#1731, Thursday, September 15: No comment

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Post 1731, Day 259 of 2016
- 2,085 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Nothing today.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      204.8 lbs.

Previous Weight (9/14):              204.6 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     +   0.2 lbs.

Diet Comment

I'm surprised at this one-day result - really thought I was in for a loss.

Food Log

Breakfast

5:35pm:  Berry protein shake with blueberries, cherries, strawberries, almond-coconut milk, kefir, extra-large organic egg, chia gel, kale, whey powder (36g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), celery, vanilla extract, raw organic cacao powder, moringa leaf powder, cinnamon, and stevia-inulin blend.

Lunch

10:10pm, at Dinosaur BBQ:

BBS Plate: Brisket, bacon, Swiss cheese with Dino BBQ sauce on sourdough club with cole slaw and side salad with house dressing.

Dinner

1:50pm:  A Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;  Coffee: 22 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 88+ oz.  And a shot of Jameson's Irish whiskey.

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#1730, Wednesday, September 14: Gig review

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Post 1730, Day 258 of 2016
- 2,084 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I had a fun gig tonight, part of an intense week of gigs and semi-gig playing.

Last Friday, I played guitar around a camp-fire for a couple of hours (another fun part of my wedding/camping gig).

Sunday and Monday were days of really heavy playing with my friend Richie and other of his Brattleboro friends. I estimate I played about twelve hours over the course of those two days!

Tuesday I rehearsed my trio for a benefit I'm performing at on Saturday - that was good for three hours of playing (after driving in from Brattleboro) that afternoon.

This afternoon we got in another rehearsal, bringing us up to tonight's gig.

This was supposed to be a support gig for a Toronto-based surf music guitarist/singer. He canceled, so we kept the gig by bringing in two blues guitarists who I happened to meet in their more typical role as bassists. While I had played with these guys at jams over the years, we had never done a gig together. Both are excellent guitarists, and good singers. Icing on the cake: The drummer is one of my favorites, both as a rhythm section partner and as a friend.

Also, this is my first blues gig in New York, ever! Of course, I've played blues (a lot), but my gigs have tended to be playing rock, of one kind (i am Fool) or another (classic rock).

The gig was a lot of fun! Despite being warmed up from the hours of playing at rehearsal earlier, adjusting to the unusual situation of being told what to play (remember, both of the guitarists are excellent bass players) had me a little stiff at first. I'm just not used to that, and it tends to make me think instead of just play... But as I got more comfortable with it (I don't object to it, it's just unusual), I loosened up, and really got into it, into the flow, and everybody started having a better time. I got into my happy place.

Tomorrow is the final rehearsal of the trio for the benefit, then Friday I have a 'sub' gig with my former band, Bradshaw Blues. Saturday is the benefit, with the first and last performance of the Reverend Ken Trio and a set by i am Fool.

It's a dream of playing, more fun than I could ask for, and I'm so grateful.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      204.6 lbs.

Previous Weight (9/9):               201.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     +   3.6 lbs.

Diet Comment

A pretty much all off-plan all-the-time five days took a toll, but given what I ate and drank and in what quantities, while I was away for four-and-a-half days, I'm not fretting.

Food Log 

Breakfast

12:10pm:  

Omelet with peppers, onion, greens, chia seeds, hemp seeds, parmesan cheese and bacon.

Lunch

5:30pm:  Sriracha chicken breast and cole slaw.

Dinner

11:30pm:  Pork rinds, Dubliner cheese, and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;  Coffee: 22 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 82+ oz.  And a shot of Jameson's Irish whiskey.

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#1729, Friday, September 9: Camping, my way

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Post 1729, Day 253 of 2016
- 2,079 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I'm going 'camping' today.

The quotes around camping are for how much like anybody else's idea of camping my experience will be.

The whole camping trip, except for the driving, is being setup by friends. I'm bringing a change of clothes. Everything else I need will be provided.

