Good ol' Rae

Congratulations, Disney. A Black Princess. You know I'm a sucker for your Princesses. I don't even care what that says about me as a feminist. I admit that am excited to see your newest creation.

You've portrayed white princesses, black princesses, blonde, brunette and redhead princesses. You've portrayed Chinese princesses and Native American princesses. Even an Arab princess. You're not done yet, though.

When you put out a movie about a fat princess - one who is not the butt of a bunch of fart jokes (no pun intended) or who does not fall down all the time. Who is not desperate, manipulative, obnoxious or loud-mouthed. One whose voice is as sweet and lilting as Belle's or Ariel's. One whose figure does not change one iota during the movie. Whose figure is not even COMMENTED UPON. When you demonstrate that fat girls can have a happily-ever after - because they CAN have a happily-ever-after! - that's when we'll know that fat acceptance has gone mainstream.

Of course, you haven't had a bespectacled princess yet, either. We all know girls can't be prom queens until they take their glasses off.

Courtesy of therotund. Posted to the AOL shopping web site. My comments are in italics.

http://shopping.aol.com/articles/2009/10/08/mitten-industry-threatened-by-obesity

RIP Mittens? Obesity May Threaten Mitten Industry
posted Oct 8th 2009 12:56PM by Stephanie Crockett
in Weird Shopping News

If Americans keep getting fatter, there will be no need for mittens in the future. (Oh, lemme guess... Because we fart too much and we're causing global warming, right?...No?)

That's what the results of a new federal study suggest (The study makes no such conclusion. An interest group for the manufacterers of gloves is who has made this suggestion, according to this article. Read on.); that as the obesity epidemic continues, the need for mittens will decrease to a point where the industry's survival is in question. (ZOMG! OBESITY! EPIDEMIC!!11! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!)

Here's why:

A team of researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health found that overweight people tend to generate more heat than those who are lean, but that they weren't holding on to any more heat than their lean counterparts. Instead, they were releasing the extra body heat through their extremities, making the hand temperature of obese participants hotter than those of normal-weight volunteers. (Normal-weight? Like, people who were actually in-line with the statistical averages? Or just what BMI charts recommend?)

So with hot hands, who needs mittens?

(*raises mittened-hand* I do. ALL. THE. TIME. It's SNOWING dude! And it's going to do this for the next six to eight months!)

"If that's the case, people could go without gloves and just stick their hands in their pockets," Carol Burdge, executive director of the International Glove Association, told TheStar.com. (Emphasis mine here. The International GLOVE ASSOCIATION is an organization that, according to its own web site, promotes the interest of glove manufacturers. People who want you to KEEP BUYING STUFF. And to look down on people who DON'T buy stuff - were asked what they thought of this study. This suggestion was not made by scientists. In fact...) "You could use your hands like thermometers." (Um. What? Because your hands give off thermal energy, you can measure temperature? WHAT?)

During the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in obesity throughout the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Notice no one has mentioned a decrease in mittens sales.) The American Association of Obesity reports that approximately 127 million adults in the U.S. are overweight, 60 million obese, and 9 million severely obese, and the numbers are expected to climb. Get them while they last: Shop Mittens

Gotta' love that last plug to buy mittens on AOL.com.

Many of the comments to this article and in responses to the article (as at therotund.com) all posit that perhaps global warming is what has caused a decrease in mittens sales. Or the popularity of handcrafting and knitting. But in actual fact, there hasn't BEEN a decrease in mitten sales! There is NO PROBLEM here! This is NOT NEWS. Some scientists just found that the "obese" people in their studies had warmer hands and the industry finds a reason to cry foul.

And now teh fatteez are putting people out of jobs. But we never leave our homes, so it's not an issue.

Newsweek published an article about Fat and Healthy: Why it's Possible, questioning the so-called OMG!OBESITY!EPIDEMIC!!!11!.

I guess they received a deluge of comments demanding that "they show them" one fat person climbing a mountain or running a marathon. In essence, PROVE IT!

