off to see the wizard

So, technically, this post counts for Saturday, since it's after midnight, but it's really for Friday. And I'll throw up a text-post as well. (Yeah, it hurts me too to have to go to the text-post so early in the game...but I'm a busy guy. What can you do?)

Excited tomorrow about my weekend trip south. Going to see some friends in a play, and then I'm picking up my brother and sister-in-law at an airport and driving to her mom's house. They're so close to me, and if they've flown this far across the country, I feel like I want to do all I can to see them. As usual, I'm excited to see them.

I'm also excited about eating some In-N-Out Burger. I'm recommitting to a healthy diet and lifestyle on Tuesday, so I've got to live it up this weekend.

food

We had a brush-up rehearsal for our show tonight, which meant that we ran through the thing at about half the emotional intensity. I'm usually starving after work, and I don't have a bunch of stuff at the apartment, so after the run I went to IHOP. I kept thinking about eggs as I drove over, and I was determined to order something (a) healthy and (b) inexpensive.

So what did I order?

Chicken-friend steak with three eggs and three pancakes. And a carafe of coffee (decaf). Seventeen bucks with tip.

And...I feel like crap.

I always do this. I always try to eat with the idea of eating healthy foods that will fuel my body and keep me slim. My taste buds, however, somehow seem to circumvent the process and take control just as I'm ordering. That's why I've been on a fast-food jag the last week or so.

It's a constant battle. I love food. I love eating out, and I love cooking, and I love watching cooking shows, and I love reading restaurant reviews...I just think all of it is great. I wish I could just eat what I want all of the time.

Then, I snap back to reality.

First of all, I'm single. I think that my chances of finding an attractive mate rise as my stomach flattens. So there's that. There's also a history of high blood pressure in my family. Most importantly, right now, is that men in my family, when they reach their early-to-mid-thirties, tend to put on weight. And I can't play the kinds of roles that I'm playing now if I'm carrying around thirty extra pounds.

So I try to watch what I eat.

And I try to go to the gym.

And I beat myself up when I fail at those two tasks.

This week? I've been to the gym once (yesterday) and I've had fast food multiple times. You can guess how my psyche feels.

Time to drink water and cleanse myself...

christmas dinner

This is the third of three meals we've made from scratch today. I'm not in shape to eat this much!



Here's hoping that you and yours have a very Merry Christmas!

Mobile post sent by Rover using Utterli.  Replies.

dinner plans

Is it appropriate to have Trader Joe's Spinach and Artichoke Dip as your dinner? Discuss.

a quick post behind enemy lines

At Maxine's house - while she knows that this blog exists, she still doesn't have the address. Not sure if I'm ever going to clue her in on that one.

A good night tonight - hung out with a kick ass friend - we gorged ourselves on Thai food and Belgian beer. Excellent combo, although I can't say that I feel the greatest now. Hopefully a couple of tall glasses of water fixes that...

like coffee? you'll love this

via e-mail to Maxine - she is a coffee enthusiast

This is about coffee. I think that you will, at the very least, appreciate it, and you may in fact love it.

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/coffee/?em

Bon appetit.

grandma's rolls

Should have brought some of these home...

my Thanksgiving work

I seasoned her myself. Isn't she beautiful?

Deep frying is the ONLY way to eat turkey. Trust me.

i had planned to write an open letter

I came home from a museum jaunt (nothing else to do in this town, I swear), and there was a mysterious package hanging from my door knob.

Of course, I immediately thought, "Someone's trying to poison me!"

When I worked up enough courage to open it up, there was a plastic cup full of blueberry cobbler. Still warm.

I decided that good cobbler > being poisoned. I ate it. It was delicious. I decided that I was going to thank the mysterious cobbler-donor on the blog.

But then I found out that Mama made it. (Of course - who else would have done it?)

So, THANKS MAMA!

stuffed

I had dinner five hours ago, and I'm still in a food coma.

There's a woman in the cast we all call Mama ('cause she plays a mother), and she loves to cook. She loves to cook so much that she will throw dinner parties on her day off so that she has someone to cook for.

Tonight, the entire cast reaped the rewards.

We had cheese and crackers and chips and olives and fried chicken and baked chicken and greens and red beans and rice and yams and cornbread and fried catfish and lemon meringue pie and peach cobbler and wine and cider.

