I like to write a lot. I always have. I consider writing to be one of my only talents in life, and if you think I lack talent when it comes to writing, keep it to yourself. Bitch.
Here's the problem: I do not have the right personality to be a professional writer. On paper, writing professionally sounds like kind of a glamorous life, the kind of life where you could sit on your enclosed sun porch with your laptop, a fat sleeping cat, and a cup of tea while you write the day away. But I do not have an enclosed sun porch, and that's why professional writing doesn't suit me.
Actually, professional writing doesn't suit me because I don't handle rejection well. I am very thin-skinned and take everything personally. I tried to pitch stories to a few magazines once, and got either rejected or ignored, and I just gave up on my writing career then and there. And yeah, yeah, I know, J.K. Rowling got rejected 75 times before she found a publisher for Harry Potter, and that automatically means that all people who get rejected are destined to eventually become mega-millionaire literary superstars.
Anyway. I do not like rejection. So I'm keeping writing as a hobby. I probably wouldn't enjoy it that much if I did it professionally anyway, because it's all fun and games until something becomes your job.
And thankfully, in this day and age, any amateur writer can publish his or her own blog ... for free! Plus maybe some literary agent will just be tooling around the World Wide Web one day and stumble upon your blog, love it, and offer you a huge book deal! Especially when you've admitted that you're thin-skinned and probably an editor's worst nightmare!
The thing is, as much as I joke about them, blogs serve a useful purpose. I think ... and here is where I state something that everybody already knows ... but I think that the ability for real-life people to talk about their real lives has provided a major source of support for the rest of us real-life people. Hence, the mom blog industry. Ten years ago, I don't think there were a lot of opportunities for actual moms to vent about their actual lives, which means that there were a lot of other moms out there thinking they were the only people who had the particular problems that they did. And yes, pre-blogs you would probably vent to your friends, but I think it takes the anonymity of the Internet to truly open up about your feelings.
But since reading and writing blogs has sort of become a form of no-cost therapy, I also think that sometimes blogging is not so much a hobby for me as it is a medically-necessary cathartic experience. I don't usually find blogging to be an escape, so much as it is an outlet. Which also means that blogging can make you get bogged down in your own petty problems. Therefore, I need to keep the amount of time I spend writing and reading blogs in reason. (Also I could invent a new term: blogged down.)
Which does not mean anybody should stop reading my blog! I need the 6 readers I can get! (Yes, I did add one more hypothetical reader since the last time I made that same self-deprecating remark.) And thank you for joining me on my 6-day discussion of my hobbies. I will talk to you again tomorrow, when I'll have a whole new topic to write about.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Hobby Discussion Day 5: Flower Arrangement
I'm going to make this quick. I have two pies in the oven, and when they are done baking I'm going to take a brief nap.
I like to arrange flowers. I'm not sure how this hobby came about. I think it was because I realized that I actually liked to cut and manipulate grocery store bouquets. In contrast, one time I brought my friend a bouquet and she just took it out of the plastic and threw it in a vase. The look of it bugged me. So I decided I must have strong feelings when it came to the aesthetics of flowers.
Now, when I lived in L.A., there was a wholesale flower market where any old person off the street could go and get discount flowers. Here in Chicago, the flower markets are only open to professionals, so regular people are forced to buy flowers at the grocery store or Costco. Not only are these flowers more expensive, they are also usually arranged for you. And you can't easily buy fillers or greenery.
Let me say that I do have an in at one flower market that is about half an hour away. This is because I attended a one-day seminar at a flower design school, and that school has a special deal with that particular market, wherein students can shop there. I have never tried it, though, mostly due to the distance, but also due to my fear that my flower school connections won't work and I won't get past the flower market bouncers.
So, I do what I can with grocery store and Costco flowers. I do enjoy arranging flowers tremendously, and, just to toot my own horn a little, the lady at the flower school said I had a very good sense of balance when it comes to arrangements. (Let me tell you what I suck at, though: cutting flowers with a floral knife. I actually had to get a bandaid while I was at flower school. And since the pumpkin-carving incident I'm kind of off knives, so I just cut with the inferior scissors.)
