My birthday week!

My 55th birthday was this week and on my actual birthday, Vilma Luck struck and ruined my day.

First off, let me explain what "Vilma Luck" is.  At first glance, you might dismiss it as me just feeling like a perpetual victim, but once you get to know me, you realize that the stuff that happens to me sometimes is unique and it could only happen to me.  My friends started calling it "Vilma Luck" years ago, as in when really weird stuff happens to them, they tell me, "I had a Vilma Luck day."  We all know that whatever happened, it wasn't good.

My birthday started on a very positive note and I felt like it was going to be a great day:  I woke up refreshed because, for once, the rude neighbors didn't wake me up, the weather was lovely after months of miserable heat, traffic was non existent (which is spooky in Los Angeles) as I headed to meet my trainer, Flaminia ("Fla"), for spin class, I found the perfect parking space in a nightmare parking lot, and spin class was great.  Fla also changed her play list and included a song I told her some time ago I liked.  When it started blasting through the speakers, we looked at each other, she smiled, and I gave her the thumbs up as a thanks.  Life was good particularly since I had lost 67 lbs. since my prior birthday and I weighed 187 lbs. now, for a total loss of 119 lbs. despite struggling recently.

When class ended, I headed to my car for a day of pampering.  I'm not the type who enjoys being pampered because it makes me feel guilty and I'm not crazy about strangers touching me, but this birthday was special and I told myself I deserved a facial and a massage.  I hadn't had either in over 20 years and looked forward to both on this, my birthday. 

As I approached my car, I realized the clicker on my key wasn't working and I couldn't deactivate my car alarm.  I used the key to unlock the door but when I opened it, the horn alarm started blaring (it was SOOO loud in that confined space!), the kill switch activated, and I couldn't turn the engine on no matter what I tried because the alarm had not been properly turned off.  Because the noise was so loud and it was hurting my ears, I tried to close the door too fast so I could get away from the noise and I whacked myself on the forehead with the corner of the door in the process:  instant gash, instant bleeding, instant lump and bruise, instant headache.  At this point I was near tears.  Vilma Luck had struck.

Yes, I realize this can happen to anyone at any time, but WHY didn't it happen when my car was in my driveway less than two hours before?  If it had, I could have grabbed my spare keys.  Nope, it had to happen when I was in a small, narrow, hot subterranean parking lot in the middle of downtown Los Angeles with several scheduled appointments looming and on my birthday to boot.  Any other time it would have been a nuisance, but on this day it was sacrilegious.

The nice thing about Vilma Luck is that I'm so used to stuff happening to me that I've become really resourceful.  This is how it works:  I first get angry at the situation at hand, then I cry (depending on the severity of the situation, it could be for a few seconds or an hour), and then I become logical at which time I assess the situation and come up with a solution.  If I could only skip the emotional hysterics and go straight to the logical part, it would save me a lot of grief.  In this particular situation, I only sniffled and got to the logical part of my process quickly.  In that parking lot, cars are parked up to four deep so you have to leave your keys with the attendants.  Thankfully, I had a single space so I wasn't blocking anyone which would have otherwise complicated the situation.  I figured the battery in the clicker was the culprit and I asked the attendants to find an exact set of keys as mine so we could switch out the batteries long enough for me to deactivate my alarm.  There was a whole ordeal about that which I won't go into, but eventually it worked.  The good battery was returned to the unsuspecting customer's clicker and I was on my way.  Because I was stuck in the parking lot a few minutes over my validated time, I had to pay $8 to exit the lot.  Eight dollars for a few minutes is obscene, but that's okay, I was on my way.

What I should have done is gone home right then and there, but it was too late to cancel my facial appointment and I didn't want to be late.  I hate being late.  Once I arrived at my destination, I figured if I locked my door with the key, then the alarm would not activate.  I was wrong and I was stuck again.  No problem, I thought, I'll just buy a new battery after my facial because there are several stores nearby that sell batteries.  What I didn't know then is that the battery could ONLY be purchased at a dealership. 

