#2169: Friday, October 19

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Post 2169
- 7 years and 292 days since I started this blog -

  

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                      202.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (10/18/18):          202.8 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       - 0.8 lbs.

Diet Comment

I finish the week nicely down from my LA weight gain, so happy. There's more work to do, though. Of course.

Food Log

Breakfast
2:05pm: 

Cabbage, chard, kale, spinach, cabbage, roasted turkey breast, shaved Parmesan cheese, walnuts, hard-boiled eggs and balsamic vinaigrette.

Lunch
7:00pm: A Quest bar.

Dinner
11:15pm: Brussel sprouts with scrambled eggs and prosciutto and peppers and onions. And a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 58+ oz.; 

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#2168: Thursday, October 18

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Post 2168
- 7 years and 291 days since I started this blog -

  

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                      202.8 lbs.

Previous Weight (10/17/18):          202.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       + 0.8 lbs.

Diet Comment

I think this weight gain is from the bag of nuts I ate at lunch - more than sixteen-hundred calories worth! You can't overeat like that and not gain weight. Plus, my late meal was also calorie-rich. Counting calories makes no sense, and the calories-in/calories-out theory of weight control has been thoroughly debunked (although it is still popular with many dietitians, nutritionists and salesmen. I see or hear it, I tune out). That being said, overeating is still a thing.

Food Log

Breakfast
7:45pm: Purple-green protein smoothie with home-made almond milk, kefir, large organic egg, chia gel, kale, spinach, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, celery, whey powder (24g protein), coconut oil, hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, moringa leaf powder, fo ti, cinnamon, turmeric, vanilla extract, Dr. Gundry's Vital Reds and stevia-inulin blend,

Lunch
Skipped.

Dinner
11:15pm: Macadamia nuts and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 22 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 32+ oz.; 

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#2167: Wednesday, October 17

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Post 2167
- 7 years and 290 days since I started this blog -

  

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                      202.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (10/16/18):          202.1 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       - 0.1 lbs.

Diet Comment

This is not a real loss - it's well inside the margin of error...

Food Log

Breakfast
5:30pm: Purple-green protein smoothie with home-made almond milk, kefir, large organic egg, chia gel, kale, spinach, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, celery, whey powder (24g protein), coconut oil, hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, moringa leaf powder, fo ti, cinnamon, turmeric, vanilla extract, Dr. Gundry's Vital Reds and stevia-inulin blend,

Lunch
8:15pm: Macadamia nuts - I really love macadamia nuts! Also, a Quest bar.

Dinner
1:50am: Prosciutto, hard-boiled eggs, cole slaw and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 12 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 54+ oz.; 

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#2166: Tuesday, October 16

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Post 2166
- 7 years and 289 days since I started this blog -

  

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                      202.1 lbs.

Previous Weight (10/15/18):          203.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       - 0.9 lbs.

Diet Comment

The weight loss continues, I'm nicely below the trend-line, and I intend to keep it going.

Food Log

Breakfast
7:30pm, at Limp Lizard BBQ:

Cowboy salad: Grilled chicken, field greens, black bean salad, onions, tomatoes, cheese, southwest ranch dressing, pita points. 

Lunch
Skipped.

Dinner
12:30am: Brussel sprouts with hemp seeds and olive oil, cottage cheese and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 0;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 64+ oz.; 

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#2165: Monday, October 15: In the limelight...

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Post 2165
- 7 years and 288 days since I started this blog -

  

Comment

Tonight I went to an open mic, and had an enjoyable time playing, and then joined some of the musicians for a drink and some conversation.

I have to confess that, while I like both of the guys I was hanging with, I experienced some internal discomfort as we talked into the night.

Why? Because I was treated as a capital-E Elder. Someone who has answers. Someone worthy of attention, maybe a bit of deference. It is an unusual role. And I struggled with ambivalent feelings it raised.