Well, they put out the call, and then PUBLISHED THE RESULTS in a no-nonsense photo editorial.

Fat and Fit Photos: Defying Stereotypes

They win.

From the Calgary Humane Society

The Calgary Humane Society is warning pet owners that cats in the Calgary community are being threatened by feline distemper. Cats that are either not vaccinated or who do not have up-to-date vaccines are in danger of contracting this potentially fatal disease (50 – 90 per cent of cats infected die). The disease is spread through all body secretions including feces, vomit, urine, saliva, and mucus. Cats can spread the disease even when they do not yet exhibit symptoms of the disease.

Calgary Humane Society has seen several feline distemper cases come in from the community in the past week. Veterinary clinics are also reporting cases of distemper at their clinics.

The Calgary Humane Society Adoptions department will be closed until Saturday August 29, to allow for deep cleaning of the shelter and to minimize risks to the hundreds of cats in the shelter. Calgary Humane Society Admissions department will also not be admitting any cats during this time.

Calgary Humane is calling on the community to help stop the spread of this disease. Citizens can help in the following ways:

1. Vaccinate your cat or up-date your cats’ vaccines immediately and encourage family, friends and neighbors to do the same.


2. Unless a stray cat is in distress, do not attempt to trap it or bring it to the Humane Society at this time. Simply monitor the cat’s condition for the time being.


3. Delay cat surrenders to Calgary Humane for the next two weeks (till Sept 11). If you plan to surrender your pet cat to Calgary Humane Society at that time, ensure that it is vaccinated, that there has been at least two weeks time pass since the last vaccination, and bring proof of vaccination at time of surrender.

Distemper is a disease contracted by unvaccinated cats or kittens who then experience vomiting, bloody diarrhea, fever and appetite loss. The disease can kill within hours. Once the virus has been spread in the environment, it can continue to cause disease to susceptible cats for months or even years, thus posing a serious community health risk.

Executive Director of Calgary Humane Society, Patricia Cameron, says, “The presence of large numbers of unvaccinated cats in Calgary is a community problem. This recent community outbreak of distemper shows once again how crucial responsible pet ownership is. Not vaccinating your cat puts countless other cats at risk. We urge all cat owners to work closely with their vets to ensure vaccines are kept current.”

It's pretty serious. Let's keep our kitties safe! Tell your friends and neighbours.

Fighting a new cold (one mom left when she visited last week). Spent the last two days at home in bed - missing work, but the new policy is that people showing signs of illness get sent home, so I saved them the trouble and just stayed in bed. I get bursts of energy followed by bursts of feverish malaise. We are going through a lot of Kleenex^TM

But this morning I woke up, got dressed, etc. Power went out last night so my clock was blinking. Watch said about 9:30.

When drhaggis got up, threw bed spread and pillow shams in the washer.

Changed sheets (clean sheet day!). Hospital corners aren't necessary, but I feel proud that I know how to do them, so I do.

Vacuumed apartment while drhaggis was in the shower.

Polished all the mirrors in the house (we have a lot of them!). I love how Windex makes the apartment smell. drhaggis helped and it was done in minutes.

Started the dishwasher.

The house sparkling and gleaming, drhaggis and I set out to Fair's Fair in Inglewood on a quest for vintage D&D manuals. Our quest was successful. The guy behind the counter let me handle a gorgeous antique bible, with brass clasp intact and pressed flowers between the pages. I love used books!

Headed to the Sentry Box - our yearly visit to this hive of Calgary geekdom - in search of more vintage D&D manuals and a game I played at a friend's house a few months ago. Found used manuals but bought none. Found the game but it was the Italian version (!!!). No English version in sight, so I guess we'll have to find it elsewhere. It was still fun to go there.

Then headed to Kinjo for sushi lunch with Tim & the girls. Delightful meal. Adorable nieces. Swapped items of geekery with Tim - his old D&D manuals for our copies of The Watchmen (both novel and DVD) and Coraline DVD. We declare that Oldest Niece must have a Coraline costume, because she is perfectly suited for it.

