Meanderings...

thankee sir

hi jeff,

I'm working on a longer "1-year anniversary" post, which I will get up some time today I hope.

it's certainly been an eventful year! Congratulations on your courage, determination, many discoveries, and the transformation of what you didn't like about yourself into what you. Congratulations on the little rediscoveries of daily delight you'd forgotten (as we all do), and on the gift of your writing.

Today (okay, yesterday) is the one year anniversary of my weight loss surgery, so I figured a recap and some ruminations are in order.

My weight this morning was 253 - lowest ever. Highest last year was 388 - so that's 155 pounds.

That's way better than I expected. (Or is it weigh better?)

I mentioned earlier this year that I had started going out with a woman who had the same surgery a couple of years ago. To make a long story short, it was a great, intense relationship, but we have since broken up. The only reason I bring this up is that in the approx. 6 weeks since we broke up, I have lost about 15 pounds. During the time we were hot and heavy, my weight loss frequently stalled for weeks and was generally slow.

Too many restaurants I think.

The year has been transformative for me in many ways, even down to the way I view my own underwear and how I sing. No, sorry, no details about the first, but I do actually sing much better now. I just realized this the other day, when I found myself remarkably in tune with some complicated singing, and I can harmonize on the fly now much better than before.

Maybe that sounds silly, but I have to consider the possibility that they're connected, because the  mental changes since the surgery seem to be as big as the physical ones.

Moving on…

One of the bigger surprises was how much the operation didn’t affect me. I was expecting huge, difficult to make changes in eating habits and rough going at restaurants. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but apart from staying away from white carbs as much as I can (but not completely), my new diet has been pretty easy to get used to. Some foods I have to be careful about because sometimes they’re a bit hard to digest, like too-dry chicken. But there’s not much that I’ve found I can’t tolerate.

But the bottom line regarding my diet is that I'll eat pretty much anything that I'm served or that might be on the menu. Just not so much of it. This has been a tremendous relief.

Also, because I enjoy eating but simply can’t eat much at once, I don’t skimp on ingredients that might be “too rich”. If I drink milk, it’s usually 4% and I don’t shy away from butter. I don’t buy anything that’s low-fat or low-calorie – at least not intentionally.

The other thing I’ve been able to do, which I had my doubts about, was to learn to appreciate each bite of food. Now I certainly don’t do it at every meal, but I have learned to linger on a bite, especially if it’s really tasty. This has allowed me to, for example, buy a bag of Lindt Chocolate Truffles, my favorite chocolate, and pretty easily limit myself to less than one a day. A lot less, actually. But when I do get around to eating one, I’ll let it sit in my mouth for a minute while I appreciate and extract the flavors.

And I may be treading on dangerous ground here, but I have also carefully re-introduced ice-cream to my diet. Ice cream was a big problem of mine before surgery, and I’d regularly eat a pint of haagen-dasz a few times a week. I studiously avoided even going by the ice cream cases for about the first 6 months after the surgery, I was that scared of it. But slowly and carefully I’ve been able to buy the occasional pint of ice-cream and eat it over the course of 2-3 days. Early on when I re-introduced ice-cream, I ate a whole pint at once. Never again. I felt horrible all night.

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That’s the end for now, but I’ve got more coming…..

   Glad to hear that is working so well for you!  All good things in moderation!

So interesting and inspiring!  Congrats and keep it up, db

Congratulations to you db and continue to carry on.

From my favorite Buddhist, Thich Nhat Hanh:

''When I was four years old, my mother used to bring me a cookie every time she came home from the market. I always went to the front yard and took my time eating it, sometimes half an hour or forty-five minutes for one cookie. I would take a small bite and look up at the sky. Then I would touch the dog with my feet and take another small bite. I just enjoyed being there, with the sky, the earth, the bamboo thickets, the cat, the dog, the flowers. I was able to do that because I did not have much to worry about. I did not think of the future, I did not regret the past. I was entirely in the present moment, with my cookie, the dog, the bamboo thickets, the cat, and everything.

Maybe you have the impression that you have lost the cookie of your childhood, but I am sure it is still there, somewhere in your heart. Everything is still there, and if you really want it, you can find it. The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.''

-Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is Every Step

jeffl said:

From my favorite Buddhist, Thich Nhat Hanh:

''When I was four years old, my mother used to bring me a cookie every time she came home from the market. I always went to the front yard and took my time eating it, sometimes half an hour or forty-five minutes for one cookie. I would take a small bite and look up at the sky. Then I would touch the dog with my feet and take another small bite. I just enjoyed being there, with the sky, the earth, the bamboo thickets, the cat, the dog, the flowers. I was able to do that because I did not have much to worry about. I did not think of the future, I did not regret the past. I was entirely in the present moment, with my cookie, the dog, the bamboo thickets, the cat, and everything.

Maybe you have the impression that you have lost the cookie of your childhood, but I am sure it is still there, somewhere in your heart. Everything is still there, and if you really want it, you can find it. The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.''

-Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is Every Step

thanks for that. That resonates with me a few ways.

Great.  When I used to be a therapist I would "prescribe" Peace Is Every Step more than any other book.  TNH's mindfulness approach can be so helpful for whatever ails you...or for whatever doesn't.

