Day 15 and a Miss and Memorial Day

Friday night was another circuit workout in Plummer Park. This one was hearty and 10 stations long with a jog in between. We completed the circuit 3 times. At the end of the workout everyone was completely wiped, sittin gon the edge of the tennis courts. The sun was setting and the park was teaming with all manner of people, young and alike. I felt rather accomplished and peaceful and ready to begin a 3 day weekend.

Work hasn't been so fun for me lately. It's been stressful and at times ridiculous. I was really looking forward to removing my mind from the struggle for a spell.

Friday night Angela and I stayed up late catching up with each other having hardly seen one another for the entire week. We watched our TV shows and drank beer on the couch. We made a brief visit to the pool and hot tub around 10 pm for a nice swim and soak. It was a fun night catching up with Angela and enjoying each others company. We made vague plans for our weekend chores and went to bed around 330 am.

Saturday morning Angela woke up around 10:30. I had made coffee before going to bed and woke up briefly around 7:00am to turn it on. Angela is groggy to the extreme when she wakes up and is therefore pretty useless until she has her coffee, she is in fact so groggy it's nearly dangerous for her to make her own coffee. On this morning I heard her wake up and while she ventured into the bathroom I went and poured her a cop, gathered her glasses and turned the TV on to her morning program. I then met her at the bathroom door and walked her carefully to the couch so that she might sit down and begin to wake up. I went right back to bed.

I woke up around 11:30 to see a text from Ben that he and Roxie would be heading to Naja's in Redondo Beach for a bit of beer. Angela and I thought this seemed like a good idea so we got ready and headed down to meet them. Naja's is a great little spot on the boardwalk with over 100 different beers on tap. I tried a couple of them and thoroughly enjoyed them. We then road a tilt-a-whirl, went of a walk and head home. Saturday night was a lazy night where we just couldn't see fit to leave the house.

Sunday was a repeat of Saturday, though Angela started much earlier than I did. We had many chores to complete on this day. Angela did a lot of them before I even started my day. I hung a few pictures and some decorative jewels which Devin had given to Angela a while back. They look smashing above our bathroom mirror. I then went out to pick up quarters for laundry. I did 4 loads while Angela napped. I started working on a Cover of "wouldn't it be good" by Nick Kershaw for Turbo Sunshine. I loaded the song in and Programmed the Drum beat in a couple of hours. I found that the song is deceptive in it's simplicity. There are some interesting things going on which I had not noticed until I was deep into the bowels of the song's skeleton. I am forever impressed with the work other musicians have managed to complete. I would do good to perform more pop song autopsies.

Sunday Night a new friend of mine, Nancie, came over to meet Angela for the first time. She is such a wonderful lady. We sat on our patio and had several beers and visited with Rebbecca and Loren. After Rebbecca and Loren went home we went out for a couple of drinks at The Big Foot Lodge.

On memorial day we washed and vacuumed the car and went to Fresh and Easy to stock up on a bunch of groceries. We always grab as many extra coupons as we can when they arrive in the mail and we had a stack about to expire. We stocked up on freezable items and canned goods. I then drove across town to move Devin's car so he would not get ticket or towed while out of town.

We finished our weekend with BBQ in the park in our apartment complex. Angela, Rebbecca, Loren, Tiger and I all ate well at a picnic table in the moderate southern California climate. We drank drinks and we played games. It felt nice and I enjoyed it.

I did skip out on Boot Camp because of the holiday. I'm going to forgive me for it and keep on keeping on. I'm going to start counting calories I think. Robin has been telling us it's the best way to diet, that science will not let you down. I did some calculating and figured out my BMR, along with my different activity multipliers and it was some interesting stuff. Now to put it all into practice.

Najas place

Day 14 done, don't get all butt hurt

Between sidways bear crawls on day 13 and last nights runyon canyon experience my ass is very sore. Yesterday we did something that could only be considered a human tractor pull. We were instructed to bring our rubber resistance bands to the canyon, which I knew meant trouble. They are rubber tubs with 20 that provide pounds of resistance and have a handle on each end. The resistance weighting was not important for this exercies. We all ran to near the top of the canyon in the center most path until we neared the steepest part. Then we partnered up and one person wrapped the tub around the other's waist and stood behind them holding the two handles. The person in front then had to run approximately 300 meters to the top of the hill driving their knees high while the person behind them walked slowly and held them back. We took turns doing this three times each. Robin instructed us that the trip to the top was to take no less than five minutes. The first one was a real bastard, the second one a bitch and the third a real mother fucker. Honestly. On my last trip up Robin decided that my partner was not providing enough resistance so he held on for a while as well. One of our fellow boot campers, Luther, was there taking pictures as well. I'm sure Ill show up in all my red faced glory with a band tight around my bulging stomach in every concievable corner of the internet from here until the end of the digital age. Oh me.