Here are a few pictures of my creations.
This first picture is from a random day in the winter that was so blah that I needed to add some color to it. I guess I liked the bright sunniness of lemons, so I made this lemon cake and some yellow arrangements to go with it. I liked how I used lemons in the vase (aka pitcher) for the big arrangement.
This is me with my flower school classmates, displaying our cascading bridal bouquets.
This is Leia wearing one of my flower school creations, which was technically a flower girl bracelet:
This is another bouquet I made at flower school:
And this is my latest creation, the pumpkin bouquets!
I like to arrange flowers. I'm not sure how this hobby came about. I think it was because I realized that I actually liked to cut and manipulate grocery store bouquets. In contrast, one time I brought my friend a bouquet and she just took it out of the plastic and threw it in a vase. The look of it bugged me. So I decided I must have strong feelings when it came to the aesthetics of flowers.
Now, when I lived in L.A., there was a wholesale flower market where any old person off the street could go and get discount flowers. Here in Chicago, the flower markets are only open to professionals, so regular people are forced to buy flowers at the grocery store or Costco. Not only are these flowers more expensive, they are also usually arranged for you. And you can't easily buy fillers or greenery.
Let me say that I do have an in at one flower market that is about half an hour away. This is because I attended a one-day seminar at a flower design school, and that school has a special deal with that particular market, wherein students can shop there. I have never tried it, though, mostly due to the distance, but also due to my fear that my flower school connections won't work and I won't get past the flower market bouncers.
So, I do what I can with grocery store and Costco flowers. I do enjoy arranging flowers tremendously, and, just to toot my own horn a little, the lady at the flower school said I had a very good sense of balance when it comes to arrangements. (Let me tell you what I suck at, though: cutting flowers with a floral knife. I actually had to get a bandaid while I was at flower school. And since the pumpkin-carving incident I'm kind of off knives, so I just cut with the inferior scissors.)
Here are a few pictures of my creations.
This first picture is from a random day in the winter that was so blah that I needed to add some color to it. I guess I liked the bright sunniness of lemons, so I made this lemon cake and some yellow arrangements to go with it. I liked how I used lemons in the vase (aka pitcher) for the big arrangement.
This is me with my flower school classmates, displaying our cascading bridal bouquets.
This is Leia wearing one of my flower school creations, which was technically a flower girl bracelet:
This is another bouquet I made at flower school:
And this is my latest creation, the pumpkin bouquets!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Hobby Discussion Day 4: Television
I figured I couldn't really discuss reading without also discussing its slightly less wholesome counterpart, television.
I have always loved television. When I was a kid, adults were always telling us that television rots your brain, and that made me feel guilty. (I think, in retrospect, I was probably an overly-conscientious child. What a waste of the carefree years of my life.) Anyway, nowadays, it feels like TV has experienced a bit of a resurgence, and that watching TV is considered a worthwhile way to pass the time again. (Not that anybody ever actually gave up on watching TV; there have been hit TV shows in every era. I'm just saying that now, TV is cool again, because somehow the consensus is that television's quality has improved.)
Everyone who knows me knows that my favorite show of all-time is Seinfeld. I could watch every episode of Seinfeld one hundred times and still not get sick of it. I can find parallels between Seinfeld and everyday life, even 11 years after the show went off the air.
Another fun fact about me: My favorite show when I was a teenager was Murphy Brown. And I'm sad because they almost never air reruns of that show, nor do they have DVDs beyond the first season. I guess that Dan Quayle lobby is pretty powerful.
Let's move on to current TV shows. (Not to be confused with Current TV, as invented by Al Gore. How many former VP mentions can I get in one blog post? Walter Mondale, Spiro Agnew, Hubert Humphrey!) Anyway, I have to admit that TV and I are on slightly bad terms now. I used to love, love, LOVE both Grey's Anatomy and The Office. Now I'm totally bored with both. I'm not at the point where I have canceled my DVR recordings of either show, but I am at the point where I usually just delete them without watching.