Came home to gleaming apartment. Kitty had puk'd on the new clean sheets. Bah! drhaggis threw them back in the washer, bedspread in the dryer.

Sat and flipped through gorgeous D&D players manuals. Whomever owned these either never played or was completely OCD about his books, because these things are pristine.

When bedspread was dry, I was feeling the effects of my cold, so I put the bedspread on the bed and had a nap.

Woke up with a new symptom; rattling chest congestion with sore lungs. Uh oh. Took some decongestant.

Ate some leftovers for supper; drhaggis's pasta and meatballs from last night. Yum!

Headed over to my friend's house - the one who got married recently who had asked me to sing at his wedding. They've gone on their honeymoon and I'm looking after their cats and their apartment. Spending a little time housekeeping while I'm there, so they don't come home to chaos after two weeks in Greece.

And now it's 1:00 a.m. Our house is quiet. I'm thinking about Dragon*Con and geekdom and D&D. I just feel like today was perfect. It's been over a month since we haven't had company or a wedding or both to deal with, and it feels really good to just be us again, even though we're both recovering from colds.

I have no costuming mojo right now (likely because of the sick), but I'm okay with that, even this close to D*Con. I'm looking forward to a vacation and hanging out with my friends. For now, I'm keeping a low profile - lots of rest and fluids.

Good night.

So, I've been following a web site for a couple of years now - www.flylady.net. It's a network, basically, of home makers who call themselves "Sidetracked Home Executives" - basically people who struggle to maintain their homes and keep them out of chaos, or CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome). The network was founded by Marla Cilley of North Carolina, a.k.a. the FlyLady.

It is populated largely by stay-at-home moms, many of which have multiple children. As you can imagine, the web site, articles and testimonials are full of cozy-heart, bubbly sentiment and manufactured, feel-good acronyms which can, I admit, be difficult to stomach, especially for someone like me who is of analytical mind, childfree and working a full-time job. Someone who is not Christian would definitely have a hard time mucking through it, because Marla is open with her faith and draws a lot of strength from it.

But in truth, the system works, once you filter through the flowers and angels and teddy bears and such, and fit the system for your own situation and your own world view.

Though I've subscribed to the web site for at least a year, I've never actively put the system into place in any real way. Our apartment has revolved through various states of company-readiness and CHAOS as our moods and our social calendar has dictated. And I've been frustrated by our small apartment, ready to expand into a new house, but really unable to move toward that in our current financial sphere.

So for whatever reason (probably because it was an opportunity for procrastination of not working on other projects), I decided to start the "baby steps" toward full implementation of the FlyLady system about two weeks ago - actually doing the things they say to do, whether I thought I "needed them" or whether I thought they'll work or not. Some things, I was already doing (like getting dressed every day - I guess some might fall into a rut like that). Some things, I knew I *should* be doing, but wasn't actually doing (like planning meals before going grocery shopping). And some things I hadn't thought to do, but they made a lot of sense once I thought about them (more on that in a sec.).

Unfortunately, the site is kind of... breezy. Certainly there are specific steps outlined on how to get started in the system, but not really any list of what you're looking to accomplish as you follow the steps. She's got "Flylady's eleven commandments" but they don't really encompass the whole system. Again, they're kind of... breezy.

I have been thinking about what makes this system work - the bones, so to speak, of the fluffy, cheery, isn't-it-great-to-bless-your-family system. Because it is a system, and a system has parameters.

So, in a nutshell, here's what I've come up with as the main themes of the system; the concepts that make it work. Here is my take on the pillars of the FlyLady system:

1. No whining. You're not a martyr. Marriage (and indeed life) is not about putting in "your half". It's about giving 100 per cent of yourself every day. This is not about getting your family to help. This is about changing your attitude and your home.

2. Housework done incorrectly still blesses your home. (This is a game changer for me.) Perfectionism paralyses us. Your house is never going to be perfect. And if it ever becomes perfect, it won't stay that way. So get over it. Do a little something; it's better than nothing. And when your family does pitch in, be relieved the task is done. Quit fussing over whether it's been done "good enough" or not.

