I really don't do very much during my two 12.5 hour marathon shifts every weekend. Drinking seems like it would make the whole experience seem like more of an adventure than a way for me to catch up on sleep and comic books. Mind you, I really enjoy reading comics and I've been downloading them at a furious rate for the last couple of months. I highly recommend 100 Bullets. It's an quality series published by Image Comics.
But I digress...
Life has been good to me in the last few months. School is done for the regular semester, and I'm approaching the middle of my summer session. I'm hoping I'll be able to do really well in this class, which shouldn't be a problem as the prof is aiming to make it as stress-free as possible. I agree completely with this approach. The hot yoga has also been going really well, with me averaging around three classes a week. I really feel great because of it. I still get a bit stiff now and then, but it's mainly because I'm starting to open up and stretch muscles that I never made use of before.
On a related note, I'm dating one of my instructors. I'm pretty pleased about the whole thing. We'd been hanging in the same group of friends for a while, but she was dating a guy for a few months when I first met her. Luckily, he's long out of the picture, and I'm very much in it. I haven't felt so content and relaxed in years. It's like I've become a different person in the last few months. I'm much more confident in almost everything I do, and I really seem to worry less about how other people see me. I mean, if I'm dating a girl who could have her pick of some ripped-up yoga dudes I must be doing something right. I guess nice guys don't always finish last. (That's not to say I finish first. I'm sure the ladyfriend would agree with me on that.)
Now, on an unrelated note, I got myself another bike last month. It's fixed gear, and it's bad-ass. If you don't know what a fixed-gear bike is, I suggest you google it. Wikipedia will likely be your first hit, and it's probably the best description. The frame is in pretty good shape, so my plan is to strip off the old paint and then carefully and lovingly re-paint it myself. I figure I'll put on a can of primer, a can of base color (not sure what one yet) and then I'm going to have a good friend of mine design a graphic of some sort for it. After that it'll be a couple coats of clear-coat to protect the paint and she'll be good to go. Next year I'll see about getting a set of color matched Deep-V's, but for now I'll stick with the Alexrims that came setup on it.
As for how it rides, it's definitely a lot different from a your standard freewheel. A lot of old-school cyclists will remember when a fixed gear was the norm, but things have changed a lot over the last 20 or 30 years, obviously. Fixies have somewhat of a cult status in urban cities, and there quite a few websites for to like-minded fixers to congregate. I wouldn't say I'm part of the culture or anything, as I just got started, but I really love the feel of riding a bike that's so in sync with the road. I'm slowly getting used to never putting a foot down. I either very slowly do tight circles (unbelievably tight turns on these things) or just try to do a track stand. As my balance improves I'm going to practice biking backwards and doing skids and stuff. It's a whole different kind of riding and I've fallen for it almost as hard as my aforementioned yoga instructor.
So, long story short, things are good, and looking better every day. Who knows when I'll post again, but I'm sure I'll be back.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
Here we go again...
Oh, Happy New Year. I guess I haven't been here in a while, but as my last post suggests, the volume of traffic doesn't really necessitate regular updates. You understand...
So what's new with me, you ask? Well a few things. First of all, we're one year closer to Armageddon. I'm not pretending to know when that will be, but I'm sure we're closer to it now than we were at this time last year.
Chew on that for a minute.
Life is going to be pretty busy for the next few months. I'm working full-time and taking four courses at university. I did that last semester as well, but I've started taking yoga lately, and starting this Friday, I'll be volunteering at the studio as well. It's going to be weird being so busy, but no one activity actually requires a lot of effort from me (except for yoga, which is a bit different,) so I should be alright.
As far as the yoga goes, I was a bit skeptical at first, and teased one of my friends who had started a couple of months before me. She offered me a free pass one day, and I said "what the hell, I might as well" and I haven't looked back since. It's Bikram Yoga, which basically means you sweat your balls (or ovaries) off for 90 minutes in a room heated to 105 degrees F, with 60-70% humidity. It's supposed to be that hot to help ease blood flow and to help open up your joints and muscles, which prevents injury. I guess the term "hot as balls" applies here pretty well. I have to tell you, I'm in the best shape of my life. I haven't been so light since 9th grade. I was fairly soft around the ole' mid-section from Jr. high to earlier this year, but the yoga has melted it off me. I've never been so flexible, and I know for a fact that there is lots of room for improvement. A few of the instructors made that very clear in a couple of demonstrations. At this rate, I'm going to be ripped by the time the summer comes around.
I think my own self-image has had a lot to do with my self confidence. I wrote before this that I always viewed myself as "the loser from grade 9." Well, I'm definitely looking a lot better than that kid now. I still find myself self-consciously breaking eye contact with girls now, but I'm also finding more of them looking my way. There is actually eye-contact to break, now, and I've talked to two random girls lately where I would have avoided it before. I bet this is all in my head. Maybe I was always just staring at the ground, or avoiding eye contact before. At this point, I couldn't care less. I'm proud of what I've been able to accomplish in my yoga class so far. I'm excited about how much further I still have to go, and what I'll be able to accomplish. I'm going to try to update this page a little more often. Progress reports, and that sort of thing.
In fact, I'm going to set myself a goal. By the next time I post (let's say within one month from today) I'll have gone on at least one date. I've got my eye on a Latin girl from one of my classes.
Until then...
So what's new with me, you ask? Well a few things. First of all, we're one year closer to Armageddon. I'm not pretending to know when that will be, but I'm sure we're closer to it now than we were at this time last year.
Chew on that for a minute.
Life is going to be pretty busy for the next few months. I'm working full-time and taking four courses at university. I did that last semester as well, but I've started taking yoga lately, and starting this Friday, I'll be volunteering at the studio as well. It's going to be weird being so busy, but no one activity actually requires a lot of effort from me (except for yoga, which is a bit different,) so I should be alright.
As far as the yoga goes, I was a bit skeptical at first, and teased one of my friends who had started a couple of months before me. She offered me a free pass one day, and I said "what the hell, I might as well" and I haven't looked back since. It's Bikram Yoga, which basically means you sweat your balls (or ovaries) off for 90 minutes in a room heated to 105 degrees F, with 60-70% humidity. It's supposed to be that hot to help ease blood flow and to help open up your joints and muscles, which prevents injury. I guess the term "hot as balls" applies here pretty well. I have to tell you, I'm in the best shape of my life. I haven't been so light since 9th grade. I was fairly soft around the ole' mid-section from Jr. high to earlier this year, but the yoga has melted it off me. I've never been so flexible, and I know for a fact that there is lots of room for improvement. A few of the instructors made that very clear in a couple of demonstrations. At this rate, I'm going to be ripped by the time the summer comes around.
I think my own self-image has had a lot to do with my self confidence. I wrote before this that I always viewed myself as "the loser from grade 9." Well, I'm definitely looking a lot better than that kid now. I still find myself self-consciously breaking eye contact with girls now, but I'm also finding more of them looking my way. There is actually eye-contact to break, now, and I've talked to two random girls lately where I would have avoided it before. I bet this is all in my head. Maybe I was always just staring at the ground, or avoiding eye contact before. At this point, I couldn't care less. I'm proud of what I've been able to accomplish in my yoga class so far. I'm excited about how much further I still have to go, and what I'll be able to accomplish. I'm going to try to update this page a little more often. Progress reports, and that sort of thing.
In fact, I'm going to set myself a goal. By the next time I post (let's say within one month from today) I'll have gone on at least one date. I've got my eye on a Latin girl from one of my classes.
Until then...
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