THREE

I've been trying this Nutrasystem diet and so far, it's been pretty good. You just have to stick to it and try not to cheat. Only problem is (and I think this is why most diets fail) I think that's why people got fat in the first place. That is, those of us who enjoy eating (presumably you, unless you happen to be one of those unnaturally skinny people who obviously are hiding a true alien lifeform) tend to cheat with all those luscious good-tasting bad food. So that part doesn't go away when you are eating the Nutrasystem. I like the fact that Nutrasystem disguises their food as bad food.

But back to that radiator that was in Chicago. the one I talked about yesterday. I remember it had a significant part in my parent's lives. Some background before I explain the significance of the radiator. My mom came from a fairly wealthy family in China. Her dad was a governor of Hubei province and was also one of the the members of the Supreme Court. When he was chased out of China to Taiwan as part of the Kuomintang (the KMT), he also wrote the constitution for Taiwan. So he's, like, the James Madison of Taiwan. Anyway, my mom would always talk about her memories of being able to ring a bell and have someone fetch water. She never did a thing as a kid, never was made to clean, cook or make her bed. For her to marry a poor guy like my dad, it must have been a big reality check. Like her, I still hate to cook.

Anyway, my parents told me that at some point my mom had a slew of beautiful jewelry as befitting the daughter of a wealthy family. They were talking about how they made a mistake to show that jewelry off to some of the people they knew in Chicago. Then the big robbery. They came home to their tiny apartment in Cook County to find that the place had been ransacked and all of my mom's jewelry was stolen. But in the thieves' haste to find the bling, apparently, they threw a bunch of money behind the radiator. So even tho that radiator was my sister's nemesis, it helped save some cash from the terrible people who stole my mom's largess and memories.

Poor mama.