The Obsidian Mirror

I didn’t think I would have to write this so soon. My cat Inca, my loving companion of 17 years, was dead on the floor when I got up the other morning. I suppose she was lucky. She was rarely sick, and never seriously ill. She was still lithe and active, her fur thick and glossy. She attacked her evening treat last night with her usual impatient greed. She never suffered as some of my other pets…

In my last post on the subject, I explained that I have been unable to move past a set-point weight. I have been at the same weight for almost two years, giver or take a few pounds No one can continue to deprive themselves and do things they don’t want to do for two years in pursuit of an unattainable goal. it’s just not human nature. I confess there were weeks in which I decided that being fat…

It has been a long time since I last posted. With regard to my Big, Fat Weight-Loss Campaign, it’s because it got complicated. I lost 55 pounds or so in one year. The next year, despite continuing to diet conscientiously and exercising regularly, I lost no weight at all. None. I made changes. I was using the Weight Watchers method. I switched to counting calories. I was exercising a few days a…

When life gets tough, I tend to disappear into books. I had a rather tough childhood and adolescence, which resulted in consuming literally thousands of books during my youth. As a teenager, I attended a private girls’ boarding school. I wasn’t happy with it, but I think I recognized it was a better alternative to living at home with my father, who was going through a really destructive phase of…

Political cartoon by Bramhall for the NewYork Daily News. I don’t know what’s going to happen under the Fourth Reich any more than you do. The election hit me like the Acme Safe hit Wile E. Coyote, and I disappeared beneath the weight of it for a while. I needed to think, to process the horror that just happened. Although it was less a present horror than a realization of the nastiness to…

On the one hand, I have lost 55 pounds in about two years—45 of them during 2024. On the other hand, I have been stuck at the same number for about six months, and I can’t seem to move past it. There are a few reasons for this. One reason is that my left knee decided to join my right knee by becoming incredibly painful. At times, I could walk only with the help of two canes. This meant that the…

If this book doesn’t make you furious, you’re probably not human. I had expected the book to be a collection of biographies of normal women throughout history—not queens or the elite, but ordinary women, though little has come down to us about ordinary women in history. This book is not that. Philippa Gregory, the author of numerous historical novels about women, has written a master class in…

What is Project 2025? Project 2025 is a blueprint for actions the Trump administration should take once it regains power. Trump has tried to distance himself, but he can’t. The name “Trump” is mentioned approximately 201 times in the text, not counting footnotes or author bios. The people who wrote Project 2025 are all Trump adherents and colleagues. More than 140 people who formerly worked for…

In the past, when I tried to lose weight, I ran or walked (when I got older) and dieted. This usually resulted in a slow but steady loss. This time, it’s different. I’ve lost many inches and I have dropped TWO dress sizes—but I’ve lost relatively little weight. Figuring by my scale, I have lost around 23 pounds since the first of February. That might be more than two dress sizes for some people,…

My apologies to the artist. This was uncredited, but if anyone knows who the artist is–other than “hir”– I would like to acknowledge them. It has now been 15 weeks since the start of my “Big, Fat Weight-Loss Campaign.” In 15 weeks, I have lost only two pounds. Despite taking Ozempic for six of those weeks. Despite exercising almost every day. Despite the physical therapy, personal trainer, and…

Disappointment is inherent to the weight-loss process, but that’s not what I’m referring to. I am—so far—disappointed in Ozempic. I have been taking the drug for six weeks, and I have lost possibly two pounds, although some days, it’s nothing at all on the scale. I already detailed my experience of the first four weeks/injections on this blog. I was unable to get the medication in time to take…

Note: I am taking a break from “My Big Fat Weight Loss Campaign.” I hope to have positive progress soon, but right now I am stuck in the doldrum of dieting, despite Ozempic. Here’s something else to chew on. I have been rewatching Star Trek: The Original Series (ST:TOS to fans), which is the first time I have viewed the series since its original airing in the 1960s. I just watched an episode…

The media is full of stories about the new class of weight-loss drugs, of which the best-known are Ozempic and Wegovy. I’m not going to get into the other drugs currently on the market. That would take up a lot of time and this post isn’t about the industry. What is the difference between Ozempic and Wegovy? There isn’t any difference. They are both a drug called semaglutide. They are both…

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, I needed outside help to successfully lose weight this time. I couldn’t put on my Nikes and run a few miles. I wasn’t even supposed to walk for exercise anymore, due to one knee being bone-on-bone and the other knee threatening to go the same way. And yet, I have never lost weight through diet alone. Exercise is half of the equation. (God, I hate…

I gave up on losing weight a long time ago. I have all my life found the subject of my weight a huge embarrassment. I was not fat as a child, but I was plump, and bullies discovered early on that they could make me miserable by singing “Fatty Fatty Two-By-Four” on every occasion. My father harped on my weight all the time. He was thin as a blade without making any effort, and couldn’t understand…

View of the jungle from the spice plantation viewing tower. This morning when we made our way to the restaurant for breakfast, spider monkeys were everywhere–leaping overhead from bough to bough and chattering. At the restaurant, several of them were intent on snatching some food, but they were shooed away by staff. Spider monkey looking for mischief. We visited a spice plantation on day 20.…

Day 18 didn’t work out as planned, so we hung around the hotel, which was interesting in itself. When I woke up, I joined Tom on our balcony, overlooking a broad swath of jungle spilling down a steep slope to the ocean. Tom reported he had just seen a flock of scarlet macaws. As I sat and gazed, I saw a toucan flying below—its enormous yellow beak was unmistakable. That was my first toucan…