I'll be sleeping on a regular mattress, off the ground, in a tent someone else will be providing and setting up. All the food and drink I consume will be provided - no cooking. The menu has been supplied in advance and approved. All I have to bring is my kinds of snacks (Quest bars) because I'm the only one who doesn't eat regular snacks.

The occasion, location, impetus is that some friends are getting married, and asked me to officiate. That happens tomorrow, Saturday: I officiate my first wedding. The small party for the occasion will all be camping at Lakeside Beach State Park on the shores of Lake Ontario.

It's going to be so much fun!

After a couple of nights, I drive to Brattleboro, Vermont, for some more visiting, with a concentration of bass playing. Next post will be Tuesday's, which you'll see Wednesday.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      201.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (9/8):               204.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     -   3.0 lbs.

Diet Comment

Boom! One clean day, and it's all good again. Over the next couple of days, when I will be traveling (no new blog posting until Wednesday's, which you will see Thursday) first out Rochester way for camping/wedding, then to Brattelboro, Vermont for music, I will not be on plan, although I don't think I'll go too far off. I will be eating wedding cake at least once, though.

Food Log 

Breakfast

2:10pm:  

Omelet with peppers, onion, greens, chia seeds, hemp seeds, parmesan cheese and bacon.

Lunch

5:30pm:  A Quest bar and some dark chocolate candy.

Dinner

9:00pm:  Grilled chicken, a salad (spinach, kale, chard, cabbage, feta cheese and creamy balsamic vinaigrette, and a Quest bar.

Snack

10:45pm:  Jameson's Irish whiskey.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;  Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 96+ oz. A LOT of Jameson's (see 'Snack')

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#1728, Thursday, September 8: Just the facts, Mr. Trump

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Post 1728, Day 252 of 2016
- 2,078 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I got into a political discussion about Trump and Hillary.

From which I reminded myself how stupid I am.

Everybody, including myself, mistakes opinions for facts. Everybody decides what to believe.

I believe Trump supporters live in a fact-free zone.

But that is the pot calling the kettle black.

I have also selected my 'facts' to agree with my beliefs.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      204.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (9/7):               203.4 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     +   0.6 lbs.

Diet Comment

Last night I got hungry while I was out and away from home. I ended up going to one of my favorite late-night spots and ate a favorite cheat-day meal (from back when I had an official cheat day). I think I got a whole Big Anthony frittata at the half price. Hungry as I was I could not finish the portion they served in one sitting. The booze-and-hemp-fueled hunger I had at the end of the night didn't need that bag of pork rinds, either. That I didn't gain more weight is miraculous.

Food Log 

Breakfast

3:05pm:  Berry protein shake with blueberries, cherries, strawberries, almond-coconut milk, kefir, extra-large organic egg, chia gel, kale, whey powder (36g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), celery, vanilla extract, raw organic cacao powder, moringa leaf powder, cinnamon, and stevia-inulin blend.

Lunch

9:00pm:  London broil and feta cheese and cole slaw.

Dinner
12:15am:  A Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;  Coffee: 22 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 92+ oz.

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#1727, Wednesday, September 7: Too cool to be hip, too uncool to be hip

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Post 1727, Day 251 of 2016
- 2,077 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I know I'm not hip. I know I'm not not cool.

I think, so what?

One more thing I used to care a lot about that doesn't mean anything to me any more.

Yeah, you kids, get off my damn lawn.

That's just coin of a different age.

The funniest thing about it is that other people think I am cool. I know because they tell me. My standard reply is merely that if I was cool, they wouldn't see it.

And to the couple of people that have told me I'm the coolest person they know, my answer is, "I hope that isn't true.".

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      203.4 lbs.

Previous Weight (9/6):               204.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     -   0.6 lbs.

Diet Comment

Continuing recovery from peanut-butter and carb-filled weekend.

