serinde

Let's have a nice warm LJ welcome for caelfinn !

I must not, must NOT leave food-in-progress in the kitchen while also playing video games. Ever.

Y HELO THAR, dried-out brownies.

Constant time, increased rate. I'm not doing longer than 25 minutes (not counting warmup & cool-down) because all that plus changing time is pushing close to lunch hour limits. So went up to 4.7mph, except for the last four minutes where I went up to 5mph. I wish I could say this was part of a Grand Plan, but it was actually because my MP3 player threw "YYZ" at me, and, well, there you go.

It was pretty hard going up through ~8-10 minute mark, and then was manageable, but I got really red and heated. Not enough for the Help My Brain Is Frying feeling I've gotten in some summer aikido sessions, so I'm not very worried. Still, I'm going to maintain this speed & duration for this week (and maybe next) to see if I get more tolerant of it. SCIENCE!~

I haven't weighed in, coward that I am, after a fairly uncareful weekend. I made chocolate cheesecake brownies, God help me. I did take most of them into work to make everyone else's asses bigger, but I cannot resist licking the bowl. And the beater. And the measuring cups. And ...

Here am I, sitting on campus, as part of a five-hour expedition so I can give a half-hour orientation talk to the incoming freshmen. (Why do we have orientation in May for the incoming Fall students? I wish I knew.) And unlike the previous ones, it's running late, not early, heigh ho.

So I'm listening to the representative of Public Safety give his talk. And although I am sure part of what he's doing is trying to reassure the kiddies' parents that their darlings will be safe at loose in the city, I have a serious. fucking. problem with the start of his speech, which ran roughly thus:

"How many of you were asked for ID when you came in this morning?" (no hands go up.) "Not one of you, right? Yeah, it is kinda funny that, after 9/11, you can go into a building and no one asks you for IDs. Hunter is currently an open campus. But we're gonna fix that."

Feh.

...especially since I turned over a weed-bed and planted a peony bush yesterday, and my back & arms haven't entirely forgiven me that yet.

I took sweh's advice and vox-recorded what I did on my MP3 player. So I have an actual correct record, hurray.

Started with five-minute warmup on an exercise bike.

Modular shoulder press: 3 reps of 10 @ 2lbs (can probably increase weight on this)
Lateral pull-down: 3 reps of 10 @ 25lbs (here too)
Lateral raise: 2 reps of 10 @ 2lbs (this is the shoulder thing)
Leg extension: 2 reps of 10 @ 2lbs
Fly: 2 reps of 10 @ 1lb (super, super hard. Boy am I a wuss.)
Assisted dip: 2 reps of 10 @ 115lbs (I can do this at higher weight but not after having done a bunch of other arm stuff.)
Assisted chin-up: 1 rep of 10 @ 115lbs.

My arms are sort of limp and noodley, but in a good way.

[Meant to post this a week ago but, well, events.]

On Saturday the 19th, elibalin and I daytripped to the New York Comic-Con. This is our story. Sort of.

11:30am: On line, which is very long. They might consider giving out the registration forms at the end of the line, not the head of it. A really great Ghostbusters costume just went by. So did a dorky Punisher (hint: white satin gloves do not say homicidal crimefighter, kids) and a quite over-substantial Emma Frost (OH GOD MY EYES).

11:45am: CBLDF booth. Poster-sized pages of Eisner's "Story of the Protocols of Zion". I learned many things, including that the Protocols of Zion are an actual thing, not a joke; that it was a rip-off of a French satirist's work done by a Russian faction trying to mess with the Czar; and--here's a big one--that when it was exposed as a hoax, Henry Ford recanted his previous anti-Semitic position. Lots of people talk about Ford being an anti-Semite, but I'd never heard anyone mention that he spoke out to say "er, I was wrong, sorry about that."

It is a sin and a shame that, despite being a comix fan since high school, I'd never heard of Eisner until dariodevil hung a picture of The Spirit over his desk.

11:55am: Comics are now officially an all-gender fandom. The line for the women's bathroom goes on for miles.

12 noon: This place is full of No. Anime "Johnny Ramone Army"? What? Also, neon Japanese swords. OTOH, I heartily approve of the piles of beanbag chairs at the end of several aisles serving as mini-lounges.

12:05pm: LIEEEEEEEEEEEFELD!!! Armageddon Now looks like his usual shite.

12:45pm: Filthy hucksters section. D is right. Everyone's world stops at 1975, goddammit.

2pm: Have gone through most of the filthy hucksters, and found a lot of things I was looking for in a 50c. bin. We're wandering aimlessly through Artists' Alley, which also includes writers, don't ask me. Would like to meet Geoff Johns but the line is around the block. A lot of the artists look very lonely, poor things. We have holed up to camp in a corner for The Pause That Refreshes, in lieu of paying $4 for a Coke.

