The thing I don't get about the current housing bubble is how can the home prices be so high, when the economy is sputtering and so many people are out work. It just doesn't make sense to me. The whole thing reminds me of the tech stock bubble, before it all crashed.

I used to wonder why the tech stocks were priced so highly when hardly any of the companies were making a prophet. I mean, economically the tech stock bubble just didn't make any sense to me, so I never bought into the mania of investing in tech stocks for the long term. The tech stock boom was great if you could buy a stock for cheap, then turn around and sell it right away when the price went up. I think some investors did this, and made quite a lot of money. Most people, including money fund managers however, started buying the over valued tech stocks and held on to it for too long. When the market started to crash in April 2000, their portfolios tumbled and way too many people saw their 401(k)s turn into a 101(k)s.

The housing bubble reminds me so much of the tech stock bubble, especially here in the SF Bay Area, although the reports say it's happening all over the country. It just doesn't make sense that the price of housing is going up as more and more people are losing their jobs, and the economy is so shaky that there will undoubtedly be many more layoffs in the next two years. Who is buying these houses? Something is definitely off either in the numbers of jobless people, like maybe there really aren't that many, or in the housing information, like maybe home prices aren't really going up. I don't know.

It's scary to me though, because it so much reminds me of the year before the tech crash in 2000. There was so much media hype about the tech stocks, and how everyone had to buy, buy, buy. There were some doomsayers reporting about the tech stock bubble, but these folks were regarded as loonies. I bet the loonies still have a 401(k), and not a 101(k).

Then April 2000 came, and the markets lost about $1 trillion in value. I mean, sure it was all on paper that's still a ton of money to lose on paper. I mean, after that didn't you think that you couldn't trust the media anymore because they hyped the stock market so much? I don't know what to believe anymore, except when I hear the media hyping anything I just have to wonder why.

So rock star guy and I are going out tonight to either watch "Daredevil" or "How to lose a guy in 10 days". Rock star guy wants to see my new smaller body. He is such a good friend. He said that "no matter what you weigh, you'll always be cute." Isn't he just the sweetest guy?

Of course after that, I heard an earful about what I need to do to lose those last 20 pounds. Like rock star guy really knows about losing weight, since he's as skinny as Mick Jagger and has never had a weight problem in his life and all his girlfriends and his three ex-wives complain that he' s way too thin. But that's okay. Rock star guy friend is sweet and was just trying to help.

I'm going to wear my new tight sweater with the horizontal stripes, which makes me look I've had a rack job so I can look like I match my rock star friend. If only I could do the heavy makeup and big hair thing as well, but that's way too much work for me.

Wearing the size 8 jeans is strange. A friend thinks they’ve made the sizes all bigger lately to make people feel comfortable. The butt part fits right, but everything else is loose. These jeans are low rise, which is nice because I don’t curve in at the waist. I keep thinking I need tighter jeans, and am tempted to go to Macy’s and try on the Ralph Lauren size 6 pair just to see how they would fit.

I hesitate though, because I honestly don’t think my hips are going to get any smaller. When I was 18 years old, my hips were a size 36. No way am I going to get any smaller.

It’s just a weird feeling to have loose jeans in a size 8. What a trip! What a frickin’ trip, especially since I’ve been stuck on a plateau since January and haven’t lost any weight. I am lifting weights, and a friends says that my body is now getting tighter. And I’m like great, but what about my weight? I was 145-150 pounds for a long time, and I think my body is like “wow, I remember this weight, I like this weight. No way are we getting any smaller.”

So after all the months of dieting and exercising, I’m at the point where I was before I got fat. I’m at the last 20 pounds that I’ve never been able to lose. Mindboggling. It’s like time has stood still somehow, and I’m right back where I started from and I don’t like it.

It freaked me out, and I had a crying jags off and on all weekend. I’m having crying jags, and wearing my new size 8 jeans a size I haven’t worn since college and totally depressed because it feels like I haven’t made any progress in all these years. I hate this.

But not to despair because I have a plan. I’m cutting out 100 calories from my daily count, and I’m going to starting running three times a week. I went to the gym on Saturday and Sunday, and ran for about 30 minutes both days. On Sunday, I upped my speed to 6.0 on the treadmill and ran this speed for 10 minutes. I think this means I ran a 10 minute mile, which is like really fast for me. On Sunday at the lower speeds (5.0), I felt like I could run for hours.

It’s good to feel that strong again. It won’t be real for me until I’m out on out in nature and trail running, and powering up and down hills without being out of breath or breaking a sweat. It’s an incredible feeling to be able to depend on your body like that, knowing that no matter what lies ahead on the road ahead you’ll be able to power through it, conquer it without the road freaking you out and wearing you down. One of these days, soon, this will be a reality again for me.

I'm watching Page to Screen, and tonight's program is on the movie "The Cider House Rules". The movie was more than 12 years in development, and went through 50 plus screenplay drafts. Unbelievable, but unfortunately I think very typical of Hollywood and the movie making process. I don't think John Irving will be writing another screenplay soon, although he did win an Oscar for his screenplay adaptation.