My most complicated solar light so far. Because I used five layers of acrylic, it weighs 12.2 lbs. and required several hours to finish. I filled each layer with jewelry, keepsakes, and interesting things. It’s quite beautiful. During the hardening process, one of the layers reached 218°. I wasn’t sure if the vase would withstand the heat of the curing process. Had it ruptured, I would have broken the glass off and the result would have been different. Still beautiful. Just different.
I’m not judging Oprah Winfrey for being deceptive about the cause of her weight loss. She’s an adult and did what she needed to do.
What bothers me is that several high profile people have said that it’s impossible to lose so much weight so quickly without resorting to drugs or surgery.
That is not true at all.
This week, and old friend reached out to me, saying he needed to lose a lot of weight and his focus was going to be on exercise.
Though I have not written about it much lately, you might remember that I have a different take that most people don’t understand.
At my highest point, I was at 253. I woke up one morning feeling like death was standing behind me. A bell went off in my head.
From that day, I completely flipped my diet and experimented with better quality foods that kept me feeling fuller.
I ended up losing over 100 lbs. I did not starve myself. But what I did do was realize that I was obviously consuming more calories than I was burning. Despite that, I did not count calories. I didn’t take drugs and I didn’t add any exercise until about 8 months later.
I chose push-ups because I could do them anywhere. The amount of time traveling to and from a gym usually exceeds the amount of time you’re actually working out. Later I added dumbbells for the same reason.
I consumed a massive amount of vegetables, cooked and seasoned wildly. I ate so-called bad foods too because failing to treat yourself is a guarantee that you’ll fail.
While I am not at 150 anymore, one thing that came out of the process is that I realize that I can drop to any weight I want simply by putting into action my desire to see it through. It’s true that if you have an underlying medical condition, this process is going to be very chaotic and more difficult. When I talk about my weight loss or anyone wanting to do the same, I’m not including those people in my recommendations.
If you leverage your body correctly and simply figure out a way and experiment to eat so that you’re not hungry but can also stop consuming so much of the things that you know in your heart are part of the problem, you will lose weight over time. It’s consistency.
The other thing I can’t help but preach about is that you need to be very careful about doing anything you can’t do for the rest of your life. Losing weight is not a sprint or a one-off thing. Because if you change back to old habits, your body is going to start storing calories again if you consume more than you burn.
I didn’t have any special skills. I still don’t. But I do have a certainty that weight loss can be achieved simply by taking small moves and making them a habit. You don’t need to spend an hour a day in the gym. You can walk, do intense housework, or enjoy moving around in a lot of ways. Building muscle does help keep you healthier overall. The science is clear. But if you are looking to lose weight regardless of your muscle mass, you will always get a bigger bang for your buck by reducing the things that you know aren’t good for your weight. It’s easier said than done, right?
You have to choose your hard. Food is damn good and always will be. If you take a hard look at what you’re eating and figure out a way to reduce it and trade lesser foods for better ones and keep at it, you will lose weight.
Being thinner does not equal being more healthy. But let’s be honest. A great number of people need to lose weight so that they will feel like they look better. I don’t judge people for their reasons. We are vain creatures.
If a billionaire struggles to keep her weight where she wants it, it’s a certainty us mere mortals will struggle too.
And we will continue to struggle until we face the demon and acknowledge that most of us have more weight than we want simply because we don’t understand how many more calories we’re eating than we need.
I sat in a pew, surrounded by a throng of people, listening to someone talk about their loved one. I was there in part to repay a debt incurred sixteen years ago.
“Who among us thought that a week ago we would be here? Or a month? Or a year?” Everyone listening to him would feel the urgency of an indistinct carpe diem tug at their heart. As the day would go on, though, most would let distractions and the to-do’s push the essential reminder out of their head. That’s just life.
Later, someone said to me, “Tomorrow.”
And I still can’t find the words to explain to people why the procrastination of tomorrow rings like a stick of dynamite in my ears.
I don’t want a promissory note, one serving as a promise of a hug, a laugh, or of a moment that might not ever come due.
Tomorrow.
If we’re lucky.
And if we’re not, what’s put off until tomorrow is gone forever.
There’s something about this that defines me.
