Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

I looked at the calendar this morning and realized that the practice triathlon I thought was a couple weeks off is actually a week from today.

Whoops.

So I swam this afternoon, and biked to dinner (City Lights, with a new gay vegan here in town), since the mountain bike got out of the shop yesterday. New tires, new brake pads, tightened & realigned deraileurs & brakes, all of these were added or done and it made for a very nice ride. I think the tires I chose are a tad more street friendly than the last ones, making it overall more pleasant. Was going to get up and do a ride on the tri bike, but was up verrrrry late with dinner and a very pleasant conversation with a young gentleman, so no biking early.

Instead I did more stuff around the house, finally hanging the grocery bag holder under the kitchen sink, and breaking down and trashing the last three boxes. Cleaned up the bookshelf in the front hallway, rearranged the liquor supply/wine rack, generally put things away from the living room. It’s looking much more put together, and will be great once I tackle the book collection and figure out how I want to order that. I’m still leaning toward more shelving, with some closed shelves on the bottom for stuff like computer supplies and the like that don’t need to be on display.

Went to take the dead lamp out of the living room (one of the two torchieres died about a month after I moved in), forgot that with no bulb in the glass had no anchor, and SMASH went that. Thank heavens I had shoes on. Brought home the need for a decent broom, even with a vacuum cleaner.

I live such an exciting life now.

Finally got the damned DVD/VHS player hooked up. Only been what, three and a half months since I moved in? I need a longer coaxial cable so the thing can sit back further, but for now it works, which is great. Even got the aspect ratio right, so it’s showing wide screen. Yay. No more watching DVDs on the laptop. A newer DVD player would show a better picture on this TV, but for now, I’m simply happy I can watch them again.

The Incredibles is looking pretty darned good.

This morning’s run was great… for the first 4 miles. Had a nice breeze, heart rate was behaving itself, mostly shaded. Then I hit the Awakening, turned that corner and Death Awaited. Breeze was non-existent, shade was precarious at best, the heart rate shot up and forced walking breaks. Yuck. Needless to say the last three miles sucked gorilla butt.

But, I still got out and ran.

Been thinking a lot about dating lately, and I’m still of the opinion that, while I’ve gone on dates, I’m still not ready for anything yet. It’s like when I think about eating meat – I can visualize getting right up to the point of taking a bite, then I just freak out and can’t do it. Everything just keeps telling me I’m not ready yet, despite trying. I can still be witty and charming engaging and all that, but that essential spark is just not there for me.

Which is not necesarily a bad thing (though it is occasionally an annoying thing).

Took a quiet night tonight, not really spending any time online, played some on the DS (there were so many weeds all over my town in Animal Crossing it wasn’t even close to funny – that’s what I get for taking 2 months off from the game). Talked with K for the first time in a while, he’s doing well, which was good to hear. Nice and quiet, which was needed.

Tomorrow’s run should be interesting. It’s a short one (thankfully), but I received my tempo trainer finally today after being on backorder for two months now. So we’ll see how the pacing goes with picking up the feet to a set rythmn. Should be interesting.

I hate my digestive system. I suspect the spicy food from the other day has wreaked the havoc that is playing in there currently. Grrr. I want a do-over, with an iron digestive system the next time around, thanks. No lactose intolerance, no ickies when I eat (my favorite) spicy foods, just eat whatever I want and not get any sort of upset in the balance of the lower body. Is that so much to ask?

Did get some play in this evening, regardless. Must’ve been my 6 month mark, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Shan’t go into more detail than that, this time.

The usual 7 miler planned for tomorrow morning, so it’s off to bed here so I can run before it gets too beastly out there. As it is it’ll easily be 80, even at the early hour. Thankfully the cold front comes through Friday to kill this thing off.

On my morning run this morning I:

Stared at army boys running (the joys of living a block from a base);
Helped a woman who was massively lost get back on her way;
Stared at more army boys running;
Got really, really warm.

Was an okay run. Did feel a touch of the soreness from Sunday’s run, but not too bad. Also had fun staring down a squirrel as I was stretching. Was slow enough that he came down to check things out (not too close to me), but was cute, for a tree rat.

Had a couple friends who live here in the cult co-op over for martinis this evening. Needed to practice on boys who wouldn’t care that I had no clue how to make them. Now that I know how (the gin variety, at least), I’ll have to have some more folks over.

It’s summer in DC, it’s hot, it’s humid, it’s time to mosey.