Food Log 

Breakfast

11:25am, at Core Eatery:

Tuna poke salad with: Kale, cabbage, quinoa, cucumber, carrots, scallions, ginger,edamame, avocado, tuna poke, sesame seeds, almonds and miso-sesame dressing.

Lunch

4:30pm:  A Quest bar.

Dinner
8:55pm, at Mama Nancy's:

Half order of Big Anthony's Frittata (eggs, sausage, pepperoni, Swiss cheese, onions, peppers, broccoli, potatoes) and dry rye toast.

Snack

12:30am:  Leftovers from dinner (I couldn't eat more than half, the actual portion was unusually huge) and a bag of pork rinds.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;  Coffee: 16 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 82+ oz. and a shot of Jameson's Irish whiskey

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#1726, Tuesday, September 6: Legacy? There's only Now

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Post 1726, Day 250 of 2016
- 2,076 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I don't worry about my legacy. A friend, unhappy about the way his art gets treated where he lives, as opposed to where he grew up and where he vacations, complained that if he died tomorrow, nobody in the area he's lived for thirty years would even notice.

I think, so what?

He moved to a conservative part of the country because he could get a great plot of rural land with a beautiful house, and he's been complaining about it ever since. He would move but for his family, that won't.

That's why his current situation is unhappy where he lives. He is uncompromising, and doesn't see that expecting others to meet his expectations isn't going to make him any happier.

He has wonderful friends nearby, but not conveniently near by. He rarely visits them.

And he's worried about what is going to happen after he dies? To quote Bob Marley (and paraphrase a million other writers: "If you know what life is worth, you will look for yours on Earth."

That's my plan. It is completely in harmony with my belief about time (which is that all time is happening Now - our idea of the passage of time is just that: Our idea). There is only Now.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      204.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (9/5):               205.4 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     -   1.4 lbs.

Diet Comment

I felt I had to finish the jar of peanut butter I bought this past weekend, rather than throw it away. I think it played a big part in my weight-gain over the weekend, but it also awakened some cravings, and I had to get it out of the house, and there were these cravings, and I totally caved. I ate very little, calorie-wise, after this cheat, and now I feel better about the whole thing!

Food Log 

Breakfast

4:25pm:  Green protein shake with almond-coconut milk, kefir, extra-large organic egg, chia gel, kale, celery, whey powder (36g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, moringa leaf powder, cinnamon, coconut oil, vanilla extract and stevia-inulin blend.

Lunch

6:55pm:  Roast beef, cole slaw.

Dinner
11:45pm: Feta cheese, celery and homemade mayonnaise, pork rinds and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;  Coffee: 22 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 82+ oz. and two shots of Jameson's Irish whiskey

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#1725, Monday, September 5: Self-worth humbug!

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Post 1725, Day 249 of 2016
- 2,075 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I see a pretty stark contrast between myself and other people when it comes to one thing.

My attitude towards self-worth.

I no longer am troubled by the concept, because I have decided that self-worth is a non-quantifiable and maybe a non-viable idea.

It seems to me that the concept is fraught with danger, and is mostly used to establish not worth, merely a place in the social hierarchy. It is a relative value, having no meaning without a comparison to some standard.

It seems to me that that relativity tends to support either self-aggrandizement or self-deprecation, if not self-loathing.

I've been guilty of both, and I'm just not having any of it any more. I cannot see any way that a person's perception of self-worth leads to narcissism or depression. Or both.

My value to myself is pretty immense. My value to others irrelevant. Neither determines my self-worth.

I'd just as soon see self-worth set at the market value of the extractable chemicals in my body. By that measure, everybody's self-worth is about the same.

And only then tie self-worth to self-esteem.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      205.4 lbs.

Previous Weight (9/2):               200.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     +   5.4 lbs.

Diet Comment

All of Friday's good feelings couldn't prevent the non-stop bad eating I did starting with my post-gig cheat. That would have had to come from a different place.

