Categories: uncategorized
Date: 10 April 2005 21:45:53
It was good to be back at my church this morning (not that Smudgie's church last week wasn't lovely, but it's nice to be "home" again). Ian has already talked about the reading for today (the two disciples walking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus) (that's one of the things I really love about being part of the wider Anglican church, I know that whatever passage is being preached that morning, millions of my brothers and sisters around the world are also being taught from the same passage, it makes me feel a part of a much larger whole which I find very comforting). Our sermon was along the lines of life as a journey, and at the end of the sermon the vicar led a meditation on the passage, reading some of the key verses and asking questions for us to ponder for ourselves - where are we going?... what preoccupies us?... God wants us to tell him about what's going on even though he already knows... God takes the risk of our letting him go on without us and wants us to ask him to stay with us... In the time there was I could barely start, I think I'm going to email the vicar and ask him for the full meditation so that I can think about it more in the week.
Then this evening I've just got in from our church's film night - once a month they show a film and have a short discussion afterwards, in place of an evening service, and tonight's was a wonderful film I'd never heard of but definitely recommend: "Goodbye Lenin" which is German (with subtitles thankfully!), a film about an East German woman who falls into a coma just before the Berlin Wall fell, wakes up 8 months later and her doctor tells her children she must not have any shock, so they decide to hide from her the changes that have happened and pretend the GDR still exists. Of course one lie leads to another and it ends up spiralling out of control. It was both funny and poignant, it reminded me of my time in Romania in the early 90s, and provoked some interesting discussion afterwards about deception, white lies, motives, that kind of thing. What I found very interesting was that one of the girls in our church is German and so she was able to pick up nuances from the language that us subtitle-readers couldn't, for example how the guy kept using language the way it was used in the former East Germany whilst his sister embraced the more western style. Definitely definitely recommended.
Back to the diet. I feel like I've been cooking all weekend, but I've now got a freezer full of stuff so hopefully shouldn't have to do so much preparation next week. That's not recommended by Carol, who says you have to prepare everything just before eating it rather than reheating leftovers, but as I live in the real world I'm afraid that's tough :)
Breakfast: The usual, with an apricot. I made my own muesli yesterday, I have to say it looks rather tasty, but will finish the packet one first.
Lunch: Rye crackers with tahini (yum, I could eat that stuff straight from the jar, but have so far been restrained.) Then broccoli and flageolet bean soup, which was nice except that I made it too watery. Oh well, will remember for next time. Followed by an apple and strawberries.
Dinner: Mixed seeds as an appetiser, followed by cauliflour and potato curry with rice. Very nice, I'd had my doubts whilst it was cooking but the end result was delicious. I don't think I'll have it with rice again though - carb overload with the potatoes, I felt a bit bloated afterwards. Finished off with a kiwi fruit and a handful of raisins.
Drinks: Mostly water today.
Today's Exercise: Not a thing.
Good thing about today: Getting comfortably and effortlessly into a pair of trousers that have been too tight to do up without extreme gymnastics and facial gurning for ages.
Number of chocolate cravings: 0, until I got to church this evening and found that one of the women had made chocolate crispy cakes topped with a little chocolate egg which looked so delicious and it was such an effort not to have one.
Side effect du jour: my first (and hopefully only) painful spot.
1 week down - only 3 more to go. I think the weight loss and getting into previously tight clothes will definitely inspire me to continue, even though the actual food preparation is a bit of a faff. We'll see.