The Skinny

Here's to you, old Skinny Dennis
The only one I think I will miss…
LA FREEWAY - Guy Clark song, as sung by Jerry Jeff Walker.

Let me spill the beans on “The Skinny”.

The phrase is taken to mean the true information about someone, or something that is not known by most people. It’s the insider’s story. This phrase dates back to WW2, and most likely originated in the military.

I am down to 150 lbs. my shorts look like Subway’s Jared. I feel bones when I sit. I am ghost of my former self.

During WWII and until the late 1960s, military orders in the Marine Corps were copied on paper that was called onion skin paper. Being thin and partially translucent it resembled the skin of an onion. This extremely thin and fragile paper was dubbed “skinny” from the name/look of the paper. Notices that were distributed on the onion skin paper were called, “the skinny.”.

My chin has wrinkles I never ha. Then there’s my Turkey neck, or wattle. Yes, wattle not waffle. Wattles occurs as a consequence of massive weight loss

“Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” is a quote that was popularized by English model Kate Moss, though she did not originate the phrase. However, it brought up issues regarding eating disorders for many, so Moss received quite a backlash, and later regretted using the phrase.

UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, CELEBRATE EVERYTHING!

-Julia Skinner Substack, COOKING WITH GHOSTS Substack.

There is a slight cheese hint. My mouth can feel the fat of the dairy. There is no flavour except for the hint. Something smells off..

She saw a man come out of the store with a gallon of milk. He paused and unscrewed the lid. The air is warm so she thinks he may be thirsty. He pours the gallon of milk over his head, and it cascades down his body like pain. He is now covered with milk.

On the weekend, I bought a Ninja blender, which includes a hand-held extractor for making juice. Nit just any juice, but juice that includes the fibre usually kicked out by regular juicers.

She stops to take a photo of the lilys. He notes that yesterday they were perfect. Today, they are a bit more spread out. The neighbours in the big yellow house are growing apples horizontally. The ones near my eyes are small and hard. The ones up in the branches are larger. They are closer to the sun.

I also bought some grain free cereal, made from nuts and coconut from a company called Inno. It has a high calorie count for a third of a cup, which is something most people do not want. For me it is perfect because I need nutrient dense foods.

Is there something off with the time? He sees a coyote up the alley, who is not actually a coyote, but a raccoon. He does not have his glasses on. The dog eats something off the street.

I am looking for Nutrient Dense foods, which include vitamins, minerals and other nutrients important for health, without too much saturated fat, added sugars and sodium. We're talking fruit and vegetables, non-fat and low-fat dairy, fish and seafood, unprocessed lean meat and skinless poultry, nuts and legumes. To make it more complicated, I am trying to phase out meat.

Coyotes have to eat. They prefer meat, but pre-meat, because it is alive, not packaged like the meat we eat. Cats, small dogs. Garbage in a pinch.

It is a challenge but I am starting to feel more regular. The biggest issue is still the fact that I can’t taste most things. I get a hint and I can smell, but nothing sweet, salty, or those umani notes.

Wilbur Mercer climbs the hill. Mercer is not a real person but is just a character played by an actor named Al Jarry. He is also a religious figure and media personality. He climbs the hill. Stones hit him as he takes a step. Users grasp the handles, according to the tenets of Mercerism. As he is struck by the rocks, they feel empathy. Or not.

I used to taste umami using the taste receptors that no longer work. Or it’s my salivary glands. Either way, radiation stole the keys to flavourtown.

Which brings us to bacon, which is not fermented, but smoked. Bacon is said to deliver six different types of umami flavor. Umami is a Japanese term for a flavor that is both savory and meaty. Typically, umami responds to glutamates and nucleotides, widely present in meat and fermented products.

When I was young I whipped cream, until it turned to butter. The family was disappointed.

She hears a radio coming from inside the computer. It distracts her from her meal. Where is the sound coming from, she asks.

The best local bacon is made by One Arrow Meats, a 100% Aboriginal owned and operated company making local, artisanal, hormone-free, and naturally smoked bacon. No comparison.

Bacon is the meat even some vegetarians sneak into their diet. Bacon is beyond good and evil. As someone who used to eat bacon, there are definitely examples of good bacon and bad bacon.

I try the meal replacement on ice. How is it? It is not bourbon.

Heat Laliberte of One Arrow Meats sells his artisanal, naturally-smoked bacon twice monthly at Mt. Pleasant Farmers Market. Heat works as a chef at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel and feeds athletes at the Olympics in his spare time.

The corn chowder does not have potatoes. It has yam and carrots. And corn. I take a spoonful and it slides down my throat. I enjoy this.

Vocabulary.com gives the following example for the meaning of the word aberrant: Sitting in a bathtub and singing show tunes all day long might be considered aberrant behavior.

In what world? Surely, singing show tunes in the bathtub cannot be the best description of aberrant behaviour? What kind of joyless drone came up with that?

Abhorrent describes something truly horrible like finding a dead rat in your soup, but something aberrant is just abnormal, like a cat in a pink fedora.

My life growing up seemed abnormal to me, as I did not always feel accepted. Strangers often made fun of me because I would stare blankly into space, with my gaze frozen on a mystery beyond their face.

Cancer cells are aberrant, diverging from the norm. Atypical they form their own reality, growing until at some point, if left unchecked, they subsume the host, and then cancer become typical. At that point, normal cells become aberrant, diverging from the reality that is cancer.

I am watching TV, which is what old people say. Al Gore, the real person, is on Bupkis, a new Pete Davidson comedy. Life can get no stranger. Then it does.

“Empathy Boxes" link users simultaneously to a virtual reality of collective suffering, centered on a martyr-like character, Wilbur Mercer, who eternally climbs up a hill eternally climbs up a hill while being hit with crashing stones.

I cut up an apple and cucumber and put them in the Ninja Extractor cup. After one minute, I add a small amount of water. In another 60 seconds, it is liquid. Apple Cucumber juice. Not bad.

Every moment is what you create if only you take the time.

Today’s post is written purposefully disjointed to approximate the feelings of re-invention, where everything is new. Our strange world is full of so many different realities, all going full blast at the same time. Before talking with someone, you need to read the room. Will there be shared points of reference, or is the conversation headed for debate? Daily, we have to adjust to some degree, depending on who we are speaking with. That is empathy.

My friend Mark and I agreed that we don’t know everything, and that is ok. We are open to listening, before speaking. That is how we learn, by being open to new ideas, even if the new ideas are the old ideas just spoken by a different person.

With three years stuck inside, we became convinced of a reality. It became US and THEM. Ask yourself, did our leaders want to create divisions? A divided people are a fearful people. A fearful person is more controlled. This is not a conspiracy, it is human nature. When we reduce people to a slogan, they become less real. Until you are speaking with someone you know and love, and they have a whole different take. Your mind may not be changed, but by being open and listening, you will make better decisions. Even if you come back more convinced of your position, you listened. Even that, is huge.

What if in the end, your certain world becomes a little bit less certain. Is that so frightening? It’s important to break up the soil in the garden to allow the flowers to grow.

Playlist:

Warren Zevon Please Stay

The Pretenders I Think About You

Lucinda Williams Where The Song Can Find Me

Anohni Sliver of Ice

Jerry Jeff Walker LA Freeway

Iris DeMent The Sacred Now

Lloyd Cole The Idiot

Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam Blackness of The a Night

Jackson C Frank Blues Run the Game