My Weekend in Food

Catchka and I hooked up at about 9:30 on Saturday to work out together at my gym. We were on machines and underway by about 9:40. I decided that because of the annual Chile party at the home of some friends of Sarah's that I would try to maximize the cardio beforehand. I ended up doing two back-to-back elliptical routines. I was on for a total of 68 minutes and burned about 870 calories. My energy level was really amped. I could have easily gone for 30 more minutes, but decided to get to the lifting.

sidebar: my hip flexor now feels a bit strained. I'll be icing it tonight. May be skipping out on the gym tomorrow. Don't want to make it worse and not be able to spin on Tuesday and Thursday.

C and I did the full suite of upper and lower body machines before calling it quits and heading over to the One World for a much-needed post workout meal (green tea, mushroom & goat cheese omelette, and home fries with hot sauce).

Once dropped off at Sarah's place, I grabbed a quick shower and then she and I headed to the party (I did significantly better than I've done in previous years where food and alcohol consumption are concerned) to fraternize with the other revelers. I had the equivalent of about two drinks and one plate of nacho chips with cheese dip and guacamole (nothing at this party is conservative, so it's all about quantity control). Sarah, her friend M, and I all shared several bite-size desserts. The bite and nibble route is best with sweets, I find.

This morning Sarah and I met up with her parents at the City cafe for brunch then we headed north to the Owings Mills Mall so I could give S my opinion on which new frames she should buy. A quick trip to Trader Joe's later and I was dropped off at a light rail stop so I could make my way home.

Breakfast was huge so I just started to feel hungry again at about 4, where I ate some leftovers from yesterday's party. And that is it for indulgences this week. Am 4 pounds from interim goal and 10 pounds from true goal.

Meandering

The Mt. Vernon Book Festival is this weekend. Last night after a humble meal of pan sauteed tofu with scallions and portabellas and a third of a baked sweet potato, I set off 5 or 6 blocks due south for the event's first night.

Decaf coffee in hand and the "Julien's Jazz Cafe" playlist I made a year and a half ago blaring in my ears, I was the city I love so much. My new favourite hat--a brown newsboy cap--placed to a sophisticated,but not cocky angle gave me an arty air.

I had Charlie "Yardbird" Parker on the brain. Have taken to listening to podcasts while I work and a new find is "NPR Jazz Profiles" narrated by Nancy Wilson. I listened to the two-parter on Bird yesterday and I fell a little in love with him. I have a lot of Parker on the iPod, but I didn't really know his story. He was my age when he died. As is often the case, right when he was on the brink of big changes and wanting to make peace with his past.

Dizzy Gillespie recounted his last conversation with Charlie. He implored his friend to save him. Dizzy told him "Yard, no one can save you. You have to save yourself."

I feel a timid little poem trying to gather the courage to make itself known.

The Other Shoe

For days now I've had an unsinkable stone in my stomach. The feeling that I am forgetting bad news, or the uncanny understanding that I already know something horrible is coming, though I haven't been told. I keep realizing that tomorrow is the day my father died. last year. The memory of the days and their feeling has created a faux prescience of some other sorrow.

Autumnal Equinox

Welcome to my time of year...

Grammatique!

You Scored an A

You got 10/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

Busy

This week promises to be a fury of personal and professional activity. Big deliverables deadlines at the office, meetings to attend, and pages to process will keep me busy from about 7:30 to 5:30 every day.

Certain personal projects are taking shape and will require my attention in the evenings. I am meeting with a former prof for a cheap bite at the beginning of the week to discuss one of them.

Weekend was lovely. Home from Friday evening to Saturday night for a belated birthday celebration with my mom and sisters. We went to see "Titanic: The Musical" a la dinner theatre last night. It was a credible production, but obviously a bit of a downer, thematically. No way around it.

Woke up this morning at about 9:45, ate a quick meal, then headed to the gym for 40 minutes on the arc trainer and 35 minutes of lifting. Sarah and I met for a late lunch then I came back home and did very light grocery shopping. A quick dinner of tilapia filets (2) and cauliflower out of the way in short order, I did the resistance bands program I like to fit in every Sunday.

