Center

After our excitement this morning, entering into 2023 was exciting. And deserving of a sleep in. 

I slept until almost 11. Doug had gotten up just before me, so he and the dog were in the living room listening to old blues music like Mississippi John Hurt, Ma Rainey, and others. 

Stagger Lee shot Billy.
Oh he shot that poor boy so bad,
til a bullet went through Billy and it broke the bartender's glass...

Doug got dinner in the oven around 1:30 and used the leftover mashed potatoes from Christmas. I'm happy we had the leftovers. He put them in a corelle dish, topped with butter and paprika, and it made a twice-baked kind of topping which was wonderful. Too wonderful! 

I don't make new year's resolutions, I've said that every year in the blog. I have ideas and goals, but I don't think resolving to do things is the way to go. 

I've gotten to within 10 pounds of my weight loss goal that I set in 2020. The pandemic kicked that back, and I did lose weight in 2021 and 2022, but still didn't get to that "goal" and that's okay. It's not a failure. It just means I've got more time to do it. A mid year celebration probably. 

After talking with a co-worker, I decided I'm going to start a 30 day yoga challenge that a friend of mine at work did last year. She liked it a lot and said she was doing it again this year, so I thought, well, it's free? We'll hold each other accountable. I invited my sister and Sara to join too. 

I printed out the calendar and will mark off each day. I ordered a yoga mat. I watched this woman do some things and looking at what she can do with her toes, it convinces me I'll be wearing my sneakers to do some of these. My feet are incredibly tender anymore. I find if I'm shod, I'm more comfortable. This coming from someone who never wore shoes and would get in trouble for not wearing them. 

Usually I find "yoga people" insufferable. Cheerful. Almost cult like. White chicks saying "Namaste." I don't plan on becoming that way, trust me. I'll be happy if I can stick with it, pay attention to it, long enough. 

The theme of the yoga challenge is Center. After the introduction video and today's Day Zero video (the whole thing begins tomorrow) I started to think of W.B. Yeats' "The Second Coming" and the first stanza: 

Turning and turning in the widening gyre   

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst   

Are full of passionate intensity.

Doesn't that just feel like now? Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold. The "mere anarchy" that we see day after day, the best lack conviction, the worst are full of passionate intensity. 

For a minute I felt connected to my past, to the poets, words, symbols, poetry, and the state of the world that always seems to be the state of the world just how Yeats tells it here. 

Then I thought about the direction of the poem beyond that beginning part. 

I don't want the Second Coming. I'm hoping the falcon can hear the falconer, and return home. The centre not only will hold but be restored and strengthened. 

Maybe. Let's see. 

I bought a yoga mat.

Digits below, here's my dinner after my giant lunch. I am not even hungry but know that not eating does as much to whack my sugar as eating carbs does. so. yeah.

digits

exercise: 

blood glucose:
11am: 156
5pm: 205
10:30pm: 195

food:
coffee, water
11:30am: Mcintosh apple
1:30pm: metformin
2:15pm: pork loin, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes (too many Mashed Potatoes tbh but. Oh so good).
6:30pm: 2 good yogurt
7pm: metformin+jardiance
beer 🍻
8:15pm: pepperoni, 3 baby bell cheddar wheels, trail mix
9pm: pb & j on 647 bread