My Life, As Told Between (Baby Cakes') Naps

Anyone else tired of models who put on fat suits to see what it’s like to be overweight in America and discover to their shock and horror that (*gasp*) they’re not treated as well as when they were thin and, you know, MODELS?  Tyra Banks did this recently.  While at the gym this morning (yay!), I caught a “news” segment (I was a captive audience, I had no choice!) where another model donned a fat suit and walked the streets of New York to see what it was like.  Apparently it (surprise!) sucked and she (surprise!) was not treated as nicely as when she was thin and beautiful.*

My favorite part of the segment was when she said, “It’s tragic that people are still judged on their weight in America” and followed it up with something along the lines of “beauty is on the inside.”  Um, hello?  Cog in the wheel of the modeling industry?  What with the whole contributing to the problem thing?  I’d like to see a segment where a beautiful model just tones it down for a day and sees what life is like for an average, non-5’11” woman.  Now THAT might be mildly interesting.**

While we’re on the subject of fat, has anyone tried the Peppermint Ice Blendeds at the Coffee Bean?  =) Yummmm…

*Not to say that being beautiful requires being thin, but that’s certainly the norm in most societies nowadays.  Also, I realize weight can send certain socio-economic signs which might tie into her preferential treatment when she was thin, but those socio-economic cues are related to concepts of beauty so it really does come down to thin = beautiful.  (For an interesting discussion on how thin = pedophelia = beautiful, i.e., the sexualization of children and their bodies and the emulation of this corporeal ideal by women, you should talk to my brilliant Roomie.) 

**Fairness requires that I add there was one comment she made that I actually did find interesting.  She had thought that being in the fat suit would call a lot of negative attention to her, but found that she was rendered virtully invisible by the suit.  Made me think of the way we deal with individuals who are different in any way – we attempt to ignore the difference, which draws more attention to it than anything else could.  An interesting juxtaposition of the obvious and the ignored.  The (absolutely no wisecrack intended) white elephant in the room.

This weekend I . . .

Hung out with a friend visiting from New York.  Apparently MB, the aforementioned friend, feels slightly slighted that I’ve never posted about her or our enduring, inspirational, movie-worthy friendship (happy MB?), so I’m making it a point to do so now.  We spent a good deal of the weekend lounging around my apartment and napping, getting up only to find another surface to nap upon, while my Roommate (another friend from law school) cleaned and did various other productive-type things.  This was reminiscent of law school itself, where I spent the better part of three years napping. 

Drove to Venice, searched endlessly for parking, wept at the utter futility of it all, gave up and went home. 

Inadvertantly ended up amidst a late night freeway drag race.  Because it’s California and stuff like that happens.

Met some new people and finally visited The Underground (the Frog‘s favorite bar in Long Beach).  I had a lot of fun, despite the fact that the eighty-year old woman who’s taken over my body recently demanded that I leave fairly early on in the night.  She was not happy to have been kept up past her bedtime.

Read the latest Harry Potter book.  Yeah, because I’m just not nerdy enough.  It was good, but upon completion necessitated an immediate phone call to my equally nerdy little sister so we could both bawl together.

Bought a boatload of new songs for Apple the ipod.  I’m not going to share which ones because you might stop being my friends if you knew my appalling taste in music (or lack thereof).

Got a little bit fatter.  For the millionth weekend in a row, I did not make it to the gym again.  And I’m supposed to start training for the LA marathon next Saturday.  Hey.  Don’t snicker.

Worked.  A lot.

Decided I’m going to write a romance novel.  Because, really, how awesome would it be to tell people that’s what you do for a living?  “Oh me?  Well, I used to be a corporate lawyer specializing in real estate litigation, but now I write romance novels.  What do you do?”