So I'm sore. Tonight is the end of week three. I'm happy and feeling good.

7 more times

Headed to an empty devin and dylans place. I have my guitar to keep me company. 7 more boot camps.

Rainy Morning Story

I felt I should take a little me time this morning and write a little story. Here you go:

Ten Early Minutes

I probably should have shined my shoes. What is that white stuff? How did I get white stuff on the tops of black shoes? It isn't like I wear one white shoe and one black shoe, that would makes sense if I did, cause the white shoe would scuff the black shoe and leave a mark. I hope this guy doesn't go for that whole "Shoes make the man" philosophy. Is it even going to be a guy? Surely they told me on the message, I should have paid more attention. At least I got the address right.
These walls must be mahogany. Deep rich mahogany, either that or really thick dry toffee. I should have eaten this morning.
I'm pretty sure it's going to be a guy, the receptionist is pretty in the way that would appeal to a guy, a white guy at that; wonder if that will work to my advantage.
I've always heard that you should show up early to these things but not too early. How could my cellphone be so much faster then the office clock? Maybe this guy is a real hard ass who likes to play psychological games with people. I bet there are guys that do stuff like that, they call people in for an interview or a meeting and then they have a slower clock then everyone else in the world and they make you sit hungry in a room with walls made of toffee and they watch you and have a snack. That painting doesn't even look real, that is probably where they would hide the camera. Or maybe it looks out from one of the letter O's on these fancy books there. I bet if I time that big clock behind her head with my cellphone I'd find that it moves at a slower ratio. This is the big test part, he will observe how I deal with being dumped into a circumstance that is counter to my normal perception and see how I react. By the time I get called in he will have totally made up his mind based on read outs of facial interpretation software. I wonder if the software has already alerted him that I'm wise to the ruse? I have slammed dunked this thing, scuffed shoes and all.
Scuffed shoes say a lot about a person: "I don't just dress like this for interviews, I wear shoes like this daily".
I bet if I got up and walked over and had a bite of that toffee book shelf this would all be over. He'd come out to shake my hand and offer me his number two slot.
"I could use somebody like you, somebody who eats when they're hungry and sleeps when they're tired and wears nice shoes on a regular basis."
What did that girl say her name was? Jessica? Jasmine? Should I be making small talk? She looks kind of busy. They probably want someone who knows when to talk and when to shut up. This is when you shut up, that girl just answers phones and jots down messages. The number two in a place like this wouldn't have much to say to a girl like that. She is fairly attractive though. Maybe this guy is a real cocksmith and he looks for that in others. I bet he fancies himself a Don Juan. He probably will want to take me out to some gentleman's club afterwards and see how I handle myself around women. He might be looking for a confidant. He might be banging Janice here and dying to tell some one about it. The whole interview is probably just going to be sordid details of what he does to her and how she likes it. I will need to appear impressed, but not all that interested. I don't want him to think I'm picturing him in his moment of conquest, better to appear that I've been in similar situations and that I respect him for his prowess. I'll probably have to keep up with listening to all his inner most secrets from here on out. It's going to get old but it will be worth it for the money.
When I tell people that I came in for an entry level interview and walked out of some bar eight hours later holding up the staggering president of the company with my new title of VP they will hardly believe it. I will just say that I used personality mirroring, and that I he saw something in me. I'll be really vague about it. People will fill in their own blanks. They will start to remember that they always saw something a little special in me, that there was just something a little more capable about me. When this guy is ready to retire he's going to pass the reigns to me, he's probably been looking for some one that reminds him of himself. I bet I will have to marry his daughter. She is probably beautiful but spoiled, but maybe she just hasn't met anyone she can be herself with. When he dies I'll just sell the company to the highest bidder and we will move to an Island. I'll probably cheat and she'll ignore it. She'll cheat too. We will have a house staff that is basically a harem. And we'll slowly grow to hate each other for our infidelity. We will start to play games with people like "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf". In the end we will realize that we are meant for one another and that we've really loved each other too much all along.
I'm going to need a new place to live while I wait to marry his daughter. He might even have a penthouse apartment somewhere for me. A place he takes women to, his own private sanctuary. It will be all modern and sparse and I won't bring anything into it. He will always chide me about that. "You gotta make yourself at home here Edwards! You are like a ghost. Make a mess, I pay people good money to clean up after you and you live like a damn monk." He will say those kind of things but in a way that lets me know he really respects my economy of life. I will only rarely bring people over to my new place, only after I've learned at what hours he might stop by. I won't see a lot of my old friends for quite a while after I get this job. I won't return phone calls for a month or so, I will mean to, but I just won't have time. I bet Allen will come by my place in two weeks and knock till he gets so worked up that he goes to the land lady to have her let him in so he can find my corpse. She will tell him how I called to tell her that I'm moving out and that she could do whatever she wanted with my stuff. She will tell him how I didn't care at all about my security deposit. She'll probably try and give him a box of my things. He will leave me a big "what the fuck" is up message and I'll finally return his call. I'll have him meet me in the bar on the ground floor of my new building and then he will pound me with questions. I will smile the whole time and tell him to relax and have a martini, "it's on me" I'll say, and "Relax for a second Allen, I've had a crazy couple of weeks, let me catch my breath and then I'll show you whats going on with me."
He will be shaking wanting so bad to know what has happened. I'll drink my drink and order another one but I'll secretly have it sent up to my room. Finally I'll just get up real cool and tell Allen, "All right just follow me and I'll show you what's been happening." When we walk into the lobby the door guy will smile and call me by name. I'll slap a $20 in his hand thank him. Allen won't know what to think of that. When we get into the elevator and I press PH he won't be able to stop the questions. I'll tell him just to be patient...

