Friday, November 27, 2015

Is "fat" an identity?

I am fat. I've been told in no uncertain terms that I am fat. Is that who I am? Is that the ONLY thing that matters about me? Somehow, no matter what I accomplish, or what talents I have, the only thing that gets counted is that I'm fat. So is fat an identity? Does being fat cancel out everything else in a person's life? If so, that makes me sad.
When someone tells you something over and over, you start to believe it. I believe it now.
I'm fat.

Friday, November 20, 2015

A certain slant of light

No, I did not come up with that title myself--it's from a poem by Emily Dickinson and that's the only line that ever stuck with me. It's something about winter and how the light changes. Anyway, what I'm getting at (or trying to) is that it's that time of year when the light is different and Winter makes its presence known even if it hasn't quite entered the room yet. The early sunset brings a late afternoon dimming to the world, ending in a darkness that begins at about 5:30pm. It feels like midnight and it's barely 7pm.

Besides the light being different, this time of year brings about feelings of endings, closing of chapters, and a general darkness of the mind. It's difficult to explain and it's neither morbid nor scary, just a kind of heaviness that befalls the heart. This seems to be the most ironic time of year--all this holiday cheer coupled with feelings of inadequacy partnered with trying to keep up with the Joneses or whoever lives on your street. Again, not easily explained in words.

If you're confused at this point, so am I, so you're in good company.

Happy (almost) Winter and try to be grateful for what you have. I'm trying.


Saturday, November 14, 2015

Brain Drains

I admit it. I need time during the day (and night) for a brain drain. That is, I need time to do things that require little use of brain cells and no deep thought. Tonight I watched a movie on the Lifetime Channel. I know...I know. But I got sucked in and there I was. I watched the whole thing. I hope that some of my brain cells survived the attack. I am now attempting to reactivate them by listening to NPR, which we all know is educational and intellectually stimulating. Unless it's Car Talk, in which case, it's hysterically funny and is probably the cause of many people driving off the road due to laughing so hard they can't see. But I'm not listening to Car Talk now, nor am I driving, so I should be ok.

In my defense, this weekend was hard. This WEEK was hard. Work was crazy, people flew off the handle and I had to reign them in, I may have lost my cool a time or two, but we won't go there, and it all ended in crashing into the weekend with my crazy neighbor saying in the same breath that last year's performance sucked but could she get a ticket for this year? WTF? I'm still reeling from that. I don't know that I will ever recover. It's just weird how people don't have any filter.

Speaking of having a filter, the events in Paris rattled me in a way I haven't been rattled in a long time. My friend is safe (thank goodness!) but it made me realize how fragile the world really is and as we all hashtag Paris, people are dying all over the world every day and nobody gives it a second thought. Bombs explode in Beirut, Gaza, Afghanistan, people flee to what they think will be the promised land, only to find there is no welcome mat at the door. Does anyone hashtag that? No. An island burns in the South Pacific, but I only know that because a friend with ties to the place, posts it on facebook. I feel as though the world will kill itself and nobody will be there to hashtag anything. Maybe it's for the best. We've really f*cked up around here.

I guess that's all for one night. If you're still reading,  I appreciate it. If you stopped, then you don't know how much a simple thank you means to me.

Thank you, dear readers, whoever you are.






Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Gratitude

Gratitude seems so "holier than thou" or preachy sometimes. "Be grateful", people say. "Be happy with what you have and know that you are indeed lucky. All of these things are true--I AM grateful and I AM lucky in more ways than I could ever articulate in a blog. (or ever, for that matter).

Lately, I find myself feeling no joy in a place where I've always found the most happiness and fulfillment. I know without this place, I would be empty and sad. Ironically, I'm empty and sad when I'm there. In doing some major soul-searching, I've come to realize that it's not the "place" or the "people", it's how one experience changed it all for me. It colored my experience of what was once a royal purple and now a pale yellowish cloud. I tell myself there is good here if I just push away the cloud and find the purple again. It's there--it really is. I just have to know where to look. And that means being more grateful and more aware.

I'm not saying I can do this immediately, as I am predisposed to a rather grudge-holding, cynical, glass-half empty kind of outlook, but I will try. And as someone I love once said, "it's all in the trying".

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Post Halloween Bloata

Yes, you read correctly. Bloata. La Bloata--that feeling you get when you ate too much and even though you knew you should have stopped seventeen pounds of disgustifying deliciously wonderful plates ago, you didn't. Because you're a glutton. And now you suffer from LA BLOATA.
*disclaimer* "la bloata" and "disgustifying deliciousness" are not my own expressions. I have "borrowed" them. With permission of course.

Halloween begins the season of eating which goes through Thanksgiving, December and all the way to January 1st. Diets begin January 2nd. I say this because many brunches are had on New Year's Day so there's no point to denying yourself. Every year, I say this time I'll show restraint. And every year I don't. Confessions of a skinny girl trying to escape from a fat ass body.

Happy Holidays, everyone. Eat, drink, and be merry. Or just be.