From the Tao Te Ching: Chapter One

The tao that can be told is not the Etneral Tao.

The name that can be named is not the Eternal Name.

The unnamable is the Eternally Real.

Naming is the origin of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize The Mystery.

Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source.

This source is called darkness.

Darkness within Darkness.

The gateway to All Understanding.

A Confession of Weight

I know it's only been two weeks since I started my Nutrisystem diet program, and only two weeks since I started getting back to the gym (24 Hour Fitness) on a regular basis again, and YES (to all the put down artists who love raining on peoples parades), I know I still have a long way to go, but I've had some great progress in this last two weeks, and I wanted to share it with all of my readers.

In the two weeks I've been on my diet and exercise program, I've come down from 256.5 lbs to 248.0 lbs, and my body mass index (BMI) has gone down from 37.96 to 36.7.

That's a loss of 8.5 lbs and a reduction of my BMI of 1.26.

All this means, of course, is that I am still technically obese (I hate that word), but if I were to extrapolate (and I love that word) forward, using and average weight loss of 4.25 lbs per week, and a BMI loss of .63 per week, in 23 weeks I will weigh 160 lbs with a BMI of 23.47. This would put me in the normal weight range.

So, if I can keep up this pace, by my birthday I'm gonna be looking good.

I know delays will occur, I know I will reach temporary plateaus (at least the sensible part of my brain knows this), but I am determined to not think about that for now. I'll think about that tomorrow. After all, "Tomorrow is another day".

Theatrical Review - "Run for Your Wife"

Last night I went to see the Stockton Civic Theatre production of the Ray Cooney play "Run for Your Wife". It was FANTABULOUS!

I won't go into a lot of details and write out a whole synopsis, but at it's core, it is about a cab driver in London, England, who has two wives (at the same time) in different parts of the city. Trouble ensues when the carefully orchestrated schedule he keeps to prevent both wives finding out about each other is thrown all out of wack by a chance encounter with two muggers and an old lady's handbag. The lies on top of lies just get more and more outrageous, making it a true comedy of misunderstanding.

Now, while all the actors were truly outstanding, I have to give props to the two actresses playing the wives, and most especially in the opening scene. Their timing was perfect.

I must also mention the fantastic set that was designed by Brian Johnson. I found it incredible, tasteful, and artistic. Mr. Johnson is a genius.

I really recommend this play if you're looking for some good family entertainment. True it is written PG-13, but that's just for the double entendres, but there is absolutely nothing dirty. See this play, and you'll understand why Mr. Cooney was given his OBE.

A Good News Day

So many wonderful things either happened, or I became aware of them, today. I hardly know where to begin.

First (gotta start somewhere) I had a great cardio work-out at 24 Hour Fitness today. I was on the treadmill for an hour at 3.6 MPH and burned off nearly 500 calories.

Then, when I got home, I weighed myself before I ate breakfast, and to my delight, I was down, well, I'm not going to tell you the weight I'm at, but lets just say that I've lost a total of 7 lbs since 1/2/2011. For those of you too pretty do be able to do math, that's an average of 1 lb per day. I was ecstatic.

Then, after breakfast and my other usual morning routines, I had errands to run and bills to pay. One of those bills was my car payment at the Golden 1 Credit Union. As I was handing the teller my check and payment coupon, I noticed something that made me stop and look again before she took said items from me. The number on the payment coupon was 40. That means I've only got 20 payments to go and my car is paid-off! That means that 2/3 of that car is MINE!

Then, to put the metaphoric cherry on my equally metaphoric hot fudge sundae, I checked my mega millions lotto ticket on the way home and found out I had won $10.00. O.k., it's not the jackpot, but it's still kind of nice.

Stuffing Myself Silly

I have now come to the end of day two on Nutrisystem and I've come to realize that a lot of the eating I used to do wasn't so much out of hunger but out of boredom and habit.

I also seem to be going through some kind of withdraw pains as I haven't been to a fast food restaurant (how will McDonald's survive without me) in nearly a week now.

I miss eating and eating and eating. I'm not hungry, but I suppose food was my comfort and my vice. Like drinkers or smokers or people who take other drugs. My high came from burgers and fries, sodas and shakes, cakes and cookies.

I will overcome this though, and in time will not be invisible anymore.

"The King's Speech" - A Movie Review

Today I drove all the way from Stockton to Manteca, California, to see a limited release film called "The King's Speech". It is a dramatization (somewhat fictionalized I'm sure) of the friendship between King George VI and his speech therapist, Lionel Logue.

Now, I know some will think an approximately 30 minute drive (the distance between Stockton and Manteca being some 25 miles) to see a movie that's just a few short steps above a documentary is kind of dumb and (let's face it) nerdy, but I am just so glad I made the trip.

I was slightly amazed by the fact that it is an "R" rated film. My first thought was that it was because of the violence of World War II, but then I came to the realization that it was because of the foul language used by The King and Logue as part of the formers speech therapy. I cannot of course give away to many details of the film and thereby spoil it for any of you who may not have seen it yet, but suffice it to say that there is something supremely funny about the idea of the king of England dropping "F" bombs all over the place and shouting "Tits!" to get over a stutter. I wish my speech therapist had used these techniques.

It was such a good film that at the end, the entire audience (myself included) actually applauded.

I thoroughly recommend "The King's Speech". I give it a 9 out of 10.

Last Night I Had the Most Wonderful Dream

Most of the details were a bit fuzzy, but last night I had a wonderfully happy dream.

First let me give you a little background information to put the dream into context (and no, I didn't dream about winning the Willy Award to all my S.C.T. friends).

After my last cruise, I decided to forgo all future cruises until I had paid off both my car and student loan. At the time I made that decision, as a state employee, I was facing what I thought of as an endless future of "Furlough Fridays" and the attendant 15% cut in pay (a governator on the defensive will tell you it was only 14.86%), I felt it was something I just couldn't afford anymore till I had taken care of those previously mentioned obligations.

Anyway, in the dream, my situation drastically changed to not only being able to afford the Mexican Riviera cruise again next year and every following year, but every cruise that Atlantis Events organizes every year for the rest of my life.

Like I said, some of the details were fuzzy, but during the dream, I kept seeing and hearing a string of seemingly random numbers that I wrote down on a little notepad I had near my bed, and as soon as I'm able, I'm going to the place I normally buy my lotto tickets and buy those numbers.

Some people may think it's stupid to believe in dreams, but I don't. Everything I dream, one way or another and sooner or later, always come true.