September 5th, 2011 - Day 58 of 60

If yesterday was the most difficult day of this final weekend of my Reboot, today was the most tedious.  It was "Family Holiday Gathering Day": the perfect ending to the weekend.  It is the time when you cram yourself together with too many people (far too many of whom are children) into far too little space while there is too much conversation about far too little of interest for far too long.  Added to the "too" pile was the fact (and when I say "fact", I mean FACT) there was no edible item anywhere to be found.  When I say these words, I know the knee-jerk reaction is to think, "Well, he means there wasn't much to eat or that it didn't taste good."  No.  What I mean is what I said: NOTHING TO EAT FOR ME.  Snack crackers by the truckload, cheese/cheeze by the ton, meats, dips, cooked salads and even booze.  No "food".  It was all so uninspired that I, too, am uninspired.  It is all I can do to manage a few words as stale as the Ritz crackers must have been after sitting out in a bowl all day long.

Not even one fresh salad.  The closest thing to eat was a dip which had tomato, onion, peppers, etc. but also a thick paste of some sort of cheese-like substance.  Happily, I was prepared and there were no dramas or scenes  or endless apologies.  It all worked out and it was all good.  I survived the day and the next time I will likely worry about such things will be Thanksgiving.  I am sure many of you were in the same boat this weekend, so I do feel your pain.

The most intriguing thing was how absolutely unappealing it all was.  I mean, even if I couldn't eat it, could I at least lust over it?  Could I have the small-consolation of fantasizing what I'd do to that main course if I was given the opportunity?  Greasy chicken wings with a thick coating of sugary-smelling sauce, tasteless-looking salads that probably needed the endless sodium to even stimulate a taste bud in much the same way smelling salts attack the olfactory system.  It was all simply foul and disgusting.  Not one plate of raw veggies.  No fruits out there waiting for flies to land on them.  Not even nuts.  Wow.  That, my friends, is astounding.

Now let me be quick to add that I fully understand that I am the weirdo here.  I know everyone else looked and saw "food".  I know I am the odd duck.  But even so, I think this whole situation was spectacularly indicative of what is going on in this world.  Who can afford to feed that many people well?  It is easy to open a bag or container or can and just slurp it into a bowl.   Everyone likes snacks.  They sell well because they appeal to the system.  The salt, sugar, fat, crunch and interesting shapes all woo us.  For whatever reason, it wasn't working for me.  It was like a mule in a bikini:  Dressing it up didn't help.

After this weekend, the next couple days should be a walk in the park.  It is a rough world out there, dear Rebooting friends.  I hope you all were able to weather the storm.  If not, I hope you, at least, had the good sense to choose cannibalism over Doritos(tm).

Progress:

I am 95% through the 60 days.

Weight: 146.3 lbs.

Food: Clementines, banana, almond butter, raw cacao goji seed chunks, almonds, salad