3. Use a timer for tasks; you can do anything for 15 minutes. When the timer sounds, stop. Whatever progress you made in that 15 minutes is worthwhile, and sometimes you'll be done before your 15 minutes is up. That wasn't so bad, was it? (I like this a lot. Otherwise I obsess and push and keep going for hours until I keel over, often running around aimlessly between several tasks at once... Or I muck around and it takes forever. Or, most likely, never start in the first place because I dread how long it will take.)

4. Create daily, weekly, and monthly routines that become habits over time. (Cilley does the best job of outlining how to do this and it's really the best tool she offers.)

5. Use a calendar and a Control Journal to track appointments, due dates, routines, meals, maintenance schedules and important contact information. There's just no reason to keep all of this in your head, so give yourself a break and write it down in one place. Check it daily during your routines. (I think my control journal has been the key to actually making this work for me, rather than sitting around and imagining it to be working.)

6. Declutter your home before you deep clean - you can't organize clutter and dusting junk is a waste of time. If you don't love it and use it regularly, get rid of it. No excuses - even if your mom gave it to you as a gift. Even if it's "perfectly good". Free yourself from the guilt of not loving it or not using it.

All done in baby steps - that is, implemented slowly over time with thoughtful deliberation. FlyLady's beginner steps are very, very slow (one task per day, fifteen minutes at a time). But she tells you exactly where to start (Shine your sink!) and where to proceed. And then the steps walk you through gradually building your daily routines and just sticking with them. The theory is that over time, deliberation will become auto pilot and the daily chipping away at the chaos will eventually overcome it for good.

So it's been two weeks for me. Currently my routines are not quite habits, which is to say I'm not on auto pilot yet - I still refer to my control journal to make sure I'm hitting all the things I need to be doing each morning, after work and at night. And I'm only doing daily routines, though I'm working up to a weekly one, including a weekly errand day and "home blessing hour", which is essentially a quick-and-dirty surface clean of the living areas of your home. As each day and week goes by, the daily and weekly tasks are building up to shiny surfaces, fresh linens, a stocked fridge and less clutter.

I'm content to be where I am right now and stay here for however long it takes. The daily routines alone have transformed my home. I've unloaded half a dozen garbage bags of junk from the apartment. I've had family coming and going endlessly for the last two weeks - unafraid that they'll see piles of dust and pet hair everywhere and get icked out. I have clean clothes every single day. And room in my closet and spare hangers to hang it all up. And we're saving money with meal planning and perhaps becoming a bit more healthy from eating fresh food instead of fast food every day for lunch and dinner.

Of course my home isn't squeaky clean from top to bottom. And of course there are dust bunnies under the couch and random piles of paper on the desk. But I'll get to them eventually. And when I do, they'll be gone for good.

I have a couple of busy weeks ahead of me - babysitting my friend's cats and finishing my belly dance costume. And mom's still in town. But I'm excited to see where this thing takes me. I finally do feel in control and I'm content to let my control journal direct me on my way to "FLYing" on auto pilot.

• Re-working a belly dance costume I made last year and never loved. It needs to be done by August 25. Through a little trial and error, I have successfully mastered DARTS to make a hip belt that doesn't gape - instead, it hugs my hips and stomach and bum pretty nicely. There are already lots of sequins, beads and sparklies. There will be more, precious. Oh, yes... there will be more. I bought a bead spinner to make the fringe.



• Acting as Go-for at a two-day training seminar on dog behaviour and working them "under threshold" so that they don't freak out under stress. It seems to have gone well. I am supposed to meet with my boss this week to "talk about it", so we'll see about that. One thing's for sure; it's really boring to sit in a quiet, dark room and keep dogs lying on mats until they roll over and go to sleep. But in a seminar where you're encouraging dogs to do that, despite other dogs running around and despite all kinds of people staring at them, that's what you want to happen! It's remarkably tiring.



