Move Over Jenny Craig There's a New Diet in Town

I learned A LOT today, literally. But before I get to that I have to tell you - I have 2 followers! Okay, so one of them is my husband and I made him be a follower, but one of them is not even a relative of mine. When I saw I had another follower (you know who you are and I am your new best friend! thank you for following) besides my beloved husband of so many years, someone that is out there in the world whom I don't know and whom I didn't have to coerce to do the following, my heart literally skipped a beat from excitement! For those of you asking yourself how DO I follow this wildly entertaining blog, you can become a follower of my blog by scrolling down to the "followers" section on the left and signing up to follow. If you want to give me a thrill, just do it. I am sure anytime a follower is added I will be just as excited as I was this first time. Plus, this is one instance where being a follower and not a leader is a good thing.

Another point before I get to what I learned today, for all of you wondering, I am NOT writing this blog because I saw the movie Julie & Julia. I did see the movie, and loved it, especially Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci, however, I was contemplating writing a blog a long time ago. In fact, the movie made me temporarily decide not to write one for fear of being unoriginal, but then I said screw it and am writing it anyway. I bring this up because my sister-in-law called me the other day to ask if I am doing this because of the movie, which, I have made clear, I am not! But, whatever!

So back to what I learned at school today. First of all, parking. At the main campus of CSN it seems everyone tries to park in this main lot and it is crowded, almost impossible to find a spot. If you veer left there is another parking lot and it was a snap to get a spot today, and even though I was 5 minutes late for class already when I pulled in I decided it would be the perfect time to investigate if that area was indeed student parking, and it was. Once parked there, you can walk under a covered portico to get to the main building, or take the parallel outside sidewalk. I chose covered portico and not only did I see one of the biggest, scariest, roach things just sauntering across the walk like it was on its way to class, I also saw the biggest, grossest spider I have ever seen outside of a zoo. It was like in the movies, huge, thick legged - totally gross. It is outside sidewalk for me from now on. I'm just saying, if you are not a bug fan, don't take the covered route.

Next, not all of the campus is disgusting! My Food Service Sanitation class, which is the class I had today, is held in the culinary wing of the school, and it is a whole new world, let me tell you. When I pushed open the doors and walked in it was like the clouds parted and I could hear angels singing "ahhhhhh...." It is clean, it is not packed, it does not look germy or grimy. You know how some cities just look really clean? Like Palm Springs or Scottsdale? The culinary wing is Palm Springs, the main building is downtown L.A. I plan on staying in Palm Springs for every class I possibly can, and those that are not held there I will try to bully the instructor into moving, or perhaps pull a fire alarm or something in the main building forcing us to go to the culinary wing.

Another thing I learned today is that while I have long searched for the perfect diet, meaning one that works, never did I think getting a degree where I will be required to bake things that have a million calories would lead me to permanent weight loss. You see, today, unwittingly, I began the "Food Service Sanitation" diet, or, what those in the biz refer to as let's learn about food borne illnesses and what is practiced in restaurants and at home as opposed to what is supposed to be done to keep us all safe. As my instructor put it so mildly this morning 5 minutes into class "It's a wonder I'm not dead yet." And, this little nugget came out of his mouth as he was dismissing us "I can see you all want to go get something to eat and are wondering where it would be safe." You fill in the blanks. The things I learned today are horrifying! I may never eat again, hence, the diet and permanent weight loss. Oh thank you CSN!

So, there you have it, a very productive day. I'm off to boil some water for dinner.