Soooooooooooooo good.

Thanks, Mama!

the BBQ invite

written via Facebook - maybe i should have invited all of you guys!

Hi friends -

Late July means that my parents are in town for my brother's birthday, which means that we're having our annual BBQ (which means that you can hear my mom's voice, and watch my dad talk about sandwiches). The details are all below. Let me know if you think you're coming, and maybe we can coordinate transportation details. Hope to see you up there!

i am so hungry...

...and i don't feel like making anything

and i don't feel like spending any money

so...

i guess i'm going to be hungry...

fifteen minutes to spare

Thank God I got home in time to blog about...um...nothing?

My feet hurt.

The All-Star Game is still on. I hope they tie again. I like chaos.

I'm hungry. I have four wings left over from last night (teriyaki, meh).

I'm slightly annoyed that I'm not hanging out with Maxine tonight because "she wasn't planning to see me tonight".

I'm really hot.

I'm broke.

There, that was exciting, wasn't it?

I do have a good post planned for the coming week...it's a story...

a politically incorrect statement

via text message

We just had brunch. I got the ITIS.

the joys of tech

written in my notebook in my dressing room

1st day of tech. We're working in a space that is old, but cool. Every lunch break they fire up this huge 5' long charcoal grill - awesome. So far my meal today I had a tuna steak covered in wasabi mayonnaise and pepper. Pretty good.

One of the interesting things about the play I'm doing is that my character is around at the beginning and the end, but not the middle. So I have a huge chunk of time (between ninety minutes and two hours) to chill out. Unfortunately, during tech, that two hours stretches into ten. So I'm going to spend much of the next few days reading magazines and watching videos on my iPod. I'm getting paid, though, so I can't complain too much...

i'm hungry...

...and yet I don't want any of the food in my house. Is that strange?

Maybe I should just order a pizza. Of course, I had a pizza last night.

I suppose the easiest thing to do would be to just not eat. But...then I'll be hungry (thank you, Captain Obvious).

These are the days when I just want the food pill, you know? One capsule will satisfy you for hours!

All right, all right. I'll see if there's anything in the fridge.

my stomach hurts

I went to an engagement party tonight, and all I ate was cheese, hummus, and brownies. And three glasses of wine. And a beer.

And I feel like all I do all day at my temp job is eat crap. I mean, I have to stay awake somehow...

All this adds up to the fact that I really am feeling like I need to head back to the gym...

i had a great day yesterday

1. Made an awesome breakfast - egg white scramble with turkey sausage, spinach, and tomato; toast with strawberry preserves; orange juice. Mmmmmmm....

2. Watched the Sunday morning political programs and PTI.

3. Cleaned up the entire apartment - StefStar and I had been working on that for a couple of days. You could have eaten off of the floors.

4. Open house. We found a great roommate (hereby called the Traveler) as well as someone to sublet when StefStar leaves for the summer. But almost all of the people were cool.

5. Dinner party. StefStar and I had her cousin over, as well as The Hot Wing and another friend. Pasta primavera; tasty salad (made by THW); lots of wine; apple pie with ice cream. Mmmmmmmm....

6. My alma mater won a HUGE basketball game against one of our arch rivals.

That's about as good as a non-football Sunday can get.

d-u-n

Finished my last day here at the Alma Mater. It's a good thing, too - my diet has consisted of fried grease and sweet tea. No wonder I gained sixty pounds during my college years (that's not a misprint). I love the South.

I've actually kind of enjoyed my free time in the hotel. It's clean and comfortable, and I really don't feel like I get any quality alone time in my house, so this has been nice. My apartment situation will improve when I get my couch next Friday.

I'm back in New York for about 24 hours, and then I'm going to Pittsburgh to get some stuff out of my parents' basement. (I'm thirty - it's about time.) So you'll be getting lots of travel notes from me this weekend...

i'm not feeling creative

Wow, this 365 thing is going to be HARD. I don't really feel like posting anything today. I made a commitment, though, and I'm going to honor it.

So...

How are you?

Great.

Me? I'm fine. Keeping busy. Painted my new room today, although I won't move in there until Friday. Did a reading in a HUGE renovated brownstone - so gorgeous. Got dinner from Chipotle.

(sigh)

OK, well, I'm gonna kill some time before bed. Hope you have a good evening! See you tomorrow!