Nowadays on Thursday nights, I watch 30 Rock (because I have a girl crush on Tina Fey, and kind of want to be her) and Community. My husband and I both like those shows, which is rare because we don't have too many overlapping TV interests. Wednesdays I watch Glee (or, as I call it, Ally McBeal with teenagers), although I am going to get disgusted soon if they don't clear up the pregnancy storylines with both Quinn/Finn and Will/Stupid-ass Wife.
The only other piece of episodic television I tune into is Mad Men, which is wrapping up its season this week and won't come back on again for like another !@#$% year.
So, to sum up, I don't have that many shows left. But I still end up watching a lot of random TV, stuff like The Daily Show and pointless crap on cable like I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant. Actually, pretty much anything with a title relating to some crazy medical malody will grab me, such as My Giant Legs, Half Man-Half Tree, and 650-lb Virgin.
I have always loved television. When I was a kid, adults were always telling us that television rots your brain, and that made me feel guilty. (I think, in retrospect, I was probably an overly-conscientious child. What a waste of the carefree years of my life.) Anyway, nowadays, it feels like TV has experienced a bit of a resurgence, and that watching TV is considered a worthwhile way to pass the time again. (Not that anybody ever actually gave up on watching TV; there have been hit TV shows in every era. I'm just saying that now, TV is cool again, because somehow the consensus is that television's quality has improved.)
Everyone who knows me knows that my favorite show of all-time is Seinfeld. I could watch every episode of Seinfeld one hundred times and still not get sick of it. I can find parallels between Seinfeld and everyday life, even 11 years after the show went off the air.
Another fun fact about me: My favorite show when I was a teenager was Murphy Brown. And I'm sad because they almost never air reruns of that show, nor do they have DVDs beyond the first season. I guess that Dan Quayle lobby is pretty powerful.
Let's move on to current TV shows. (Not to be confused with Current TV, as invented by Al Gore. How many former VP mentions can I get in one blog post? Walter Mondale, Spiro Agnew, Hubert Humphrey!) Anyway, I have to admit that TV and I are on slightly bad terms now. I used to love, love, LOVE both Grey's Anatomy and The Office. Now I'm totally bored with both. I'm not at the point where I have canceled my DVR recordings of either show, but I am at the point where I usually just delete them without watching.
Nowadays on Thursday nights, I watch 30 Rock (because I have a girl crush on Tina Fey, and kind of want to be her) and Community. My husband and I both like those shows, which is rare because we don't have too many overlapping TV interests. Wednesdays I watch Glee (or, as I call it, Ally McBeal with teenagers), although I am going to get disgusted soon if they don't clear up the pregnancy storylines with both Quinn/Finn and Will/Stupid-ass Wife.
The only other piece of episodic television I tune into is Mad Men, which is wrapping up its season this week and won't come back on again for like another !@#$% year.
So, to sum up, I don't have that many shows left. But I still end up watching a lot of random TV, stuff like The Daily Show and pointless crap on cable like I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant. Actually, pretty much anything with a title relating to some crazy medical malody will grab me, such as My Giant Legs, Half Man-Half Tree, and 650-lb Virgin.
Lately, however, I think I have been spending my nights reading more and more. It's not because I'm becoming one of those annoying smug people who thinks she is above watching television. I think it's because reading is quieter. After a long day with my loud toddler son and his loud toddler cohorts, sometimes I need a little silence.
If you're sick of my discussions about my hobbies, I am only going for to go for two more days with this theme. Tomorrow I will discuss flower arrangement, and Saturday I will discuss blogging.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Hobby Discussion Day 3: Baking
Now, don't go assuming I'm actually a good baker. I can follow a recipe with about a 75% success rate, but it's not like I'm inventing all kinds of baked goods of my own or decorating all kinds of adorable sugar creations. But I do like to bake.
I like to bake because it distracts me from all of my other petty problems. I can't tell you how many times I have been mired in a bout of depression or anxiety, subsequently decided to bake something, and then realized a short while into measuring flour and sugar that I'm surprisingly calm. I think just the feel of flour and sugar is calming. (Also baking bread is good for anxiety. You know, because of the kneading. The waiting to rise part is not good for anxiety, though.)
