Wednesday, May 28, 2008

This entry's kind of dull, but relatives keep complaining about the dry spell

I am. So tired. I woke up this morning to the sound of someone knocking on my door, which was odd - I padded sleepily to the door in my boxers and Wolverine t-shirt and called out, "Who is it?" There was no answer but I opened the door anyway to find my building maintenance guy, here to change the filter in my furnace or something. It's kind of embarrassing to be caught sleeping until 9 by someone who has no doubt been up and working productively for hours, but what can you do.

I've been going to the gym a lot, which is good, but if there's anything duller than spending two and a half hours a week on the elliptical machine I have yet to hear of it. I know I ought to be running outside, but the elliptical gives me data, which is nice, and it's located in the same room as the weights, which is convenient. Today I worked out with free weights for the first time, following the instructions on one of the posters with the hair band bass players with brightly-colored musculature. I can bench press 20 pounds 30 times, which is deeply unimpressive but I'm afraid to do more because if I go to failure my arms will give out and I'll hit myself in the face.

Today was my weekly serving shift at the soup kitchen. Because people's assistance checks run out, we're always really busy at the end of the month - last week I think we served 187 trays. Not quite so many this week but still a very decent turnout, and not much downtime. Sometimes it's slow enough to grab a bite to eat (last week we had an AMAZING fruit salad with fresh berries and pineapple) but today there was a steady stream of patrons. I love absolutely every part of this job, from pouring coffee to mopping, but it certainly takes it out of me. The three-mile walk doesn't help, either.

My German class is still achingly dull, though yesterday we had an amusing reading passage about bears - all about how the baby bears are suckled, and then the Mama Bear (this is what it said) teaches them to fish, swim, climb, and pick berries, all the while keeping a lookout for the male bear, who would kill the Bährbabys if given the opportunity. (Is the German word for baby bear not the cutest thing ever? And how I love that irregular plural!)

Yesterday I had my German reading group, which met at the Badger's house out in the 'burbs. It is completely lovely, his house, filled with books and a big piano and an attractive tapestry. He had laid out a variety of German beers for us as well, and urged me to taste a horrid smoky one.

So that's what I've been up to. It's not much, but it's keeping me pretty busy - I don't know when I'll have time to draw the comic J.H. recently commissioned; hopefully tomorrow.

3 comments:

Greg said...

Duller? As in dull, duller, dullard? Beware of data, I says. I was running on treadmills all summer - yes, I know, backwards, but it's unbearable outdoors in summer (is that unbahrable?) - and came to find out I was faster and travelled further when I was outdoors away from the feedback displays.

Lily said...

Loaves and Fishes no longer has any down time. I was serving last Friday, and it was chock full the whole time, with people waving their hands at me and calling out. Nobody asked for seconds because it was much too crowded. Also, money for food is getting so tight that a mission avec soup kitchen has recently closed because there's no food to offer. The recession is deepening. It's worrying.

TCA said...

Exercise is good. Outdoors is usually better but it's mighty hot at this time of year in this part of the world. Still, it's nice to know everybody is movin' around in 'ome way. Personally , I played 3 sets of tennis last Tues., 18 holes of golf on Wed. and Thurs. , rock 'em sock "em tennis again on Fri. and Sat and 18 holes of golf yesterday (Sunday). I admit that was an over-the-top week but the point is that people who exercise usually can do it until they are (quite), old.