Photo update

Right, so, still a portly fellow, but it's a vast improvement!
I'm always going to be a bear; deal with it!

This was taken around August of this year, and at the time I had
lost a total of 60 pounds. As of my last doctor visit in November,
I have lost 80 pounds, bringing me down to 250.

I'm not looking for an 'ideal' or 'perfection.' That's insane BS
that keeps people chasing their own tail. I do want to lose
another 20 pounds (more or less) and get into weight-lifting
so I can transform the remaining mass into SOME muscle.
Tighten things up a bit.

Okay, so I do have vanity. I'm tired of MFrs poking my belly
and expecting me to giggle.

(I also don't want to be a complete muscle-head gym bunny;
I just want to tone up some for my own desires.)

I should point out; I love my body. I haven't been the best to it,
goodness knows, but I love the look and size and the quirks.

I like being hairy; shaving bodies is weird.
I like being a man.
I like my Cuban-heritage girth and big-boned stature.
You know, maybe I don't love my una-brow, but otherwise....

I am at peace with how I am. If I hated myself and felt ill-at-ease
in my own skin, what kind of friend could I be to myself?
This isn't an easy stance to come by; not in this world.
Not when you grow up insulted and berated for being over-weight.
Not when you grow up condemned for your sexuality.
Not when you live in a world constantly trying to make every
one and every thing "the same."
But you can come to it with work and patience.

It doesn't matter to me what other people think about me any more.
There just isn't any profit in it. As Sheneneh on Martin might have said:
"Why you care? You ain't paying my bills?"
(And even if they were: back off! Nobody owns us.)

I also think about the landlord in Friday After Next, who responds to
being insulted by saying "Don't you worry about it; I know somebody like
it that way!"

I wear my booty-call pants and show off my fine legs and A$$,
and I love showing off what I have! I feel comfortable being nude
in my home. Now, you don't have to become an exhibitionist or
a nudist to be comfortable with your body; I'm just saying!

If we don't first start with recognizing that we are beautiful
as we are, I feel everything else is harder to come by. We can't be
waiting for the day that we are the 'right' dress size to embrace
ourselves. If we keep waiting until that day, who is it that we are
truly learning to love?

No amount of money, surgery, fine outfits, arm candy, procedures,
product, or attitude can conceal unhappiness. So you might as well
leave that nonsense at the curb.

No one else can appreciate us until we make the conscious decision
to do it for ourselves.

Rock on: One moment at a time!