Activate!

Right. So, I’ll just get right to the point:

I am rediculously out of shape. I played a game of frisbee on Sunday. Now my ass hurts. How does that even work? It is difficult to walk and get up from a sitting position. This does not bode well.

I have therefore started working out again. I used to do workout videos all the time. I stopped three years ago when we moved into this house. I didn’t stop because we moved, it just happened to be around that time when I stopped. For no real reason, I think. Settling into the house did not include settling back into my routine, which at the time, included workout videos five or six days per week. Craziness. Super buff to super not.

I’m back doing the videos again. They’re kicking my ass, so that a game of frisbee won’t. I know that the videos are pretty much the only thing I’ll do to keep in shape. Once I’m strong enough, I plan on running again, since I also like that quite a lot. We’ll see.

I hate workout video music, though. It’s mostly techno musak of songs I hate, or else it’s just bad dance music in general. Lame. I tend to enjoy the routines, though, so I can get through the workout. Except now I have that “Larger Than Life” song stuck in my head. I don’t know who does it. Is it NSYNC? Backstreet Boys? I can’t remember, but I know you know the song I’m talking about. It’s stuck in my head. For real.

Other than that, there’s no real draw backs. I know I do fine with early AM workouts, but don’t do so well with evening ones. When I get a job, I’ll have to work out a schedule and stick to it, because once I sit down in the evenings, I don’t usually get back up until it’s time for bed.

There are 69 days left before my vacation. I plan on being in shape enough to hike and run and jump and play and all that good stuff. And as an added bonus, maybe I can fit properly into my pants again, instead of billowing over the top of them. I don’t have money for new ones, so this will have to work.

Baseball and Football

Right. So remember when I was going to be all about football?* Well, I don’t konw anyone around here who is fanatical about it, so it’s been difficult to get sucked in. I do watch a fair bit of Telemundo, and they broadcast some matches. Sometimes, The Revolution will have a match on, but they don’t show them that often. My dream of becoming a footbal fan has diminished quite a bit, because where’s the fun in being a fan if there’s not a huge community fanaticism going on?

Which brings me to baseball. Alright, so I’ve developed a taste for it. There. I’ve said it. Most of you already know that I’ve taken a liking to the Red Sox, and now it’s all out there. Full disclosure. I even bought a hat. It’s sparkly. Some have dubbed it the “Bling Sox” hat. It rules. Think normal Sox hat, with bedazzled bits. It rules.

That being said, I haven’t actually been able to watch many baseball games this season. I only have super-basic cable, and I think all Sox games are on channels I don’t get. I’ve seen a couple of other games, but that’s about it. I’ve done pretty good keeping up with the scores and games and what not in the news, though. I’m determined to keep it up.

I’ve even found myself saying things like “He pitched a good game last night” and “Crisp better heal soon, he’s already missed 40-some-odd games this season.” Who the hell is that talking? Not me, right? When did I start liking baseball? Or any sport for that matter.

I think it just comes from being in Boston so much. So many of my friends are into it, I just couldn’t withstand the peer pressure. Sooner or later I was going to get around to doing it. Might as well be now. And with a sparkly hat.

Most who know me know that I really like the idealistic elements of sports. It’s the same reason why I like military and war movies. There’s a clear good guy/bad guy thing going on. It simplifies life. Distills it on to a pretty green field with men in rediculous pants. Seriously, how can those pants be tight and baggy at the same time. The MLB needs a new tailor. And a Bedazzler. They all need sparklier uniforms.

Still, I like football more. It’s more entertaining. The players are way more hot. The skill seems greater. Alas, I guess it’s not meant to be. How does one seek out football fans in Red Sox Nation? I haven’t figured that one out.

*Note: In my family (well, ok, it’s really just Bean and I who do this) we call soccer football, and American-style football, tackle ball. It makes more sense to us, really. So there.

Towel Day

Today is Towel Day. And it’s a Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

The love of my 16-year-old self

Last night I saw a man. A funny man. A man who, when I was in high school, came into my bedroom many late nights.

Alright, so he was just on TV, but still. We had something special. The State being on television was one of the bright spots of high school.

Oh, Michael Ian Black, how you make me laugh. With your inappropriate and awkward humor. Nazis… YAY! I don’t know how all that way-super-awesomeness is able to be contained in that lanky, scrawny body. I laughed so hard, I almost peed a little. I did hack up a couple lungs, though. The remnants of this stupid cold present themselves when I talk too much or laugh at all. I thought I was going to die. The show was that good.

