195
Now that I'm past the house selling anxiety excuse, I am back on the diet train. As you can see from the title of this post, I've taken several large steps backwards. I was up to 198 earlier this month, and earlier this week, after my bout of possible food poisoning, down to 192.
195 was yesterday's weight. Today I'm at 194. And I'm starting the record-keeping again.
In other appearance-alteration news, I have decided to go gray while I'm losing weight (and stay gray). I'm debating whether I'm going to cut off most of my hair for my 50th birthday or keep it more-or-less shoulder length until all the black dye is out of it. If I live to be 100 or so, like my grandfather, I will have non-black hair for half my life. That's a strange concept to me. Also that my grandchild (and subsequent grandchildren) will never really know me except as a gray-haired granny.
This time on the diet, I am going to do the accompanying exercize regimen. I really must stay on top of that if I'm going to maintain my mobility throughout the second half of my life.
I've officially joined the Little Opera Company as of last night as a singer. I'm singing second soprano/alto because they need those. We're doing an English version of Der Fleidermaus, and the first song the chorus does is in Act 2, and 40% of the lyrics are "Let's be gay!". With the new connotations of the word gay, this causes a lot of titters among the teenagers in the group. I'm one of 4 adults besides the directors and staff. I bring this up because the organization needs to raise $30,000 dollars to do this production, and keep it "tuition-free" - and they hope do do most of that fundraising through ticket sales. So if you're local to me, expect me to sell you tickets. We are doing 4 performances the weekend of November 11. The principles in the cast are professional opera singers; the kids (and me) are in the chorus.
I don't know this opera very well (I don't really know any opera really well), but I've heard that even if you don't like opera, you'd like this one.
This weekend is likely to be the last Music for the Goddess gig for a while - like 5 years or more. We are going to a festival tomorrow in Pennsylvania, and I'm doing a solo act - I have to "pad" out the set with some spoken-word stuff; I'm going to read the prose that got turned into "Round and Round", The Cat Who Walks By Himself by Rudyard Kipling (from his Just So Stories - that should suck up 15 or so minutes!), and The Witch Next Door by Bridwell (the fellow who writes Clifford the Big Red Dog) with a strange, almost Yoko Kanno-esque musical background. The reason this is the last gig for a while is because I have the uncanny knack of scheduling something I want to do (this gig was booked, a fucking year ago) to conflict with something the kid really wants to do. In this case, it's Rahway Band Day, on Sunday, when we will be en route back home after spending the night at the festival. It's also Mabon, but we can forget about family religious practice. That's always secondary to school events, unless its "can I stay home from school today because it's Samhain?" All I've been hearing from her for the past week is how sad she is that she's missing Band Day, and I really don't want to hear about it when I'm trying to get ready for a gig. The whole point of us sleeping over there (and costing the festival an extra 150 dollars) was because it was going to be too late to drive home from PA after the drum circle that Rich has to lead. But he can't say no to her, so I'm expecting that I'm going to be roused from bed slightly before dawn to pack the van and sneak out of the festival like thieves in the night. I have half a mind to leave the kid home when we go to Philcon in November.
Deep breath.
OK, I will not assume the kid will be a thorn in my side all weekend, and instead expect her to be supportive and pleasant. And who knows? If the gig actually goes well, I may be inclined to leave early enough for her to attend her thing on Sunday...