Bye Bye Black Belt (At Least For Now)

Here's my big announcement (part 1): I've quit karate.

Well, almost, anyway. I haven't officially withdrawn, and I haven't picked up my gear from the dojo yet, but those will happen soon. (As soon as I can muster up the courage to go do it...) I haven't been to class since early January, and I have no plans to go back anytime soon. And you know what? I don't miss it. It's actually a huge relief not to have to worry about it anymore, to worry about all the thousand things I'd have to worry about just to get through class. No more stress to get home from work in time to get to the dojo. No more stress about whether or not I got enough sleep last night, or drank enough water today, or how my lungs are feeling. No more comparing myself to everyone else to see if I'm improving enough. No more guilt about not going to class enough, or not being dedicated enough, or not going to sparring enough, or not practicing at home enough, or not working out outside class enough, or... You get the idea.

I'm not sure what I'll tell Kyoshi, maybe that my Path in life is leading me away from the dojo for a while (which is true). Apparently it doesn't matter, since no one's contacted me to ask me about it. Not that they have to, but I'll bet that for many (most?) other students they would. Or maybe KarateKat told them I was thinking about quitting. Whatever. At any rate, I may be back someday, and I may not be. For now, I need a break. While I'm disappointed in myself a little for not sticking with it, I also don't think I'm being capricious about deciding to stop either. There's more to it than just being lazy. The need it was filling in my life just doesn't exist anymore. It's been replaced with a need not to spend 3 hours a night travelling to/attending class, where most of the time I was feeling guilty or unhappy about something anyway. My time is better spent with Kenyon now, and I'm much happier for it. And if my life is heading the way I think it's heading, I doubt I'll be living downtown long enough to get to black belt anyway.

So what have I been doing instead? That's part 2 of my announcement: I joined Curves. Yes, I did. After 4 months of sitting on my ass and making excuses about being too sick, busy, and/or out of the country to go to karate, I needed to do something. So I did. I looked it up online, I talked to HV about it (she's a member), I checked out the gym around the corner from work, I even tried to go with HV to a free class at her gym (didn't work, not HV's fault), and last week I signed up. I've been to three workouts now. (For any of you who don't know what Curves is, it's a women-only gym where they designed a workout routine that takes almost exactly 30 minutes, and where you don't have to think AT ALL about what to do, in what order, when, or how much weight to use. There are about 15 different resistance weight machines arranged in a circle, with mats in between. There's get-the-rhythm-going dance music playing in the background and every 30 seconds a voice tells you to change stations. You do a machine for 30 seconds, jog in place for 30 seconds, go to the next machine, etc. Go around the circle twice, do 11 stretches that they map out for you, and that's it. Over.) It's brilliant, it's easy, and even though it doesn't "feel" like you're getting a workout when you're on the machines, you definitely feel it later. I'm loving it.

We'll see how it goes, but I'm very encouraged by it. It's close to work, it's pretty much on the way home, and it doesn't cut into my evening Kenyon time since he's busy coaching 2 different lacrosse teams right now anyway. (And even without lacrosse, the half hour at Curves happens before I'd leave for his place or he for mine anyway, since we usually wait for rush hour traffic to die down.) And if I ever move, then I can transfer my membership for free to the local branch wherever I end up. (They're all over the suburbs.)

So that's what's going on in my life. I'm also attempting to eat better and live a little healthier - it's a joint thing between Kenyon and myself. We go for walks together. It's cute. We walk along and talk about literature a lot (Hemingway vs. Steinbeck and whether or not middle school is too early to read either of them was one recent topic), or whatever else we feel like. It's not always intellectual, either, don't worry.... Those of you who know me well understand, I think.

One quick shout-out to a guy who deserves it: I'm very happy for and proud of Donovan for the incredible month he's having. Go Donovan! Also, go FinanceGeek - congrats on the new job and the new apartment. Not that you'll have any free time anymore (so what else is new) but at least you're not so bleeping far away now! May things go well with your roommates. (Take that however you wish.) And go FullStop, even though you don't blog anymore, have a good time at law school. I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to talk to you before you leave. Keep us posted, will you? And finally, congrats to Mr. & Mrs. Tall (the ones with the bachelorette party I wrote about last year) on soon-to-be-born Baby Tall.

I'm able to write this today because I'm in a lull at work - I've just completed 2 projects (that are going wonderfully well) and am killing time before the next big project starts up. That one will last at least 3 months, so I'm enjoying the breather right now. I do still love my job... and I love being good at it.

I think I'll wrap it up here. I know I still need to post my notes from South Africa, and I'll get to that someday. Have a good day everybody.

-The Joanster

My Sympathies for Nomar

Yes, I'm referring to last night's media coverage of Nomar Garciaparra's groin injury. No man should have to go through that on TV. Give the guy some privacy! Talk about it on the radio, show clips of him stumbling to the ground, whatever. He's an athlete, a popular one, and he got injured - it's certainly news. But you don't need to show the hi-res, between-the-legs, every-uniform-seam-stitch-exposed camera angle. The poor guy's already in pain, he doesn't need a close-up everywhere he goes of himself grabbing his business for all the world to see. I really feel for him. No pun intended.

-J

Here's the bandwagon. Here's me jumping on it.

Thank you to Tallulah, Donovan and Dhavid for making me feel like I just HAD to go and post my own answers... (Hey, at least I'm posting, right?) More later, really. Probably. It's a slow day at work.

