Happy Quarter and Pure Ghee

99 Market, 1gal. Ghee
Originally uploaded by Tokyorosa

We'll get to the picture of the day in a moment. First, here's the story of Happy Quarter.

I used to live across the street from the big gym at UNM. I could walk to the gym in less than five minutes and my membership was free because I was a student. Even under those circumstances, I still had trouble motivating myself to go to the gym. (The Brain, I tell you, it don't much like having to pay any attention whatsoever to the maintenance of The Body--beyond, of course, the command to feed a massive glucose addiction.) I used to try all manners of things to get my lazy ass to the gym. I had the demanding workout partner and a Gym Boyfriend of course, but some days even that wasn't enough. On those days, there was Happy Quarter.

I got the idea for Happy Quarter when I noticed one day that someone had left a penny atop the beverage vending machine opposite the door to the weight room. I expected that it would be gone the next day, but the next day it was still there. The day after that it was still there. And the day after that, too. I began to look for the vending machine penny every time I went to the gym. There it sat, week after week, visible to all but touched by none. Finally it disappeared.

I had a quarter with me that day. I christened my quarter Happy Quarter and placed it in a highly visible spot. I wanted to see how long it would take for Happy Quarter to disappear. One time it disappeared within twenty-four hours. (That time it was on the top rail of one of the bulletin boards in the hall going from the locker rooms to the weight room.) Another Happy Quarter lasted about three weeks. (That time it was on one of the dividers between the stalls in the women's locker room.)

It's a stupid little game, Happy Quarter, but it got me to the gym.

And now about the picture of the ghee: Man, I'm getting a lot of mileage out of that crappy little cell phone photo of the gallon of pure ghee, eh? Last time I trotted out this photo, I was writing about how I had lost the equivalent of a gallon of ghee after six weeks of working out and dieting. This time I'm trotting it out because, after yet more gym time and more dieting, I've lost a second gallon of ghee.

Yeah, I know it's a Happy Quarter-like trick, measuring weight loss in gallon of ghee increments. But it keeps The Brain amused.