• Re-learning how to play guitar. My very good friend is getting married in a couple of weeks. The friend he asked to sing at his wedding (a mutual friend of ours) has had to cancel and he wrote me in a panic asking if I could sing and play at his wedding. This friend is like my little brother - we grew up together. It's so close to the wedding I thought he doesn't need this stress, so I said yes. A little foolishly, really - I already have a project with a deadline... Nevertheless, I just can't say no to him! So I dug the guitar out yesterday and started playing. drhaggis is coaching me through it because I've never been a very good player - a hack, really! So I need practice. And I need guitar calluses, baby! Pain is gain! It will be interesting to see how this affects my beading... :-P



• Fighting a cold, for the first time since I had TEH STREP back in March 2008. That's a really long time, so not too bad. It started as a scratchy throat last Thursday and today it's progressed up into my sinuses, which makes my ears itch and I'm sneezing like mad. Oh, and sometimes my chest rattles and I cough stuff up. BLEH! This doesn't make singing fun.



• Addicted to So You Think You Can Dance. I cry nearly every week. Jenine is my favourite dancer, followed by Evan, who evokes Gene Kelly every time he takes the stage. But neither of them will win unless America chooses personality over technique. We'll see.



• The Garden is still flourishing. I think I finally found the right potting mixture to keep everything alive without hauling gallons of water out there every night.

So yeah. That's what I've been up to.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

HAPPY BIRFDAY!

Courtesty of agentdanger via fatshionista

Philadelphia fats and their allies staged a fleshmob on Saturday, July 11.

Dressed in gawdy, riotous attire, they ran/hiked/waddled up the famous Art Museum steps, Rocky style.

Pics here, courtesy of kylecassidy.

I think this is awesome. Would have loved to have been there - either as a participant or as a "norm" when the fat ladies in fluorescent pink bike shorts went charging up those steps.

In case there was any doubt that the media is fuelling fat hatred, I submit to you

AskMen.com - 10 Subtle Ways To Tell Her She's Getting Fat

Courtesy of Shapely Prose

Some of the gems:

Number 10 - Buy her too-small clothes.

So that she has to "admit" to you they're too small, take them back, and then "do something about it".

Number 7 - Serve her unsatisfactory portions.

So that she has to ask for more, which "gives you the opportunity to shame her into acknowledging her weight gain.

Number 5 - Playfully grab her love handles.

It will make her recoil. Use this to your "advantage".

Number 4 - Ask her to wear an old dress.

"This way she’ll have to admit to you that she’s put on too much weight and can no longer get into many of her old clothes. Follow it up by telling her how good she looked in those days, and maybe she’ll make it her mission to get back to that size."

Number 3 (this is the best) - Sabotage her chair

"nothing says 'better lose some weight' like a broken chair. After you loosen a few screws or remove some important slats of a chair in which you know she’ll sit and subsequently break, sit back and watch the guaranteed dietary transformation that ensues. It will profoundly amaze you."

------------------------------------------------

How.

How is it okay to suggest people do such underhanded abusive things to their partners? I'll tell you how.

Because they're fat partners. Fat partners need to be TOLD, or TRICKED IN TO ADMITTING IT. And then they'll DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

What will they do? We don't know, but I can suggest a few things: develop unhealthy relationships with food. Irevokably screw up their metabolisms. Hate themselves. Resent you, you self-absorbed, coniving SOB.

And if they don't? Set them up to break their necks. Because the fact that they're not fat enough to break it on their own is irrelevant. Because it's more important that she feels shame and self-loathing and "does something" about her weight than feel safe with you. You're perfectly within your rights to place her in danger if it means she'll be hurt and embarrassed enough to hate her body and destroy it. And if she never knows that she wasn't ACTUALLY fat enough to break the chair? That you had to remove screws or slats to make it structurally unsound? Well, a little white lie never hurt anyone.

