This is for you, Crashonda!

As promised, here are the photos of my brand new treadmill which arrived on Tuesday! It’s only ten inches wide when it’s folded up! And please forgive the picture quality. I took them with my iPad2 (and shaky hands). I’ve used it every day since it got here. I’m dedicated to fitness, dammit!

The Treadmill Man Cometh!

I just got a text from my friend/houseguest, and he says the treadmill has arrived and is inside awaiting my triumphant return! …or something to that effect. *SQUEAL*

More news as the situation develops!

The Treadmill Saga

So it all started with my annual checkup to renew my prescription… My doctor has been telling me I need to lose some weight, which is true, and I informed her that I’ve been going to yoga class three times a week. She basically said, “That’s great, but it’s not going to help you lose any weight”. Super. I felt like shit for having actually gained weight since my previous appointment, AND I felt like I had been wasting my time and money in yoga class when I could have been doing something more effective. I moped a little for the next couple of days, taking comfort in Papa John’s, which is half my problem in the first place.

Finally, I pulled myself mostly out of my funk and started contemplating the best way to move forward. Yoga class was about to get significantly more expensive, regular gyms presented a similar problem, not to mention the fact that they both make me extremely self-conscious. For yoga class and the gym, I’d also have to haul around a lot more stuff than I really cared to, and there’s also the inevitable walk/ride home looking completely wrecked and covered in sweat. (I’m always ridiculously envious of those people who can look like they just came from a photo shoot right after class.)

I don’t recall how the idea first occurred to me, but I started considering buying a treadmill. Easier than yoga class, cheaper in the long run than paying for a gym membership, no worrying about following a class schedule or gym hours, and money saved on transportation as well. I immediately hit the internet to research my options, and after looking around a bit, I decided on the model I wanted. I placed the order and eagerly awaited its delivery, scheduled for Monday afternoon. “Hooray,” I think,”I’ll be able to set it up and work out when I get home from work tonight!”

Unbeknownst to me, the delivery company required that someone sign for the delivery, or you had to give them advance notice that you wouldn’t be there and leave a specific note on the door giving them permission to leave it when you weren’t home. Fantastic. They called me with this lovely information while I was at work, and I had to reschedule the delivery for tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon and give them all the express permissions mentioned above.

Hopefully, there will be no more snags and the thing will get delivered tomorrow while I’m at work. I chose a model that comes already assembled, so barring any unforeseen circumstances, I’ll be treadmilling tomorrow night. *crosses fingers* I’ll post pictures once I get it set up.

Organization, Thy Name Is Shelving

So in my apartment, behind my enormous chair, there’s a little alcove.  It happens to be a handy and somewhat out of sight place to store things like my yarn, fabric, sewing machine, etc., but because there’s a giant chair blocking my view, it turned into a chaotic dumping ground very quickly, as evidenced in the picture below.

In my infinite laziness, I kept putting off organizing my shenanigans until it reached epic (not really) proportions.  I was pretty fed up with it, so a few days ago, I started cruising the internet looking for storage options.  As much as I love the amazing doodads and organizational devices at The Container Store, I can’t afford to shop there (sigh), so I looked around a bit and settled on an industrial looking chrome wire storage rack with four shelves that I found on Amazon.com for $60.  Score!  And since I have Amazon Prime, I got free two-day shipping, so the shelves arrived in the mail today!

So I took everything out of the box and prepared to assemble.

So shiny!

And it went together in a snap!  See…

The picture is a little blurry, but you get the idea.  So once the shelving unit was assembled, I needed to clean out the alcove where it was destined to lived.  Not the most pleasant part of my evening, but not as bad as it could have been.  But seriously, it was a lot of stuff.  Look!

And here’s the empty alcove (before I swept it out, it still had some gross dead bugs and cobwebs).

Mmmm, lovely.  As I’m sure you can imagine, then I moved the shelving unit into the alcove and commenced sorting the massive quantity of stuff I’d shoved back there.  It really didn’t take as long as I thought it would.  The entire assembly, cleaning, and organizing process probably took me an hour and a half to an hour and forty-five minutes.  And here is the result!

Hooray for actually being productive on a Friday night and taking care of business!  I then virtuously watched some TV while I waited for my groceries to be delivered.  Next on the list of household chores:  taking out the trash and doing the dishes.  Riveting, I know.

Of Yoga Mats and Men

Today was what you might consider a typical Wednesday for me. I got up, read a book while I commuted to work on the bus, did a lot or work-y, manage-y type stuff at work, then went to yoga class and went home.

