[written at 3:50p today at work, emailed to myself to post at home]

My judge is driving his son to UC Davis this weekend, so since he took the day off, I was floated to another courtroom that’s doing a civil jury trial. As I am so interested in this root-canal-gone-wrong dental medical malpractice lawsuit, I am simultaneously reading a magazine. And I JUST learned…

* Eating 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day, being active, not smoking, and drinking in moderation could add 14 years to your life, according to a new British study. Even just exercise helps a lot; a recent study by the Nat’l Cancer Institute found that older people who got at least 30 mins of moderate exercise most days of the week were less likely to die over the next 7 years than those who didn’t.

* A plain large soft pretzel with a little cup of cheese sauce (like the kinds you get at the movies) is 610 calories, and has 15 grams of fat. This is the SAME CALORIE AND FAT CONTENT as having a hot dog on a bun with a packet of mustard plus a 2-oz serving of cotton candy plus a 12-oz draft beer! How many girls, thinking they’re being good, would do the former and shake their heads at their men who pick the latter?

* My gym trainee is a genius, as you can see from the following email exchange:
Me: “There is, like, nothing to do here except eat chocolate.”
Gym Trainee: “should I come get the chocolate? I’ll just tell you a little story instead. Once upon a time the person who placed that bowl of chocolate on that desk was small. Then one day they realized that their clothes didn’t fit. So the person decide well what the hey they make bigger clothes. The End.”
Me: “oh.my.gawd. I’m gonna eat my apple now. =P”
[Cuz we know whose seat I’m filling in here, and small and pleasant would not be adjectives to describe her.]
Gym Trainee: “I was gonna remove the bowl but I figured the story would be effective. That and tell you your goal is to prove all the people who think you are gonna sit around and get fat and let yourself go wrong. As your friend it’s my job to help you.”
[Proving people wrong; something else I love to do.]

* It’s a good idea to make a list of non-food stress-busters, and resort to something on that list to do instead of eat, if you’re a stress-eater. My gym trainee told me at lunch that she used to keep a coloring book and crayons in her drawer. It was soothing to sit and color a page if she’s angry or stressed, and she also said that if she had to draw her own pictures to color, she’d be taken away to the psychologist, so the coloring book worked well for her. Some other examples: reading, hugging your dog/cat, a chair massage at the nail salon, and for me, blogging, emailing my friends, and playing a round of Bejeweled. Right before you go for the food, ask yourself, “Am I actually, physically hungry? Or just bored/stressed?”

* Apparently the big fashion trend this summer was “anything Asian.” Well then my bridesmaids were just right en vogue! Yay, me!

* A wedding speech by a man of the cloth could be inappropriate, as relayed by one wedding guest:
“During my friend’s ceremony, the priest explained that a man has to love himself before he can love a woman. ‘That’s why I can’t take a 5-minute shower,’ he said. ‘I’m a 20-minute man. And when I’m towel-drying my smooth, chocolate skin, I look in the mirror and I ask, Can anyone resist me? And the answer is no. No, they can’t.’ ”

* A wedding toast by the groom could be funny as relayed by another wedding guest:
“The groom stood up and announced, ‘The bride is now off the market, and if anyone has the keys to her place, now’s the time to hand them over.’ Then he put a bowl in the middle of the floor, and all the men started coming up and tossing keys into it. Obviously he had prearranged it, but it was still hilarious.”

* A wedding toast by the father of the bride could be touching, as told by this relative:
“My uncle said to his son, ‘When I came to this country as an immigrant, I wanted to give you a better life than I had. And I know today that the woman you’ve found is going to do that.’ ” Awww.

You can learn a lot sitting through a trial.