The Yuca Diaries

I have been feeling quite uninspired. I really hadn’t put my finger on it, but I think today it dawned on me, two of my favorite things have been missing from my life. Music and food. Let me explain. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it here, but most people that are close to me know that I had the lapband surgery last year- actually it was a year ago today, now that I think about it. Since my surgery I haven’t lost all that much weight because it turned out, that aside from my love of food, I also have a thyroid problem which was undetected until about a month and a half ago. I only found out because I couldn’t explain why I wasn’t losing weight despite the drastic slashing of my daily caloric intake. So after a little prodding by my doc, she discovred this problem. So to make a long story short, i;ve been on meds for the thyroid and I also had the lapband adjusted recently to see if I could kick start my weight loss. I am thrilled to say it worked, however they made the band too tight so now I really can’t eat hardly anything. For the last month and a half, perhaps a bit more, I have not really eaten anything solid with the exception of a good day I had and ate half a chicken finger. To say that I have been grumpy is a huge understatement. I watch food network and just gawk. The last month of my life has been pretty miserable. Going to bed hungry blows. But the good news is that I have lost a total of 47 lbs to date.

The second thing that is missing from my life was music. Usually I would listen to my ipod on the way to work and on the way back home, but ever since i’ve been carpooling with Brandon, we really don’t listen to too much beacuase we end up talking about our day, and before we know it we’re getting home. Then its time for me to make a dinner I won’t be able to eat and shower, hang out, do stuff around the house. Before I know it, it’s time to go to bed and start all over again the next day.

Two days ago my life changed. I finally dowloaded Pandora. For those of you who are unfamiliar with pandora, it’s an online radio station that chooses music for you based on what you enter. So for example, say you are a fan of Feist, well you would add her to your list, and Pandora will find music that sounds like that. It shuffles it for you and it allows you customize your stations based on genres if you like. Its really cool- I have it playing in the background at work and listen to music all day. I was really bored with my ipod, and really hated having to update it all the time. This has solved this problem and allowed music back into my life again. Now if only I could eat a stinkin’ baked potato life would be grand.

I finally finished the legend of Zelda- Twilight Princess. And now my new addiction of choice is Okami. This game is insanely beautiful. It is so much fun to play. It’s not nearly as challenging as other games I have played in the past, but what it lacks in challenge and difficulty it makes up for in beauty and inventiveness. I am positively hooked. You also don’t waste any time in a love story either which is quite refreshing.

I am a gamer. Maybe not as die-hard as Papo, but I have grown up playing video games. Both my brothers, mom, and grandmother play as well. I remember when my whole family would gather round’ the TV and take turns at Super Mario Bros. I always wanted to play as Luigi and so did my brother, Ozzy, but I digress. Throughout my life there have been several games that have totally snared me, like Metroid (for the Original NES), Secret of Mana- (my brother Eric likes this one a lot too), Most of the Early Final Fantasy games, Chrono Trigger, Most of the Super Mario games, Donkey Kong Country (for the Super NES) and a few others. But my all-time favorite anthology has been the Legend of Zelda. I have played most of them except Ocarina of Time and the Minish Cap because I never cared for the N64 Console. I picked up again with the GameCube’s Windwaker and was anticipating the next installment for over 2 years! Before the release of the Nintendo Wii, which Brandon and I purchased around October of last year, I thought my favorite game was the Windwaker, that was until I started playing the Legend of Zelda, Twilight Princess. I am sooooo hooked. I was in Miami last week, and the thing I missed the most was Brandon, but coming in at second place was playing my game. It is so frustrating sometimes because I get stuck and can’t progress forward. Like for example, right now I am at a point of the game where I need to catch a fish, but I have not been able to reel it up. I feel like such a moron, but I have spent like 2 hours trying to catch that stupid fish. I can’t tell you how happy I will be once I get past this part and delve further into the plot. I am really liking it so far. I hope the ending is good. There’s nothing worse than investing your time into a game and then come to find that the ending sucks the big one.- i.e. Tales of Symphoia- So that’s it… I just wanted to admit that I am addicted. At least I won’t spend money shopping because I will be too busy at home kicking some Bokoblin butt!

The following day my mom,  my brother and I went out on my Dad’s boat. It was an ordeal to get out on the water but it was worth it. We loaded the bait, chum, fishing rods and our snacks and headed out into the sea. We went fishing for snapper. Yum I love snapper. We cut up bait and attached it to our hooks and began to cast the line. One by one the fish keep biting. Among all of us we caught a total of 15 fish, one yellow tail, 5 snappers, 1 strawberry grouper and the rest were grunts. I can’t wait to go back out on the ocean. I now have a new found respect for the bumper sticker that says “I’d rather be fishing”.