Maybe it’s experience or age, perhaps it’s loss. The window to enjoy life and people shuts incrementally.
Tomorrow is here and it’s all you have. It’s camouflaged as today. If you wake up groggy, take a moment to taste the coffee. If you have someone, touch them lightly as a way to remind them.
I’m in my cathedral at work. Because I usually have a couple of hours with no one in here with me, I can blast heavenly music curated with the intent to inspire or motivate. My cousin Jimmy used to torture me with Metallica, and sometimes with horrible bands like Pantera. Because he’s been on my mind a lot lately, I played a few songs for him and had to laugh. I also played “Far From Home” by Five Finger Death Punch, a song Jimmy didn’t live long enough to enjoy.I ended the set with a heavenly song from Il Divo, probably the most opposite and contrasting music possible. In his last few years, he would have appreciated the switch. And we probably would have laughed about his mullet.
Each of us has had our mullet years, the ones characterized by uncertain identity and our place in this world.
When we get older, we laugh about our mullet years. But nostalgia makes it golden.
Some of you are probably living through the best years of your life and you don’t even realize it.
Take a minute today and crank up one of your favorite songs. If you do, I hope it makes you vibrant and joyous.
If it doesn’t, go ahead and fill out that AARP application.
I stopped and stood next to the pond near the golf course. In front of me, a huge turtle, one with a 24″ diameter, soaked up the intermittent sun. Beyond the pond, two golfers were stopped on their golf cart. They both jumped off. The first one spent a few seconds pantomiming the swing of an experienced golfer. He then took his swing. The ball bounced about a foot in front of him and died. I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. How the golfer heard my guffaw above the sound of the fountain in the center of the pond is a mystery. He angrily turned toward me and shouted, “F—- off!” I laughed even harder. His partner burst out laughing as well. I couldn’t help myself. I shouted back, “You can’t even hit a little ball in front of you so I’m not worried about you trying to hit me, either!” At this point, his partner doubled over with his hands on his knees, laughing, even as the foiled golfer went through a series of angry faces. I waved goodbye. I took a look back at the chalk work I’d completed in a long stretch across the sidewalk. I’d written a hilarious truth there, in large, scrawling letters. I wanted to add, “Pick another sport,” but I laughed instead.
I discovered again why I shouldn’t cut my own hair. (Or anyone else’s, for that matter.) As careful as I thought I had been, the back of my head looks like I engaged in a wrestling match with a wolverine. I kind of like it.
I was outside painting by 1:30 this morning. My neighbors love the smell of paint at all hours. It combines well with the aroma of marijuana. I should market a scent with both infused into the spray. It’s interesting to observe the activity that normally goes unobserved at that hour. Yesterday morning I watched as a sedan pulled up to the dumpster and miraculously removed an insane number of pieces of furniture from the interior and dumped them illegally. Later, I went out armed with tools and deconstructed all the pieces, and threw them in the dumpster. I couldn’t believe all of it somehow emerged from that mid-size car. About 3 a.m. this morning, a vehicle ran the red light across the street and stopped before accidentally driving into the vacant lot that is currently under construction. Whoever was driving sat there for at least fifteen seconds. I assume they were unclenching their buttcheeks, given they were probably drunk and definitely inattentive. At 4:27, I came back up the stairs, returning from the fence where I’d installed a dozen more tiles. A large rat ran from the corner, along the railing, past my feet, and then took the stairs like a track athlete. I was going to give him a hug but he seemed to be dreadfully afraid of me. Why he ran toward and around me is a mystery.
Luckily, Güino wasn’t outside or he would have lost his mind trying to give that rat a hug. He doesn’t know any better. He’s happy, though. He just finished drinking some horrid cat food juice when I snapped this picture.
I leave my long kitchen window uncovered. I don’t worry about break-ins. I think the dozens of heavy rocks on my landing provide ample means for entry if they’re interested enough. I do have decoy keys hanging right by the door. It tickles me to imagine some would-be intruder standing there trying the keys in plain sight. I’m hoping the LED lights I leave oscillating confuse both neighbors and drivers along Gregg.
It’s been windy this morning and in the low-70s. You might not believe how great it feels out there!
P.S. Parenthetically Speaking 