Purees, Paste, and Pynchon

I wish I could dance like Samuel T. Herring.

Day 3 of Insanity Max: 30 is in the bag, and I started feeling it today. I did not want to work out today, but I just did. It was Sweat Intervals, which had me sweating 7-8 minutes into the 30 minute workout. I could hear my rug squish underneath my feet by the end. After the workout and before stepping into my shower, I decided to weigh myself for the first time in over a month. I was in the high 170s, which isn’t that bad, considering I hovered around the mid 170s for so long, so I only have to lose 3-4 pounds before I’m back to where I would like to be. But that’s still kind of amazing to me, the fact that I gain weight so quickly and easily. Well, it doesn’t help that I didn’t workout and didn’t eat that well during my sabbatical. I’ve lost 3 pounds before, sometimes in one week, so I’m not that worried about it. But still. Jeeze.

It might help that I received my food processor today along with two Paleo cookbooks. After trying to figure out how the food processor worked, I tried it out and was amazed by how awesome it is. I ca do so freakin’ much with this machine that the possibilities are exciting me so much. I can make banana bread easier than ever! I can make sauces! and purees! and paste! and soups! and whatever else! This is going to be fun. I still want to buy more tools, like some tongs, a better skillet, and some other tools, but for now this will keep me occupied. I can’t wait to get started beyond what I did today. I signed my time for the Sunny Camp fire I was on last week, and it was only 27 hours, which isn’t that bad of a fire, but still. I can use that money to invest in my culinary pursuits. Yeah.

I started Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon and holy shit. Holy. Shit. What a wild ride the first two chapters were. I love it. I love love love it. I’m doing something somewhat new and somewhat anal: I’m setting a timer for 1 hour when I read. I want to read for at least one hour every night, and that timer will keep me in check. I will like to read more than that per day, but I’ve been catching up on my New Yorker magazines, but I finished the most recent one today, except that I will get the new one tomorrow, so that will take up my morning. The more I read, and the more I workout, the more happy I am. That’s a simple fact. I wasn’t happy during most of June and the first week or so of July. I was drowning in distractions, not doing anything but eating and watching TV. But now, now I’m reading, now I’m working out, and I’m still writing, which I love, so I feel happy.

Happiness in my life doesn’t come easy. Sometimes I don’t let it, sometimes I can’t help it. It just comes at me like a tsunami and I’m drowning in it until I come up for air, and that struggle for it takes a lot out of me. Sometimes I simply give up and let it drown me; but when I fight, I feel better, exhilarated, and alive. Feeling alive makes me happy.