The facial was nice but I couldn't relax because of my predicament.  Afterwards I went in search of the tiny battery with no success.  Someone pointed out to me that I had to go to a dealership, and I found one 3.5 miles away.  When I called, they confirmed that they did in fact have the battery in stock, but I had only a little over an hour before they closed.  I'm aware of Uber but I've never used it and I didn't have time to figure it out, cabs cost an arm and a leg, and public transportation in Los Angeles is pretty slow assuming you can even find a bus.  I didn't have the option of calling someone for a ride either because of the short time frame, plus I hate inconveniencing other people.  So after cancelling my upcoming massage, I started walking as fast as I could to get to the dealership before they closed.  Since I didn't get a chance to go home to change, I was still wearing my workout clothes and walking shoes.  At least my face was sparkling from the facial!    Luckily, the weather was nice after months of miserable heat and I got there in time, bought the battery, replaced it in the clicker, and the little light came on indicating that it was working.  Success!

I decided to walk back to my car because at least I didn't have time constraints to get back.  That day I walked 7 miles in a couple of hours.  Although the last two miles were never ending and torturous, I kept telling myself how lucky I was that I could even do it because the old me would never have been able to accomplish such a feat.

By the time I was a few blocks away from my car, it was already dark and it started sprinkling.  I was thinking, "ARE YOU FRIGGING KIDDING ME?!?!"  Southern California has been in a serious drought for years and it rains when I'm walking because my key clicker left me stranded on my birthday?  I just thought, "Vilma Luck, of course!  Why wouldn't it rain during my predicament!"  I found out later that it had poured in other parts of the city at the same time so I guess I was lucky it was only sprinkling during my walk.  Once I got to my car, I thanked God it hadn't been towed because it had been parked in the lot hours beyond the allowed limit.  I approach my car, used the clicker and...nothing happens.  It wouldn't deactivate my alarm, and I was still stuck.  So I walked 7 miles for nothing!

I went to a nearby store to buy a small screwdriver to take my clicker apart and an umbrella.  I also grabbed a bag full of chocolate bars on the way to the register.  Now that I know why I binge (which I explained in my post titled "Still struggling, but hanging in there"), I told my brain that it was not going to get dopamine by ruining my diet with chocolates, especially when I don't even really like chocolate.  I had already been struggling with binging, I didn't need to compound the struggles.  Besides, eating the candy bars was not going to resolve my present situation - in fact, it'd make things worse, and I hesitantly put the bag back.  Using the small screwdriver, I took the clicker apart, reset the battery, but it still wouldn't work.  My defeat at that moment was overwhelming.  By the way, once I bought the umbrella, it stopped raining.  Of course!  That's how Vilma Luck works.

I finally called AAA and waited.  The reason I didn't call them earlier is that I figured the only thing they could do was tow me home and it would cost me a bundle because I was way beyond my free towing mileage allowance.  This was confirmed by the AAA operator I spoke to, but I just wanted to get home and I didn't care how much it cost by then.  I was angry, starving, tired, and defeated.  The man who showed up knew nothing about alarm clickers and he kept telling me, "It's not unlocking the doors or turning the alarm off!" as if this was news.  I was getting really annoyed especially when he decided to disconnect my car battery after admitting that he didn't know how to fix the problem.  I kept saying, "What is that going to do?!  The alarm is just going to start again once you reconnect it."  Thankfully, I was wrong again.  The alarm did not come on, the kill switch reset, and because the doors were unlocked already, I could turn the engine on.  HOORAH!  I wanted to hug that little man!  I was so grateful to him!   It never dawned on me to disconnect the battery to reset the kill switch.  I learned something new should this happen again.  

When I got home after dealing with horrible traffic, I was never so happy to see my crappy little house.  After I had dinner and relaxed, I calmed down and realized it had been a bad day but it wasn't that  terrible.  Part of the problem was that I made some mistakes.  First, I should have come home to get my spare keys and not worried about being late to my facial or at the very least I should have called AAA sooner.  I realized that no matter what my day had been like, things could always have been a lot worse.  Most importantly, I kept thinking that at least I got a ton of exercise that day and although I was angry that I walked 7 miles for "nothing," the fact is that I did walk 7 miles in about two hours, something the old me could never have done.  Plus I was proud of myself for refraining from binging during or after my ordeal.

