See you all

on the 23rd.

Take care everyone

Happy Birthday to my lovely bride!

How come she doesn't age?

Why is she still so beautiful after such a long time with me (I age people [you should see my poor parents!])?

Happy birthday my love, and I hope that this one is the best one yet!

You know what I really dislike?!?

Food poisoning!

Fat guy observation #749b

Towels...

You heard me. I am thinking about towels.

You see, When I was 515 pounds, I had a favorite towel. It is (for it still exists) a bath sheet 66"x60" given to me by a lovely couple who don't speak to me anymore. Oh well...

As I was saying... This was my favorite towel as a fat guy because I could actually wrap it all the way around me and THAT was how I would dry off... Passively. I would just sit there at the computer or whilst watching SportsCenter and let the moisture wick away to the towel and air and time. Bending over to vigorously dry off was right out; I felt like I was cutting off my own air supply when doing so. I was very fond of that towel.

Then, about two years ago, we had some friends over for a pool party and a few of them stayed the night rather than drive home. Somehow my towel got bundled up with the spare bedding we only use with the air mattress and I "lost" my favorite towel. I was upset, and V thought "it would turn up eventually." She was right. Again... She is almost always right (my masculine sensibilities prevent me from saying always as a matter of course, but you get the gist...).

Cut to me finding the towel when we last employed said air mattress, about 2 months ago. I was overjoyed! My TOWEL!

It has returned to me, and then said towel and I did the Linus and Snoopy happy dance for full on to 3-4 minutes while my wife looked on in disbelief and a smirk suggesting her aforementioned 'would-turn-up-eventually' statement was sage counsel indeed. Wiseass...

So, I began to use the fave towel again.

And, it was terrible...

I can't use it very well anymore. It is too, cumbersome, unwieldy even. There are so many folds of fabric and I feel swallowed up in the damn thing now. I can't use it vigorously to towel off my legs because it is like trying to dry off with a King-Sized comforter.

And then it hit me.

The towel was just as cool, and just as colorful, and just as useful as before. *I* am the different one.

I am no longer passive. I am active in the removal of excess moisture. A towel that will not wrap around me (very well) of the normal, regular sized bath towel dimensions works just fine. Better, in fact. I get showered, dried off, and dressed in 10-15 minutes now, where before the first and last portions of that process were 15 minutes or so, but the drying off was 30-45 minutes just by itself.

Why?

You ever tried to 'air-dry' a VW Microbus? Takes a bit of time, don't it?

As I continue this losing weight thing, I am very occasionally reminded of how minor changes like this can drastically alter so much about us. About our bodies, our mantras, our routines, and our own realizations...

I STILL like the towel. I put it under my daughter's crafts table when she wants to eat in front of the tube watching "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" or "Chitty-chitty Bang-bang" or some other children's DVD that is a bit longer than the norm (my carpets may not be the best, but they are all I got, ya know?). I have, in fact, used that towel too. As recently as this morning. But, only because all the other towels were still in the laundry.

So, here's to all of you who really know where your towel is!

Well, I had my "coming out of retirement" sumo deal

And I didn't win a single match... But, to be fair, they REALLY stacked my dance card!

I faced the current 3-time US Heavyweight champion
I faced the 5-time US Lightweight and 2004 World Lightweight Champion
I faced the 2006 and 2007 Georgian National Heavyweight Champion
I faced one of the current Japanese university Champs
I faced the current Samoan champ

I lost them all.

I wasn't the heaviest (at least 4 dudes outweighed me, and a few by 100 pounds or more), but I was the tallest.

At least I didn't get hurt; I really think that I should lose a bit MORE weight and try it again.

The California championships are in a few months.

I figure I can get to 300 by then.

Nobody believed I quit cold turkey. My technique was still good, just about a half-step off all day. Everyone said they really enjoyed how much fun I seemed to be having.

Well, hell yeah, I never got tired. Even the longest match of the day for the entire tournament (mine with the lightweight champ) had the other guy winded more than me. I felt... great. But, technique-wise I never got "on."

Nobody tripped me up, and I never lost my balance. I just kinda forgot where in the ring I was a few times.

Two of the matches I lost because I stepped out as I was throwing. Six inches or so difference and I would have been 2-3 instead of 0-5.

Oh well, I did have fun.

I will try to find some footage.

Okay... wish me luck!

And let's hope I don't get crushed by younger, faster, stronger sumotori!

<sigh> Once more into the fray!