And you have to measure stuff out precisely when you bake, which not only contributes to the distraction, but also appeals to my anal side. I am not one of those people who can make recipes with "a pinch of this and a dollop of that." I need to measure things out. I mean, I'm not level-off-the-measuring-cup-with-a-knife precise, but I like to measure things out. (And it's kind of a necessity to measure on Weight Watchers. I think at the end of the day, every single measuring cup and spoon I own is in the dishwasher.) I don't like to improvise. And with baking, you have to follow the recipe to a T.
I like how baking makes me feel all warm and gooey and nourishing. Everybody is happy when there are baked goods! And the house smells pretty good, which is something that even a Weight Watcher can enjoy.
Here's the problem: baking leads to eating. What person on Weight Watchers would be stupid enough to actually create baked goods in her very own home? And even though I really try to give my baked goods away to my local friends, I often feel obligated to at least have a taste of them to make sure they are edible.
I know, I could still get the benefits of baking if I made some low-fat, Weight Watchers-friendly recipes. Now, I don't about fellow WWs is, but in my opinion the portion size of most WW baked goods is too small to be actually worth the points value. Like, this one tiny muffin is 3 points?!
Anyway, I think the positives of baking far outweigh the negatives. And until my local friends tell me to stop, I'm going to keep baking and giving away my creations.
Now I am going to post some photos of things I have baked, arranged in a very haphazard manner, because I spent a long time trying to fix them and it just stressed me out.
I like to bake because it distracts me from all of my other petty problems. I can't tell you how many times I have been mired in a bout of depression or anxiety, subsequently decided to bake something, and then realized a short while into measuring flour and sugar that I'm surprisingly calm. I think just the feel of flour and sugar is calming. (Also baking bread is good for anxiety. You know, because of the kneading. The waiting to rise part is not good for anxiety, though.)
And you have to measure stuff out precisely when you bake, which not only contributes to the distraction, but also appeals to my anal side. I am not one of those people who can make recipes with "a pinch of this and a dollop of that." I need to measure things out. I mean, I'm not level-off-the-measuring-cup-with-a-knife precise, but I like to measure things out. (And it's kind of a necessity to measure on Weight Watchers. I think at the end of the day, every single measuring cup and spoon I own is in the dishwasher.) I don't like to improvise. And with baking, you have to follow the recipe to a T.
I like how baking makes me feel all warm and gooey and nourishing. Everybody is happy when there are baked goods! And the house smells pretty good, which is something that even a Weight Watcher can enjoy.
Here's the problem: baking leads to eating. What person on Weight Watchers would be stupid enough to actually create baked goods in her very own home? And even though I really try to give my baked goods away to my local friends, I often feel obligated to at least have a taste of them to make sure they are edible.
I know, I could still get the benefits of baking if I made some low-fat, Weight Watchers-friendly recipes. Now, I don't about fellow WWs is, but in my opinion the portion size of most WW baked goods is too small to be actually worth the points value. Like, this one tiny muffin is 3 points?!
Anyway, I think the positives of baking far outweigh the negatives. And until my local friends tell me to stop, I'm going to keep baking and giving away my creations.
Now I am going to post some photos of things I have baked, arranged in a very haphazard manner, because I spent a long time trying to fix them and it just stressed me out.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Hobby Discussion Day 2: Reading
I'm proud to say that I have read more books in 2009 than in any other year. At first I thought my leisure reading time might take a hit when I quit my job and no longer had 90 minutes of train-commuting time to read, but in actuality I have much more of a desire to read for pleasure now that I'm not reading math books all day.
Here are some books I have read lately:
Well, since we last spoke, I finished Middlesex. Overall a good story, but for me I'm not sure it was the life-changing, eye-opening, amazingly-described-in-superlatives book that other people said it was. And I had a problem with the author's high-falutant vocabulary, some of which I didn't understand. And I like to think I have an average vocabulary.
