Day 18 - Getting Caught Up

It's been a while since I posted on this log - not that anyone but me reads it.  I though I owed it to myself to at least give an update on what has been going on over the past week or so.  Someday I'm going to look back on this and kick myself for not writing daily but today is not that day.

It's easy to get down in the dumps when you are surviving.  Food envy and self sacrifice can be depressing at times.  I suppose that's how I would describe the 'stage' that I'm in right now.  I've been in a funk for many days now and I'm having a tough time shaking it.  It's not entirely food related but indirectly I believe that when you change your eating habbits, your moods and emotional states change as well.  You are what you eat after all.

I suppose you have to take the bad with the good.  It's a trade off and the secret is to try to balance the foods that keep you healthy without going so much to the extreme that it puts you into a negative emotional state.  So far the SDC has helped me with weight loss, headaches, sleeping, snoring, gas, blood pressure and cholesterol.  On the flip side, I'm a moody, misserable pain in the ass to be around right now and nobody likes me.  I may be exagerating a bit but I think you see my point.  And when I say 'you' I really mean 'future me' because I am the one who stands to gain from reading this in the future and hopefully learning from the experience.  Unless, of course, someone else out there in the universe cares to read my gibberish.  (See what a jerk I have become?)

Well, I have to be honest and say that it's no shock that this mood swing appears in the middle of Week 3.  History often repeats itself and when I look back and remember SDC's of the past, the same thing happened to me.  I have recored interviews with my coworkers talking about how much fun I am NOT to be around - only to interview them again after a couple weeks stating a 180 degree turn around. This should mean that there will be some light at the end of this dark and dreary tunnel.  Chin up.  This too shall pass.

On to some survivor material. . .
I ran out of my initial fish supply last week and shortly after I ate the last of the clams.  For a couple days there I was just eating rice and occasional asparagus.  I had a couple unsuccessful fishing trips in the middle of all that and hope was waning.  A big dissapointment has been spearfishing from the beach.  The last few times I have gone out, the visibility has been so bad that I couldn't see the bottome until I was just about touching it.  So murky.  It takes a lot of effort to get all suited up and get out there - only to turn right back around and come home empty handed. 

I took a long boat ride out to Sandy Hook and beyond in order to try to troll for some bigger bass - even though I typically hate trolling.  The reports have been very good so it was time to give it a shot.  Luckily, my daughter Jamie (12) and my dog June (2) decided to come with me and we had a nice time.  I had to promise to take her to the mall if we caught a fish - that was her incentive to stick it out when the fishing got a little boring. 

We fished for over an hour without a bite and were very close to packing it in.  Wouldn't you know it, we got a bite!  It turned out to be a nice big bluefish.  I was slightly disappointed but this bluefish will be good on the smoker so I'm not complaining.  A short while later we got a really big bite.  I knew this was a very respectable striper but a short time into the fight, the line broke!  It was due to faulty tackle and that just isn't acceptable.  This could have been my biggest striped bass ever and I lost it because I was underprepared.  A learning experience for certain.  Content with the bluefish on board and a promise to the mall, Jamie declared that fishing was over for the day - time to head home.