Although my spare key worked fine, the next day I went to my local dealership and bought a new key.  It's always good to have a spare.  After paying $175 and waiting two hours for the dealership to program it to my car's alarm, I drove off with a brand new key that works and hopefully I'll never have that problem again. If I do, I now know to disconnect the battery.

Considering my birthday was ruined, I decided to move my birthday two days and I ended up having a fabulous second birthday.  I planned every minute of the entire day and everything worked out perfectly, even better than I expected.  The universe must have felt really bad for ruining my birthday and decided to make it up to me.

On my second birthday, the weather was glorious and once again the rude neighbors allowed me to sleep in (a luxury in my house).  In the morning, I trained with Fla and then I attended her spin class at the hoity-toity gym where she teaches.  Afterwards I went to my gym and used the sauna and steam room, neither of which I had used since joining over a year ago.  After a nice hot shower, I went to my scheduled massage.  My gym has a spa which I hadn't used yet.  The gal they assigned to me was great.  She did a combination of Swedish, hot stone, and deep tissue massages.  I felt wonderful when I walked out.

Fla told me earlier this year that once I got to 195 lbs., that she'd treat me to dinner at a rustic Italian restaurant that served great food.  At the time, I didn't think that dinner would ever take place because 195 lbs. seemed so impossible.  Once I did arrive at this weight many months later, I told Fla we should wait because I was too close to the 200s and I didn't want to see a "2" in front of my weight ever again.  We agreed to wait until I reached the 180s and by the time I did, my birthday was around the corner so we combined both celebrations into one.  The time had finally arrived!

The day before my second birthday celebration I went clothes shopping in anticipation of said dinner and found an amazing pair of jeans in a size 14 (dropped another size!) that fit me like a glove and made me look skinnier.  I haven't worn a size 14 in decades.  I even bought make-up which I haven't worn in many years.  When I was younger, I never left the house unless my hair and make-up were perfection, but as I got older and fatter, it didn't matter anymore.  I felt miserable and no amount of make-up was going to change that so I stopped wearing it.  But for this second birthday, I felt terrific, I had come a long way, and I definitely wanted to look better.  It's been so long since I applied make-up that I was thinking, "Gee, I hope I don't look like a painted hooker!"  Let me tell you, applying make-up is much easier on a smooth, young face than a 55-year old wrinkly, sagging face!  

 

When I drove to the restaurant, traffic was light (unusual in Los Angeles) and I found a parking space on the street, meter free, a couple of doors away from the restaurant.  Not bad for downtown Los Angeles!  I was so sure this couldn't be a legal parking space that I kept reading the parking signs over and over again because I couldn't believe my luck.

The old me used to eat pasta almost daily, but the new me can't remember the last time she ate it.  A few days ago Fla told me I could only eat a salad and I was so disappointed.  I told her, "What's the point of going to an Italian restaurant if I can't eat pasta???!!!!  We might as well go to any diner!"   But on this night she agreed I could have a one-time cheat meal.  Let me tell you, I took full advantage of her good graces!  On this night I enjoyed every bite of my spaghetti carbonara, the bread was warm and delicious, and the wine Fla brought was perfect.  I also had quite a few spoonfuls of Fla's risotto di funghi (risotto with mushrooms) which was scrumptious.  And although I was completely full, she ordered Tiramisu for me, one of my favorite desserts.   

Let me just say that I ate to the point where I felt sick.  I can't remember the last time I ate that much in one sitting.  Despite how much I consumed at dinner, after I got home, I still managed to pig out on some peanut butter on crackers with a little jam, too.  It's incredible that I still had room for more food after my delicious meal!  But I didn't worry about it.  It wasn't a binging episode, it was a well-deserved cheat birthday dinner!  How do I know the difference?  With binging, I have no control.  It's like I'm possessed and obsessed with eating, particularly junk foods.  The desire is bottomless and I never feel satisfied.  On this particular night, I had full control and I made the conscious decision to consume every bite because I was enjoying my one-time cheat dinner.  I don't even care that it's going to take me a few days, or even a week, to lose what I gained on that dinner alone.  It was well deserved even if I say so myself!

The whole day worked out perfectly and my second birthday was fabulous!  The universe completely redeemed itself. 

The next day I was back on track.