Date: Sunday, September 5th, 2010
Word of the Day: degage; without emotional involvement, detached; unconstrained; easy as in
manner or style
Weight: 224 pounds
Goal: lose 100 pounds in one year duration
Pounds to lose: 92 pounds
Waist Size: 51 inches
Rowing Duration: 109 minutes, 1 second, 92 minutes, 58 seconds (second session)
Its that time again, no matter how much I want to avoid it, I have to face the scale. Yup, its weigh-in day, and I have to face reality, no matter how much I live to avoid it.
It is so hard, when I get up early in the am., to go to Cruella and start the exercise. Of course, after the first 500 strokes, I feel better. 500 strokes on Cruella usually take fifteen minutes to complete, there is a clock on Cruella, that I don't like to look at, it distracts me, nor do I need it as my concentration is getting quite good, and only occasionally will I lose count, this occurs when I start to sing to a song that I really like. I need to have two good workouts today, and going by the first session, I'm off to a good start, I rowed for over one and three quarter hours, I say that that is rather impressive.
It is especially important that I work hard at my exercise this morning, as last night, (naturally I do this the day before I weigh in,) I pigged out, Shoshanna and Wally prepared the dinner and it was, to say the least, just excellent.
Last night, I ate for dinner, two halfs of a cob of corn, quick arithmetic will indicate that that equals one full cob of corn, that alone isn't too bad, but the butter and salt I put on it should be reduced, I also had two servings of salad, no potatoes, and about one handful of meat that consisted of chicken and a small piece of pork chop. Chicken and chops is the name we give it, Winter really enjoyed dinner last night, as well, she is very fond of chicken. I tasted eggplant for the first time, and it wasn't bad, it had a kind of barbecue taste to it. I, also, had a raspberry yogurt, and about five extra raspberries for dessert. As for the food I took in for the rest of the day, there was the standard/usual cream of wheat with all the stuff that I associate with it, one balogna sandwich and two pieces of mozzarella string cheese, one large green apple, two cans of ice tea, and two cups of coffee. That, on the whole, is way too much food and I greatly need to reduce it and I shall.
I just weighed myself and I've knocked off another pound, and reduced two and a half inches off of my waist. That isn't a bad result, but I certainly do work hard at it.
Last night on the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) channel, they viewed some excellent movies, one of which was "Summer of '42!" How about that? I watched it, after all, it has been a long time, and that movie is just a gem of a film, it has good pedigree, Robert Mulligan, from "To Kill A Mockingbird" fame directed it, Jennifer O'Neill is beautiful, perfect, and makes you long for that very special time, Gary Grimes, I think it is his film debut, and he is equally good, quirky, funny, serious, all the elements that make a good actor, and I know if he wanted it, he could have had a longer career, Jerry Houser does what he does best, act like a bit of a bafoon, Katharine Allentuck, who is is perfect as Aggie, is Maureen Stapleton's daughter, Oliver Conant as Benji could not be better, and Christopher Norris played Miriam, and she is stunning, I know why they cast her as Ripples on that television show, Trapper John, M.D. The cinematography is quite beautiful as is Michel Legrand's score which picked up an Academy Award.
Occasionally, I get asked if I colour my hair, I don't, but sometimes I mind getting asked because I would be upfront about it, you see, I'm not against doing anything that improves one's outlook on life and on oneself, so I don't care if its plastic surgery, yoga, hair transplants, transadental meditation, acupuncture, hair colour, absolutely anything, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone or cost someone too great a price.
I am getting grey hair, its there all right, its just right now I fortunately have more brown hair and that covers up the grey, but I'm sure that will change. I really don't care what colour it is, as long as it keeps growing. I, also, have white hair, you'll never guess in the location, the first place any hair on my body changed its colour was in my eyebrows, I'm serious. I was looking in the mirror (that will teach me,) and POP, there it was. Naturally, I plucked it out right away; I'm not very good at this procedure, I wasn't using tweezers, just my fingers, and unfortunately with the one white hair, I took out about fifty black ones. I have these bald spots all throughout my eyebrows as I have been pulling white hair out extensively. And that's not the worst of it.
As I get on in life, I'm finding that my eyebrows have developed a life of their own, they go out into all directions, some of them are even 3D, you should see it, and you can't control them, oh no, that is out, some of them get as long as my fingers, it is truly something else. Wild eyebrows is, I'm told, a feature of all men as they get older, but I don't think I've seen anyone whose eyebrows quite match my own.
