When I take the bus in the mornings to work, the sun is just rising. The sky is dark, but is beginning to take on a lighter turquoise hue. At my first bus stop, I can look up and see a bright star -- I assume it's Venus. Earlier this week, the moon was next to it, then it was lower and now it's gone completely. I wish I'd paid more attention in high school astronomy lectures. I don't know where the moon went!

Later, at my transfer bus stop, I like to watch the birds, grackles mostly. By this time, the sky is dusky, pinkish. The birds are silouhetted against the brightening sky. Often, there is a sudden decision, a secret signal, and the birds lift up en masse from the trees, hundreds of them, and swoop in a undulating, collective shape, made up of their streaming bodies, from one perch to the next.

On the second bus, there's a spot where we climb a bridge and have a view of the rooftops. This morning, I was watching the grackles fly in one of these fascinating formations. I watched one bird who was flying parallel to the bus, keeping up with our 30 mph speed. He was working to catch up with the tail end of one of these mass formations, and as I watched all the black birds flapping, flapping their wings against the glow of the sky I thought a very, very profound thought: I bet they really burn a lot of calories with all that flapping. I bet each and every one of those birds is svelte and can eat as many crappy cigarette butts and white bread crumbs as they like. Bastard birds.

Yeah, sometimes I'm a real deep thinker. Yeppers.

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Oh, and I did my second 25 minute run yesterday. It wasn't quite as wonderful and glorious as earlier this week, but I still was able to finish, again running at what I roughly estimate to be a 13.5 minute pace. I really need to get out a map and measure my route b/c for all I know I could be in truth running a 26 minute mile. I really have no clue as to the length of the park perimiter. That's poor spatial skills on my part.

There was another woman running last night, too, and we smiled and nodded each time we passed one another. I'm glad, because I hate it when people pass one another without acknowledment. It makes me feel rude and petty.

The woman was running at exactly my same pace, so that made me feel good. I think I've been harboring some anxiety about my pace. So, screw it. If I can see an athletic-looking woman keeping my same pace then I won't obsess about it.

Hopefully this weekend I'll be attending some samba/samba reggae classes taught by a visiting dance instructor. I'm also planning on riding my bike to the Weight Watchers meeting. I misunderstood the Core program this week, so I'm not sure if I'll lose or not. The summary packet on Core says we can eat lean cuts of beef. Not being a butcher, I assumed this meant, well, any kinds of beef. Apparently, short ribs do not count. But I made a crockpot recipe with short ribs, and curry, and mango chutney and cinnamon. It's yummy, and seeing that I'm single, I had and still have enough short ribs for days and days. So that's what I've been eating every day for lunch, along with veggies and fruit, etc...

I'm not too concerned about whether I lose this week. The thing I like about WW is that weight loss is slow. I think this is better for me psychologically. I'm not big on rapid change of any kind, so the slow and steady philosophy suits me.