Various things to post today. First and foremost: the time has come. I’m up to 228 pounds, and that’s about 28 pounds above what I’d ideally like to be. 18 pounds over where I’d be comfortable, even if I wasn’t completely satisfied. Just a year or two ago I was at 205. I can do better. How did I get here? Stress put on a lot of it–meaning that I was stressed, so I justified my eating more. Comfort weight. The candy jar on the third floor of the library is helping me keep that weight on, as is my habit of baking things at home and then eating those baked goods. Cursed brownies. With frosting. Sigh.
So I’m going to do my best to be hungry again for a while. See if I can’t at least get down to 215. If I make it that far, I’ll try to keep going and see if I can’t make it to 200. Crazier things have happened. Maybe I’ll even start going to the gym again.
In other news, I now have my iPod hooked in directly to my car stereo. This brings me great joy. This morning on my drive to work I listened to two songs: Der Wolf’s Haette ich dich heut’ erwartet and Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby. Der Wolf’s song is a reggae rap adaptation of the German version of the Sesame Street classic, If I Knew You Were Coming, I’d Have Baked a Cake. Obscure enough for you? I love it. First heard it on my mission in Germany while I was in Schwarzenberg, and it’s stuck with me since. Actually, I have a funny story about how I got that CD. I ordered it from a German music store in Germany–to send to my brother as a gift. The guy in the store seemed very nice. Of course, when it finally arrived, it turned out he’d ordered me the wrong CD. And he wanted me to buy it. When I refused, he got rather upset and started complaining about Christians and how hypocritical we all were. Sigh. I have a theory of how this all relates to Communism, but I’m guessing you don’t want to hear about that.
Anyway.
The second song, Ice Ice Baby, has had a fairly consistent presence in my life. First of all, I was made fun of in middle school, since my name (which was rather obscure at the time) rhymed with Ice. (I also got the whole Rice-a-roni treatment fairly often.) On my mission, my companion (Elder Anderson) and I would pass the time walking through Weimar by him teaching me the first verse of Vanilla Ice’s epic. When I was in Jerusalem, my friend Jonathan Stone helped me get down the other verses. We practiced at Masada, and we’re convinced we’re the only two people who ever rapped the whole thing up there. So now I have a claim to fame beyond being the only author to ever pen an alpaca fantasy.
And now YOU know a bit more about me and my music tastes. I’ve often thought it would be cool if cars had a “Now Playing” feature on the outside, where we could see what people were listening to while we drove around. And that’s all the time I have to blog today.
That NOW PLAYING idea you proposed is more fitting for places like California or Florida. Places where you actually can drive around with your windows down and not end up a Popsicle. In places like Maine, we need to take advantage of technology.
Now I want to hear this German song. It has me all intrigued.
You exist!!! What’s up with the dearth of blog posts, my friend? And if I have my iPod on me next time you see me, remind me and I’ll play the song for you.