Fast, Day 4: Breakdown

That didn't last long.

Yesterday at work was rough. Every time I passed the front desk my hand would reach out towards the cookies and chocolates and other snacks piled up. I'd catch myself mid-grab, and will my hand back. Gollum wants his precious, and all that. It had all become so automatic. Lesson 1 is, I need to eat willfully. Not eat on the run, and not snack on the computer, and not just grab a bit of everything I pass.

Last night I had a date with this guy, also a paddler, from Tahiti. I wasn't about to pass that up for a stupid fast, and my choice was either spend too much time explaining myself, or shut up and have a beer. I chose beer.

Today was the opening of the legislature. Speaker Say gave a long speech about how bad the economic indicators are. It's the worst he's seen in 32 years in office, and it's going to hurt. There was a nice Socialist subtext to a lot of his comments - we're all going to share the pain equally, rather than force it all on one group; we need to address land tenure issues here (yeay!); we won't cut the State workforce (super-yeay!) but we will be looking at cutting benefits (ok, something has got to go, but I still vote for furloughs), we need to confront the fact that the major land owners now live in the mainland and have no loyalty to the people here (viva la revolution!).

It would have been even more inspiring if it wasn't so difficult to stay awake while he talked.

Then, in a strange Hawai`i tradition, all the Senators and Representatives open their doors and serve lunch. All the little old ladies and country people line up outside each office to grind.

There were many fashion mistakes.

And I thought I was going to pass out from the smell of katsu and fried chicken and everything else wafting down the halls. I was ready to break for a plate lunch cart (no way could I wait in line), but luckily Allen seemed to know half the staff of Blake Oshiro's office (our new Majority leader), so we got in early. And I broke my fast; there was a table full of mochiko chicken, namasu, walnut mochi, tofu with bonito flakes - and I couldn't pass it up.

And so my waist remains x. I'm still in shock over that. I might stick with the mostly-vegetarian meal plan for awhile:

From the top: white beans in olive oil, green beans with rice, roasted eggplant, radish salad, watercress salad, carrots in yogurt and garlic, couscous, and pomegranate seeds from the yard. I can keep this up for awhile, as long as I make it to the Farmer's Market each Saturday.

It won't be cheap. This haul from Saturday was almost thirty bucks.