Yesterday we went to Elmwood to watch Emma run her final high school cross country race. It was the first really cold day of the year, about 40 degrees. Everyone is not acclimated yet. But in a couple of months we will be, and 40 degrees will seem like a heat wave.

After the race we went into Peoria and shopped at Sam’s Club. We were going to go to Kohl’s after that to get Jack some pants but we found them at Sam’s. Then we went to Guitar Center. I saw a nice used electric drum set for only $250. I’ll have to call them to see if there’s any problems with it; it seems a little on the cheap side.

Then we got Five Guys cheeseburgers and charged the car. I know that I’ve only been on a diet for a week but I’ve already noticed some changes. Like, I wasn’t hungry any part of the trip. I ate my cheeseburger of course, but I felt like I could have made it home without any hunger pains. I guess this is really just intermittent fasting at this point. I made sure to get the smallest cheeseburger and small fries so I wouldn’t use up a crazy amount of Weight Watcher’s points. But another thing I noticed (especially after Friday’s night Mexican meal) is that I immediately felt like I had to work out when I got home, to try to earn back some WW points. After only a week I had come to identify myself as a “thin guy”, or at least a skinner version of my usual self. And it was a great feeling! But I could also start to see the beginnings of how people develop eating disorders. After building an identity as a skinny person, one will do whatever it takes to keep this up and keep losing weight.

After tracking meals with WW I see know just the crazy amount of calories that people put in their body every day! It’s like hundreds of WW points! And then inside Five Guys I saw overweight people and was kinda sad and disgusted at the same time, like, how can people do this to themselves? No one with a healthy amount of self-esteem could let themselves get overweight.

I’m happy with myself because I’ve worked at home all week, surrounded by snacks, and I managed to toe the line and only eat fruits and low calorie food. I think I’d substituted one habit (eating snacks) with a healthier habit (eating fruit). Wednesday and Thursday I actually found myself with 2 or 4 WW points to spare at the end of the night, and I felt full. So we’ll see how I do at the end of the second week. I hope to the 176 on the scale sometime.

My ear wasn’t bothering me, all in all, yesterday. My left ear made the air-rushing sound but it wasn’t as loud as it usually is. The right ear had some extra metallic-sounding tinnitus but not as loud as usual either. I’m kinda excited about becoming a bionic super human soon (getting hearing aids) mainly because I’d love to be part of conversations in crowded, loud restaurants. I called my insurance to get an out-the-door price on these $7000 units I was looking at and honestly I felt more confused after the call then I did before. I told the lady on the phone that I deal with numbers all day and I still didn’t understand the deductible and coverage amount and all that she was telling me. Sometimes when I try to learn something it goes into a black hole in my head and I just don’t get it. Most of the time it’s the terminology that I don’t understand. People talk fast and throw out phrases that I don’t entirely comprehend and then I’m lost. I have to teach myself what everything means, internalize it, swish it around in my brain like a wine tasting, then have a Eureka moment where it all makes sense.

After I have these moments I’m happy. I love to learn new things, and then I like to teach it to other’s in ways that I think will help. This is called Mansplaining by some lol. To me, I feel like I have to teach it to others so that I get to know it better and keep it from slipping my memory.

Jack is at Papa’s again this weekend. He’s basically there every weekend now. There is an amazing transfer of knowledge going on here, where Jack is learning about tractors, farming, machines and whatnot. I’m trying to get him to learn welding from Papas. That would be a great vocation when he gets out of school. Also it would be cool for him to weld stuff around our house.