Now that's gone.

And nothing's really replaced the entertainments and distractions I've culled. I'm watching more TV than ever before in my life. I feel like my brain is turning to mush. Nothing is happening.

So the title of this day's post reflects my ongoing answer to the question, "What's new?"

I'm grateful for the opportunity to see that change.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    197.7 lbs.

Previous Weight (12/15/20):        197.7 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     - 0.0 lbs.

Diet Comment

I'm no longer very concerned by my weight loss over the weekend, having achieved some stability. I'm not unhappy that three is the longest number of days below 200 pounds I've had in many years.

Food Log

Breakfast
1:40pm: Greens and eggs (spinach, kale, mushrooms, onions, peppers and eggs) and oatmeal deluxe (steel-cut oats, peanut butter, chia seeds, hemp seeds, wild blueberries, raspberries and blackberries). 

Lunch
4:40pm: Carrots and homemade mayonnaise, peanut butter. 

Dinner
7:55pm: 

Arugula, cabbage, chard, kale, spinach, roasted turkey breast, shaved parmesan cheese, walnuts and creamy balsamic dressing.

Snack
10:40pm: Avocado toast (with Ezekiel 4:9 Flax sprouted grain bread) and a Quest bar. 

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 0;   Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 100+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2565, Tuesday, December 15, '20: No comment

Post 2565

- 9 years and 350 days since I started this blog -

At the end of Friday's walk (Liverpool, NY) 

Daily Comment

I've got nothing to say, but it's okay.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    197.7 lbs.

Previous Weight (12/14/20):        197.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     + 0.7 lbs.

Diet Comment

A new low weight for the year! I have, unintentionally, lost almost five pounds in a week. I should be happy, but, truth be told, I'm a little concerned.

Food Log

Breakfast
2:30pm, from CoreLife Eatery: Chicken bone broth bowl with tofu, sliced almonds, walnuts, kale, quinoa, spicy broccoli, sriracha sprouts, shredded beets, roasted peppers, ginger and hardboiled egg. A Quest bar.

Lunch
Skipped. 

Dinner
8:30pm: Cheese omelet and high-protein Irish oatmeal soup: steel-cut oats, chia and hemp seeds, kefir, vanilla whey protein powder, wild blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, peanut butter, and stevia.

Snack
10:30pm: Carrots and homemade mayonnaise.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Water: 72+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!