Today I went jogging in the rain, which was a fairly pleasant experience, as jogging goes. Recently the weather has been very wet, but rather warm, and it's possible to go out without a sweater on. My legs seem to be resisting the exercise less these days, so I must be getting slightly fitter - either that, or I am just deadening my nerve endings. I am still miles behind on the marathon training plan, because of the snow, but at least I am still trying to carry on regardless of my miserable level of fitness!

Last night whilst getting ready to go to bed, I pondered on whether I had lost weight since moving here. To test this theory, I salvaged a top that I have never worn from one of my drawers, and tried it on. I bought it a couple of years ago in Manchester, and it's a corset top, so for a start I've never had the confidence (many many hooks and eyes down the front of the top). But secondly, it used to be kind of tight around my rib cage, and breathing was slightly hard.... However, it now seems to fit - which is strange, since my ribs can't have got smaller, but I suppose I must have lost an inch or two from my chest? Anyway, enough about my chest. The point is, that I can now wear this top, if I ever gain a lot of confidence. And whilst standing in front of the mirror with this top on, I decided to try my black skirt with it. And THEN, the cowboy-esque boots I bought the other day.

Now I've never liked my legs, and I very very rarely show them. But with a short skirt on, and nearly knee high boots, they suddenly didn't look so bad. In fact, I looked kind of funky, in a very non-me kind of way. I may have to take a picture. The trouble with short skirts is that they tend to show off my rear, so now I have that problem to work on. And before anyone leaves comments telling me my backside isn't that big, it's a proportion thing. Plus none of you have seen my butt close up.*

Today the presidential inauguration was on tv, though luckily I only caught the end of it. What I did see, which was about fifteen minutes, infuriated the hell out of me. But before I explain my annoyance, some background.

The inauguration ceremony took place, followed by the 'parade' through downtown DC. This parade involved an extreme number of blacked out cars and trucks, snipers on roofs, bodyguards running by the vehicles, and crowds separated from all this by about twenty feet of police and barriers. Bush got out of the car to wave to the crowd and walk the street once, for approximately five minutes, then got back in. People who wanted to turn up had to get tickets, and were not allowed to be in the crowd unless they were Bush supporters. Opponents of Bush were not allowed to get through into the crowd, but were kept a few blocks away, in a designated area. Which his motorcade sped through quickly. Now I realise that this was meant to be a day for Bush to savour, and that he didn't want to be mobbed by protesters when giving his speech. But what pissed me off was that the members of his staff who got interviewed spent the entire time talking about how democratic the parade was, how everything was a show of freedom, and how it was fantastic to see all the people out there cheering. Of course they were cheering - the supporters were the only people let near the celebrations! If they'd done some interviews down the road, it would have been a different story. The 'parade' was not actually a 'parade' in the strict sense of the word, since it was actually a lot of people with guns and a motorcade. Which didn't exactly embody freedom to me. To give the interviewers credit, they did try to ask the Bush admin what exactly it was that was so democratic about the whole thing, but the staff kept avoiding the question. Which was probably what they were employed for. So I went onto messenger and ranted at Dan instead, to make myself feel better. Sorry Dan!

On a subject closer to home; home! Three weeks and counting until Denise and I fly to England. My parents have been getting the bathroom and my bedroom redone, and so far I have been informed that I have no bed, and there is no floor in the bathroom. But hey, there's always the sofa. I don't need to sleep anyway, I just intend to eat stuff thatI've been missing since being here. Namely; good cheese, Quorn sausages, decent pesto that tastes Italian, and risotto being the things that spring to mind. Oh, and Braeburn apples. Can't wait.


* Ok, since I don't know everyone who reads this, this might not strictly be true, but I'll wager that if anyone here has seen my butt close up, it was probably dark enough that you didn't get a good look at its full extent ;o) Maybe next time?