Given the lifestyle of my teen-to-twenties years, I've likely outlived my expiration date by many decades. I've gotten old; in years, anyway. But I'm a mixed bag of parts, some have matured, some have not, all are in play. Everything is on the spectrum of non-functional to working better than ever, with, I think, only a few at the extremes.

So, in this situation, I feel a lot of things: unworthy, validated, surprised, appreciated. I'm not used to it!

I've lived long enough now to come to terms with a lot of things that I, and most people, at least in this culture, struggle with. I have, just through surviving, had a lot of experiences. I'm experienced. And I have stories. Oh, do I have stories (and not a short one in the pack).

And with that experience, I've accumulated some knowledge. But I don't trust that knowledge, because I don't trust human memory. It is said that every recollection alters the memory. It has already been demonstrated to me many times: Friends remember experiences we've participated in differently than I do, and some come down somebody misremembering (not just having different perceptions at the time).

So, these guys are listening to me. They're asking questions. And as attention-seeking as I am, it brings some unwanted, maybe neglected, emotions to the front. For one thing, there's the question of, is this the way it should be now? Because I'm not used to this. 

Is it too egotistical for me to enjoy the feeling of being paid attention to? I don't think so, but it would be monstrously narcissistic to think that I deserve this. Because that would mean all the other times I speak with people and am not paid attention to should make me feel bad. And that's ridiculous. People's attention reflects more internal processes than external stimulus.

I am not saying I am not egocentric. But, not all the time. I do enjoy talking, especially conversations. I also like it when I feel like I am being paid attention to, in little and big ways. I think everybody likes it when they feel appreciated.

But I don't take it for granted, and I try not to let it go to my head. I don't have any answers, really. I'm just making it up as I go along, like everyone else.

And I never, ever, forget to be grateful.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                      203.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (10/12/18):          205.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       - 2.0 lbs.

Diet Comment

I think this is one of my most successful weekends. I ate well, mostly on-plan, and I got rewarded. Whoo-hoo!

Food Log

Breakfast
5:30pm: Prosciutto and eggs and a chopped salad (Spring Mix, spinach, cabbage, shaved parmesan, walnuts, balsamic vinaigrette).

Lunch
Skipped.

Dinner
12:30am: Salmon salad (salmon, homemade mayonnaise) with brussel sprouts and baby carrots with homemade mayonnaise.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 12 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 42+ oz.; and a Boston Lager

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#2164: Friday, October 12

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Post 2164
- 7 years and 285 days since I started this blog -

  

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                      205.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (10/11/18):          206.7 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       - 1.7 lbs.

Diet Comment

Even after what I consider a bad day, diet-wise, I lose weight. That's due to the transient nature of my gain. historically, I come back pretty quickly from my LA-based weight gain.

Food Log

Breakfast
7:00pm: Purple-green protein smoothie with homemade almond milk, kefir, large organic egg, chia gel, blueberries, kale, spinach, celery, whey powder (24g protein), coconut oil, hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, moringa leaf powder, fo ti, cinnamon, turmeric, vanilla extract, Dr. Gundry's Vital Reds and stevia-inulin blend.

Lunch
9:15pm: Cottage cheese and a Quest bar.

Dinner
11:30pm: Chopped salad (Spring Mix, spinach, cabbage, hard-boiled egg, shaved parmesan, walnuts, balsamic vinaigrette. A Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 22 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 48+ oz.; 

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#2163: Thursday, October 11: Trip Summary

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Post 2163
- 7 years and 284 days since I started this blog -

  

Comment

I had a great time visiting LA.

There were lots and lots of highlights,  including my first legal cannabis purchase,  a new favorite fish taco, the re-visit to The Visitors at the Broad Museum, the visit to Gentle Barn, meeting Jimmy Haslip at the Baked Potato, hanging with Alex at a video shoot of a script he wrote, getting together with old friends from New York.

Probably my best trip to Los Angeles, ever.

I love Alex, and I also like him. When I go to LA, with few exceptions - visiting with friends from New York, for instance - I am just Alex's Dad, and, with no exceptions, I am delighted to be just that.

