Monday, April 24, 2023

The Accountability Monitor

It was a frustrating day. After having thought my internet was fixed, I had a day of the WIFI going in and out like a spoiled cat at the back door. It wasn't fun. Half an hour on the phone to Telstra, a credit for the full amount of my bill for the last month (as this has been going on for the last few weeks) we came out with the resolution that NBN had to come and look at this. As tomorrow is a public holiday and I'm working from the office on Wednesday, the first time NBN can come look at this is Thursday morning. If they deign to come at all. Intermittent problems aren't their jam. 

In the meantime, I will keep losing work because the VPN is compromised. Joy.

Oh, and I booked myself in for a mammogram. Joy. Another life admin task as the reminder was received that morning. That we live in a country which insists you have routines checks for breast and bowel cancer is a good thing. That you have to go through the ignominy of having to shit on a mat and get your boobs squashed is another matter. Ah well. 

The high point of the day was the meeting with my new accountability monitor, Alecia. 

Alecia? 

The dietician.

What can I tell you about Alecia?

Well, she appears to be very nice. And realistic. And she appears to listen. She might be a bit dim because she thinks I'm funny and intelligent.

I like her. And when I told her to not feed me fucking bananas, she said that's fine. 

I don't like bananas. 

We had a good chat about all sorts of things. What I eat. What I like to eat. How ice cream is the sixth food group. How a lot of my eating issues are because I eat for comfort and boredom - and that I'm hopefully getting in to see a psychologist soon to start dealing with all this. We talked about the fact that I'm menopausal and my metabolism has bottomed out. And that I'm doing a lot of travel at the moment which takes some control away from what you're eating (again, this is a conscious bias of mine - you can make anything happen if you want it bad enough). 

And we talked about the way forward. 

It's baby steps. 

I have three tasks to do before our check in next Monday. 

The first is eat consciously and photograph everything I eat (and take note of everything I drink) There's a program app, so she can see what I'm doing.

The second thing is to up my exercise. Since having COVID late last year my walking isn't what it was. I want to get a couple of decent walks in during the week on top of the three gym sessions I've been doing. 

And lastly, eat a piece of fruit a day. 

This is the biggest challenge for me. I'm not a fruit eater. The only way I like fruit is when somebody else cuts it up for me. My grandmother used to do this - peel and core and apple, cut it into quarters and put it on a plate. 

I did a supermarket trip after the gym tonight. My basket was filled with fruit, and veggies, and a brick of almond milk. 

And it all starts tomorrow. Working at this for myself. And my accountability monitor. 

Wish me luck. 

Today's song: 

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