But I liked Middlesex enough to see it through to the end, which is more than I can say for my next reading endeavor, Outlander. I wanted to like it. It's about time travel, which I like in non-geeky contexts. (To give you a reference frame here, Back to the Future would be a non-geeky time travel movie. Doctor Who would be a geekier version of the time-travel genre.) But I only got to page 25 of Outlander and realized I was not looking forward to reading it each night. And since it was a library book anyway, I just up and quit reading it.
Next I picked up the fluffiest, lightest chick-lit book you could ever imagine, Nora Roberts' Vision in White. It's the first in a 4-part series about these four women who live together in a big house and run a wedding-planning business that hosts weddings in the same house. Think of the female camaraderie of Sex in the City, with a lot of pretty, fun wedding details thrown in. Oh, and there's the romance with Mr. Perfect, complete with gratuitous sex details. Since this was a book about weddings, I can't help but use wedding-related metaphors to describe its fluffiness. Think of the fluffiest tulle dress and frothy cake frosting, and you have this book. Which is not to say I didn't like it. A book this light is good sometimes. Sometimes you don't want to think too hard, or be too saddened by what you're reading. This book was perfect to fill the completely frivolous niche. I have the second book in the series, Bed of Roses, which I think I will save for the next time I'm craving something light. It focuses specifically on the character who is the florist in the wedding business, so it taps into one of my other interests as well. It just might be perfect for one of those crappy winter days when you need some color in your life.
So, next the library came through with my requested copy of Jennifer Weiner's summer hit, Best Friends Forever. What I like about Jennifer Weiner books is that they're sort of a happy medium between completely unsubstantive chick-lit and serious, tragic novels. There's enough to make you think in there, but they're still pretty quick reads. But I'm only on like the third chapter, so I can't provide a review yet.
I believe after this I will read Superfreakonomics, the new follow-up to Freakonomics, which I loved. (Side note, one of the reasons I loved it is that I e-mailed the author at the University of Chicago and asked him to autograph a book for my uncle, who was an economics professor. The author wrote back immediately and said sure, come by anytime. I sent my husband because he worked at the U of C at the time.) Anyway, it looks like Superfreakonomics has gotten some kind of crummy reviews on Amazon, so perhaps I will be disappointed. I'll let you know.
After that foray into statistics (albeit pop-culture-related, way-more-interesting-than-anything-you-studied-in-college statistics), I'm thinking of going back to historical fiction. Anyone have any recs?
Here are some books I have read lately:
Well, since we last spoke, I finished Middlesex. Overall a good story, but for me I'm not sure it was the life-changing, eye-opening, amazingly-described-in-superlatives book that other people said it was. And I had a problem with the author's high-falutant vocabulary, some of which I didn't understand. And I like to think I have an average vocabulary.
But I liked Middlesex enough to see it through to the end, which is more than I can say for my next reading endeavor, Outlander. I wanted to like it. It's about time travel, which I like in non-geeky contexts. (To give you a reference frame here, Back to the Future would be a non-geeky time travel movie. Doctor Who would be a geekier version of the time-travel genre.) But I only got to page 25 of Outlander and realized I was not looking forward to reading it each night. And since it was a library book anyway, I just up and quit reading it.
Next I picked up the fluffiest, lightest chick-lit book you could ever imagine, Nora Roberts' Vision in White. It's the first in a 4-part series about these four women who live together in a big house and run a wedding-planning business that hosts weddings in the same house. Think of the female camaraderie of Sex in the City, with a lot of pretty, fun wedding details thrown in. Oh, and there's the romance with Mr. Perfect, complete with gratuitous sex details. Since this was a book about weddings, I can't help but use wedding-related metaphors to describe its fluffiness. Think of the fluffiest tulle dress and frothy cake frosting, and you have this book. Which is not to say I didn't like it. A book this light is good sometimes. Sometimes you don't want to think too hard, or be too saddened by what you're reading. This book was perfect to fill the completely frivolous niche. I have the second book in the series, Bed of Roses, which I think I will save for the next time I'm craving something light. It focuses specifically on the character who is the florist in the wedding business, so it taps into one of my other interests as well. It just might be perfect for one of those crappy winter days when you need some color in your life.