My eyebrows have been a sensitive subject to me all of my life. They were always so bushy and long, I hate them. I remember a girl in my grade nine English class named Olga Mikanos, she used to sit there in class with her tweezers out, looking at me and saying, "just give me five minutes," "Efrem, that's all I need."
Its strange, but I only have thick eyebrows, I'm not hairy anyplace else. I've been told that bushy eyebrows is a sign of true masculinity, if that is in fact, true, I guess I would outdo John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, George Clooney and all the rest of them. I wonder if I get my bushy eyebrows from the French side of my family, Juliet Binoche is French, she doesn't seem to have my eyebrow problem!!!!!!
Okay, Mabel, are you paying attention? The decision to circumcise has become a hot, red-hot topic and is very, very controversial. Everyone is all over the map on this subject, and I seem to be waffling as well. Circumcision is not just about asthetics anymore!!!! For the record, I am circumcised, but if I was given the choice today, I'm not sure if it is something I would have decided for myself. So, what is circumcision?
Male circumcision, there is a difference you know, is the removal of some or all of the foreskin (prepuce) from the penis.
The word circumcision comes from the Latin circum (meaning "around") and caedere (meaning "to cut"). Early depictment of circumcisions are found in cave paintings and Ancient Egyptian tombs, so like Elizabeth Taylor, it has been around awhile.
Religious male circumcision is considered a commandment from God in Judaism. In Islam, it is widely practiced and ost often considered to be a sunnah.
Circumcision is also customary in some Christian churches in Africa, including some Oriental Orthodox Churches.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) global estimates suggest that 30% of males are circumcised, of whom 68% are Muslim.
The prevalence of circumcision varies with most religious affiliation and sometimes cultural. Most circumcisions are performed during adolescence, yes, that is true, for cultural or religious reasons. In some cultures, circumcisions are more commonly performed during infancy.
Okay, so why the controversy?
Arguments that have been raised in favour of circumcision include that it provides important health advantages which outweigh the risks, circumcision has no substantial effects on sexual function, (how do they know?, I might have been even better than I already am!,) and circumcision has a low complication rate when carried out by a physician, and is best performed during the neonatal period.
Those rated in opposition to circumcision include that it adversely affects penile function and sexual pleasure is justified by medical myths, circumcision is extremely painful, and is a violation of human rights.
It is widely suggested that today, parents are advised by all doctors that they should wait until a boy/man can make the decision to circumcise/not circumcise for his self. Is this a good decision? What do you think?
The WHO (2007), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS, 2007) and the Center for Disease and Prevention (CDC) state that evidence indicates male circumcision significantly reduce the risk of HIV acquisition by men during penile-vaginal sex, but also state that circumcision only provides partial protection, and should not replace other interventions to prevent transmission of HIV.
There are several hypotheses to explain why infant circumcision was accepted, about the year 1900 there was the germ theory, are you paying attention Howie Mandel? The germ theory of disease elicited an image of the human body as a conveyance for many dangerous germs, making the public "germ phobic," and suspicious of dirt and bodily secretions. The penis became "dirty" by association with its function, and from this premise, circumcision was seen as preventive medicine to be practiced universally. In the view of many practitioners, circumcision was a method of treating and preventing masturbation. Great, they're trying to remove a young man's favourite hobby.
Circumcision was also said to protect against: syphilis, phimosis, paraphimosis, balanitis and excessive venery (which was believed to produce paralysis.)
A 1987 study found that the most prominent reasons parents choose circumcision "concerns about the attitudes of peers, and their sons self concept in the future," rather than medical concerns.
A later study speculated that an increased recognition of the potential benefits of neonatal circumcision may be have been responsible for the increase between 1988 and 2000.
In Canada, Ontario Health services delisted circumcision in 1994.
The United Kingdoms newly National Health Service removed infant circumcision from its list of covered services, and circumcision has since been an out-of-pocket cost to parents. This is also true of Ontario, Canada.
I have decided not to write about how circumcisions are performed, this information is widely available on the Internet, your local library, and with your male childs psychiatrist.
So, are you happy Mabel?
Topics coming soon:
The night they raided Minsky's
Pets
Sex
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