Winning At Trimming -- For Now

Congratulations to me for sticking to my current exercise regimen. I'm down about 12 pounds in the last six or seven weeks, and15 or 16 from my high fatter mark of 304 earlier in the year. I'm now either 289 ( bathroom scale) or 286 1/2 (Wii Fit Platform); I have no idea which is the more accurate source. My exercise centerpiece is Wii Fit Plus, and I'm back on it full time for the first time in, what, 2-3 years? In fact, most days I use it for two half-hour-plus periods -- once after my morning shower, and again after clocking out from work at 5. This way, I've been able to achieve gradual weight loss and cut down a small portion of my calorie in-take: I'm keeping away from most of my chocolate snacks, but I get to "pig out" at least one meal a day, usually lunch. Thus I avoid feeling food-deprived, which is a primary reason why many diet regimes ultimately fail. 

Of course, I have a history, like most people, of not sticking to these regimens for the long term. Either I get bored with the routines. or I get ill or otherwise time-hampered and my rhythm is thrown off. There is no guarantee that I will not get sick and tired of Wii Fit in time. But there are a couple of key differences. 

• For the first time in my life, I understand that my age requires daily physical maintenance. I can no longer get away with not exercising. I sense that a steep physical decline is coming, maybe soon, if I don't get into the habit.
• For the first time in my life, my goal is not just weight loss. I am really digging how exercising makes my body feel! Be it the endorphins, or the improved muscle tone, or the increasing energy level, I haven't felt this good in my body since my conditioning went into a tailspin after the BACDS Fall Frolic camp -- was that in 2009? Must have been. The key moment this time was realizing that the feeling was worth just as much as the weight loss, and even when I go through phases of zero weight loss, or even a gain, it's just temporary, and the good feeling is nice by itself, and keeping at it will take care of the weight loss. It's a piece of wisdom I wish I had after the Fall Frolic weekend, when I danced my tushie off (and snacked on a good deal of sweets) and came home to find I hadn't lost any of the weight I had hoped for.

I doubt that I will get as low as the 260s like I did in 2004-05, in the Weight Watchers program and dancing two-three times a week. For one, I'm not as absorbed in the County Dance world these days (although we did go to the English Berkeley dance last night and I marveled at how well my body met the challenge); for another, a couple of stomach illnesses helped me along to that 30+ pounds of weight loss I enjoyed then. I will not set such lofty goals any more! I hope that if I ever do have the opportunity to set my weight goal to the 260s, it will be when I'm just a few pounds shy of that range.

Now it's 10:30 PM this Thursday evening and time for a huge hot-fudge sundae before bed. (Ha ha, although I will be reading a Judy Blume Fudge book to Karen at bed-time.)

Conjuring Up A Good Movie Tonight, Plus Jasmine is Blue and Woody is Hot

Ian and I took time out from his make-up English class to go see "The Conjuring" tonight. Funny, we haven't gone to see a horror flick in over a year, probably not since "Sinister" last year.  This one was a better-than-average demonic possession opus, with more than its share of provocative jump moments with the now obligatory music score abruptly shifting from dead silence to super loud. The paranormal specialists in the film are non-fictional characters; a real-life couple (Ed and Lorrainne Warren) who were involved in several high-profile paranormal cases in the 60s and 70s, including the Amityville Horror incident. The director, James Wan, is best known for the Saw series; a franchise I've made it my business to keep away from. Here he shows a deft touch with the exorcism genre. The acting was top notch, particularly the two female leads, Vera Farmiga as Lorraine Warren and Lili Taylor as the mother, and **spoiler alert** the key figure in the possession plot. I was curious about the background of this case, which as far as I know never developed the notoriety of Amityville, but there was barely a listing on Wikipedia about it. I'll need to look elsewhere, obviously.

Last week Karen and I went to see "Blue Jasmine." I have to concede: Woody Allen is a genius. I now have to look beyond the half-dozen or so mediocre to bad movies that pepper his filmography in the 80s, 90s and Aughts. The director of "Blue Jasmine" is a genius working at the peak of his powers -- and he's 77 years old!  It has been a privilege for this cinema-head to have been able to follow the trajectory of his career from nearly the beginning to now. No one could have guesses while viewing "Sleeper" or "Bananas" 40 years ago that Allen would prove himself capable of such artwork as "Blue Jasmine," or "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," or even "Midnight in Paris." (Owen Wilson notwithstanding) I must applaud his development, and I wish him many more years of filmmaking to come. I predict Cate Blanchett's name will be added to the list of actresses that Allen directed to an Oscar, joining Diane Keaton, Dianne Wiest, Penelope Cruz, and yes, even Mira Sorvino.(Has he ever directed a male actor to an Oscar? Or even a nomination?) Blanchette in playing a privileged upper class New York socialite borrowed her clipped, patrician style of speech from her role in "The Talented Mr. Ripley," but everything else about her performance was breathtakingly original and emotionally transcendent.  The disintegration of her character's self-esteem and its effect on her psyche were artfully presented. And it was fabulous to see Blanchett again - I haven't seen much of her latest except for "Lord of the Ring" reruns.

Bedtime. Until we meet again...

Nagasaki, 68 Years Later and 30 Years Later

I nearly forgot -- today, August 9, is the anniversary of the atomic bomb explosion over Nagasaki. That was the last straw for the Japanese military effort of World War II; in a few days they finally agreed to surrender unconditionally to the Allies. Thirty years ago I was there, the first day of my solo train tour of the country. I will never forget how the citizens of Nagasaki observed the anniversary: at precisely the hour of the day when the bomb was dropped in 1945, bells in towers began to toll. Everyone in sight stopped what they were doing and lowered their heads in meditation. (It looked like a scene from the Star Trek episode "The Return of the Archons," with Landru's people acting in perfect precision whether they were walking, attacking the landing party, or suffering the Red Hour.) I don't remember how long the observance lasted -- it's probably recorded in the bound journal I kept during that trip, and I still have it -- it was maybe five minutes. I remember looking at the sky above me and trying to picture a mushroom cloud obliterating the soft blue of a summer's morning, back on August 9, 1945. 

I don't recall attending any Bomb museum in Nagasaki -- again, I'll need to check the journal. But I sure remember the museum I visited in Hiroshima a few days later. The photographic evidence of the damage, to property and to the people alike. The stories of death by radiation that were still occurring years after the explosion. As I was exiting the exhibit, I came to a table on which was a blank book for visitors to use to write their impressions.  I remember writing something like I hope the world will become a place where no city, no people ever have to endure such suffering again. And I said that I equally hope that no country will ever embark on a bloody path of destruction that is so effective that the use of an atom bomb can stop them. My small way of indicting both sides of the conflict.