Finally finished "Roman Holiday"! I'll mail that back to Netflix and await the next offering.

Snaggletooth & The Blowhard

So, it would seem that if you are waiting around for a public transit vehicle (in two separate cases today, it was the light rail)--be it at 5:30 in the morning or 5:30 in the evening--that it is open season where the men of Baltimore are concerned.

I have taken to riding the bus to the light rail on most mornings because I feel just a bit uncomfortable walking that four or five blocks at 5:20 in the morning. I did it for nearly 3 months before I realized that I could make use of the very reliable bus that stops just in front of my apartment building and lets off right at the light rail stop.

In any case, there is a small crowd of about 4 or 5 others who are on this bus every morning--one is a gentleman who is always mindful to wish me a good morning.

Today he indicated that a) I should smile more

sidebar: Why are men always telling me that?

and that b) he would love to take me out for dinner sometime or maybe for a walk in the park.

I went with my default "let him down easy" excuse. "Thank you so much for asking, but I have someone." I have found that men categorically respect and accept this reason because it is not a rejection of them. It's just the circumstance. It also brooks no further discussion, so I find it to be the sharpest arrow in the quiver.

Anyway, it became clear to me, when he asked me out at 5:30 a.m., that this man is snaggletoothed, or is it just missing teeth? Anyway, for as respectful his delivery, I couldn't help but feel like "damn. Are we back to the toothless guys now?"

Dentally-challenged (and often drunk) men just love asking me out. After a handful of dates with men who are in possession of a full set, it's hard to face the fact that I'm still a favourite of the former.

Exactly 12 hours later another man, The Blowhard, put the moves on. I saw him for the first time yesterday when he gently reprimanded me for crossing the train tracks inappropriately. He complimented my smile. The moves. I pretended to call someone on my cell to dissuade him from trying to make conversation.

Today he was more forward. I assessed that I needed to not regress to my old ways (being entirely too closed off to everything), so I decided to let him engage. What was immediately clear is that he wanted to discuss himself. To be fair, he's kind of funny (but tries too hard and is too self-impressed) and is obviously smart. Still not interested.

When I disembarked he called out "If I see you tomorrow I'm going to ask you to lunch."

I said "Okay; I may not say yes, though."

Something I learned from my brief stint of intentional dating is that you don't need to say yes to everything in order to confirm to yourself that you're really not interested. Being open doesn't mean second guessing your assessment of certain scenarios.

i've been a little bored lately

so i decided to shake things up. details will emerge, here and there, over the course of the next several months.

On Train wrecks and overcast days

I try to refrain from commenting, except for the occasional remark in passing to a friend, on Britney Spears' life, but in light of the buzz surrounding her performance at the MTV Music Video Awards, I feel compelled to offer my two cents.

I watched the clip of her much-maligned showing on the music channel's site and I have to say that I'm not sure why it's been trashed everywhere from CNN.com to The Baltimore Sun. The decision is unanimous. Every reporter, arm chair entertainment pundit, and friend (or relative) of mine agrees. Before I saw the 4 minute "train wreck," I heard that it was "disgusting," "terrible," and "so awful." I didn't hear (or read) a single reference to Britney's opener without reading how pudgy, fat, or bloated she looked. This one number has the world agreeing--Britney's career is over for good, that there's no coming back, that she can't even lip sync for goodness' sake.

Sarah Silverman, crude individual that she is, was particularly vicious in her summation of Spears' routine. The comedienne called B's children "adorable mistakes," and assessed that Britney, at the age of 25, had already accomplished everything she was ever going to accomplish in her life. Then there were some other references which were so vile, that well, it's best to forget them.

Anyway, I couldn't wait to get home so I could see what the entire country was on about.

Here's what I saw:

A lackluster, hackneyed, overtly sexual performance by a girl who has made a series of bad choices. There was nothing original about the concept (but then again, I always think that skimpy clothing and stip tease moves are a copout), and she did seem to be out of sync, but it wasn't "embarassing," and while I recall a significantly more toned girl than the one who was on stage, she isn't so out of shape that the outfit was out of the question. Incidentally, everyone has jumped on the "she's so wobbly, she's so fat" bandwagon. Is no one examining the message behind that? I mean, it's mean-spirited, relentless commentary about the girl's weight, which I'm sorry, is not that out of hand.

