(no subject)

It's amazing how the simple things can help lighten one's emtions.

I was out at lunch running a few errands. I came up behind a large UPS van that had been in the same lot I had exited; I had seen it pull out a minute earlier. The driver had gotten trapped behind a stalled car and was desperately trying to get his big ol' UPS van over. Nobody was letting him by, caught up in their own personal lunch-hour frenzy. He tried to nose into an almost-big-enough gap only to have the compact-car behind him zip into the spot and horn-bleat, gesturing wildly.

I pulled my van up on his rear corner, and hit the brakes... creating a nice big gap. Gave a flash of the headlights, like truckers do, for an "all clear to change lane" signal. Another impatient idjit behind me honked; I didn't mind it. The UPS guy changed lanes, and stuck his hand out of his window, giving me a big thumbs-up.

It just felt really good, even though it was such a simple thing. It reminded me of the silly one-hit-wonder song from a few years back: all I wanna do is to thank you / even though I don't know who you are / because let me change lanes / while I was driving in my car

I had a good smile, all the way back to the office.

(no subject)

Okay, here's a weird one...

After a few weeks of lunchtime experimentation, I've determined that if I go home and eat something simple and veggie-laden... such as green-beans-and-pasta, or veggie stir-fry... I don't get hungry until quite late in the day. If I eat fastfood at lunch, I'm hungry again by the time I'm leaving work.

The quantity of either type of food doesn't seem to matter. The effect on later-in-the-day hunger is the same. That's the weird part.

This might be one of the keys to my terrible dietary habits. I can eat fast food, and be hungry again quickly, even if it's a big nasty pile of greaseburgers or Taco-bell CHON. It's easy to get fastfood. Combine these two things and you have a way to take in a ton of calories waaaay too often. This is quite the opposite of what I used to hold true... that if I tried to eat veggies/salads/etc for lunch, I'd just be hungry the rest of the day.

Experimentation will continue... but this time more towards other veggie-lunch options. I think I can (and should) let up on the fast-food side of the equation for a good long time. Oh, and for those who read the earlier entry: the no-food-past-9pm thing is working. No acid problems at night, more perky in the morning, and less calories consumed over the day. I'll keep that one up; I really like the results.