Today I used the gift certificate to J.C. Penny that my mother gave me for Christmas to buy some new sneakers and some socks. I also got a haircut at Super Cuts on Thayer St. While waiting for the Providence Place Mall to open I sat at the Panera Bread and finally wrote the piece for Forces of Geek, which is a real load off my mind. The piece is entitled "The War in Corporate Heaven" and concerns the invasion of McDonaldland by the forces of the Burger King Kingdom.
Since December 1st I've been dieting and exercising more, and I've lost just over twenty pounds. I'm not especially proud of the fact that I weighed 267 pounds at one point, and that for the first time in over ten years I now weigh less than 250 pounds. My goal is to reach 200 this year. Dieting isn't that easy, but it's not too hard either. The exercise is a bit more difficult, because it requires time, and I don' always have that. Two days ago I started doing 100 situps a day, and now my abdomen is so sore it's difficult to do ten situps in a row. I also did fifty push ups, but only ten full. I did the rest from the knees. Still, I can feel it in my shoulders.
It's funny, but I never really cared about exercising until I fully embraced my role as a Humanist. And even that's not really it. When I was in Washington DC for a class with the Humanist Institute, I was the biggest, fattest person there. The pictures of me I see from that weekend don't please me. I felt embarrassed. Then I got back and was almost right away interviewed on television as part of the "Holiday Tree" controversy at the State House. I had just started dieting but the image of myself on TV bothered me. I don't want to be the fat guy on TV talking about Humanism. I want to be a guy on TV talking about Humanism.
I've never thought about being a public person before. I was always content to have friends and family, and be a cloistered intellectual, reading the books that interested me, and writing whatever I wanted on whatever subjects struck me. But with the realization that I need to start living and demonstrating my values came the realization that selling my ideas to the public meant presenting to the public the most attractive version of me possible. Hence the weight loss and the exercise.
Watched the second episode of the British Sherlock series, "The Hounds of Baskerville". As good as the show is, it's the relationship between Holmes and Watson that really sells the series. Holmes is a complete ass, and at one point Watson suggests he might have Asperger's. At another point, Holmes is going on about being able to control his emotions, and Watson calls him Spock in jest. I'm used to Sherlock Holmes references in Star Trek, but Trek references in a Sherlock Holmes story is a new one.
Still reading Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty. Two days left.
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