Every time I think I’m making headway on cleaning up all my childhood stuff left in my room at my parents’ house…I find another box or bag filled with angsty poetry, drawings of faces, or birthday cards from ten years ago. Last time I was home I brought back 3 or 4 boxes to go through. I have just done so, and filled a box with trash. But there is some interesting stuff mixed in.
Yesterday I was walking from Bart to work, and waiting for the light to change at the corner of Grove and Larkin, across from the library. There was some junk in the intersection, and as I stood there not really paying attention, two seagulls swooped down to eat the garbage on the street, and then a car zoomed through the intersection to make the yellow light. I saw the seagulls look up and see the car, it happened so fast, and then the car took out both gulls. One was smashed dead like that. The other one flopped around for a little while. This other woman and I just stared at each other. Omg.
When I walked back past there that afternoon, the first seagull was practically a memory,basically just some feathers in the street. There was no sign of the second one. It’d be nice to think it collected itself and flew away. But I fear that the thuggish guys who hang out in front of the library released their pit bulls, and the dogs killed the second gull.
It was one of the weirdest things I’ve seen lately – it looked exactly like it looks in a movie when someone gets hit by a car. The car itself never slowed, and I can hardly blame them, since who even knew you could hit a bird with a car?
So RIP seagull, and probably other seagull. It’s the circle of life. Except your life didn’t go to something noble like the food chain, unless the pit bull thing happened. I suspect your bodies were just swept up by a street cleaner.
Yesterday I did something that I had been putting off all weekend: I went to the gym.
All weekend, I wanted to go to the gym – at least that little part of me that enjoys the endorphins and feeling good afterward did. But the rest of me thought, It’s my last weekend of vacation. I went 7 times already over my break, one more than my goal. I’m tired. I should hang out with Drew while he’s home.
Not to mention, it’s New Year’s weekend (is that a thing?) and all the well-meaning New Year’s gym resolution makers will be flooding my little corner of 24 Hour Fitness. Do I really want to get bumped to a treadmill because all the ellipticals are taken?
So I waited until Monday and then went around noon, when I figured everyone would be at work already. I was still a little anxious about getting in there, but it wasn’t bad at all. I don’t look forward to trying to go after work, but if I can just stick it out for now, everything will probably be back to normal in a month or so, right?
This is the first time ever that I’ve been able to start the new year with such a sense of superiority and satisfaction. I’m not trying to create any new impossible habits or anything. I’m just trying to keep up the habits I’ve been enforcing lately. I like this feeling. I lost twenty pounds over the last year, and that was all in about 6 months of actually trying. So I’m upping the ante a little this year, and shooting for another thirty. (That’s my resolution #4.)
On that note, Drew pulled out a coat he hasn’t worn since New York, and found a receipt in his pocket. It’s from April 2009, deep in our Atkins phase. Disclaimer: the Atkins website does not say that when you do Atkins you can just eat butter and bacon. The official program promotes limiting carbs, and eating lean proteins and vegetables. If you eat the way they say you should, it’s super healthy and nice.
The problem is, no one can live like that forever. Which Drew and I discovered quickly, as you can see, since we started Atkins in March, and by April we had already figured out all the ways to eat Atkins-friendly junk food.
Two packs of salami, garden vegetable cream cheese, Diet Coke, Coke Zero Cherry, and sugar-free chocolate pudding. Yum. This is what I like about weight watchers – not to sound like their commercial or anything, but it is a way of life. I just keep thinking, “Stop dieting, start living.” Good slogan.
I still shudder when I pass the sugar-free candy in Rite-Aid. Ugh.
Last night we went to bed around 10:30 and then I ended up reading for an hour. When I snapped off the light on my side of the bed, the following happened:
Drew: Wwwwwwwhat happened?
Me: I just turned off the light.
Drew: That’s it?
Me: Yup, that’s all that happened.
Drew: The light? You’re sure?
Me: I’m sure.
Drew: Okay. Merry Christmas.
Does it still count as me disturbing him if he doesn’t remember it the next day? I always feel bad for keeping the light on, but when he’s awake talking he says it’s fine…
My dad was born on New Year’s Eve, 1950. Last night my mom threw him a surprise 60th birthday party, which she has been planning for about a year. We were about 97% sure he knew something was up, since she’s never done anything like this before and we’ve for sure all heard her slip at least once in front of him. Luckily he’s pretty imperceptive, and was completely surprised.
He’s also pretty laid back, though, so instead of turning bright red and crying (like Lauren at the surprise bridal shower earlier this week), he kept his hands in his pockets and went “Oh…wow. Surprise!” Here’s a picture of him being taken completely off guard (I was across the room so it’s pretty zoomed in):
There was eating and picture-taking, and I grilled him to try to figure out if he was just pretending to be surprised.
Afterwards we went back to our house (haha, I don’t live there anymore) for cheesecake and presents and a slideshow of amazing photos my aunt and uncle assembled. A surprising amount were slides from the 50s and 60s. It was an appropriate amount of embarrassing for a 60th birthday celebration.
We toasted the New Year at 9:20 (for some reason) and then the regular guests trickled out. My aunt and uncle stayed the night, and Drew and I drove Robb back down to San Bruno so he could get to the airport this morning. But we waited to leave until 11:00 so we wouldn’t be anywhere near San Francisco near midnight. I passed the time by taking pictures.
We got home just after 2:00 last night. This morning I drove Robb to the airport at 8:00, then came back and went back to sleep. When we got up, we made coffee for the first time using our Christmas coffeemaker, and a paper towel instead of a filter.
Hunger Games book #3 + grocery shopping = a lazy day, recovering from this whirlwind week. In the last 7 days, I’ve spent an entire day’s worth of hours in the car. It’ll be really nice to go back to work, having a schedule and eating real food (although living primarily on cookies has been fun).
2011 FTW!
The Cameraphone Diaries 