That does not mean walking at my normal “get out of my way before I barrel you over like the speed bump that you are” pace, it means getting back to my southern roots and walking at a measured pace designed not to leave you drenched when you get to your destination.

And by heavens, it works.

I managed not to be soaked by the time I got to work this morning. Tomorrow may be another story as I have a run planned in the morning and that tends to make me a tad more prone to sweating on the walk. But at least for one day I was not a total victim of the weather. Thursday should be really fun, what with my normal 7 miler to do.

In wretched news, the YWCA, where I swim, is closing their pool as of the end of August. Evidently it’s too big a financial drain on them, so they’re dumping it. As a result, I will be dumping them. I’ve written to the manager (with a CC to the overall email addy) asking how to cancel the membership. Which means I now have to find a new gym. Grrr. I’ll miss the towel service, but what a pain in the ass. Looks like I may be moving to the (not so hot) gym around the corner after all.

Assassins was really well done. Small space, big voices (mostly – Lee Harvey Oswald was a little weak), and really, really well staged. The curtain, a flag, dropped and the assassins and other cast members were sitting in an exact duplicate of the seat set up that we were in. Great commentary on who was where and what not. From there, it went really well. Good music, good show. Won’t be playing much longer, but I recommend it if you can get to it.

Was good to see L again. He’s been up in Maine or otherwise busy for most of the summer. Had fun catching up.

Legs are surprisingly well this evening, post-run. Sucking down water like there’s no tomorrow, though, and the piss at the resturant was pretty darned dark (dehydration, anyone?), but should get back to balance this evening before bed.

Ran this morning. Two big lessons: 1. I need to be more consistent in my training; and 2. I need to run earlier in the morning.

‘Twas a trifle warm out there today. Because I was going for longer than my nice little Thursday morning 7 miler I decided to leave the District and head down the Mount Vernon Trail. Was quite nice, a good trail, well maintained and fairly busy. Only complaint I had was that they need more trees (for shade) but less vegetation (which blocked the nice breeze off the river). Otherwise it was a pretty good run. Did two hours, and out and back with a little side detour in East Potomac Park (found out where the driveway off Buckeye Drive goes now!).

Did a load of cold wash just now. Need to do more laundry, but no time. L is picking me up to go see Assassins at Signature Theater this evening, with an early dinner beforehand.

Put away the ‘toys’ from where they were, out in the open, to not quite so out-in-the-open. Sorted them by purpose (restraint, penetration, etc.) and put them away accordingly. Even managed to hang up a couple of pieces of art – no longer will I have to worry about smacking the Japanese prints I’m keeping for my parents as they are now hanging in the front hall. The mirror’s up near the front hall, my first cross-stich is up in the bathroom hallway, and there are still books all over the floor in front of the bookshelf. Bit by bit.

I helped a friend clean/declutter today. Never again will I complain about having too much stuff.

Oh.
My.
God.

We spent three hours and barely made a dent in the one room I tackled (the bedroom). Only got to surfaces, no drawers, though the ones I saw needed it, badly. Cleared off two pieces, a dresser and the bedside table. Got most of the desk done before we had to leave. I’ve not seen that much dust in forever.

Dear heavens what a mess.

The dining room table was the pantry. The refrigerator was stuffed to the gills. Tiles were loose in the kitchen. Three different coffee makers. I made him toss out a couple boxes of things still in the box out on the side porch. He’ll get a huge break on his taxes when he donates all this crap, but man what a mess. the living room had dry cleaning laid out on the couch. There were no surfaces on which to sit, they were all covered in tchachkes or clothes or whatever. Expired medications. Old bills. Catalogs. Magazines never removed from the plastic wrap. Printer paper that was so wrinkled as to be useless. Clutter, clutter, clutter.

Never filth, just clutter. But far too much of it.

I may go back later to help, but only with the assistance of another person, I think. Definitely at least a three person job, two of whom need to be uninvolved emotionally with the clutter. Ugh.

I have a set of pages I read on a regular basis, every evening, and I added my LJ friends list and the page I use to write on my web site, which now prods me to write, ready or not. A purposeful thing, meant to force my fingers to get moving.

I managed a great feat today – I unpacked the last two boxes of books. Most of them are on bookshelves now. Most of them. I discovered that I need more bookshelves to fit them all, even with having dumped as many as I did when I moved. A bunch of paperbacks are now crammed onto some shelves in multiple layers. I’d prefer they be visible now, but in time they will be.

But now I’m completely moved in. Everything might not have a ‘permanent’ home yet, but it’s all out and mostly put away. Even managed to hang another piece of art. Slowly it’s become home.