His film-making cohort is so embracing of me - they go out of their way to tell me how much they like and respect Alex, while at the same time making the effort to make me feel included.

I ate well this trip, to say the least. I had many things I felt were the best I'd ever had: yellowtail sushi, a fish taco, ramen, vegan dishes, ice cream. Of course I gained weight! I knew I would. Don't care. It's a big part of my LA experience.

I'm so grateful for my son, my opportunities, my life.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                      206.7 lbs.

Previous Weight (9/25/18):           197.7 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       + 9.0 lbs.

Diet Comment

I was certain I would put on weight in LA - I eat more carbs there than anywhere else I visit, and I knew I would be staying longer. I am actually quite pleased with myself not to have added on more pounds than I did. I believe it will take me only slightly more than two weeks to take the weight off, and if I'm wrong, it may well be quicker. Starting tomorrow, because today I ate most of my food at the gig, and it was entirely off-plan.

Food Log

Breakfast
8:00pm, at Bru 64: Breakfast sandwich: Bacon, egg, cheese on a sesame bagel and some cinnamon coffee cake.

Lunch
Skipped.

Dinner
12:30am: Hard-boiled eggs and prosciutto. A Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 3;   Coffee: 16 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 32+ oz.; a shot of Jameson's and 2 beers

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#2162: Sunday, October 7: The Broad, The Visitor, Ice Cream and the Luck

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Post 2162
- 7 years and 280 days since I started this blog -

  

With Andy Warhol's Big Electric Chair at the Broad.

Journal
(written 10/3/18)

I'm trying something new. I'll be linking this post to its associated photo album on Facebook. If that's how you got here, here's some background: 8-1/2 years ago I started this blog as a food journal. I had a medical crisis and needed to lose weight. Initially, that's all I did here: Journal my food intake and my weight. It contributed to helping me lose 20+% of my body weight in 6 months, and continuing has kept me on track since then. I started adding commentary after a while, but lately it has become infrequent. 

While I'm traveling, I let go of the weight-tracking and food journaling, except for the occasional food shot when I've eaten something interesting. And that's where we find ourselves now.

Until Alex moved here about twelve years ago, I didn't have much use for LA.

It was just one of those things. Through no fault of Los Angeles's, my two or three visits previously had been less than a good time. On my first one, it rained (rained!) for most of my visit, and I got sick. Next time, I was refused admission to Disneyland for being too cool (or, as their Security guy put it, a dirty hippy who didn't meet Disney's dress code standards, whose presence could not be tolerated in a family-oriented park).

But with new maturity and different priorities, since I started coming out here to see Alex I have enjoyed my visits and enjoyed LA.

For one thing, I like the architecture. The big beautiful homes, the art deco or modern office buildings, the Hollywood spectacle homes. And I like the scenery - I don't get tired of the valley-mountain-canyon landscape. I find it all energizing.

In times past, I was a serious movie-goer, these days, not so much. It's still been fun to join Alex when he's shooting, which I've done a few times over the years. Alex is a screenwriter and an actor and sometimes an editor and director, that's when I get to see him doing his gig.

I've been fortunate to get to do some of that on the majority of my visits.

But then again, I'm one fortunate son of a bitch. I'm more than fortunate, I'm lucky! I think that might be better.

The other day I stopped to get a quick eat-on-the-go breakfast, and the woman in front of me turned and said, give in your order, I'm buying. And she was, and it was for no reason. But I had a free breakfast: Lucky me.

I'm also lucky with parking spots. Usually. But when it comes right down to it, the number one way I'm lucky is that I can hang with my son. That's huge for me.

With some down time for the two of us, we went to one of my favorite museums, the Broad (which Alex keeps on insisting rhymes with 'load' but I refuse to accept that - I think it's just pretentious).

The Broad, and, further to the right, the Disney Music Hall.

