I am starting to get to the point where people who don't know me quite so well and who probably don't know about my Weight Watchers odyssey are pointing out to me that I am losing weight which, of course, I knew, but it's nice to hear. The problem is that I'm really bad at taking compliments--I never know quite what to do when receiving a compliment of any kind, so I mutter "thanks" and try to either minimize it ("oh, so and so is really the one who did the work") or turn it back around ("no, you're the smart one, I just got lucky"). In this case, it's a little hard to do. To minimize would be to turn my back on my largest current preoccupation and thus would be self-denying in a really awkward way. Turning it around doesn't work either:

Person X: Hey, you're looking thinner!
Me: Thanks, you're looking more, um, well, antediluvian
Person X: ?!
Me: Gee, look at the time....

So I'm either going to have to take the statements as factual assertions rather than compliments ("Hey you're looking thinner." "Yes, yes I am.") or I'm going to have to learn how to take a compliment. If you have any suggestions about a third option that is even remotely socially acceptable, I'd love to hear about it.

I've also decided that if I'm going to force my continued obsession on both all of my readers, the least I can do is provide the nitty-gritty details. So you can now track my progress in the "Weight Tracker" heading on the right. Publishing weekly status updates on myself seems a bit too much like the WW Message Board People who scare the bejeezus out of me, but I'm going to call it a necessary evil and move on. And of course, feel free not to read it either. In fact, I'm still not sure why anyone reads any of this at all--perhaps that's because (at least in a roundabout way) I consider it a compliment. So thanks. You're all looking rather antediluvian yourselves.