Inside: Salt; Birthday reflecting; Get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’; I want an ELITE shirt; “This Is All I Ask” by Jenkins, Gordon
Supplemental
I think I’ve been forgetting to breathe. I’ve been experimenting with supplements while I’m training. One of them does that vasodilation thing. I think it helps. I’m sure it does. When I take it, it’s more likely that breathing feels productive during the tough stuff and finishers. I don’t really trust it, though. I mean, look at this packaging. It looks like it should guarantee to make your penis bigger.
Okay. That’s not fair. But that packaging is a little over the top.
I’ll tell you one of my trade secrets, though. Well, mainly I want to write it down somewhere because I always forget about it. One of the best workout drinks I’ve ever had is ice water with a little bit of salt. A little electrowhatsits.
I think that may be all I need, really. For an hour long-ish workout. But I paid for this stuff so I’m gonna use it. I didn’t realize it had caffeine in it, though. Not too sure about that.
Birthday
I’ve had a tradition of doing something creative on or around my birthday. A new song, a poem, a short story. This year I got nothin’. Not yet anyway. I’ve had a lot of goofy ideas. The kind of stuff that seems hilarious in your head.
Like a fauxtoshoot for an album cover. It’d be me with a guitar in the foreground and a WASP family at a dinner table in the background and the title would be “Guess Who’s Strumming to Dinner”.
You young ‘ens might not get that one. Or some fan fic. “Fifty Shades of Gary”.
“Wait a minute. Golly. That goes where now? Uh uh. No. Girl, you freaky.”
“The safe word is what?? What the — is that Icelandic? I can’t remember that.”
Haha! See? I do entertain myself.
I really need to work on some music. Lots of ideas ‘n stuff. Phases. All these phases.
I was going to treat myself to a new lens. A little foolish since I treated myself to bedroom furniture. I was so close. But luckily I didn’t. I got a ticket for my expired safety inspection tags. It’s a yearly event — procrastination tax. So I took the car in and — well, it happens to every car owner. I could have bought two top of the line fast, mid-range lenses. Let’s just put it that way. I had to call the bank to raise my daily purchase limit. Oh well. If you own a car, it’ll get ya eventually. Probably smarter for me to rent lenses anyway. Thanks a lot, reality. You can be a real sack of farts sometimes.
On the bright side I did get to take the metro into work today. And got a brisk walk in from the metro to the dealership, which is about a block away from the gym, oddly enough. I love it when the geographic pieces come together like puzzle pieces. Getting to know the neighborhood. Made note of the W&OD Trail when I stopped by Whole Foods in Vienna to stock up on pickles. Excellent.
Is it just me or does time accelerate as you get older? So many things I would do differently. I feel like I’m drifting alongside life. Other people are in the thick of it. In the flow of it. They accomplish things. They grow. They set goals and achieve them (or not). They socialize. They marry. They start families. They live life. Some have lived and died while I have … done what.
I’m kind of over here drifting in the eddies. Spiraling in the wake.
There’s a dreamy quality. A blurriness.
In some alternative universe I’m married and have kids. Or not married and have kids. They’d be in their tween years. I’d have a dog again and a mortgage. My own small business or doing the musician thing. It would be tiring and not without challenges and friction but it would be … something.
What have I accomplished? What have I done? If I died tomorrow what would I leave behind (aside from a lot of neat gadgets and some kick ass living room and bedroom furniture)?
These are the things you think about when you realize that you have more years behind you than you have ahead of you.
A sun without a planet to warm is just a raging ball of burning gas.
What to do? I don’t want to waste this life. I want to do more than inefficiently exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide. I’ve spent 40 years priming for something. Cloistered away. Refining crafts and honing talents.
Now what?
As I approach the prime of my life, I find I have the time of my life
Learning to enjoy at my leisure all the simple pleasures
And so I happily concede
That this is all I ask, this is all I need
Gots to Get Movin’
I physically felt like poo on Saturday morning. I’m not sure why. I haven’t been sleeping well for some reason lately. Things were getting better for a while. Caffeine? Could be. Meals too close to bedtime? Need to cut those out anyway. I’ll figure it out eventually.
Short version. I felt rough going into training but I felt a lot better afterwards. I felt physically rejuvenated. Don’t let me fool you, though. There was a lot of workout pain between those two points.
They don’t all go that way, of course. But it feels good when it does.
I’ve been feeling stronger for some reason. The program this month is rehabilitating my lower back. I’ve been working my way up in weight slowly on some things. Then on a day when I feel like I’ve got a little juice I’ll go up by ten or even twenty pounds on something.
So the other day Justin sees me doing something and says that it looks easy. He uses his carny powers to calculate how much more weight to add.
We went from 225 on the trap bar deadlift to 275 for an extra set. I had no idea that I was slacking.
He says it still looks too easy and adds ten pounds. On Saturday I went up to 300 lbs. for six reps and could have done a few more. This cycle has been eye opening.
Now. If only I could do some dang pull ups and chin ups.
Don’t forget that we do the clock turning thing next weekend. More evening daylight. I’m stoked.
Beautiful girls, walk a little slower when you walk by me
Lingering sunsets, stay a little longer with the lonely sea
Children everywhere, when you shoot at bad men, shoot at me
Take me to that strange, enchanted land grown-ups seldom understand
Cheers
To life, my friends and my family near and far. You beautiful, amazing people.
You make this world a better place. You make me a better person.
Thank you.
Wandering rainbows, leave a bit of color for my heart to own
Stars in the sky, make my wish come true before the night has flown
And let the music play as long as there’s a song to sing
Then I will stay younger than Spring
Click here to see all of my LGN (I want to Look Good Naked) and functional strength training posts.
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