LEMONS, LEMONS, AND MORE LEMONS

I found some old blog entries from 2006 that I never posted, and after re-reading my blog cover to cover I think I'm back on the Blog-wagon. And since I just started a juice-fast yesterday (today's day two!) I thought I would start with this entry...

From December 2006

Two days after I arrived in Dallas I decided to do the “Master Cleanse,” based on a book by Stanley Burroughs The Master Cleanser written in 1977. It is a cleansing fast (not to be confused with diet). Although, I did tell someone about deciding to go on it and they said “Oh, the Beyonce Diet.” Apparently it’s been getting around. (She did the diet to loose weight for her role in Dreamgirls.)

Well it’s also been making the rounds in my circle of friends, with Joe and John starting it first in Feb 06. They loved it and told me every (gory) detail about it.

As I’ve never done a fast, and my being out on the road for a sabbatical, I decided I was mentally, physically, and spiritually ready – to not eat for 10 days!!!

Literally your last meal is raw salad or vegetables, and it starts. 8oz distilled water, 2 tbl spoons of organic lemon juice (squeezed), 2 tbl spoons organic pure grade B maple syrup, and a dash of cayenne pepper (buy the extract in liquid form – it’s easier).

And you’re off to the races. The book says you can do the diet from 10 to 28 days. 8 days was about it for me before beginning the stage to come back to real food.

I must say though – it was surprisingly easy. The diet encourages 8-12 glasses of the lemonade a day, along with as much water you want. It encourages dhiertic teas and salt water flushes to ensure your gastro-tract is getting properly cleaned out. Apparently it cleanses your liver, stomach, kidneys, and the entire colon.

I also have to say — I had a TON of energy on the diet. Anytime I was hungry, I just drank more juice – and I never got sick of it! It’s tough of course if your friends ask you out to dinner, or to accept a Christmas party invitations (no soda, I just sucked on ice cubes at one event). The diet does make for interesting conversation though!

Day two I had lost 7 lbs. By the end I dropped 15 lbs and to date (one week back on food) I haven’t put anything back on – and I have been eating everything.

Coming off the diet is important, so see www.mastercleanser.com for the full scoop, but the first day is all organic OJ, the second a combo of OJ and raw fruit, and the third organic vegetable soup.

How did it affect me? I felt as though I was more awake than I had been all year. Colors were brighter. Edges crisper. The other aspect too is that I detoxed off coffee during this fast. I drank a 1/2 a cup of joe the first 3 days, then went off it completely.

I like my life off coffee better. I’ve done 2 years with no coffee at one time. I’m more even, no crashes, no maintenance, and I’m more productive at work when I can focus intently on a project (and I’m nicer to be around too!)

All and all – I’m a Master Cleanse convert!

And if you consider doing it let me know. I found the best lemon squeezer at Target. It makes squeezing 75 lemons so much easier!

Marriage Equality, New York: We won't be defeated!

I voted for change.

L O V E

You know that feeling, when everything feels right? Where you don't have to worry about tomorrow, or yesterday. Where you feel safe. And know you're doing the best that you can? There's a word for that feeling. It's called love. 

L-O-V-E.

-Akeelah

Fools Fall in Love

CLASSIC!

I've been looking for this for some time now -- and it's finally on YouTube. Jennifer Holliday on Ally McBeal -- a song she only performed here and never released on any soundtrack album. Check it out...it's amazing (ok it's mushy but I love it!).  [Update: the actual footage was taken down, but this is the recording. Enjoy.]

NEW YORK

I think I just realized that I live in New York…

Yes, I’ve been here since I returned from my sabbatical. Yes I had all my belongings moved here and gave up my apartment at the end of January. But it’s not until now, on the train from Rensselaer to Penn Station — running along the beauty that is the Hudson — that I realize, I’m a New Yorker!

Friends ask me “Do I miss Boston?” and the answer is, no, yes, and sometimes. A friend said it best “it’s bittersweet”.

For the last year and a half (maybe longer) I started to long to live outside the ‘city’. To have a detached house, a yard, a driveway. Perhaps it was my 40s calling “settle down.” Or maybe it was growing up in Marblehead, a suburb 20 miles north of Boston that is the picture perfect New England town, calling me back to my roots.

But in any case, I’m truly appreciating many things this move has afforded me. And yes, there are things I’m missing (and will begin to miss) about my life in good old Bean Town.

I was in my apartment in the South End for 10 years, and in Boston for 15. The South End had become my home. Living within a 10-block radius, it had all that I needed. Work, shopping, Starbucks, a gay gym, a florist, a dry cleaner, and (most of all) an abundance of friends. But over a 15-year span the South End had begun to change — as did I. No longer was I the 25-year-old 'twink' running from party to party and event to event. I had matured. And along with friends moving out of the Gayborhood came my desire to move out of Boston and into the next phase of my own life. But where would that be?

My Sabbatical was in part a much-needed rest from 17 years of work. But it was also an opportunity to see friends across the country — as well as many cities I had never visited (or not previously with the lens of possibly living in one). But never did I expect NY, upstate no less, to become my next home. But what comes love…

And as far as NY — I couldn’t live here without the Hudson. Without Washington Park. Without Empire Plaza. Without establishing a strong friend base and a landing place for my 12-step work.

So today I am on the train running along the Hudson…one gorgeous vista after another. So much unscarred land, a few towns and houses scatter the landscape. Campgrounds. Farms. An occasional bridge. A tugboat pulling a barge. Geese lingering by the riverbed. It’s beautiful, even though the sky and thus the river grey. I can’t imagine how beautiful it will be when the trees are in full bloom and the sky crystal clear, as it will be later in spring or summer.

Today I will visit with friends in NYC, and tonight Denny Camino’s art opening in Tribeca. DJ will drive and meet me in the city tonight after work, and he’ll take tomorrow off for some ‘big city fun’.

And after our time in good ole New York, back we will go upstate, home to our house, our yard, our friends, and our life in the Capital City.

JOE-TO-HELL

I'm not one for political commentary on this blog, just not what i'm about (playful, optimistic, etc...) but I had to post something that struck my eye (thanks to my good friend Joe).

His blog is joetohell.blogspot.com and on it he posted his own rantings about the Imus controversy. Well he posted the (of all people) Harvey Fierstein OpEd Piece in the NY Times about how to get fired from TV (Imus) by saying the N-WORD...yet how it's OK to say the F-WORD (Isiah) and not get fired.

It's REALLY worth the read...both the piece and Joe's blog.

Thanks JoJo!