My Wednesday night class is taught by a kind of new age-y psychology student who also happens to be named Julia, and hers was absolutely my favorite class until it changed from an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half in length. There’s just something that happens to my body or mind (or both) in those extra fifteen minutes that sucks some of the fun out of it for me. I’m starting to lean towards my Thursday night class as my new favorite because although it’s a more advanced level, it’s only an hour long, and I feel like the teacher’s style meshes more with mine.

I found out yesterday that my yoga studio is looking for people to do “work study” for them, and before I even had a chance to go check out the requirements on the website, one of the owners asked me if I’d be interested in it since she thought I’d be great at it. If you hadn’t already guessed, the deal is that you work the front desk a certain number of hours in exchange for free yoga classes. I’d totally be up for it, so I hope my schedule is compatible with their needs. Lord knows I could use some more worthwhile discounted/free things in my life.

Anyway, yoga classes are definitely helping be in better shape than I was before, even if the results aren’t as stunning as I’d hoped they would be. If I could lady up and start eating better, I’m sure that would help. An unexpected benefit of the yoga classes is that my depression has been much better since I started. Whether that’s because of my physical improvements or the general yoga mindset that we learn in class, it’s helping me be happier than I have been these past couple of years. But that’s a whole other kettle of fish.

As much as I’m enjoying yoga classes, though, I do want to mix it up sometimes, so I just bought a Groupon deal for thrity classes with MetaBody, which I thought was just a chain of gyms at first, but have since found out is a whole fitness/weight loss system. For $20, I got the 30-class pass, a nutrition guide, a weight loss preparation booklet of some sort (still not exactly clear on what that is), and a $100 gift certificate for individual coaching. Sounds like a smashing deal, and I can’t wait to try out some new kinds of classes!

And while I know roller derby isn’t technically considered exercise, I’ve been considering joining one of the roller derby teams here in DC. I’m pretty sure I’ll need to brush up on my skating skills before any of that can happen, which led me to wonder, “Are there any skating rinks in DC, and if so, where the hell are they,” which I havn’t had time to answer yet. If anyone out there knows, give me a shout in the comments.

My DC Apartment

Check out these pics of my awesome new apartment!

The Next Chapter

Let me update you on some of my recent accomplishments.

Things I Did:
- Got my third-year internship in the PR/Marketing department of the Shakespeare Theatre Company
- Basically became the publicist when two of my immediate supervisors left for other jobs
- Wrote my thesis about the use of social media by non-profit arts organizations (while doing the work of three people, job hunting, and apartment hunting).  It turned out to be 40 pages!
- Presented my thesis and graduated with my MFA in performing arts management (!!!)
- Got a job as the Program Coordinator for STC’s Academy for Classical Acting (a one-year MFA in classical acting)
- Found an affordable apartment, with all the amenities I wanted AND actually in DC, and moved in
- Bought my first couch, bed, and other assorted furniture
- Started repaying my student loans
- Decided to live without a car for the first time since I was 16-years-old

Things Still To Be Done:
- Choose my health insurance plan through work (my first non-parent, non-school provided insurance!)
- Set up my 403(b) and retirement contribution plan
- Register to vote in DC
- Get a DC driver’s license with my current address
- Renew my passport

Clearly, these are just short-term goals to be taken care of within the next month.  My long-term goals are for another post entirely.  I’ll try to do better about writing more often now that I’m finally done with school and will (hopefully) have more leisure time.  Come visit me and join in my DC adventures!

Broken Record

How many times have I felt like this?  How many times have I sunken into this bleak malaise that lingers on and on?  I’ve been by myself all day.  My roommate is gone on business matters.  I called the two friends I’ve been hanging out with a lot lately, but neither one of them answered or called me back.  One my way to the store, I even stopped by one of their apartments to say hi, but he wasn’t home.  I don’t know why it made me so sad.  No, that’s a lie.  It made me sad because if he wasn’t in a relationship, I would want to date him, but if he had been single when I met him, my other friend would have gotten him.  She met him first, you see.  Sometimes I get the feeling they’d rather be hanging out by themselves, that I’m a third wheel.  This is probably a figment of my imagination, but I can’t get it out of my head.  My brain takes me down that dangerous, familiar road… What if they were together when I called them and they both just didn’t pick up their phones?  Everyone always seems to like her more.  She has so many friends.  I almost feel like saying, “you have so many, why not let me just have him for a while, just one out of your collection for a little while?” 

