Slimming World
..And Suddenly He Blogged Again
Aug 25th
All of a sudden it was a bank holiday Monday (yes, foreign friends, I know the name doesn’t make sense) and here I am with a head full of words and nonsense. Time to verbally vomit over your shiny new shoes.
Usually, a reappearance like this is driven by an amazing happenstance in a normally dull week but to be honest (love that phrase), I just felt like it. I spent the last month or so doing a little naval gazing and pondering. Nothing earth shattering has emerged from the meditation and self-indulgence but I still live in hope. I am not sleeping very well at the moment but I have no idea why. Work is busy but no more so than at any time over the last year or so, so I am pretty sure it ain’t that.
Am I on the verge of a mid-life crisis? Those of you who see a lot of me might wonder if I am already having it and lately, I can see what you mean. I have no great secret personal life hidden from all of you. What you see me doing is pretty much what there is.
Ardent Slimming World junkies such as myself don’t get Bank Holiday’s off, so today I was there bright and early. Very early as it happens. Not as much traffic on the roads at 9am as usual you see. Had I half a ounce of common sense, I would have realised this and hence avoided the need to run round the house like my trousers were on fire 30 seconds after the alarm went off this morning. It was worth the trip though, I lost 3½ pounds which is very cool. Slightly less cool when you discover that I put 3 on last week. If only I could determine what I did this week that I didn’t do last week and vice-versa. Sadly, if it were that simple, I could make a fortune and I would be already wearing the 34 inch waist jeans hanging like a mocking denim bat in my wardrobe. There are now 5 of us from work at my group which adds to the fun. Laughing at other people might be wrong but its a great way to start the week. Before you go and call me (us) cruel, rest assured that sometimes it goes both ways. This week, I was first in line when we “went round the room to see how everyone got on”. The nice consultant lady tells everyone how well we did (they never say how much we put on) and we have to talk about our week. Normally the words come easily and I have taken to using 3 or 4 stock speeches that seem to keep everyone happy. This week, I was caught off-guard and wittered on like an idiot long past the point of polite embarrassment. The usual round of applause that follows each speech re-defined the term “smattering”.
So it wasn’t my weight…
The diabetes is ok. I have one of my 6 monthly M.O.T. checkups any week now. I feel ok. I always know when things are going a bit wonky because I either feel really tired, need to drink or need to pee. None of these really happens at all at the moment. I have virtually no thirst reflex anymore. Drinking fluids of any sort is either a habit (coffee at work) or something I have to remember to do. I know my inner bits need fluid, so I am not letting myself get into stupid bad habits, it’s just not a situation I ever expected to find myself in. During the time before I was diagnosed, I was drinking about 5 litres of water/squash/coke every day and peeing out about the same amount. How I ever got anything done is anyone’s guess.
So not that then…
My friend Hayley is leaving work this week. This sucks big time but for me not her. It is totally the right thing for her to do but it doesn’t make the fact that she won’t be at work anymore any less sucky. For the last 4 or 5 years ago she has been one of only a very few people I can trust with anything and one of only two who took the time to see how I was every day. We nearly always had lunch together, she mostly laughed at my purile yet sophisticated humour and without her I would have never gone to Slimming World. She was and is also blonde, pretty and in her early 20′s which never does my ego any harm. I may be her friend but I am also male and 40. It would be poetic, poignant and full of pathos to end with the phrase “I wish I had told her all that to her face” but I will have to disappoint you all. I think I tell her about once a month. The last time, she told me to stop being an arse. I will probably tell her again on Friday night whilst drunk and leaning on the bar in C103.
C103 is a night club. The first time in 20 years that I have ever been in one.
There will probably be photos. Photos I will apologise for in advance.
Popularity: 11% [?]
So This Will Be Sunday Then
Jun 8th
Certainly all the clues are there. I got up late, I have a curry on and as from last week, it’s the day before weigh-in.
So. Sunday it is. My last Sunday as a person aged under 40. Personally, I can’t wait for Wednesday. Who can be patient when such an important thing as “your life beginning” is imminent? Well, I can. I think it’s complete tosh. I still feel (and most of the time act) exactly like I was still 14. I still like mostly the same things, I read the same books, like the same music…well the list goes on in just the way I have done on this very subject many times before. I can’t remember exactly at what point I stopped judging myself by looking at those around me. For years I was obsessed with doing what I thought I should be doing or behaving the way I thought I should and then one day it all seemed like nonsense. For a few years now, I have stopped doing things I didn’t want to do and instead of making up an excuse, I say I don’t and say why. I won’t fall back on cliche and end this with “life is short” because I don’t believe it is. I intend mine to be long, obstinate and a generally good laugh. I am only sorry I waited until I was in my late 30s to realise it.
Slimming World
As I told you earlier (and last week), I moved to another Slimming World group last Monday. No longer will Thursday be the day I perch on the scales and wish to some higher being that a few pounds will have fallen off. So, now it is Monday and I sit in another community centre with a room full of women and two friends from work (no longer Hayley & Julie, now Jayne & Alanna). My new consultant seems just as nice as the last one so I appear to be in good hands.
Last week’s first weigh-in was a bit of a disaster. I had put on a few pounds since only the previous Thursday. So shocked was I (and a little indignant) that I bought some new digital scales on the way home. My indignance proved unfounded as the new ones agreed completely with the Slimming World ones. So, a few pounds heavier and £12 pounds poorer. Good start to the day or what? So far this week, I have eaten like Victoria Beckham and written every single damn thing down to wave in the face of the lovely Clare.
We shall see. Well, I will. I will probably chicken out of telling you lot.
L8r
Popularity: 8% [?]
I’d Do Anything No More, 2 Slim 2 Move & Almost 40
Jun 1st
I’d Do Anything No More
So she won. I seem to be in a minority amongst those around me in loving BBC talent shows. 12 million people watch them but you can’t seem to find one can you? Funny that. Anyway, Jodie won and I voted. 5 times. She was undeniably chuffed and deservedly so. Andrew Lloyd Webber seemed genuinely pleased but Cameron McIntosh appeared to be completely graceless about the final decision.
Don’t leave it up to the public if you don’t want the public to choose.
I do wonder, it has to be said, how many of the sofa-parked butts in TV land belong to people who actually go to the theatre. There seems to be this great idea that it’s “our” West End and “our” theatrical tradition”. In truth, the West End is several hundred miles from me and I estimate a return trip including hotel stay to be in the £300-£400 price range. Not likely then. Plymouth does have it’s own Theatre Royal and many a production has made it’s camp way down here. It’s just that I have never been. I am sure I’d love it if I did but I guess I would rather watch TV. Oooooh the irony…
2 Slim 2 Move
The diet continues slowly. Another pound fell off this week but all is not well in my group. You see, my two best buds who come with me and sit amongst the nice ladies of Plympton have decided not to go anymore. I don’t think sis is going again either which leaves me alone with the plump ladies of the W.I. They really are a great bunch, the consultant in particular but what good is an experience like Slimming World if you don’t have any friends at work to yak about it with? Not much as far as I am concerned, which is why I am going to another group with two more best buds. Let’s see how long this lasts then…
Soon 40
Not long now then. Just over a week.
I want presents and I want them soon.
Popularity: 9% [?]
