Can you lose 5 pounds simply by getting a hair cut? It happened to me this week. It was just a temporary loss though, so more of a coincidence. My hair is still a bit too short and my wife thinks I look like a Q-Tip – a nest of curls remaining on top with ears fully exposed. To me,  the resemblance is more like Sesame Street’s Bert. I told them at Great Clips only to take off a half-inch – not five pounds worth. The extra weight more likely had come from travel and lack of a routine, not extra hair. Lots of snacking, rich desserts, and too much alcohol had revealed their effects on the scale. Since we had returned home, I was making an effort to get back to the “white diet” that had successfully allowed me to shed about 15 unwanted pounds. Unfortunately, I had gained half of it back and it wasn’t just the hair on my head.

I’ve always felt that my ears are too big, but when they’re not covered by gray curls, I do look somewhat younger. Even though the pounds didn’t go away – a few years did! I’m not, however, ready to go back to the crew cuts of my childhood. I remember my hair so embarrassingly short that I wore a stocking cap. Feeling a bit self-conscious after this week’s scalping, I wore a baseball cap for a few days. I’m, in fact grateful to have a full head of hair, as others my age are not so fortunate. It’s not something that we have some control over like what we weigh. I’m also blessed with a high metabolism and running everyday certainly helps. I weighed in at 191.8 today, making progress on my 187 goal, where I was a few months ago. 205 has been my high – a bit too much on my shrinking 5’11” frame. 

Speaking of hair loss, I watched the final episode of the HBO Mini-Series Chernobyl this morning. I certainly don’t mean to make light of the serious consequences of radiation poisoning, but the official Soviet death count of the disaster still ridiculously stands at only 31, when hundreds of thousands of people suffered fatal health problems as the poisons slowly took their toll. Many of the victims found hair loss to be the first stage of their deterioration, just as chemotherapy affects cancer patients. Bald is beautiful, especially when the drugs work their magic.

On the domestic front, the cleaning crew is coming this afternoon to do their brand of magic, while I do laundry. Chef “Bert” is also preparing “Beer Can” chicken for dinner tonight, using a Diet Coke variation instead. My working wife is having some minor gum surgery this afternoon, so at least she won’t have to worry about cleaning or cooking when she gets home. I was also able to fix her slow draining tub yesterday, so I want to continue in her good graces. We’ll probably start watching Season 2 of Big Little Lies (another name for Chernobyl) this evening as she recuperates from some anticipated soreness. Depending on her post-surgery appetite, tomorrow’s “Date Night” is on hold. Last night was “Morel Monday, a fried mushroom extravaganza, keeping with our traditional meatless theme. It all mostly fits in with the “white diet” with the exception of “fried.”