Food Log 

Breakfast

3:15pm:  A Quest bar.

Lunch

6:55pm:  Peanut butter (a lot of peanut butter) and three slices of Ezekiel 4:9 Flax sprouted grain bread.

Dinner
11:45pm: Greens and cheese omelet (three extra-large eggs, sauteed kale, spinach and chard, feta cheese) and two slices bacon.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;  Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 70+ oz. 

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#1724, Friday, September 2: Proud to be a Fool

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Post 1724, Day 246 of 2016
- 2,072 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Mac's Bad Art Bar is my neighborhood bar. It is, like Cheers, the place where everybody knows my name.

It is where I've made some of my most enduring musical friendships, not least of which is meeting the original members of i am Fool.

The 'Mac' in the bar name is the owner, Pat MacMurray, who has also become a dear friend.

Today is his birthday.

When the band scheduled to play Mac's tonight canceled last Wednesday, he asked i am Fool if we would play.

Tami was in Virginia, and couldn't make it, but told us to play it without her. When we agreed, Pat decided to make the show tonight his birthday party.

I am guessing that the band canceled because they realized that there was no possible way to make the 'gate' threshold from cover (typically, a band's pay is the door after the first 40 paid people when you play at Mac's).

The reason that you might not get even forty paid admission tonight is that it's the last weekend of the NY State Fair, and besides all the music there (although I don't play there, or, for that matter, even go there, almost every working musician I know plays there a lot), there is a big Country concert at the Lakeview Amphitheater, the main and biggest showplace in Central NY, and several of the better bars are having 'feature' shows as well. Mac's, being little more than an oversized dive bar, in a shoddy suburb of Syracuse, really isn't competitive.

i am Fool, while we like a good crowd as well as any band, doesn't care much about money, and we have a special relationship with Pat.

The real question was, after working with Tami for the last three years, could we pull off a night without her?

We did. It was great, and I thought the playing was very good. We closed with a new original I learned during the soundcheck, that came out very well (we just turned it into a ten-minute jam). What people were left at 1:45 went crazy for it.

Proud of my boys!

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      200.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (9/1):               200.4 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     -   0.4 lbs.

Diet Comment

Well, that's the lowest week since mid-August. I'm feeling pretty successful.

Food Log 

Breakfast

2:55pm:  Hamburger on Ezekiel 4:9 Flax sprouted grain bread with guacamole and fresh salsa and a chopped salad: Shaved parmesan cheese, kale, spinach, chard, cabbage, balsamic vinaigrette.

Lunch

8:35pm:  Two Quest bars and cottage cheese.

Dinner
2:25am, at Mama Nancy's:

Half order of Big Anthony's Frittata (eggs, sausage, pepperoni, Swiss cheese, onions, peppers, broccoli, potatoes) and dry rye toast.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;  Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 104+ oz. and three shots of Jameson's Irish whiskey

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#1723, Thursday, September 1: No comment

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Post 1723, Day 245 of 2016
- 2,071 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I originally had a long ramble about the double-edged sword that is the internet. It was silly, and I've squashed it, so today, nothing.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      200.4 lbs.

Previous Weight (8/31):              201.8 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     -   1.4 lbs.

Diet Comment

Good news: I start this month off at the same weight I started last month off, which is pretty ideal.

Food Log 

Breakfast

2:45pm:  Green protein shake with almond-coconut milk, kefir, extra-large organic egg, chia gel, kale, whey powder (36g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, celery, moringa leaf powder, cinnamon, coconut oil, vanilla extract and stevia-inulin blend.

Lunch

9:05pm:  A Quest bar and cottage cheese.

Dinner

1:45am:  Chopped salad: London broil, shaved parmesan cheese, kale, spinach, chard, cabbage, balsamic vinaigrette.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 2;  Coffee:  22 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 104+ oz. and a nice pour of Jameson's Irish whiskey.

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