"David Edwards? Ms. Johnson will see you now."

Twelve And Thirteen

Runyon Canyon again on Tuesday. Drill circuit on the tennis court broken up by a loop run of the bottom section of the east hill. We shared the court with what a appeared to be a hearing impaired trainee and a trainer versed in sign language. There seemed to be much more general chatting going on between these two then working out. I was jealous. It reminded me of living briefly in Olathe, KS, home to the Kansas School for the Deaf. I always enjoyed passing a vehicle to see the occupants conversing in sign, keeping a wide berth in these situations in recommended.

Plummer Park last night was a battle. I felt a bit bad about the way I ate during the day and decided I would take it out on myself at boot camp. It seemed to me other people in our group were stepping it up as well. With each workout it is starting to feel like the time goes by a little faster, so I feel more confident in giving each exercise my all. When we finished last night I felt accomplished and spent. Really proud too.

I missed Devin and Dylan at boot camp. When I got to my truck at the end of the workout I saw I had a message from my dad. He was letting me know that they were all together and thinking of me. I gave him a call and heard the sound of many familiar voices talking at once. I felt a deep longing to see everyone there.

No teammates

Devin and Dylan are in Kansas today. I'm headed to their house. To change and wait for bootcamp. Their street looks so pretty! It won't be as fun tonight without them.

Tag you're it

I am of the opinion that taggers a generally stupid, but I can at least give a little credit to some of them for having balls. I see some tags in crowded metro areas and I can't help but be a tiny bit impressed at the stones it took to place the tag there. Tags in overlook parks far from view of any street which johnny law might pass by on are just silly. I mean really?

9, 10, 11

Boot Camp continues. I was up late late late last Wednesday, which made boot camp on Thursday in Runyon Canyon a chore. I pushed myself as much as one could push, but it was a difficult journey. Last Friday was a circuit work out in the park. We used large exercise balls at the first station. We placed them under out feet and supported our upper bodies by our arms in a push up position, then rolling our feet forward on the ball towards our middles, this greatly worked our abdomens. we were to perform this exercise for a minute and then move on to the next. The next station required us to swing 25 pound weights directly in front of us using a thrust motion with out hips. Then on to a couple of matts where we did v-up ab lifts passing a soccer ball from our feet to our hands and then back. We did each station with a teammate. Devin did not attend since he had to get ready for boot camp, so Dylan and I were a team. The next stop had two mats on the ground facing each other, we were to do these strange push ups which require a person to drop to an elbow one arm at a time, and then back up, at the top of the cycle we were required to give our partner a hand slap five. At the next station we then did sit ups with a medicine ball above our heads, passing it to our partner in the middle at the end of each sit up, he would then take the ball and do one while I did one empty handed. Then we moved to the retaining wall by the tennis court where we would do tricep presses with our feet out in front of us. Next it was to a set of rubber training bands where we would perform curls. Finally the circuit would end with wall sits and calf raises. We did the circle twice for a minute each and a third time for a minute and a half. Hard work of course, but at least a bit of variety.

