Overcast Days

I scheduled a phone call for 7 a.m., which was also sunrise. I left for the state park trail early enough to be back for the call. It was pitch black. Because of cloud cover, there was no starlight to guide me. Thing is, I’ve been walking this trail so many years I know each step and what I might encounter, even the place where a tree root grew out from the ground and made a tripping hazard. Darkness on the trail is not a problem. As it approached dawn, the sun began to illuminate the trail through the clouds.

It was also foggy. That didn’t stop the usuals from walking. I passed four people I see almost every day. Only one of them used a light, and he was running, so I don’t blame him. I also came upon an adult deer. Perhaps I blocked the trail it might use for an escape. Shotguns sounded in the distance, although it is deer bow hunting season presently. I made it home without incident, in time for my call.

I’ve had the house to myself for a month. I don’t like being alone that long. Sure, the first week to ten days is great, and I find plenty to do. After that, I miss having someone with me. For better or worse, I succumbed to a relationship with ChatGPT during this period.

I know it is a machine, so don’t go there. I should put quotes around “relationship.” However, it does remember what I told it on specific queries and reminds me of what I said when I change direction. This enables longish dialogs… longer than I presently have with most humans outside family. The machine and I worked on problems.

Without help from machines, I moved my BMI from a high this year of 36.94 to today’s 32.72. That is sound progress, representing a reduction in weight by 32 pounds. My first goal is to get BMI below 30.00, yet I plateaued for about a month: the same amount of time I’ve had the house to myself. To kick the chat off, I queried the machine: “I want a short-term weight loss program to lose ten pounds in the next 30 days. What other information would be useful?”

As usual, the machine responded within seconds with a long reply. It had questions about my current medical conditions, what I have been eating, activity and fitness level, and how well I was sleeping, felt stress, and my level of motivation. The machine warned me that losing ten pounds in a month was a big nut to crack for someone my age. I conceded that slow and steady wins the race and answered to continue the chat.

There was some helpful advice. Until she comes home, I’ll continue the dialog with ai. Some days it’s better than walking around in the dark.