4:20pm: Back after lunch with nedlnthred in Bryant Park. We are in line for The Goddamn Spirit, which event is, unsurprisingly, late. I will undoubtedly regret not stopping to pee, but I guess I can always use this to make a Statement if need be.

4:30pm: Still not king.

4:50pm: Finally inside. Still not started. We have a momentary fear that they aren't running late and this will actually be showing some wretched anime crap.

4:55pm: Some kid who's in Speed Racer has come out. He is singing. elibalin: "Opening acts always suck."

Hey! New Batman trailer! Huge pop.

The actual panel members come out. Producer, ... and another producer?... and the Goddamn Frank, dressed in a black suit, fedora, and red tie--so I guess those posters are accurate, not just being dramatically B&W, and it won't be a blue suit. Blerg.

"Surprise guest" turns out to be Eva Mendes, who will be Sand Saref. Well, anything but Jessica Alba, say I.

The camera keeps staying on Eva, instead of whomever's talking. heh.

It seems clear to me that Miller does indeed have the utmost respect for Eisner's work, that he's perfectly genuine in this; and when he's talking about "modernizing", it's not necessarily wrong; but in HOW he's doing it, I think he is vastly, tragically missing the point. "Modernizing" does not mean "make it like a low-rent Sin City". Rather, it's what Darwyn Cooke did in actual comics format. I think this film is going to hurt a lot.

The teaser is not really anything more than what we see in the three-part poster. I grant that the very first shot of it is Eisneriffic, but everything after that smells way too much like Sin City.

5:45pm: Checking out. I missed JRjr at his booth and at Marvel; missed Johns; don't have anything to say to Morrison; too tired to stand in line for Van Sciver or Albequerque. Some good hall costumes--Hellboy, Mr. Freeze, a Batman, several Poison Ivys, Rorshach. And a non-costumed girl, regular street clothes, but with her head partially shaved to show that particular Spider tattoo. Also many terrible ones, from the painted-on Nightwing on down. But I have a sackful of immediately-post-Crisis Blue Beetles and Booster Golds, and Impulse: Reckless Youth, and JSA: Darkness Falls. And that's okay.

Have just planted an alyssum border in front (and done a bit of transplanting) and deadheaded the fading spring bulbs as part of Operation: Whited Sepulchre. I also cut some lilac and hyacinths to put inside the house.

Usually this would peg my happyometer at 11.

During our morning discussion of There Must Be A Music Scene Around Here Somewhere, Steve started playing me some mp3s of a band he's discovered called Sound of Urchin, who are locals, it seems. Me likey. They range between sounding sort of modern-alternative and good heavy crushing rock--weirdly schizophrenic. I do not mind this in the least.

They're playing in Philadelphia with the Butthole Surfers (!!!) at the end of June, and we are going to see if we can skip out that Friday to catch the show. I don't know if I'm grown-up enough to see Gibby Haynes in all his mad glory, but I want to find out.

First, let me thank everyone for the waves of loving support in email, IM, text messages, and phone calls. I haven't been able to respond to all of them yet, but I really appreciate each and every one. Thank you, one and all.

General Status Report: I'm doing tolerably well, all things considered. There are hours where I seem fine, and there are hours of emotional bereftitude with optional sides of wild crying jags, and there are in-between "get the job done" crisis management modes. Internally, I've learned a lot of things about myself, my priorities, and my desires in one extended shot. You see very clearly in the cold white light of nuclear detonation, I find. (Some of this enlightenment would have been of considerable value sooner, thank you so much, but that's why we are stupid humans, yes?) I'm still not making any major decisions--I'm giving myself time to process this new understanding, and see how it will integrate into my wider world. And some decisions won't depend on me, anyways.

We are going to talk to a realtor next week about putting the house on the market; further plans & schedules will in part depend on that advice. However, we are opening the pool, and even intend to have the usual Memorial Day party. Why not, indeed? Gather ye rosebuds and grilled MEAT!~ while ye may, etc. If you've lent us stuff, this would probably a good time to come reclaim it, hint hint.

dariodevil is now installed at nedlnthred's home for wayward cats, and naudia will be shifting to Brian's (though at present, she is down with a touch of pneumonia).

That's all the immediate news I can think of. More as it comes in.

I did not have a lot of mental whee today (oh ya think?) so I did 5/3/8/3/5 again, as the path of least resistance. I went slower in the middle section, and therefore ended in better physical order than last week--I'm somewhat torn between increasing speed and increasing length of runs; opinions are solicited. I felt slightly ill/nauseous during, but I'm pretty sure that's due to Crimson Tide, not anything specifically exercise-related.

Weights tomorrow, unless there is lunch with arkham1010 or an appointment with the college counseling service.

I put on ~4lbs on vacation (of which I've lost 1.5), but looking at my chart, it seems that this was mostly weight that I dropped while sick and not eating immediately before we left. So I didn't really lose ground, as it were. That's vaguely comforting.