So, next the library came through with my requested copy of Jennifer Weiner's summer hit, Best Friends Forever. What I like about Jennifer Weiner books is that they're sort of a happy medium between completely unsubstantive chick-lit and serious, tragic novels. There's enough to make you think in there, but they're still pretty quick reads. But I'm only on like the third chapter, so I can't provide a review yet.
I believe after this I will read Superfreakonomics, the new follow-up to Freakonomics, which I loved. (Side note, one of the reasons I loved it is that I e-mailed the author at the University of Chicago and asked him to autograph a book for my uncle, who was an economics professor. The author wrote back immediately and said sure, come by anytime. I sent my husband because he worked at the U of C at the time.) Anyway, it looks like Superfreakonomics has gotten some kind of crummy reviews on Amazon, so perhaps I will be disappointed. I'll let you know.
After that foray into statistics (albeit pop-culture-related, way-more-interesting-than-anything-you-studied-in-college statistics), I'm thinking of going back to historical fiction. Anyone have any recs?
Monday, November 2, 2009
Hobby Discussion Day 1: The Gym ... ???
It has been about a year since I became a stay-at-home mom, which has turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. But when I initially quit my job, everybody (myself included) had a lot of uncertainty as to whether or not I could occupy my days in meaningful, non-depression-inducing ways.
But a year later, people sometimes comment on how busy and scheduled the boy and I are during the day. I feel like I don't give myself enough credit for my motivation to try new and interesting things. In a way, I think now that I no longer have projects related to either school or work, I invent self-improvement projects. (Which, actually, sounds a little pathetic.) Projects like, "This fall, we're going to try something we've never done before," and, "I'm going to attend all 7 of my gym classes this week."
About a week ago, I started to write a post listing all my hobbies and the recent developments with them. The post got very long and unwieldy, and it generally just ventured into "Who the hell would want to read this?" territory. So I thought I would break that post up a little and devote several days to a discussion of my hobbies.
Today's hobby is The Gym. I am not sure I can call the gym a hobby, because, like most people, I have a love/hate relationship with the gym. But lately I have looked forward to going to the gym more and more, so I have decided it's a hobby for me. I mean, I [try to] go 6 days a week, so even if it's not really a hobby, it does take up a lot of my time. And the gym has a daycare that Nathan enjoys, so it gets more appealing as we head toward that time of year when we look for indoor entertainment.
So, as most of you know because you're my friends/relatives, my only God-given athletic talent is swimming. For my first year of gym membership, I only used the pool. Sometimes I took aquacize, but mostly I just swam laps. It was awesome in terms of my mental health, but not so much my physical health because (a) it's generally not the best calorie-burning sport to begin with, and (b) my body was getting too efficient at it, and that made the calorie-burning even more pathetic.
Therefore, in September I decided to try some new activities at the gym. I hate, hate, HATE exercise machines, so I never go to those. The classes really push you, and have the added benefit of being scheduled at specific times, so they are harder to flake on. (On the other hand, it's hard to get there on time because of unforeseen toddler-related stall tactics that make us late.) Anyway, these are the 7 classes I have been taking lately:
Monday: Strong (weight training)
Tuesday: Yoga (don't let the dim lights and calming music fool you; this is a serious workout)
Wednesday: Interval Mix (which was once some other kind of class, but instead has evolved into 1/3 Boot Camp, 1/3 weight training, and 1/3 of the evil spinning)
Thursday: H20 Works (the harder, less-for-old-people version of aquacize, which is still my most pleasant class of the week)
Friday: Zumba (the trendy Latin dance-based workout that I suck at)
Saturday: Back-to-back classes, Power Hour (High/Low aerobics) and then Strong (weight training)
Sunday: Gym skip day (oh, beloved Sunday)
As I said, I attempt to go to all 7 classes, but scheduling conflicts with other non-gym activities usually get in the way of some class or other. And I really feel that my mental health has taken a hit now that I have quit swimming, which is a problem because when the hell am I supposed to squeeze that in? I do not really want to go to the gym more than once a day. I guess I could swim after some of those classes, because Nathan is already at the daycare anyway. Except a lot of my classes end right when the daycare closes, so it's not possible to do anything afterward. (Sometimes, if we're going somewhere afterward, I actually have to retrieve the boy from daycare and make him hang out with me while I take a shower.) So it would not be possible to swim after my Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday classes. And the Wednesday one ends right around dinner time. Swimming before sweaty classes seems like a waste, and you'd have to do the classes with wet hair and chlorine smell.