Yesterday found us back in the park for the third Monday in a row. Many of our people were unable to attend. I am now official the only member with perfect attendance. I felt stronger for the first time in the park work outs. Two days off over the weekend helped and I felt more capable. I'm trying to remember as many exercises as I can because this has been great for my body. I would like to continue my own personal boot camp in Griffith park after this one is complete. It will be nice to go directly from work and stop on my way home rather than spending so much time in West Hollywood waiting for it to begin. It has been very nice though spending so much more time with Devin and Dylan. I'm bummed that they will be heading to Kansas and Canada in the coming weeks and will not be there to hang with.

Only one more Monday remains.

North Sentinel Island

I have my interests and islands are a big one. I found another interesting one recently while reading an article.

From wikipedia:

North Sentinel Island is home to a tribe of indigenous people, the Sentinelese, whose present numbers are estimated to be anywhere between 50 and 400 individuals. They reject any contact with other people, and are among the last peoples to remain virtually untouched by modern civilization[citation needed]. Because there has never been any treaty with the people of the island, nor any record of a physical occupation whereby the people of the island have conceded sovereignty, the island exists in a curious state of limbo under established international law and can be seen as a sovereign entity under Indian protection. It is, therefore, one of the de facto autonomous regions of India.

Another fine article with history of the North Sentinelese can be found here.

It's romantic for modern folks to consider life untouched by technology and "progress". I've been lately considering a story about a return to pioneering in the vast and less populated Midwest, where the promise of self subsistence calls.

Halfway day

Tonight is the halfway day of boot camp. Yesterday was sprints at runyon. Today is back to the park. Looking forward to the weekend off.

7 ate me

I'm tired a bit today. Boot camp on days 7 and 8 were difficult. We did a massive amount of jump roping on tuesday. Actually only 9 minutes in total, but there was much other activity in between. Apparently it takes 20 minutes of jumping rope to burn off the calories in one candy bar. Nothing is worth 20 minutes of jumping rope.

Yesterday in the park was a bear as well.

I should have gone to bed way earlier last night. Tonight will be rough.

Again

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Dmv and day 6 down

I'm waiting at the dmv. Making my new car official. My number is b125. There are many different letter codes. The Bs are currently on 103.

Boot camp was good last night. We were in the park again but it felt just a touch easier to perform some of the motions. I'm also not as sore today. Tonight will be runyon canyon and we have been asked to bring our jump ropes.

Moistly Overlooked

I'm back at my spot but its rainy. I'm eating lunch meat, cheese and a pickle. Yum. Back to the boots!

Five Days Done

Friday Boot Camp in the park was just as grueling. By the end of the work out I my body was so tired I was probably only completing one rep to every five of Robin's. Exhausted. Driving home through firday night traffic was ridiculous. At least it gave me time to catch up on some phone calls. I had a nice chat with Jason R, learned a bit about what it takes to get your doctorate in his field. Sounds exhausting but I'm proud of him. Is it pride you feel when some one you care about does something completely beyond your ability or is it awe? On Jason's Suggestion I am this very morning digging into Nick Drake on LALA.

After Boot camp I stopped and picked up some champagne so that Angela and I might celebrate my victory. When I got home Angela cooked up some wonderful Fish Taco's while I showered. I dried off and enjoyed them fully. Angela has a gift with food, and I'm glad she shares it. We spent the rest of this night chatting on the couch and watching something on the Tele.

Saturday Morning I woke up at 9 am. Angela made Eggs and Tortialla and which I quickly enjoyed before heading off to my Boss' house to do some work. We have a large unfinished task waiting in the old office in his garage but we didn't really get to that. We did a day of general cleaning and maitanence. I pruned some headges, raked a bunch of leaves and through away a bunch of things that needed throwing away.

