crowdog66

Updated the Wacom tablet drivers and ran Disk Warrior on the hard drive, which seems to have locked the problem down. Curiouser and curiouser: before I did the repairs/updates, several Photoshop files came up "file damaged" with odd color bands in the art when I opened them. Cue much screaming from me, followed by closing of the files and repairing/updating. Lo and behold, when I reopened the files afterwards, they were PERFECTLY FINE. No "file damaged" warning, color bands gone.

Holy fuck. I hate it when computers go wiggy. I hate it even more when errors fix themselves for no discernable reason.

Well, I did it -- got out and walked four whole blocks. Wheeeeee. Still, it's better than nothing by far, especially since I hauled home a heavy load of groceries over the last half of my trek.

I stopped for supper at Subway beforehand, where over a tuna sub I started looking through a book called Maytag Meals for Good Health: Low-Calorie Recipes with Meal Plans, by Karen Graham. Truth in advertising indeed: each meal comes in two sizes (large and small), each with calculated calories, carbs, protein, fat, and so forth, as well as life-sized pictures of the large meal options with inset pics of the small meal options so you have an exact idea of what you're getting. The first and second sections, Breakfasts and Lunches, contain dead-simple recipes (beans and toast, pancakes and bacon, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, etc), but they're broken down and presented in a way that's just... I don't know, friendly and easily accessible even to the seriously cooking-challenged like myself.

I came away from the book with a feeling of anticipation and hope. Maybe I can do this, even though sometimes the diet issue seems impossible and plunges me into despair. To put it into perspective, you must consider that for the vast majority of my life I lived as if the four food groups were frozen, canned, take-out, and delivery; I was brought up in a dysfunctional household where everything connected with mealtimes was intensely stressful and unpleasant, so I learned early that cooking was something to be avoided and the kitchen was a no-man's land. It's a bit late in life to change that attitude completely, yet that is exactly what I must somehow do.

I'm afraid. Seriously. Can the old dog really learn so many new tricks?

ETA: Good news on two other fronts. For one thing, the Ritalin on an increased dosage is lessening my appetite (no big surprise there). For another, I can now sit cross-legged on my chair when I'm at the computer painting. Yes, I've lost enough weight that crossing my legs relatively easily is possible for the first time in a couple of years. :-)