There was only one dark spot. The hecklers. These asshats next to us kept talking during the opening act (“comedy fluffer” Rob Cantrell). Talking at regular conversation-level and singing and shouting. Really annoying. We said several things to them that they didn’t hear, until K-Dogg (snicker) shouted at them to shut up. A twelve-year-old style argument sprang forth (Why don’t you shut up? Why don’t you? No you! Etc.) It was effective, though. They were quiet for the rest of the evening. Hooray! I still think it helped that I told them that they sucked. At life. Itself.

And I feel quite vindicated that MIB feels the same way I do about the word, “blog.” I say it sounds like a rude bodily function. He says it sounds like another word for stool sample. Awesome.

Grab bag

I just spent the last ten minutes or so typing a post. I didn’t like it. Too rambly. Buh-leted!

In lieu of that crappy post, here’s another one, but more orderly. What am I going to do this summer?

A list:

• plant the garden
• finish WIPs (11, at last count)
• work through “to read” list
• Voyage to The Rock (not the actor with the thick neck, the Canadian province of Newfoundland, wherein lies half my roots)
• find a job
• brush up on my French
• do my best to have a social life

That doesn’t sound too bad, except when you think of it each of those things to tick off on the list has its own sub-list of even more things to tick off.

I think I’ll have a lie down now.

The Accidental

I don’t remember if I said I finished Ali Smith’s The Accidental. Well, I did.

I bought the damned thing right when it came out. I even had it imported from the UK so I could read it as soon as possible. I read the first couple of chapters, and then life got in the way, and I barely read anything for months and months.

I finished it, though. Actually, I started over and then finished it.

I love Ali Smith. She could shit on some paper, have it neatly bound, and I’d eat it up. Not the shit. The book. You know what I mean.

Her writing style is somehow all over the place, and perfectly structured at the same time. Hotel World and the Whole Story and Other Stories have a much more subtle narrative. They read more like a collection of short stories, though they are linked, and provide an overall sense of connection. The Accidental appears straight away as one whole story, though the perspective changes throughout the novel. For all their flaws, each character is sympathetic. And this is going to sound really corny and lame, but here goes: They are so lovingly crafted that you can’t hate them, even when they’re doing horrible things. As cheesy as it sounds Smith’s books are full of love, even if it might be a bit hidden.

All of the characters are fleshy and real. Even Amber (who comes into the Smart family’s life to build them up and tear them apart) with her semi-metaphorical presence is real. Smith’s style is said to be experimental. I don’t really like that word in this case, because it seems like Smith is trying out different (non-standard) formulas to build stories. The stories don’t seem to have any formula. They’re structured, sure, but the characters are so well built, the lives unfold in their place and time, and the structure becomes invisible. I suppose the experimental qualities the critics are talking about is the way she gets the characters to speak and the way the story unfolds. The shifting perspectives, the distilled language. All of that, maybe, is experimental.

I just like to say that it’s good.

Mother Night

I’ve been trying to slowly work my way through my “to read” list. Last summer I read Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions and Sirens of Titan. I enjoyed both, and plan on reading all the Vonnegut that we have.I recently finished his Mother Night. I really enjoyed it. Sure, it’s a dark book, what with the Nazis and drunks and betrayal and all the rest, but that’s how it goes when humans are emotionally splayed before you. Fictional characters seem quite real, incorporating history, etc.

I really don’t have an intelligent thing to say about the book. I just wanted to make note of it before I forgot to record the fact that I actually read something. I’m certainly going to fall considerably short of my goal… what was it? Thirty books in 2006? Something like that. It’s already May, and I’ve read, what, three non-school books? Pretty pathetic.

I will say that Campbell was quite believable. I believe him when he says he didn’t mean all those nasty Nazi propaganda things he said– that he was doing it as a spy. I know he’s vindicated in the end, and his US contact comes forward, but even before then I was in his corner, even when he was at his most despicable.

Doldrums of unemployment

I sent out another letter and resume today. A pre-professional, part-time, university archives gig.

Fingers crossed, please.

MIA

I’ve been a bit out of the loop lately.

To sum up:

• Went to a Great Big Sea concert. It was fun.
• Finished the semester with 3.8 gpa
• Got wicked sick, and have been on my ass for the last week and a half
• My computer has been unreliable, and sometimes reboots for no reason
• Crookshanks had to go to the cat hospital, but is doing much better

That about brings us up to speed. I had a post prepared regarding the concert that took place a month ago, but I couldn’t upload a picture, so it’s been sitting in my drafts folder all this time. Perhaps I’ll post it later.

We’re going to see Michael Ian Black tonight at the Paradise. His first time doing stand up. Should be interesting. And amusing.

Stop. Spooky Time.

For all you Dracula enthusiasts out there, I think you should check this out:

Dracula, 1897 in Live Journal

It’s going to be really cool. I’ve been reading 19th Century correspondence for the last 10 weeks, and this book is a compilation of letters, telegrams, etc. Each will be posted according to the date in the book, starting today. Fun!