I spent all afternoon cleaning out my computer, since it's been running very slowly this week. I copied a bunch of file to cd, cleaned out my mailbox, deleted old programs I never use, etc. I should probably upgrade my PC one of these days, since the old pc is an dinasour from 1998. Ideally what I'd like to do is just get a new hard drive, but keep my monitor, speakers, two two cd drives, scanner and printer. I'd like to replace my hard drive with a laptop, and use a docking station to connect to connect to all my peripherals. One of these days.

With my new austerity spending plan, I'm in no position to buy a new computer right now anyway. The only thing I can see purchasing is a Samsung laser printer, for printing out my screenplays and stories. The old color printer takes too long to print, and it freaked out when I printed my 117 page screenplay a fw months ago. Those Samsung laser printers run about $100-200, and I can definitely find a way to fit this amount into my budget.

I only lost a one pound this week, but at least I'm still losing. In six weeks, I've lost 12 pounds. Using the Dieting for Dummies formula, I recalculated my calories, and I now to need start eating less than I was before because of the weight loss. Sigh. Maybe two pounds a week is too ambitious and too austere of an eating plan for me. I stopped exercising for two weeks, and I'm sure this has affected my weight loss rate. Exercise definitely helps.

On a brighter note, I tried on a pair of jeans that used to fit me four years ago and it almost fits. I'm not quite ready to wear it, but at least I can button it without too much difficulty. I'm wearing a pair of stirrup pants, and they're very loose which feels very strange since they've always been snug. When I have lose weight in the past, the weight comes off my hips and thighs first before anywhere else, so maybe this explains my loose pants.

Tomorrow I go to see Turandot, and I'm excited about it, even though I'll be up in the rafters with the rabble rousers.

No musical selections today. I had the radio on and listened to this program called "Shamrock and Thistle", which is an hour long program of celtic (mostly irish) music. Now I just have the classical music station on.

I think I'll read all night and finish "The Jungle Book" and "The Age of Innocence". I'd like start reading my new books, which I borrowed from the library, Salmon Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" and Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart. I rented two movies, Dragonfly and Pay it Forward, in case I get bored reading. I'd also like to do some writing tonight, either 1,000 words for my short story or 500 words for my screenplay.

Ken Burns' Civil War series is being replayed on TV starting tomorrow. Although supposedly the series has a "northern slant", I'm going to tape it anyway. Ever since I read that Civil War book in WVA, I've been dying to see this documentary. I wish they would rerun Ken Burns' Baseball series. Instead, they're rerunning many of his shorter documenteraries. He's such a good filmmaker, I'm tempted to tape everything he's done. I have Jazz on tape, and love rewatching it. I love jazz music, and find the history of it fascinating.