The Day After the Day After
2007-12-27, 3:39 p.m.

Day 1222

I am STILL suffering the after effects of munching too many ribs Tuesday. The worst part of all? At spin class Wednesday morning, I�d have these burps come along as we were pedaling our butts off. Just from getting things stirred up I guess. Every little eruption tasted like ribs. Not a bad thing in and of itself, but geeze, smoky stuff like that at 5:30 in the morning? Not again, thanks.

I�m trying to build up the courage to step back on the scales before the end of the year. I�m also prepared to go back on my more strict dieting regimen. I have obviously NOT retrained my mind & body with better eating habits. Of course, this is the absolute worst time of year for realizing that. There are still SO MANY cookies to be eaten! Unfortunately, those nice 34 waist pants I fought to get into are now getting a little snug, and not in a good way. At least the 36�s are still loose. But man, I gotta work my way back down so I�m comfy in those 34�s

Cindy insists that I just have to develop some self-discipline. I insist that it�s easier to just eliminate the temptation entirely. Of course, that takes a wee bit of self-discipline at some point � like NOT buying the peanut M&M�s, or NOT baking the cookies. But that is one instant of self discipline that eliminates many future instances of temptation. It�s all in the timing. If I can resist it once, usually at the store, and not bring it into the house, then there�s no lingering temptation. Or guilt. Win � win situation.

Something that came up in one of my head shrinking sessions is an explanation for 2 things that seem to be running counter to each other. Think I covered this before, but you�re stuck reading it again.

First thing is I�ve turned into a chocolate hound the last 3 or 4 months. In the past, chocolate was a take it or leave it kinda thing (hard to believe, I know) but lately � I can�t seem to get enough. Annette says it could be from a vitamin B deficiency that could be brought on by stress. Somehow the whole affair getting blown up deal caused much stress that sucked up all my B vitamins and makes me go nuts for chocolate. But now the worst of the stress is over. Maybe a little B vitamin therapy will help reduce the chocolate binging.

The other thing is my miserable attendance/participation at the gym of late. Since October I�ve been managing to get in the 3 spin classes a week and that�s it. No jogging, no elliptical, no weights. That�s certainly contributed to my little bit of weight gain. I can also feel it in spin classes in reduced endurance. Sad, sad state of affairs.

Not like that got me to the gym this morning. And that, according to Annette, is evidence that I�m no longer using the gym as an escape. An escape from Cindy�s drinking, her attitude, her behavior. For the most part, over the last couple of months there�s been nothing to escape from. So � no stress from a relationship angle, but lingering stress over the whole affair dealie. Seems odd. Not going to the gym because of a lack of stress, but craving chocolate because of stress. Which is it? I asked Annette about this apparent dichotomy. She had no solid answer � just pieces of the puzzle I suppose.

What I need to do is to make some sort of agreement with Cindy. Some sort of deal that lets me spend time at the gym without taking time from her. Weekday mornings isn�t an issue � it�s trying to get in a quality workout at least one day on the weekends that�s a problem. I�d like to take about 3 hours � that�s a big chunk of the day. We�ll come up with something.

Saturday night we go to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra. I�ve had the tickets since September. Can�t wait to see them. We�re going to be right up front. Here�s the BCA seating chart:

We�re lucky enough to have tickets in Section 31, Row F. Pays to buy tickets during the pre-sale. I may try and smuggle a camera into the show. My little Kodak jobber (V530) is small enough, might work nice. You�ll know come Monday. There will be either pictures or a bail posting.

Got a call from one of the bro�s � he�s too sick to bowl tonight. That�s sick. Really sick. I talked to him briefly on the phone. Man, I�m glad that�s as close as I got. He sounded terrible. Tried to get Zach to sub for him, but he�s got his review at work and isn�t sure it�ll finish in time. Wouldn�t be good to be constantly checking your watch during a review, so he�s gotta take a pass on it this time. That�ll leave me (oldest) and the youngest brother to defend our honor tonight. Better to let #3 recuperate. He sounded just completely sapped of energy. Poor guy. Give him a week of rest, let the creeping crud run it�s course and he�ll be raring to go next week.

Got a tight schedule for the rest of the day. Need to pick up Eric at 4:30 and get to bowling before 4:45. It�s a 10 minute drive in very good traffic (i.e. none). Hope the weeks lighter than normal traffic load holds true.

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