Saturday evening was another lazy evening.

Sunday I had an Invis Mater rehearsal. Running through our new songs, which I recorded. Will get around to mixing them down this week.

Grind Grind Grind.

Shadow hat

Looking over friday

Back at my spot and it is as lovely today as it has been all week. There is an older tourist couple here hugging each other and taking pictures. Lots of birds singing back and forth. I'm a little further down the hill than usual, sitting cross legged on a stone wall. From where I sit the sound of cars on mullholland are muffled a bit. The dull roar of tires hitting pavement on the 101 freeway below sounds a bit like white noise. There are tiny bugs fluttering around me, occasionally they brush my skin leaving me a bit itchy.
The sun is warming my left arm and the left side of my face while a breeze cools my right arm.
A dog somewhere below let's out a demand for attention, she has been home alone all day.

Four Days Down

I didn't get my little snack in the park last night. I drove to the optometrist instead and picked up contacts for Angela and myself. I then had a nice drive through Cold Water Canyon, which I haven't been through in a while. It seemed like I used to take Cold Water at least once a week, now that I'm out of Weho there is not the same need. It's pretty though, and occasionally I miss it. I like certain roads, streets and routes, I get attached to them and I have associations. Even if some of them are awful. Like the time I recall driving my ex home as she was horribly drunk, screaming the lyrics to "Johnny are you Queer?" at me, as if it was an insult, then hurling her half drank beer out the window just to hear it pop on the pavement. Hmm... I'm pretty glad I don't have to drive through that canyon so much anymore.
So after the canyon I went and changed at Devin and Dylan's and then headed to another canyon, Runyon, and me the rest of the boot campers. We did interval runs up the easy way, if you want to call it easy. One minute run to thirty seconds walking all the way up. Boot camp in the canyon is easier for me since I'm used to that kind of working out. I can handle that type of pain pretty well and since I know the distances it's easier to push myself. We finished the session with shuffle steps up the steepest part of the path followed by sprints. Exhausting but rewarding.
After we finished I dropped Robin by the subway so he could head downtown to prepare for and art show fundraiser he was doing and I went home to shower and change so Angela and I could attend. The art auction was in an apartment and was planned to coincide with the monthly downtown art walk. There are so many people in downtown on this night that parking can be a real bastard. Luckily we found a yellow loading only spot, which many people don't realize you can park at in los angeles after 7pm. The apartment was rather packed and steamy but there was plenty of wine and many good friends. We stayed about an hour and then headed home.
I watched a bit of TV and then collapsed on the bed and died for 7 hours.

Day Three Down

Last night was another boot camp in Plummer Park in West Hollywood. I was seriously sore all day long and I had serious doubts about weather I would make it. After my snack in the park I drove to Devin and Dylan's while listening to Aldous Huxley narrate a radio presentation of "A Brave New World". I had found it last week on a website and burnt it down to a disc. I like his voice but something about it put me off. Much of the language stayed the same, but it focused much more on the dialogue. In a way it seemed to be such obvious exposition that it was taking away from my good memories of the book. Perhaps it will treat me better on some long car drive where I can really listen.
I arrived at Devin and Dylan's to see a strange site. The only available parking space I could find was behind an old school mustang parked next to a school. The trunk was open. There was a man kneeling next to the curb. He had a bottle of what appeared to be tequila in one hand and a double shot glass in the other. In the time it took me to park I watched him down 3 double shots. He looked at me and said nothing. I tried to remember that I've probably done things in the streets of west Hollywood that would have appeared just as creepy, so I let him be. I was hoping that at least his car would still be there when I returned, so that I would know he wasn't driving anywhere. It was.

Boot camp was really hard, perhaps the hardest night yet. I felt good when it was over, but exhausted. Angela was planning to go see a movie with our friends Rebecca and Loren, "Behind the Burly Q". I told her I would be too tired to go and that I would stay home and go to bed early. On my way home though I started to feel like I hadn't seen her all week, and I decided to suck it up and go. I was glad I did. We ate at Sushi Dan's, because we both love the baked scallop California roll. Yummy. The movie was very interesting and informative telling from interviews exactly what it was like to be a Burlesque performer from the 20's to 50's.

Today I feel less sore. My body actually feels a bit trimmer and I'm encouraged. 1 Hump day is down, 3 more to go.