Greetings from Abu Dhabi, where it is a wonderful 28 degrees outside; outside being a place where I have little intention of going today. So be it! I am sitting in the bedroom, looking out my back window to the neighbor’s front yard. Every Friday morning, the people behind us bring their falcons out and put them on perch in their front yard, where the falcons groom themselves and get a bit of sun. Of course, I think it’s cruel to keep a bird in captivity (says the man who keeps his clinically-depressed cats inside the house for the entirety of their lives), but this person behind us genuinely takes care of those birds. Actually, his house help takes care of the birds. Still, it’s interesting to watch the birds cleaning themselves in the yard, getting a little bit of sun and relaxing.

Last week, I completed my 10th week of running, so I am not on track for the intermediate program, which I started a couple of days ago. I am, by no means, a fast runner. When I was in Shanghai, I could move at a decent clip at various times, but in the past six years, I have regressed in terms of my speed (and my weigh!). When I became a lard ass due to Covid lockdown, I decided to finally get started running again and to start from scratch with it all. the program from beginner to advanced is 30 weeks, so let’s see how this goes. I weighed 117 kg in July. I am now down to 112, which is decent, but I have a ways to go before I get back to the same weight as last year at this time (107) and I was STILL chunky then. However, I am on a good diet now and am working to eliminate some of my food addictions. Here’s what I’ve eliminated: No McDonalds (that was a big one). No French fries. No flavored drinks. No sugar (intentional sugar…I know there’s sugar in everything, but I’ve eliminated desserts). And the hardest one of all…no flavored drinks. I only drink water now. My next elimination round is to cut out bread in the morning. But I do like my toast.