One of my favorite quotes of his, "When we have a toothache, we know that not having a toothache is happiness. But later, when we don't have a toothache, we don't treasure our non-toothache."  Treasure your non-toothache, DB.

drummerboy said:

jeffl said:

From my favorite Buddhist, Thich Nhat Hanh:

''When I was four years old, my mother used to bring me a cookie every time she came home from the market. I always went to the front yard and took my time eating it, sometimes half an hour or forty-five minutes for one cookie. I would take a small bite and look up at the sky. Then I would touch the dog with my feet and take another small bite. I just enjoyed being there, with the sky, the earth, the bamboo thickets, the cat, the dog, the flowers. I was able to do that because I did not have much to worry about. I did not think of the future, I did not regret the past. I was entirely in the present moment, with my cookie, the dog, the bamboo thickets, the cat, and everything.

Maybe you have the impression that you have lost the cookie of your childhood, but I am sure it is still there, somewhere in your heart. Everything is still there, and if you really want it, you can find it. The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.''

-Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is Every Step

thanks for that. That resonates with me a few ways.

still kickin'....

I had another non-scale victory the other day. In the JCC locker room, I was able to wrap a standard issue JCC towel around my waist with room to spare.

yay!

drummerboy said:

still kickin'....

I had another non-scale victory the other day. In the JCC locker room, I was able to wrap a standard issue JCC towel around my waist with room to spare.

yay!

Great news! Mazel Tov!!

"Still kicking'"....that's what matters.

I've enjoyed reading this thread. Good for you db. And every victory (and the towel around your waste with room to spare is a major victory) is something to savor. Keep pluggin! 

Those teeny scraps of material?? Wow! That's major!

Congrats on your achievements - each one, mentioned here or kept private - is a wonderful victory, rebuilding the You you'd lost.   

"I was able to wrap a standard issue JCC towel around my waist with room to spare."

  : )

I had a thought today...

How about starting a Tijuana Brass tribute band? I would play the role of my hero, Herb Alpert.

interesting...

competition....

http://www.atasteofherb.com/

ETA: listened to A Taste of Honey. Trumpet player gets Alpert's style down pretty good and doesn't add much of his own embellishment - which is good in a tribute band. 

Instrumentation is a bit thin. Only two horns. I figure you need at least 3 more people in the band. A Taste of Honey really begs for a trombone in a couple of places. 

Give'em a solid B.

Alpert had some chops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rz5Z5t4B7g

I bragged about this before, but this was my 5-record (boxed) find at the Morrow sale two years ago.

Lonely Bull is my favorite. I can listen to it all day.

https://youtu.be/16B5Xm8_IKw

I have such a strong memory of starting at this album cover as a kid:

mjh said:

I have such a strong memory of starting at this album cover as a kid:

you and me and lots of kids. 

DaveSchmidt said:

I bragged about this before, but this was my 5-record (boxed) find at the Morrow sale two years ago.

You lucky dog!!

kthnry said:

Lonely Bull is my favorite. I can listen to it all day.

oh geez. he plays so sweetly in this. there's this little 16th note triplet flourish that he plays that is driving me crazy. F-G-F on the staff. Seems so simple... I just play those 3 notes over and over but I can't get them as sweet and smooth as he does.

as a matter of fact, time to go practice that right now...

kthnry said:

Lonely Bull is my favorite. I can listen to it all day.

Thanks for this.  Gorgeous & a sweet trip down memory lane.  

LOL. My parents had the Whipped Cream album when I was a kid, and I still remember the shock when I dropped it and it shattered all over the place. How different recording materials were back then.

apropos of nothing...

So I came across some old LP's of my parents'. These were some of the records that first made musical impressions on me and I still remember them vividly.

So I want to play them. To make a long story short, I came up with 2 different turntables, both of which worked the last time I used them (albeit many years ago), that simply refused to power up or show any semblance of life at all.

So Amazon to the rescue - just ordered a turntable for 35 bucks that will be delivered today at no charge.

I realize 35 bucks is not going to give me much quality. A decent cartridge alone has gotta cost $100. But it should get the job done.

So by tonight I'll be listening to such old favorites as Peg O' My Heart and George M. Cohan's greatest hits.

I seriously can't wait.

^^ Sweet.  Enjoy!

I am now firmly convinced that Jesse Pearson's portrayal of Conrad Birdie is one of the great comedic performances ever. He perfectly embodies talented-swaggering smarmy-charm.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0669293/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JXUA8oFWCc&index=2&list=RDrS38PiZ2-RA

more progress - I saw my endocrinologist last week about my diabetes. great news! A1C is down to 6.1 - 2 years ago it was pushing 10, or maybe even higher. Cholesterol is good, vitamins and minerals are good - without supplements!

I've simplified my meds too. I stopped insulin the day of the surgery basically, but we were still playing around with additional drugs on top of the basic metformin. Farxiga. Januvia. this or that statin. blah, blah. But now I'm officially down to just metformin, and I've decided to stop it altogether for a couple of weeks and watch my sugar closely, because I think I might not need the metformin either. Or not as much anyway.