• Ever since returning from Seattle I’ve been dealing with this stupid upper respiratory infection. “It’s just a regular bacterial infection,” said my doctor, “the sort that most people with normal lungs get all the time but don’t even notice.” But apparently my special lungs, what with the airway remodeling — wherein the bronchial tubes and what-not are all scarred up and thus heavily modified — suffer the effects of these infections more than most lungs do. So I get to take Prednisone, Zithromax, and Mucinex. And my lungs hurt. And I get winded easily. But at least I’m not wheezing. Oh, wait, since I’m not wheezing, my Albuterol inhaler and nebulizer does no good. Here’s hoping that the various drugs will knock out this stupid thing within a few days.
• On the other hand, the weight loss is going quite, quite well. I’ve lost thirty pounds, and now I’m finding that the challenge of keeping my diet healthy and getting the exercise in is actually somewhat enjoyable. Go me. Except that Prednisone causes water retention, and the Mucinex requires that I drink lots of water. Bah.
• In a conversation I had with a friends recently, I expressed my appreciation of Marilyn Monroe’s figure and curves. “Eugh,” he said, “Marilyn Monroe was fat!” I asked him what he considered the ideal body, and he mentioned Teri Hatcher and Ellen Pompeo. Women who are, in my considered opinion, shaped more like adolescent boys than well-proportioned and attractive women. Jennifer Connelly was much hotter before she lost all that weight. And Marilyn Monroe was nowhere near fat.

That’s all. Move along. Nothing more to see here.

Mmm. Marilyn Monroe.