People take this kind of "article" with really light hearts. And I (thankfully) don't know a man who would read this shit, let alone take this seriously. But the fact that more people aren't up in arms about how degrading this is says a lot about our world.

One of my co-workers always brings the yummiest looking salads to work. Yesterday I asked what she puts in them.

She said, "I always try to have a different type of greens, so today it's spring greens. I always try to have two fruits and two types of cheese and I always have pecans because I love them."

Her salad yesterday had peaches, strawberries, goat cheese, pecans, raspberry vinaigrette and a bunch of other awesome stuff.

So I decided I was going to make a yummy salad with those guidelines for my lunch today.

I made my salad with crisp green leaf lettuce, cucumbers, strawberries, white nectarines, feta cheese and cashews with a lemon juice vinaigrette. ZOMG AWESOME.

Now that I'm finished enjoying it, I miss it. I want it back!

So that's my new rule; no more boring salads. More fruit, cheese and nuts in my salads. So much better than the old iceburg-with-tomatoes standby. Snore.

We were at a local belly dance bazaar - lots of good deals to be found for anyone who could dig up a costume that would fit her.

A troupemate and I are standing idly by, having gone through every table, every rack, and having asked the proprieters if there would be anything hidden away that might fit. No luck. So we get to chatting.

My troupe mate is a fellow fattie. She dances with the junior troupe and works very hard, as I do, at training and getting better at her craft.

I don't know how the conversation got to this point, but I find myself gesturing to my "voluptua" and saying, "There's nothing wrong with this. I ain't got nothin' to change right here."

"MMmmhmm!" she says, and we do the whole head slide finger snap attitude thing and laugh. I'm being serious. She's just playing along.

"Seriously though," she says, "Your solo made my dad cry!"

"Aw! Wow!" I say.

"I mean, he knows... he sees me struggle with my weight... and I think seeing you dance the way you did... I think he just sort of saw what was possible."

We get interrupted by something and the converstion ends but I wish we could have spoken about it more.

Because you know what's possible? Anything. Especially when you're doing what you love.

Someone (who is, I'll admit, somewhat removed from my social circle) posted this as their facebook status today:

15 days til total brain melt and luke skywalker and captain rex..i'll be flying til i see a fat trekkie in a slave leia costume

This person is travelling to San Diego Comic Con and that is what is referred to by "15 days".

Yup. Damn those fat Trekkies for ruining your fun. How DARE they show themselves at your convention? Only slender non-Trekkies should go there. And only 100 per cent gorgeous models should even THINK about wearing costumes that are so revealing.

"Calm down, Rae. They weren't talking about you. It was only a joke."

No?

Then just people who look like me? Or weigh as much as me? Or have the same "body mass index" number as me? Because I don't deserve comments like that, but the others do? Am I a "Good fattie"?

Making jokes like this seems harmless, but it's not. It's absolutely not okay. Fat does not equal gross. No more than tall or short or black or blonde equal gross.

Interesting how it's okay to insinuate that seeing a fat person out in public would ruin your day, but it's not okay to say the same thing about a blonde person or a tall person or a black person.

And if a fat person wants to wear a Slave Leia costume, good on her! (So long as she does it well - this is the prideful costumer talking here, and it doesn't matter what your body type, I believe your costume should be well thought-out and well-executed.) If people like me can carry themselves well in sparkly bra/belt belly dance costumes at belly dance shows, then fat people can wear Slave Leia costumes at conventions.

Even if they like Star Trek.

We *still* have no idea what's going on in Tehran. Yesterday was supposed to be the big protest in memory of those who had been killed. Last we heard, anyone found to have gathered with two or more people would be arrested. Anyone found with an electronic device would have it confiscated. There was nothing coming out of Iran except the government's accusations that the West was apparently to blame for the violence and atrocities...

And all anyone could talk about yesterday AND today. All MSNBC and CNN and any other "politics" or "news" station could talk about was Michael Jackson. 24 hours, around-the-clock tributes to Michael Jackson.

