Ladies and gentlemen, DeskCam is BACK! Also note that I have changed my hair yet again. The colour is still red – lovely deep refreshed shocking red – but I had her chop a few inches off. We started with a classic bob but then cut into it and thinned it out a lot. (I have way too much hair.) Paige said that her official name for the cut is a “shattered bob,” which I totally love. It goes with the punk rock image.

The Ridiculously Thorough Guide to Making Your Own Pizza. How useful! My few attempts at homemade pizza have seriously sucked. (Link courtesy of not martha.)

After eleven-and-a-half weeks… I finally got a new computer! About damn time.

Oh my God. We just saw the news. The Snook and I were sitting in a bar when he noticed a reflection of a TV screen behind us and recognized the words “London” and “bomb” as they scrolled past. We recognized Tube stations that we had both been in dozens of times. It’s unbelievable. Londoners like to act blasé about the IRA threat, but something like this is just shattering. I remember how it felt on September 11, 2001 as we watched the World Trade Center fall from our kitchen in Hammersmith, getting reports of the City evacuating and wondering how safe we were. We’re sending e-mails and SMSes to friends over there right now. Any of you Londoners able to tell us what it’s like in the city?

This is a sad time. I hate to say it, but the possibility of something like this happening was part of the reason we left. As the Snook said on September 12, “If America goes to war, we’re going to Australia.” I’m really glad we did.

Good grief. How many times do I have to say it? Willy Wonka didn’t “hate children”. That’s just WRONG. This Patrick Lee guy has obviously never read the damn book. This is half the reason I stopped updating my Dahl site. No matter how much misinformation I try clear up, the same myths and inaccuracies persist. It’s like shouting in the wind sometimes.

Look, I may indeed have muttered “I wish these damn candy bars were off the shelves” during my darkest diet moments, but I swear the whole Masterfoods extortion threat wasn’t from me, okay? (Although I will admit to a certain “If I can’t eat Snickers, nobody can eat
Snickers!!” shadenfreude.)

So yeah, I registered a gain this week. I’m actually, really, truly kinda glad about it though, you know? I mean, I deserved it. I had a wonderfully rich dinner at Rosalina’s on Thursday, pancakes and sausage followed by a mega-pig-out at the Food Show on Saturday, a massive portion of lamb tagine on Sunday, and an All-American Fat Fest on Monday. And here’s the thing: I’ve had a loss every single other week and I think I was starting to take it for granted. My cheating has been getting more and more egregious because I just don’t know where the boundaries lie, you know? But now I do. Now I have a better idea of how much I can indulge but still remain on the right track. It’s a good thing. Plus I had this constant fear of gaining and it was like waiting for the other shoe to drop. Now I’ve faced my fear and gotten it out of the way, so I can quit obsessing and continue my progress towards goal.

That said, I got some major inspiration from the meeting tonight. First, I received a little star achievement pin for making it to thirteen meetings. (I guess most people peter out before then, but it’s still nice to get an award just for showin’ up!) Then I had a nice chat with Catherine, a naturopath who just started the program last week and who registered a two kilo loss tonight. That’s like four pounds! How awesome is that? See, this is exactly how Weight Watchers is working for me. I’m at the stage where normally I’d get bored and give up, but now I’ve got this support network of totally inspirational and amazing people. Catherine was so excited telling me about the changes she’d made – more exercise, watching portion size, tracking Points – that I started to get fired up too. I told her that my goal is to join her in weight loss again next week!

Real wood iPod. That is so cool! Reminds me of when Kramer put fake wood wallpaper up in his apartment.

HOLY CRAP. Guess who was just in our shop? Parker Posey. PARKER POSEY. She’s in town filming Superman, where she evidently plays the “female baddie.” And no, I didn’t even get to see her! The girls just told me she was in and I was like, “WHAT? YOU DIDN’T CALL ME?!” And then I started reciting all her lines from Dazed and Confused and now they think I’m weird. And get this: she’s only been in town a week and she’s already been in our shop TWICE. And since she put stuff on hold today, she’s evidently planning to come back! I am officially on ParkerWatch 2005.

Well, it’s probably dark over in the U.S. by now, which means most of you will be settling down for some fireworks. Bastards! I wish I could see some fireworks. Or have a holiday. My whole family – and apparently most of the state of Indiana – are heading to Cedar Point this week. Me, I didn’t even realize it was the 4th of July til over halfway through the day. I had to call the Snook immediately:

Me: It’s the 4th of July!
Him: What, today? Can’t be.
Me: It is!
Him: Well, we’ll have to do something for that!
Me: I think so.

So we dined on Italian sausages braised in beer, spicy wedges, sweet corn, and berry shortcake. Oh, and the Snook swallowed his pride and picked up a six pack of MGD, which he felt was appropriate. (Stay tuned for the ensuing DietBlog post tonight in which I admit how much weight I gained this week…)