I started a new macrobiotic diet today. I decided to transform myself into 'fabulous' by my fortieth birthday. That's six months from now. I bought several bags of long grain brown rice. I'm going to eat some every day for the next 30 days. That's all I really know about the diet so far. I need to read more.

I made a tofu stirfry tonight. All told today, I ate 1,300 calories, mostly wine. Honestly....If I cut back just a little on the hooch and chocolate, I'll have my superbad body back in no time.

OK. Raising Malawi. What can I say? I haven't done much. My new friend Gary at work said he'd be happy to donate a few braincells to the cause. We were going to meet last week. Things got busy, as usual. So, we'll probably meet this week.

I have loads of tape from my Malawi trip that I still haven't looked at. Here's a short clip from our last day. Most of the Raising Malawi folks were working the weekend, so Guy (who owns the lodge where we were staying) invited just me and Delia and Megan out on Sunday to see Lake Malawi.

It was a long and bumpy drive. Megan, Delia and I had all of 3 hours sleep in our systems and were all highly hung over from Megan's birthday outing the night before. But needless to say, we were up for the adventure.

Guy put a lot of blood, sweat and beer into building his boat -- the mighty "Kumbali" -- and by God, come Hell or high water, we were going to take it out to sea. This is us when we first arrived -


Not sure if you can see how rough the Lake is, but it was insane. Just getting on the boat we got tossed around, punched in the face by waves and soaked to the bone. The lake is 360 miles long and 25 miles wide. About the size of Ireland. There are hippos and crocs....and 500 species you don't see anywhere else in the world.

I kept an eye out for wildlife, but didn't see anything scary. They don't hang out on our side of the rock or something until nighttime. Actually, I was a little torn. I really wanted to see a sea monster, but nothing too close...only fish I could take in a fight if push came to shove.

I can't swim very well, but I jumped in anyway. Megan and Delia already climbed back on the boat when I was still splashing around. Peter jumped in for a quick swim. I was getting more and more tired just trying to stay afloat. I tried swimming back to the boat, but they turned on the engine, which they were trying to fix. The boat started pulling away. I felt so sad and desperate. I just wanted to be on it.

The waves were relentless. I went under water for about two seconds; just to rest. I was getting really tired. I swam harder toward the boat. The more I tried, the farther away it got. I went under for another two seconds. I just wanted a short nap. The waves were just too hard to fight anymore. It was the weirdest thing I ever felt. There was a part of me that was OK with drowning. It seemed easier than staying afloat.

Just then, Guy's friend Peter yelled over to me. I didn't know Peter before this trip. He said, "You look pale! Are you OK?" I said, "I don't think so," very politely...not wanting to bother him. "Do you need some help?" He yelled. I said, "Probably" and I went under again.

Honestly. Thank God for Peter that day.

I'm pretty sure I would've died there if he hadn't come to pull my head out of the water. The waves were so huge. He kept getting pulled under too. He yelled over to Guy, who threw the big white rescue tire. I was so happy to hold on to it.

I would live afterall. Like Delia said when we first arrived, we are 'severly blessed'. This, I am certain.