Well, dear readers, there comes a day. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, there comes a day, and that day was yesterday or rather yesterday evening. I was sitting at the Smokehouse with friend Barry Pearl, whose dinner companion had dropped out of their planned meal, and I was the replacement. And at precisely 6:05 I said to Barry Pearl, I said, “Done. I am done with this Keto crap as of right now.” After six days of salads – done. So, as of last night, I’m back to counting calories. The fact is, I did drop about twelve to fifteen pounds with Keto, but after that initial burst, nothing – for weeks. That’s not a diet I ever need to be on again. I’m sure it will take my body a few days to get used to the change and to stabilize, and it is still my goal to lose at least fifteen pounds more, but I’m not doing it with Keto. Counting calories, you can eat any damn thing you feel like within your calorie count. For example, if I do 1200 calories a day, it doesn’t matter what those calories are from. If I want three slices of pizza, I have ‘em. If I want spaghetti and meatballs, I have it. If I want a pastrami sandwich, bring it on. Tacos? You bet your butt cheeks. If I stick to the 1200, I will lose weight – it’s slow going, but I can lose two pounds a week, maybe three, and those add up rather quickly. And if I want a salad again at some point, I’ll have that. And if I go to 1500 calories, I don’t lose but I don’t gain. And so, I had three small pieces of garlic cheese bread, I had my wedge salad with 1000-Island dressing (actually Keto friendly, but I didn’t care), I had a shrimp cocktail, and I had a small cup of clam chowder. And boy was it all great. The other interesting thing that happened was going down a weird rabbit hole before bed after writing yesterday’s notes and posting them. I’d watched Clint Eastwood on Inside the Actor’s Studio and I thought wouldn’t he just be the perfect director to make a film of my novel Red Gold. Now, you must understand, Red Gold was written and published in 2014, seven years ago. I haven’t looked at it or even picked it up since. That’s the case with almost all my books. I write, then move on to other things and projects and eventually other books. But I went to the book room and pulled out Red Gold for the first time since it arrived in 2014. I certainly remember writing it and that it was really fun to write, but required a lot of research at certain points, in terms of describing the town in which the book takes place – the 1880 time frame, clothing, names, all the detail stuff. It was completely different territory for me, as you might imagine. And I certainly remembered the plot of it, if not all the details. So, I opened it and began reading, to see if I liked what I wrote and just to reacquaint myself with it. Doing so all these years later was illuminating because it was like reading a book that I didn’t write. And I found myself immersed in its world and was amazed at how different the writing style was that I did for it, as my usual writing style would never have worked for a story set in the old west. I found the characters interesting and, in the case of the young ones, endearing. I found the details fascinating and truly vivid, from the buildings to the streets and everything else. I liked the plot and how the book moved along. And I just kept reading and reading until I finally had to go to sleep at four in the morning. I’d read ninety-five pages of it, and I will read the rest after writing these here notes. And boy would it make a good movie. I may try to find out if I know anyone who might pass it along to Mr. Eastwood. He’s really the only working director who’d really “get” it. It was fun to revisit it, I must say.
Yesterday was a short day, due to not arising until after one – about nine-and-a-half hours of sleep. Once up, I answered e-mails, had telephonic conversations, and then got the text from Barry Pearl about dinner, which I said yes to immediately. I spent a bit of time finishing a new tune for one of the songs that’s getting replaced – I really liked it – just sort of happened, and I sent it off to our lyricist, but said we had to talk about the intention of the song before she wrote anything. Then I had my dinner, then came home.
I had the conversation about the song – I’d talked to Kerry O’Malley, who’d read the role involved and who agreed with where my mind was going. It turns out she felt exactly the same thing and I liked the way she spoke about it and I took notes and also asked her to put those thoughts in an e-mail, which she will soon. I think we now have a pretty good idea of how to approach this, and instead of a whiny, poor poor pitiful me song, we’ll get something pretty and positive. The rest you know.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll be having a few telephonic conversations, I’ll eat whatever I damn well please (thinking tacos), hopefully pick up some packages, and then I’ll be attending the alternate evening of playlets, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I’ll finish up choosing songs for Kritzerland, I’ll attend our evening of playlets, and then Sunday is a day of ME. Next week, I have to catch up on a bunch of stuff that I’ve let slide, we’ll be shipping out the Tonight’s the Night Blu-rays, and then whatever else needs doing I shall damn well do.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, have a few telephonic conversations, eat, hopefully pick up packages, attend alternate playlets, and watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, this and that. Blu-ray, perhaps To Be or Not to Be with Jack Benny. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy and doing a jig that I have finally put the kibosh on the Keto.