I'm a museum junkie, and I've passed on my love of museums to Alex. The Broad is one of the newest museums in downtown LA. I was in town a week after it opened about three years ago, and went, and loved it. On that visit, I saw 'The Visitor', and it became my absolute favorite multimedia installation, and one of my favorite art installations, period.

Here's the deal with The Visitor:

This is a picture of the signage outside the blacked-out interior of The Visitors installation. This pic is from 2015.

Basically, it is a performance of a composed-with-improvisation piece of music. The way it is presented, each screen displays a video of the performance in a room, where that musician is playing his part (listening to the other musicians on headphones). The rooms have been staged and decorated (the author sings and plays guitar in a bathtub). There is one mic in each room, picking up the sound of the instrument (acoustic or amplified) and voice in the room's acoustic.

Each performance is played back on a screen, with a single speaker playing back that room's recording. You can hear all the playback from all nine screens and speakers, but the one you're nearest to is louder.
I was totally captivated when I first spent time there. In my visits over the last couple of years, I looked for it but the installation had been removed. Last year, I didn't go. Although I really enjoy the art, I have been hoping to see this unique work, and I've been disappointed.

This year, I didn't even check. When Alex suggested we see it in some down-time Sunday, I agreed, and decided not to even check; que será, será.

The main galleries are up a long escalator. We spent a couple of hours there, and I found, again, a lot to like. Some of my favorites from previous visits, but also a lot of new-to-me art on display, including some pieces I really, really liked, including a room where the stark primary colored paintings made my eyes vibrate. Literally.

But this would be a shitty story if, at the end of viewing the smaller galleries downstairs, we didn't find a new installation of the Visitor.

The old installation had arranged the screens in a labyrinth, where you could only see one screen at a time (while still being able to hear everything). This installation had a couple of screens dividing a large blacked out cube space, with other screens on the walls. At first, I thought it wouldn't be as good, but it was fine. It was actually an improvement, in that you could more easily get to a screen of interest, and see more screens just by turning your head. The audio was just as good as I remembered.

I was so happy to see it again. I'm so lucky. Click here for a video I made inside The Visitor. You really have to go and see it for yourself.

After the museum, it was all about ice cream. Alex's favorite, Little Damage, is in a rundown, skid-row-like part of downtown that is relatively close. But that would not deter me, and I do believe, this soft-serve may be the best ice cream I've ever eaten (broken record this trip for food that was "the best I've ever eaten"). My selection is lava cake, and it is the darkest chocolate ice cream I have ever eaten.

Last year the best ice cream was at Salt and Straw. It was Creepy Crawlers and featured chocolate covered crickets and candied mealworms.

That was good, so we're going back. My choice this year is a much more conservative basil and goat cheese scoop and an espresso and bourbon scoop. Great, but this year's prize goes to Little Damage.

Food Comment

I've continued to eat all my meals in restaurants, and it has been excellent all the way. I continue gaining weight! I'm happy. Fat and happy.

Food extras

Dinner
At Public School #818:

Fish and chips and grilled brussel sprouts.

Lunch
At Guisado's:

Tacos! Tinga, Asada, Barbacoa and Carnitas. Not shown: The new reigning champion fish tac. Sorry, Malibu Seafood!

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#2161: Tuesday, October 2: An old friend, a day on the set

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Post 2161
- 7 years and 274 days since I started this blog -

  

On a tractor at the Gentle Barn

Journal
(written 10/3/18)

I'm trying something new. I'll be linking this post to its associated photo album on Facebook. If that's how you got here, here's some background: 8-1/2 years ago I started this blog as a food journal. I had a medical crisis and needed to lose weight. Initially, that's all I did here: Journal my food intake and my weight. It contributed to helping me lose 20+% of my body weight in 6 months, and continuing has kept me on track since then. I started adding commentary after a while, but lately it has become infrequent. 

While I'm traveling, I let go of the weight-tracking and food journaling, except for the occasional food shot when I've eaten something interesting. And that's where we find ourselves now.