Yesterday was spent battling a bout of food poisoning.  Feeling much better today.  In a rare moment of extreme optimism, I’m going to head over to the gym across the street and join any minute now.  My collarbone made a reappearance last week, which has inspired me to keep up the diet and exercise.  My friend’s visit this weekend derailed that a bit, but I’m working to get back on track.  Maybe having to pay every month will inspire me to work out on those mornings when I just can’t seem to get out of bed.  Or maybe it will be an extravagant waste of money, seeing as to how I often can’t seem to make it to the gym downstairs in my own building.  We’ll see. 

I start my new job tomorrow. 

Work has been crazy.  Nothing new to report.  Just wanted to let you all know I’m still alive.

The diet’s going well.  I snagged a new diet buddy (Hi DB!) this week.  We’ve implemented an incentive program, complete with spreadsheets and goal dates.

Whew, just dodged the bullet for a document review project in Austin.  At least so far.  I feel bad for the first year going though; she has to leave Sunday.  Doc review by yourself in a strange city for an indeterminate period of time can not be fun.  Am keeping my fingers firmly crossed that I won’t be sent into the abyss. 

Diet going well.  Too weak to write.  Or too lazy.  Whichever.

One day down, the rest of my life to go.  Actually managed to get up early enough for a quick run this morning; not back up to six miles a day yet, but am inching my way back into shape (hopefully).  And, thanks to my late night dash to Target for weights and a pilates ball, I also did some weights this morning.  Successfully avoided all culinary temptation today, so short of a disaster in the next three hours, I think I’m safe for the day. =)

By the way, thanks for the lovely Christmas cards everyone (at least everyone who sent them – as for the rest of you, where’s my Christmas card?).  Sorry I’ve been such a slacker this year.  My frantic bout of phone calls and text messages while waiting for my flight back to LA yesterday wasn’t my best showing, but it was an attempt at keeping in touch.  And for those of you I wasn’t able to get ahold of, I blame you. 

As always, I loved being home and regressing back to an infantile stage where all of my conceivable needs are handled by others (although this may arguably also be the case in LA since my nifty roommate handles pretty much everything around the apartment, as well as doing the occasional post office run for me while I’m at work).  Nothing new to report, simply a good weekend spending time with people I care about.  I hope you all had the same.

Oh, one thing.  Having seen several newly svelte friends recently, I’m inspired to really get back on my diet and start my running again (even if this does entail getting up at 6am)!  So, contrary to this page’s tag line, I’m giving up both chocolates and martinis for awhile.  At least until my toes are once again visible.  So the next time we meet up, I may be a little more grumpy and a lot more tired, but hopefully I’ll also be thinner. =)  Expect to see daily details of my diet and exercise regime in the following months.  Yes, the fun just never ends on this blog. 

A co-worker told me, as I was complaining (yet again) about all this holiday weight gain (while simultaneously consuming my fourth piece of chocolate), that “If you’ve lived a full life, you won’t go to your grave looking good, you’ll skid in sideways clutching a martini in one hand and a bar of chocolate in the other.”  Or something to that effect.  Of course, she’s from Texas.  Only people from Texas can get away with saying stuff like that (or things like “That dog won’t hunt”).  Anyways, I like it.  Am thinking of using it as the new tag line for my blog.  What do y’all think?  It’s either that or Diaries of a Corporate Lawyer.  Which either sounds kinda cool, or really, really lame.  Given my tendency towards all things lame, I venture to say it’s the later.  

By the way, I’ve had a few people mention that they can’t respond to the postings.  I think I’ve fixed it.  Just click on the link that says discuss, below the posts, and we’ll see what happens.  I do wish you all would respond.  As narcissistic as I am, I still like to know people are out there and I’m not the only one who finds my extremely boring life riveting. =)

I finished up work early today.  We’re still waiting for feedback on some of the stuff we submitted.  Had a scary moment when one of the more senior associates warned me that I may get a call at 3am to come into the office and help with revisions if the feedback arrives late.  It still hadn’t arrived when I left at 8:30, so there’s still the possibility, but given how little I know and how utterly unhelpful I’d be, it’s probably a slim possibility at best.