The media has hated and despised and mocked this man for two decades and suddenly his death is such a tragedy that they completely ignore a country held hostage by a savage and brutal dictator.

WHAT IS GOING ON OVER THERE?

*I* haven't forgotten about you, Iran. I still pray for your safety. I still wonder what's going on in your homeland. I still want you to have a voice.

And I want the news channels to give me the news.

One of my co-workers has purchased a new scale. Just for the sake of setting the scene, co-worker is slender and tall. Picture the stereotypical Ranch Girl and that's her.

Aside from telling her how much she weighs, this scale also has all kinds of features that include telling her body fat percentage.

But she has to fix it, apparently. Because yesterday it told her she had 34 per cent body fat. (*HER EYES WIDE AND MOUTH AGAPE*)

I said, "Like me!" (because I don't know EXACTLY what I'm at, but last time I checked, I was around 30 per cent... and just like anything else, I'm sure it fluctuates from day to day, week to week, month to month...)

"NO!" she says. "NO WAY!"

"Yeah!" I say. "Just like me!"

"NO! Thirty per cent is like... Biggest Loser!"

"Yeah!" I say again. And point to myself. "Like me! Last time I checked, that's where I was at."

"Well, no way. Because you don't LOOK like THAT!" (meaning she couldn't believe that I had as much body fat as the FREAKS on television.)

Stop. Right. There.

This is EXACTLY the point about fat acceptance and HAES and everything else. YOU CAN NOT TELL, just by looking at someone, what their body is comprised of. Or how healthy they are. You cannot even tell by using a measuring tape or by the size of their clothes what their body is comprised of or how healthy they are. And even by measuring body fat percentage, you CAN NOT TELL how healthy or how smart or how happy or how organized or how punctual or how conscientious they are. It's just another measurement. Another observation. One more piece of information about a very complex, dynamic, intricate organism.

How fat someone LOOKS is completely and utterly irrelevant. Because 254 lbs on me looks WAY different than 254 lbs on anyone else. A 54" waist looks way different on me than on anyone else. A body fat percentage of 30 per cent looks different on me than on anyone else.

What matters is how I feel while being at 254 lbs. I have a lot of drive to do things I love like dance and garden. I have a lot of stamina. I can run up the stairs and not be out of breath. I'm sleeping really well. I haven't had a cough or cold in nearly a year. And my physical exam went really well yesterday. I could weigh 100 lbs less and feel like shit. I could weigh 100 lbs more and feel like a million bucks.

But I don't. This is how I look and feel, at 5'7", 254 lbs. Tomorrow it may change. And it probably will. But you won't be able to tell unless I choose to share it with you.

Yeah, so I went for my "annual" physical.

Let's just call it annual even though it hasn't been, okay?

The nurse has weighed me, measured how tall I am, taken my blood pressure, ("Hmm! Very good!") and "tested" my eyesight. (I'm wearing glasses that are about four prescriptions too old... I really do need new ones... but we'll just say it was a worthwhile test, shall we?)

I get undressed and "put on" the scraps of cotton they have given me to hide my nudity. And then they send a resident in to ask all the questions and do the other stuff.

He has forgotten his stethoscope, so he steps out of the room to retrieve it. He comes back in.

"I felt naked without it!"

¬.¬

"Awwwwww." I say. He laughs and realizes what he's said.

At one point there was the nurse, the resident and my doctor, all jostling around in this tiny exam room. They're bumping into one another. "Oops!" "Excuse me, Doctor..." "Could I just... thanks..."

I quip, "Maybe we should invite some more people in here!" Everyone laughs.

Coulda' been worse. Coulda' been awkward. But it wasn't.

And not one. Single. Comment. About my weight.

HAES FTW!

Friday: Kent made PITH PIZZA. (Like Pirate Pizza, only this one is made wearing a pith helmet.) Then we went to see UP again. Because I NEEDED TO SEE IT. AGAIN. TALKING GOGGIES!