When the two of them don’t pick up their phones at 11 p.m., I have no one else to call.  She’s popular, he’s sweet, and I’m invisible.  I don’t get invited to parties, and I don’t like going to smoke-filled bars, so where does that leave a sad girl on a Saturday night?  In a moment of weakness, I almost called the strange, practically asexual bloke who doesn’t care about me.  I picked up my phone and stared at it for quite a while before I firmly decided not to call him.  If I never suggested hanging out together, it would never happen.  He’s a wreck of a human being sometimes, but he was my only other option tonight.  I was smart enough not to take it, but I’m sad enough to almost regret not taking it.

Why do I have to be so sad about such foolishness?  I’m still awake at 6 a.m., wishing I could drown in my own despair just to escape from it.  No.  Just wishing I didn’t have to feel it anymore.  But I’m keeping both of the promises I made to myself.

It’s too late/early to call anybody.  I’ll continue to quietly disintegrate in my apartment until somebody calls me back or I have to go to class again.  I shouldn’t have watched “Closer” tonight.  It just made me more depressed, and I knew it would, but I’ve been thinking about it for days, and I couldn’t resist watching it instead of doing homework.  Even if I could call someone right now, I probably wouldn’t.  To whom among them could I show this face?  I remain an island in the sea of my grief…

“Andrew:  What do they do to you?
Allison:  They ignore me.”

God, can I die yet?

Jewel lyrics

“Barcelona”

Barcelona where the winds all blew
And the churches don’t have windows but the graveyards do
Me and my shadow are wrestling again
Look out stranger, there’s a dark cloud moving in
But if you could hear the voice in my heart it would tell you
I’m afraid I am alone
Won’t somebody please hold me, release me
Show me the meaning of mercy
Let me loose
Fly, let me fly, let me fly
Super paranoid, I’m blending, I’m blurring, I’m bleeding into the scenery
Loving someone else is always so much easier
But I hold my self hostage in the morror
But If you could hear the voice in my heart it would tell you
I’m tired of feeling this way
God, won’t you please hold me, release me
Show me the meaning of mercy
Let me loose
Let me fly, let me fly
I won’t be held down, I wont be held back
I will lead with my faith
The red light had been following me
But don’t worry mother
It’s no longer my gravity
hold me, release me
Show me the meaning of mercy
Let me fly, let me fly, let me fly

“Fat Boy”

Fat boy goes to the pool
See his reflection, doesn’t know what to do
He feels little inside and filled with pride
Oh, fragile flame
No one sees the same
fat boy goes about his day
Trying to think of funny things to say
Like, “This is just a game I play”
And “I like me this way”
Oh, fragile flame
When no one feels the same
Hush, sleep, don’t think, just eat
You daddy’s little boy
You mama’s pride and joy
You know they love ya
But not because they hold ya
Fat boy says “Wouldn’t it be nice
If I could melt myself like ice
Or outrun my skin and just be pure wind”
Oh, fragile flame
Sometimes I feel the same

Making up for lost time

It occurs to me that I have been partying a LOT lately.  I’ve been drinking at least one night of almost every week since school started, and I’ve gotten myself into some slightly scandalous situations, which really isn’t the norm for me.  I’m the girl who knits and listens to NPR pod-casts, for Pete’s sake.  Maybe I’m just trying to squeeze in some really hard partying before I graduate to make up for how vanilla I was during undergrad.  And I already have plans for Sunday night next weekend because a friend of mine is coming to visit, and I know he’ll want to get drunk or high, or some foolishness like that.  We’re really adults???  I swear I’m really more responsible than this.

 Friday = too scandalous.  I can’t even tell you what happened, so don’t even ask.

Dave’s Sweeney Todd party was last night, and I must say it was pretty awesome.  I was glad to finally see the show, and there was lots of free booze, dancing and air guitar, and good conversation around the fire pit.  Dave’s house is the perfect party venue.

I drove to Shelby today to see the show that Mom and Steve were in, namely Johnny Guitar.  The show was good, and I had no idea my brother could sing that high, considering he’s a bass.  I got roped into helping with strike since I managed to show up for the closing performance, and afterwards a bunch of us went out to dinner at this little Mexican restaurant in town.  My friend Justin, who I hadn’t seen in years, happened to be playing guitar in the show band, and we caught up a bit over dinner.  The last time we hung out properly was during middle school, and lord knows a bunch of shit has happened to both of us since then.

Tomorrow = “V for Vendetta” night with Mr. Gearhart and Ms. Schaller.  Should be pretty fabulous…