From where I sat, there was on "problem" with her performance. I was simply bored by it. If I hadn't heard that it was awful, I'm not sure I would have known it was supposed to be.

Maybe I'm missing something?

I think that the last several failed magazine interviews she's had are far more scandalous and indicative of real trouble than last night's showing. Her shenanigans haven't really elicited much pity from me in the past, but this current assessment of her does.

It doesn't seem fair.

Back to Normal

Started feeling back to normal by Friday evening. Thank goodness this was just one of those 36-hour things (and it did not morph into a sore throat, which I just can't stand). Over-the-counter meds, orange juice, and sleep did the trick.

Managed to exercise both yesterday (elliptical and spin!) and today (elliptical, lifting, and resistance bands), which will help set the tone for the week. The eating was not so virtuous. I won't get into it.

All set to go back to work and tackle some deliverables. Had a realization today. It's all going to just keep flying by. . . every Sunday night I feel a twinge of uncertainty. I ask myself if I'll be able to pull "it" off again this week (whatever "it" is), and the truth is the days fly, regardless of what's on my plate. I blink and they're gone. This is not to say that some weeks aren't more challenging than others, or that some days don't seem to move slowly, but in retrospect, it's always gone too quickly.

The last year of my life is already an airy memory, though it was filled with ponderous stuff. Just gone. And whatever it is that I was worried about, well, it either worked itself out or went away. So I'll just take this M-F as it comes. Here's to "it," whatever that may be.

Under the Weather

In spite of the fact that I felt the implications of a bad cold as early as Wednesday night, I still attended an out of town business meeting yesterday. I'm working from home today, trying to recuperate from aches, pains, sinus pressure, and general malaise. it doesn't help at all that the water is off b/c the plumber is working on my building's pipes. what i wouldn't give for a shower.

i want to venture out for some orange juice (the one thing i forgot yesterday during my brief shopping trip to 7-11 where i picked up diet ginger ale, chicken soup, and tissue), but i'd really like to bathe first. have a small appetite, which is good. i ate a hearty bowl of cheerios this morning.

34!

I have lovely people in my life. The morning began with a scrumptuous almond amaretto cake (not pictured here) courtesy of my boss. I ate a conservative slice (after spin class--ha!) The 6.5 hours I spent at work were evenly productive, then it was home for a few hours of low key e-mail returning and getting ready for the small dinner party I planned. Sadly, Sarah could not be there (nasty upper respiratory infection), but I gathered with V, M, E, and C at the City Cafe.

Other than a glass of wine and the divine chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream frosting and raspberries, I had a half size house salad with grilled chicken on top (fat free dressing on the side). Two slices of cake aside, this was a great day for fruits and vegetables (and exercise), so I have no food remorse, which is a good thing.

Thanks to my friends' thoughtfulness, I have a gift card (Target!), dessert plates and crisp white coffee mugs, a digital scale that calculates not only weight but BMI and fat percentage (it was on my wish list), and candles (you can really never have too many, in my opinion). To commemorate the event for them, I made a "Kate's 34" mix cd complete w/ cover art (some assembly required).

So, another year... yeah. Good times.

3 days to 34

so i am fast approaching my mid-30s. this year definitely yielded some sadness, some surprises, and some success.

My 33rd birthday was the last time i ever heard my father's voice. He died twenty days later.

Roughly six months after my 33rd, i was kissed for the first time in 16 years. The man who had the honour was the first mutual, romantic attraction of my life. Even though that dalliance did not evolve into a relationship, it heralded the coming of a new era--the era of men being captivated by something other than my intellect.

A month before i turned 33 i accepted the most fulfilling job of my adult life.

3 months after my 33rd, i finished the Masters program at JHU.

And now, today, with just 3 days left of this year, i am 20 pounds lighter than i was at this time last year. Just about 10 more to go before i hit my milestone.