Saturday: Woke up and went shopping for more garden stuff and more plants. Went a little overboard - bought more plants than I had containers for (mostly because I lost some of my containers over the last couple of winters). But I had saved one of my gift cards from Christmas just for this purpose, which is what I used. Came home and planted, planted, planted! Ran out of potting soil. Made plans to pick up soil and a few more planters the next day, so I could fit the rest of my plants.

Sunday: Ran around to the usual suspects (Winners, Wal-Mart, Superstore) to find some cheap containers and potting soil while drhaggis went to the Steampunk meetup. Came home to discover that my upstairs neighbour's brats had once again thrown garbage and food onto my patio. This has been a daily occurance for nearly three months (since the weather has been warming up). Between huge puddles of juice and melted crayons and face paint, I had had enough. Wrote them a note (ALL CAPS. I used the term "inconsiderate children") and taped it to their door, because they weren't home. Then finished my planting.

So the garden is at that stage where all it will need is feeding and watering and general maintenance-type care. Oh, and the furniture needs to be treated/stained. But that can wait a little bit. My patio is finally where I want it to be. All that's left is to set up my little fountain and it's complete! Yay! I'll definitely take pictures and post them for y'all.

And the neighbour? Finally came home around nine and picked up the trash. She seemed angry at me. I was kind of at a loss as to what to say. She said, "We're moving at the end of the month." Uh huh. I know that. But that's two weeks away. And I am NOT going to pick up after your kids anymore. And I'm certainly NOT going to be responsible if your kids have permanently stained this patio.

She made a bunch of excuses about having had a "guest"... as if that's why my patio was used as a dumping ground for popcorn. As if her guest had made this mess. I pointed out the paint stain on the concrete and told her about the juice puddles last week. Like, this is your kids, lady. Not your guest. I said I didn't understand why they didn't come down and clean up when their stuff had fallen down here... or at least TOLD her when they had dropped something.

I've seen them come down and get stuff they had dropped. They know how to do that. And I have no problem if they come down to my patio to pick stuff up. No problem at all.

But I've also seen a couple pairs of shoes THROWN several feet off the balcony. And sit there for days. In the rain and the sun. And they never came to pick them up. Didn't the mom wonder where their shoes had gone?

I was sad to see her stooping to pick up this crap. Her kids are about six years old. Perfectly capable of cleaning up their messes. But no. Here she comes, yet again, to clean up their mess. What have they learned? Nothing. There will probably be another mess tomorrow or the next day.

It makes me sad because I would have liked to have been friends with her. She seems like she could use a friend (home all day with the kids. Moved here from Palestine via Lebanon via Toronto. Teaches Arabic to school children on the weekends.) But every encounter we've had with them has been about their noisy, messy, obnoxious kids. I've tried to always be patient and polite when asking them to not stomp or slam doors or scream. But this time I just had to be more direct and firm. My patio is my living space and I won't tolerate other people littering it.

Grr.

Anyway... yay patio garden!

drhaggis made this yesterday.


Keep your eyes peeled for:

• Tongo Hiti live


• ...at Trader Vic's


• mashup of The Who and Johnny Cash


• Dragon*Con Rollerderby parade entry


• drum circle lightsabers


• my tassel belt (and three-four shimmy!)


• The Jew Man Group


• drum circle Lightsabers CONGA LINE!


• Cedric the Bard (singing Firefly songs!)


• Abney Park & Captain Robert (aka robert_from_ap)


• Darth Maul incognito


• cool camera angles of live bands shot by a rather talented hobbiest

LESS THAN 100 DAYS!!!

Tonight on TCM:

On the Town (Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Ann Miller)... An all-star cast that could never be replicated again. Near the end, the boys end up in crazy belly dance costumes. Delightful.

Royal Wedding (Fred Astaire & Jane Powell) - The famous "dancing on the ceiling" movie.

Singin' in the Rain (Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds) - Like Casablanca, one of the greatest films of all time. Pure joy and delight. I would likely die if I ever met Debbie.

If I didn't have belly dance tonight, I'd be glued to my TV set. So y'all should clear your schedules and watch!