Things I miss through hating country music
The drinkin' bone is connected to the party bone
The party bone's connected to the stayin' out all night long
And she won't think it's funny
And I'll wind up all alone
And the lonely bone's connected to the drinkin' bone
Fragment of lyric (I use the term loosely) heard while desperately station-surfing in the vicinity of Brockville late-ish on Friday night. My brother and I glanced at each other in frank astonishment, then burst into howls of laughter. Apparently this travesty was committed by a person by the name of Tracy Byrd.

I do hope one day to be able to put a CD player into Grishilde, even though that would deprive me of these Culturally Edifying Moments.

We had a nice time. I think our mother was glad we came, and the cake was perfection.

Naturally, after a cold and dank summer, Friday was probably the warmest day of the year. I fretted about the cake while I drove to Toronto... fretted about it more as I crawled through construction to my brother's place... graduated to frank worry, and visions of buttercream rosettes slumping sideways, as we crept among the commuters along Highway 7... and finally stopped in Whitby and bought several bags of ice, which I tucked round the cake box in an enveloping large garbage bag.

When we arrived around ten p.m., the cake was still frozen quite solid. This being my family, no one showed the slightest inclination to go to bed. At midnight, my mother said sadly, "It's my birthday now, and I can't even have a slice of cake! It's still frozen, and I was hoping to have a piece of my cake." My brother suggested microwaving it (a notion which I protested in the strongest terms).

So my mother didn't get her slice of cake until lunchtime on her birthday. Though she complained that it was very rich, she ate a slice every day -- as did we all.

Today's weight (ahem): 130.5 pounds. I lived on cake, and slices of heavy black pumpernickel with various cheeses, mostly. Oh, and Polish fudge. I have decided that even if I give that evil Polish fudge as presents, it should be as presents to people whose houses I am not staying in. My mother offered it around, and I took her a bit literally. Exercise: one run, of about 5 kilometres. Go me.

Then, last night, we drove back. It was a loooooong drive, and the latter half of it into the sun. We'd been going to have dinner in Toronto, but somehow by the time we got there, the subject didn't come up. Thus, when I got home, I was starving -- and finished my day with a Blizzard. Excellent work!

I spent Sunday afternoon with my dear friend M. -- we went to The Bay so she could buy some shoes for her trip, and I spent a dispiriting amount of time trying on clearance-sale brassieres that didn't fit (my new lats have, once again, put me into that unfortunate in-between size of bra).

Today: ran probably another 5K this morning.

Eaten:
one, buckwheat pancakes (made with soymilk and an egg white) with 2 oz chicken done bacon-style, Quark and Cool Whip, sugar-free apricot jam, and/or syrup;

two, 1/3 cup barley flakes, cooked and eaten with caramel sugar-free syrup, three chopped dried apricots, and a protein shake;

three, salad of Romaine, carrot, tomato (prepped by A. at some point during the weekend and nicked by me), topped with another salad item I made this morning, of thawed frozen green beans and a can of mixed beans and various vinegar and seasoning things; also three ounces chicken; also this new thing called Delicioso, a rather decadent sugar-free yogourt dessert thing. I found them at a store at home, and picked up a package.

four, oatcake with raisins and cinnamon, with a topping of Jello pudding powder, Quark and Cool Whip.

Various coffees and green teas and Diet Cokes have also been poured down. No water, though; I forgot my bottle today.

No weight-lifting this week; I just finished the ninth week of Power/Rep Range/Shock, so a pause to refresh, then back on it this Sunday.

S'posed to go and see Hero tonight. I know nothing about this film, other than that it's supposed to be very good, and that it led to a long and peculiar conversation with several people the other day, when someone mentioned "that new film with Bruce Lee's son."