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Had to leave home earlier than usual today, so I didn’t have time to exercise; I’ll do that this evening. Forgot to have breakfast too, so I went to a café just minutes ago and had a small Portuguese cake, a “bolo de arroz” (literally “rice cake”, though it doesn’t remind one of rice at all, in terms of taste). I wasn’t hungry, but, well, a trial is a trial. 
Yesterday evening was my sister’s 20th birthday (and I will have to, shamefully, admit that I had forgotten, and just went there to have dinner and exchange cars with my father, as I had left my own there for repairs and was using his to go to work), so dinner was more “special” than usual, both in terms of food and in terms of being with my family.
Not good for my diet, but one should have a decent sense of priorities; I’ve always thought that being fanatically faithful to a diet in an important social occasion with the people you love makes you a self-centered, fun-spoiling jerk.
I don’t mean that, of course, if you, really, strictly can’t eat or drink something due to being under doctor’s orders, or, say, if you’re a vegetarian; however, in all other cases, if you don’t feel a loved one’s birthday is reason enough for you to go a bit “crazy”, it’s almost as if that person doesn’t mean anything to you at all. Quoting Ayn Rand (quick, run!), “love is the exception-making”.
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Hi,
just two thoughts:
1. Given the amount of sugar and oil in the rice cake, I don’t know if it wouldn’t be a better option not to have breakfast today.
2. You said you go to work by car. Is bicycle and/or public transportation an option? If you live 10km or less from your work (like I do) and spend more than 30 minutes by car, bicycle IS an option. I’ll be glad to help you to decide on that matter.
1- yes, that’s likely; however, it was just one small cake, for one day. I didn’t really crave it; I simply arrived at the café, looked at what was available, and thought “Hmm, I haven’t eaten one of those in decades”.
2- I really can’t see myself using a bike in IC19
, and there is no direct public transportation between Tercena and Buraca; besides, sometimes I need to go to a client, inside Lisboa. But thanks for the tip.
“…if you don’t feel a loved one’s birthday is reason enough for you to go a bit “crazy”, it’s almost as if that person doesn’t mean anything to you at all.”
If not going a bit “crazy” (at dinner) is almost as if the loved one doesn’t mean anything to you, what is forgetting that loved one’s birthday?
If you hadn’t written this last paragraph, you wouldn’t sound like an hypocrite, which I don’t think your are, but that’s what it sounds to me. That one kind of disappointed me.
Man… If remembering doesn’t come easy to you, just use your phone’s calendar.
It sounds bad to have to create a note on a calendar to remember a close relative’s birthday, but forgetting about it, just sounds much worse. Unless, of course, the birthday doesn’t mean much to that person, it can be a start to achieve the “let my family know how much I appreciate them” goal.
Anyway, the whole idea behind this blog is interesting, keep it up. Good luck on achieving your goals.
Johnny: I never said I was perfect. If I were, I wouldn’t need this blog, would I?
But I think there’s a difference between not remembering something, and being at that “something” and still saying “no, I’m not willing to change a millimeter of my habits just because it’s an important moment to you”.
Maybe it’s just me, but, since I sometimes forget dates, I don’t get angry at people who forget my own “dates”, such as my birthday. I simply don’t take that personally.
But you’re right; there’s no real excuse for forgetting important dates, in this age of Google Calendars and smartphones.
And thanks for the comment.