I lost a pound. Feel, eh, pretty much the same, physically.

Each morning, first thing, I’m supposed to drink a quart of warm water with two teaspoons salt. It was saltier than I thought, not unpalatable, but definitely NOT the nutty house blend with half & half I prefer first thing.

I thought I had waited too long this morning to do the salt water flush, and I thought it wouldn’t work. 20 minutes later - uh - I sat stood corrected.

I had an extremely vivid dream last night, something involving the Hamburgler and phlegm, though this evening, I can’t seem to pin down the details. It was fun, surreal and I felt safe and had the sense I could direct the dream’s outcome.

There is an unyeilding desire to see this through, mostly because I feel like I’m in desperate need for self-discipline which I’ve been sorely lacking. Just a few moments ago, while making another quart of lemonade, I had the sense that I would. Shockingly, it felt better than buying that cute Marc Jacobs bag.

My biggest challenge is drinking the 6-8 full quarts as recommended. I’m concerned I’m not ingesting enough calories, but I’m going to double my efforts tomorrow in the hopes I can break the 4 quarts benchmark of yesterday and today.

That’s right, folks….I’m the 101st person you know to do this crazy exercise in self-deprivation. Don’t know WTF I’m talking about? Read this and come back.

I decided to purge the impurities, detox, whatever you want to call it, for a few reasons:

WHOA!

I know.

So far, the biggest hurdle hasn’t been sucking down the gobs of spicy lemonade, all 8 to 10 quarts of it a day. It hasn’t been that I miss masticating, or the glistening ducks in the Chinatown windows, or lapping at chocolate ice cream embedded with masses of cookie dough, pan-seared scallops, or dripping hamburgers with razor thin slices of red onion and french fries kissed with mayo. NO, it’s not any of those things. Mostly.

The hardest part is avoiding temptation: hoping my friends understand that I don’t want to go out. I can’t have dinner. I can’t have drinks. I think the best part of the Master Cleanse is the self-imposed excuse to stay in and catch up on the mountain of periodicals looming in the far corner of the bedroom…right next to the laundry that could get done.

This LA-area woman’s video-cast is pretty inspiring, and I’m looking forward to all the healthful feelings and positive energy I hope to experience by day ten.

Diane & Anthony: You should check out this guy’s on-going experiment to build a farm in his backyard in Brooklyn. He had mixed, but admirable, results with 800 square feet of arable land. Imagine what you could do with 2.5 acres. There’s still time to raise a turkey for Thanksgiving day slaughter….just saying!!!! (My Empire of Dirt)

Friends w/disposable income and a sweet sense of humor: I wanna make a playdate to check out the Moscow Cats Theater. Playing with pussy jokes aside, I can’t see how this wouldn’t be money insanely well spent. (Moscow Cats Theater, scroll down)

Friends w/disposable income and an acerbic sense of humor: Tickets are currently sold out, but I’m checking back periodically to see if I can’t score a couple to Bill Maher’s stand up performance for the New York Comedy Festival. (New York Comedy Festival)

Friends w/o a lot of disposable income: Remember those initial charm necklaces that Daily Candy said were cool in the AM and totally over by that afternoon? Turns out they’re best if you don’t actually have to pay for them. Enter DCDEAL at check out and score a free charm with purchase. Prices seem to float around the $35-50, and I’m partial to the locket (so old school!) and the bird flew (skulls! bird! puns!). (Initial This)

Lo, Veronica, Heather, and cost-conscious oenophiles: Meet the man behind two-buck-Chuck. As predicted, he’s overly brash, um…corpulent, and pissing off Napa Valley. In short - he’s everything you’d ever hoped. (Two Buck Chuck Takes a Bite Out of Napa Valley)