Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Face Who?


I have a Facebook account. Gasp… I know this is shocking news (but you won’t find me under my Catastrophe name). I find Facebook (or fb as I like to write it) handy for catching up and seeing what old friends are doing … even though I almost never do this. Fb is also good for getting and sending party invites, sharing pictures and the occasional status update. I’m talking about things like “I got a promotion” not “I ate a burger for lunch”. But that’s it and I’m done with fb after these few uses. I totally don’t get the whole game and hug and poke and pillow fight things and anything else on facebook. If I want to play video games I will play real ones with good graphics. And if I want to poke someone…well I really don’t want to poke anyone and a real hug beats a virtual one any day.

I also don’t get the whole connect to my music and internet TV accounts. Why? I have music and TV accounts of course but why do I need to connect them to fb? Do my friends really need to know what I’m watching and listening to? I guess maybe I’d find a friend or two who shared an interest in some of my TV shows and wanted to discuss them. But let’s face it, I hardly have time to watch the shows let alone talk about them with my 400 plus ‘friends’.

I love all the new technology and I think we are truly blessed to live in a time with so many modern conveniences and ways to be connected to others. Unfortunately the most important way to be connected – face to face in person – seems to be getting lost since we are all too busy staying home and reading updates and then checking these updates while we are out with other friends.

Cat ‘A True Friend Would Plow my Field’ Cathy

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Harpo


Somehow I got on an Oprah emailing list. I’m not sure how this happened since I’ve never been a big fan of her show. Quite frankly I just don’t get the appeal. I’ve watched a few shows and tried but it just wasn’t doing it for me. You’d think I’d like the show with my Greek ancestry as Oprah sounds much like OPA! But nope.

I saw a couple episodes with Dr. Phil or as I like to call him, Dr. Obvious. He would state very basic things like you really shouldn’t hit your wife. Really? Do you have to be a PhD to know this? Seems like common sense to me.

Then I saw an episode with a supermodel showing ‘bargain’ fashion finds. She showed a dress from the Oscars (or one of those entertainment events) made by some famous designer that was selling for $10,000. Then she showed a knock off she found for the bargain price of $1,000. News flash, $1,000 is a pretty hefty amount to pay for one dress. Sadly I think that’s more than my whole wardrobe costs!

Then there was that episode where a guy was sleeping with his best friend’s wife and everyone was shouting “Oprah, Oprah, Oprah”. No wait that was ‘Jerry’….sorry wrong show.

Lately my weight has fluctuated about 15 pounds so I like to tell people I’m a small scale Oprah or ‘Oprah light’. Perhaps the weight gain is due to all that Fried Oprah I’ve been eating…I mean fried Okra. It’s all so confusing.

Cat “yhtac” Cathy

Friday, November 4, 2011

Food, Glorious Food!


I’ve been planning to do a ten day fast for several months now but something always comes up. Namely a nice meal event always comes up that I don’t want to miss. When I think about it I’m surprised just how many of my activities involve food. Even if I go out for sports we always have food afterwards. That time dining together and socializing is very much a part of the fun and I don’t want to miss out.

I happened to catch part of a movie about juice fasting and I realized I had put my fast off for far too long. So on a whim I decided I would start my own juice fast the very next day! After all, it had been about 10 years since I’d completed a fast longer than 24 hours and I was well overdue. I drank fresh squeezed veggie and fruit juices, fresh brewed green tea with no sweetener and water for 64 hours straight. This was a personal record for me since the longest I’d ever fasted before was around 55 hours.

I really didn’t feel bad during the fast. I would get a minor headache and hunger pangs but these were short lived. The hardest part was answering the same question of ‘why’ over and over again. To me the answer would seem obvious. Most people fast for religion, health or to lose weight. For me it was mostly for health reasons. I wanted to cleanse and detoxify my system. I also just thought it would be interesting to try it and challenge myself. But after telling friends this several times I made up some better answers:

“To please my gods”
“The voices told me to”
“Chewing is so last year”
“I like all the pretty colors”

My results were good. My weight reduced a few pounds but I’m sure most of that was just no food in my belly. My health was fine and I felt slightly more clear headed than usual during the fast. Not only would I do it again I’ve already started planning it since a coworker wants to join me. I’m shooting for a new PR of 72 hours.

Juicy ‘Cat’ure