Anyway, this is not that interesting to you. Bottom line, I might have to start going to the gym twice a day, and I might have to make one of those daily visits before Nathan wakes up. So it's back to the high school dreaded early morning swim workouts.
Oh well, it's a moot point until Thursday when I get these stitches out of my finger. I'm not supposed to do any soaking-based activities.
So, that's the story of the gym. Thank you for joining me on Day 1 of my hobby discussion.
But a year later, people sometimes comment on how busy and scheduled the boy and I are during the day. I feel like I don't give myself enough credit for my motivation to try new and interesting things. In a way, I think now that I no longer have projects related to either school or work, I invent self-improvement projects. (Which, actually, sounds a little pathetic.) Projects like, "This fall, we're going to try something we've never done before," and, "I'm going to attend all 7 of my gym classes this week."
About a week ago, I started to write a post listing all my hobbies and the recent developments with them. The post got very long and unwieldy, and it generally just ventured into "Who the hell would want to read this?" territory. So I thought I would break that post up a little and devote several days to a discussion of my hobbies.
Today's hobby is The Gym. I am not sure I can call the gym a hobby, because, like most people, I have a love/hate relationship with the gym. But lately I have looked forward to going to the gym more and more, so I have decided it's a hobby for me. I mean, I [try to] go 6 days a week, so even if it's not really a hobby, it does take up a lot of my time. And the gym has a daycare that Nathan enjoys, so it gets more appealing as we head toward that time of year when we look for indoor entertainment.
So, as most of you know because you're my friends/relatives, my only God-given athletic talent is swimming. For my first year of gym membership, I only used the pool. Sometimes I took aquacize, but mostly I just swam laps. It was awesome in terms of my mental health, but not so much my physical health because (a) it's generally not the best calorie-burning sport to begin with, and (b) my body was getting too efficient at it, and that made the calorie-burning even more pathetic.
Therefore, in September I decided to try some new activities at the gym. I hate, hate, HATE exercise machines, so I never go to those. The classes really push you, and have the added benefit of being scheduled at specific times, so they are harder to flake on. (On the other hand, it's hard to get there on time because of unforeseen toddler-related stall tactics that make us late.) Anyway, these are the 7 classes I have been taking lately:
Monday: Strong (weight training)
Tuesday: Yoga (don't let the dim lights and calming music fool you; this is a serious workout)
Wednesday: Interval Mix (which was once some other kind of class, but instead has evolved into 1/3 Boot Camp, 1/3 weight training, and 1/3 of the evil spinning)
Thursday: H20 Works (the harder, less-for-old-people version of aquacize, which is still my most pleasant class of the week)
Friday: Zumba (the trendy Latin dance-based workout that I suck at)
Saturday: Back-to-back classes, Power Hour (High/Low aerobics) and then Strong (weight training)
Sunday: Gym skip day (oh, beloved Sunday)
As I said, I attempt to go to all 7 classes, but scheduling conflicts with other non-gym activities usually get in the way of some class or other. And I really feel that my mental health has taken a hit now that I have quit swimming, which is a problem because when the hell am I supposed to squeeze that in? I do not really want to go to the gym more than once a day. I guess I could swim after some of those classes, because Nathan is already at the daycare anyway. Except a lot of my classes end right when the daycare closes, so it's not possible to do anything afterward. (Sometimes, if we're going somewhere afterward, I actually have to retrieve the boy from daycare and make him hang out with me while I take a shower.) So it would not be possible to swim after my Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday classes. And the Wednesday one ends right around dinner time. Swimming before sweaty classes seems like a waste, and you'd have to do the classes with wet hair and chlorine smell.
