Some depressing things:

It's been exactly a month since I pledged to go on the No S Diet: No snacks, no sweets, no seconds, except (sometimes) on days that start with "S": Saturday, Sunday, and special days. How am I doing with that?

If anything has changed, I've gained weight. I stuck to it rigidly at first, but it's hard not to have seconds when your servings are irregular or small, or when you're eating something like soup. I haven't snacked much or eaten too many sweets. But the main reason I haven't lost weight is because I haven't exercised a muscle. I just can't. Some people are people who exercise, but I am not. I think I should just accept myself for who I am instead of trying to change myself to conform to societal pressures. Right? Right?

Also, just now I was trying to write the main page of La Ajnejo, the intended subsite in Esperanto. Then and there it dawned on me that even if I did have something to say -- which I didn't -- I have no idea how to say it and I have to look up practically every word. I'm a long way off from being comfortable enough to write a web page in a strange language. So don't expect to see La Ajnejo around for a while.

Some not-as-depressing things:

I decided I'm going to a restaurant for my birthday on either Saturday night or Sunday night. I've started asking the guests which date they would prefer.

Some neutral things:

I saw fireworks yesterday for the Fourth of July. It was like nothing I'd ever seen because I'd never seen anything like it. Spectacular. The only thing that bugged me were that they played patriotic songs over the P.A. system. Don't get me wrong, but I just think it's annoying that nearly all of the songs they played demand a Supreme Being to shower his blessings upon our country, as if he weren't going to do it anyway. I have a good mind to marry into Irving Berlin's family. Yes, his song "God Bless America" was published during the Copyright Era (1923-forever), and so every time you play it in public, you owe his relatives a few bucks or a Coke or something, via some agency like BMI or ASCAP or something which you should have already paid. Don't break the law!

Also, I don't like bragging about my country, because quite frankly, we could improve ourselves.

I like license plates. Here's a gallery of license plates of the world.