So I have a few extra pounds I’d like to get rid of… I’m nowhere near where I was in 1999, when I started the Body for Life program and lost quite a bit of weight and got into much better shape; and since I’ve started practicing ashtanga regularly and eating well, I’ve been quite healthy.
But there’s a few pounds that just stubbornly won’t let go. The other day, however, I stumbled upon a few posts on the [Shangri-la Diet][1], which is based on — literally — sugar water and flavorless oils. You drink plain sugar water and/or flavorless oils a few times a day, an hour or so away from meals, and you get full faster and snack less and viola, lose weight.
Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? That’s one of the reasons I decided to try it. And amazingly enough, during the three meals I’ve eaten since starting it, I’ve felt full **so much faster** it’s incredible. Even Jess has commented on my change in appetite several times, and she thinks the idea is nuts.
I’m not sure whether that’s the mental effect of suggestion, or actual effect of the sugar water, but so far it’s just crazy enough to work. I’m interested to see how it goes from here!
[1]: http://del.icio.us/tag/diet+shangri-la
Don’t underestimate yourself. What may have fit like a glove in some ways, sometimes fit too tightly for you, didn’t it? And sometimes it didn’t keep you warm enough from the cold?
Indecisiveness and complexities are a part of you, and you revel in that, as you say, and your true fit will love who you are. Maybe he will find someone laid back who will be different - but better? Believe in yourself, believe in who you are. Revel in the rush of feelings; enjoy the life spread out before you.
And find the time to smile.
Lately the distance across the water seems so great.
I had the opportunity to spend the evening hanging out with a [buddy I’ve known since high school][1] (scroll down to Scott Morabito), enjoying a fairly inexpensive bottle of Shiraz (you know, the kind with the screw-top, but certainly not the stuff they used to serve at parties in the woods back in college) and some Italian food, and watching a movie about a retarded fisherman in Minnesota and the people who try to fleece him out of his tournament winnings.
My housemate, however, said to Jess that it’s not a real Boys’ Night Out without strippers and beer. So I guess it was more like a Boys’ Night In.
I walked back from his place into Harvard Square at a quarter of one in the morning; I’m not sure how to describe how much I love the peace and calm of the city after it’s settled down for the evening. Cambridge and Boston still have the sense of being vibrant, but all the bustle and noise of the day fades away after midnight and leaves in its stead the buildings and the lights and the empty streets. The faint halo of mist around the streetlights, the branches (just beginning to bloom) glistening with the dampness of earlier rain, the faint din of muffled voices in a thousand dorm rooms — still diligently studying for tomorrow’s test now that the distractions of day have ceased — all fill me with a sense of peace and contentment.
It’s crazy how hard it is for me to focus during the day, but how **simple** that same focus becomes after the rest of the world has gone to bed.
When I share my life with others, it’s not so easy to be the night owl I used to be.
I felt so tempted to stroll through Harvard Yard last night before I caught a cab home. Every time I’m on the campus I’m reminded of how much I miss the atmosphere of learning and exploration that good colleges foster - and for that matter, just how much I missed the incredible strong connection to history - my history - that I feel in Cambridge and especially on that campus.
I’m not going to take any of their summer classes, but I plan to go back in the fall for one or two classes - maybe three if I can afford the money and the time. But before that happens, I need to see someone about managing my attention deficit issues. Can’t wait, though!
[1]: http://www.whathefilm.com/Pages/cast.html
I wish these methods were in ruby proper (or even just Rails).
I’ve been using at Zaadz. them to clear certain parameters out of parameter hashes in Rails, and I got tired of typing `something.delete_if { |k,v| %w{this that}.include?(k) }`… so I wrote a couple of extensions to Hash that let you filter a hash, selecting all __except__ the keys you specify or selecting __only__ the keys you specify.
And just because, I dedicate this one to my friend [Steph][1]:
[1]:http://stephalicio.us/
class Array
# Converts a nested array suchs a [[1,2],[3,4]] into {1 => 2, 3 => 4}
def to_h
hash = {}
self.each do |ary|
hash[ary.first] = ary.last
end
return hash
end
end
class Hash
# Usage { :a => 1, :b => 2, :c => 3}.except(:a) -> { :b => 2, :c => 3}
def except(*keys)
self.reject { |k,v|
keys.include? k.to_sym
}
end
# Usage { :a => 1, :b => 2, :c => 3}.only(:a) -> {:a => 1}
def only(*keys)
self.select { |k,v|
keys.include? k.to_sym
}.to_h
end
end