Anyway, this is not that interesting to you. Bottom line, I might have to start going to the gym twice a day, and I might have to make one of those daily visits before Nathan wakes up. So it's back to the high school dreaded early morning swim workouts.
Oh well, it's a moot point until Thursday when I get these stitches out of my finger. I'm not supposed to do any soaking-based activities.
So, that's the story of the gym. Thank you for joining me on Day 1 of my hobby discussion.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
November First
Well, first of all, I pledged to do National Blog Posting Month (or, abbreviated, the verbal diarrhea-sounding NaBloPoMo). I have to write a post every single day for the month of November. So check back, because I'm doing this to entertain you, my loyal readers. All 5 of you.
So, it's the first day of November. Do you know what that means? It means Halloween is finally over! Don't get me wrong, I love Halloween. It's just, does anybody feel like Halloween went on for several months this year?
Part of the problem is that retail establishments don't have any theme to showcase between back-to-school and Halloween, which is a good 2 months. So as soon as Target clears out the school supplies, they bust out the candy corns. Then you get to feeling that if you don't have your kid's Halloween costume by October 1, it's probably too late and your kid is doomed to be a ghost wearing a bed sheet.
Anyway, so in total, we did the following fall/Halloween things:
1. Homewood Fall Fest
2. Oak Lawn Fall Fest
3. Apple/pumpkin picking at County Line Orchard
4. Scarecrow exhibit at the Morton Arboretum
5. Bengston's Pumpkin Fest
6. Two kids' Halloween parties
7. One adults' Halloween party
8. Costume parade at library
9. Halloween party at Nathan's babysitter's
10. Trick-or-treating
11. Park district Halloween party
That stuff all lasted about a month. It was pure fun, and Nathan had fun, and we got some great photos, but every single one of these things was a high-energy event. And Nathan is at that stage where every transition is a giant hassle. So each time we get ready to leave for some fun-filled, once-in-a-lifetime activity, Nathan throws a massive tantrum because he wants to stay home and play with his plastic toys. Then when we finally get to the fun holiday activity, he cries when it's time to leave.
So, I'm happy for November. Thanksgiving is a fun, low-key holiday, and it really only lasts one day. Of course, Target is already breaking out the Christmas stuff ...
So, it's the first day of November. Do you know what that means? It means Halloween is finally over! Don't get me wrong, I love Halloween. It's just, does anybody feel like Halloween went on for several months this year?
Part of the problem is that retail establishments don't have any theme to showcase between back-to-school and Halloween, which is a good 2 months. So as soon as Target clears out the school supplies, they bust out the candy corns. Then you get to feeling that if you don't have your kid's Halloween costume by October 1, it's probably too late and your kid is doomed to be a ghost wearing a bed sheet.
Anyway, so in total, we did the following fall/Halloween things:
1. Homewood Fall Fest
2. Oak Lawn Fall Fest
3. Apple/pumpkin picking at County Line Orchard
4. Scarecrow exhibit at the Morton Arboretum
5. Bengston's Pumpkin Fest
6. Two kids' Halloween parties
7. One adults' Halloween party
8. Costume parade at library
9. Halloween party at Nathan's babysitter's
10. Trick-or-treating
11. Park district Halloween party
That stuff all lasted about a month. It was pure fun, and Nathan had fun, and we got some great photos, but every single one of these things was a high-energy event. And Nathan is at that stage where every transition is a giant hassle. So each time we get ready to leave for some fun-filled, once-in-a-lifetime activity, Nathan throws a massive tantrum because he wants to stay home and play with his plastic toys. Then when we finally get to the fun holiday activity, he cries when it's time to leave.
So, I'm happy for November. Thanksgiving is a fun, low-key holiday, and it really only lasts one day. Of course, Target is already breaking out the Christmas stuff ...
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