I had a long day - tiring but wonderful. It began with lunch (breakfast for me, and an early one - trust me. I keep hooker's hours these days).

I've known my friend Marty (he likes to be called Martin, but that isn't really how I know him) since 1961 (or '62 - I can't calculate what age I was in 7th grade)>

We had the same homeroom, the same class schedule. He was a star athlete with a great sense of humor. I was a geeky kid trying to act older than I was, because I was a year younger than my classmates. We hung together in school, not so much out.

We went to Bayside High School together. Then, we didn't have many of the same classes, but we still liked each other, we were still friends. When I wrote the Senior Show, I asked him to help. We had a great time with that. Senior show was a fantastic class-cutting excuse, and I was, in high school, deeply committed to cutting out of school.

He went to the University of Arizona on a baseball scholarship, and we lost touch until Facebook reconnected us, some forty years later. When he moved to California, we had a reunion on one of my visits. We've tried to get together when I'm in LA ever since.

It is things like that that somewhat justify Facebook for me.

He lives on the beach North of LA, but today he had some business in Burbank which made lunch very convenient. What do you do with a homeboy you get to see only once a year, or less? You talk about a lot of stuff. More stuff than even a long lunch can cover.

You talk about stuff you've done. You talk a little philosophy. You laugh. You talk a little politics - because you can talk about anything with a guy who had a locker next to yours from age eleven to thirteen. And, of course, you talk about mutual friends, including trying to remember which friends are mutual, and do the 'where are they now thing'. At this time of life, that brings some somber moments.

But not too many, and you don't dwell on that.

After a couple of hours (not enough), Marty has to go, and I'm off to a movie set in downtown LA where a video is being shot. Alex is acting in it, and he wrote (co-wrote) the script, too.

I can't say anything about the content, and I have to be careful about which pictures I post, so as not to give away any details before the release. I can say it is a Bat In the Sun production, in the Super Power Beat Down series. The director/producer/cowriter, Aaron Schoenke has worked with Alex many times in the past, and they have more stuff coming up. Bat In the Sun has a YouTube channel with more than two million subscribers. The subject matter is (mostly) comic book, tv and movie superheroes.

Aaron's father, Sean, is on the set, since he's a BITS producer, too. He's also a musician. We hit it off, and I'm hoping to see him again (jam, maybe?) this visit. Somewhere, there's a fathers and sons pic: Alex, me, Sean and Aaron.

Aaron and Sean Schoenke

The set is supposed to be Arkham (Gotham's Asylum for the Criminally Insane), and it is really dank and creepy. Steampunk, for sure - Victorian gothic. I get there at about three in the afternoon, but the cast and crew have been there since nine in the morning. Alex's last scene doesn't happen until ten pm.

Between takes on the set - Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane

Although there's a bit of waiting around time, the set is light, energetic and friendly. There's story-telling, joking, singing, dancing between takes. All the crew are incredibly efficient. Seeing this group work together as an ensemble is really inspiring. I love it! It's a different kind of music.

I spend most of my time trying to take everything in and stay out of the (fuckin') way. I'm fairly successful at that. I'm also taking pics and videos for Alex. There's a set photographer (great guy, great sense of humor), but Alex won't have access to his photos until after the video is released, if ever.

As each actor completes their scenes and gets ready to leave, their work is acknowledged by the rest of the cast and crew with applause. I like that.

Me and Alex on the set.

Seeing a diverse group like this at work, everyone dedicated to the project's success, supportive of everyone else, everyone contributing to a happy set, is, to me, an uplifting experience. The parallels to making music aren't lost on me (my interior monolog is always finding connections to making music), and it is another level of goodness.

As I said, it's after ten o'clock when Alex finishes his last scene - which marks the end of this day's shooting. Everybody applauds, hugs all around. We're exhausted - especially Alex. I go home and fall asleep almost before I can get my socks off.

Another great day in El Lay. Grateful scarcely covers it.

Food Comment

Not today, LOL.

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