Psychological Ozempic

 So during the first years of the Pandemic, I lost a LOT of weight --probably a good 40-50 lbs. My appetite was low, and I walked miles per day -- often 10 -- to fight the anxiety. During one of our "distance walks," Kenny took a photo of me to show how much thinner I was than a few years earlier, when we traveled to Sonoma County for Kenny and Joelle's 25th wedding anniversary celebration.

The anxiety came from the unknown -- would our baby, first born grandson survive this awful disease? Would the kids? I had a constant low level of queasiness that kept me from eating -- and the weight loss was needed.

In January of 2021, Wifey had her stroke, before she was able to get the Covid jab, and my anxiety increased. I knew she would survive the stroke -- would Covid in the hospital or in patient rehab, where she spent 3 whole weeks, get her? 

Thankfully, Wifey survived and recovered, and by 2022 or so it became clear that Covid was largely the "Boomer Remover" the pundits thought it might be -- taking, mostly, older folks. My appetite returned to it's typical fraternity boy levels, and my walking, though never ceasing, went back to 3 miles per day. The weight, not surprisingly, came back.

Well, the psychological Ozempic is back -- a series of life events have me dealing with existential changes, and the weight is coming off again. Wifey noticed it the other day -- I was wearing shorts I had retired in 2023 or so -- and I guess it's a positive unintended consequence of anxiety. Hey -- if the The Donald keeps up the craziness of his presidency, and drives us to a true Constitutional Crisis, or even Civil War -- I may become as svelte as I was in college, law school, and about 5 years after -- my pants were 32 waist size or lower. 

Meanwhile, I dealt with another silly phobia yesterday: tech. My IPhone, which is with me like a pacemaker to a heart patient, is, or was, a IPhone 11, which I got in 2017, from the Verizon store Downtown while Wifey and I were still Hurricane Irma refugees. The phone worked, except the battery wasn't lasting, and I was SO opposed to upsetting any tech carts, I took it to the Apple Store on Xmas eve and had the battery replaced -- that was nearly 2 years ago. 

But we have a Euro trip planned for late May, and I didn't want my ancient phone dying over there, so yesterday I steeled myself and visited the Verizon store on 104th St and S Dixie. It was 1030, and the place was empty, except for 2 salespeople -- I went up to Juan. I told him I thought it was time to get my free upgraded phone, and he asked if the one I had worked, and I said it did, but when he took it from me and saw it was an 11 that was 8 years old, he laughed and said indeed it WAS time to replace -- many of the Apps I use didn't work well with such an ancient piece of equipment.

I asked if they had a service where you could pay and have them transfer all your date, and he said yes -- it was $29.95 and I would need to stay in the store 1.5 hours or so. I did, and Juan got 'er done, while we talked of our lives -- he was born and raised in Cuba, came here at 25, and is now turning 40. He is no fan of the Communist government -- he told me even what USED to be good about Cuba -- like the doctors, no longer are -- no money to even run med schools correctly.

Somehow the time flew by, and I walked out with my new IPhone 16, which works just like the old one did, with some spiffy upgrades. The Ds called on FaceTime returning from Miami Beach, and I learned I could hit an emoji and fireworks or balloons or rain would appear in my image. They laughed at first and then told me to not use that with anyone else, lest they make much fun of me...

Of course, I had to reinstall Facial Recognition with some of the Apps, and of course no longer recalled user names or passwords -- but I spent a lot of this am after my long walk getting THAT done. So I'm back -- even bought all the new chargers the newer phones require.

So the phone lasted 8 years -- Juan's manager came by, I praised Juan to him, and he said "Well you got your money's worth with this guy." Indeed I did.

So I had my yogurt parfait for breakfast, and then a chicken salad sandwich for lunch, and now have zero appetite to eat more. At D1's the other day, we brought in wraps from Pura Vida, and I ate half -- I ALWAYS polish off a whole wrap. Hopefully lower bad blood markers await -- even though I was already strangely healthy while fat...

Hopefully we get to see the grandsons tomorrow, and maybe even D2 and Jonathan! We always order in Uber Eats -- less for me these days!