A - Age you got your first kiss: Uhh there was that game of Truth Or Dare at a friend's birthday party when I was 12 or 13... but unless I'm forgetting anything in between (always a possibility with me), the first "boyfriend" kiss was 15. (That guy shouldn't count either, but alas, I can't turn back time.) Ah, Wyoming.

B - Band listening to right now: Nothing, I'm at work sans iPod or CDs today. I'm listening to the serene stylings of Network Guy as he types really, really loudly. And every now and then the IT help desk lines ring. Oh sweet cacophony...

C - Crush: I don't really have one. I think I'm kind of past that right now. Too practical, or something. But if I had to pick somebody, and I know I'm going to get hell for this from some of you, I'd say Stephen Bâby from the Wolves. (Yeah yeah, shush.)

D - Dad's name: "Dad". Duh. He also goes by "The Gaul" or "Obelix".

E - Easiest person to talk to: Mom, HV and Kenyon and another friend I haven't dubbed on here yet (I could call him "FinanceGeek" and he'd take it as a compliment I think) are all up there for me.

F - Favorite bands at the moment: Tears For Fears (always and forever). Things I've played in the car lately: Enya, Peter Gabriel, Pearl Jam, Green Day...

G - Gummy worms or gummy bears?: Neither. Worms, if i have to pick one.

H - Hometown: Ithaca, NY.

I - Instruments: I studied piano for a very short time when I was 5, and violin for about a year when I was 9 or 10. And although I was indeed in the marching band in high school, I didn't play an instrument - I was in the colorguard. (Yes, the ones with the flags). Yes, I know more jokes about doing things with poles than you think I do.

J- Junior High: DeWitt Middle School. I can't think of anything interesting to say about it. My brothers all went to Boynton, but they re-districted while I was still in elementary school. (DeWitt was better anyway. Nyah.)

K - Kids: None, but one of my cats tries really hard to be more difficult to parent than a human toddler...

L - Longest car ride ever: Easy - when I got trapped in Dhavid's car many many years ago as he drove all around the NW suburbs trying to find my brother's house in Mt. Prospect. The car ride itself wasn't the bad part, it was getting bitched at by the complete idiot in the backseat the entire time that killed me. You had to be there to understand, but trust me, be glad you weren't. I would rather fly back and forth to South Africa in coach 20 times than relive that car ride again.

M - Mom's name: "Mom". Also known as "MagicMomBom".

N - Nicknames: Joan. Heh. But seriously: Zero, Stinky, Oopie, Tinkerbell, Moose, Babs and a couple others based on my name that I won't get into. Don't you love older brothers?

P - Phobia[s]: Needles, death, large quantities of creepy-crawlies. (I'm okay with 1 or 2, but more than that and I start wigging out). Really big creepy-crawlies freak me out too. Icky.

Q - Quote: Favorite hockey headline lately: "Moose Pick Up Pecker". (Manitoba Moose, that is. I pity the guy whose last name is Pecker, though). A great one from the list of really wrong church signs (courtesy of Kenyon): "The most powerful position is on your knees." Really wrong movie marquee: "Spy Kids. Blow. Pokemon." Cracks me up every time.

R - Reason to smile: Kenyon. All the reason I need. I'm smiling right now thinking about him.

S - Song you sang last: Hm, I don't actually remember. But as I started typing just now, "Song Sung Blue" popped in my head. No, I don't know why. And no, I'm not happy about it. My mental jukebox is on crack sometimes.

T - Time you woke up [today]: I think I snooze-alarmed until about 6:45 AM today.

U - Unknown fact about me: Since I already told you about my America's Next Top Model craving and that I make my own cat food, what else can I say? Those of you who know me well enough to read my blog know that I have a much dirtier mind than most people suspect, so that's not news either. Here you go - because of our Halloween costumes that year, for a few months in 6th grade a classmate and I pretended we were Al Capone and a flapper named Lola. (I was Al). I wore a man's ID bracelet and a lot of pinstripes. (And somehow I didn't turn out to be gay...) Something to keep in mind when I have kids and they go through really bizarre phases. Apparently I was not immune.

V - Vegetable you hate: Beets. Brussels sprouts. Cilantro (if it's an actual "vegetable" and not just a garnish). Cabbage. (Unless it's in the corned beef & cabbage recipe Dhavid and Tallulah made a couple years ago. That rocked).

W - Worst habit(s): I'm horribly, horribly lazy. I have no discipline outside of work. I stay up too late. And I don't floss.

X - X-rays you've had: Collarbone when I was 8 or 9 (Brother Roy broke it when he fell on me during a game of touch football at the firehouse), probably had my head x-rayed after that riding accident in France when I was 11 but to be honest, I wasn't really paying attention, and most recently, had a CT scan of my sinuses done last year. You all needed to know that.

Y - Yummy food: If it's classified as breakfast or dessert, I'll probably like it... I've decided that I can't live without cheese. And while I was in South Africa I got totally hooked on beef jerky. (And eland jerky and ostrich jerky and..) Sadly, Slim Jim just doesn't compare... Starbucks mocha frappucinos (WITH whipped cream) are a guilty pleasure when I really deserve a sugar & caffeine rush.

Z - Zodiac sign: Cancer. The Crab. Solid on the outside, mushy on the inside. It's me all over.

Love,
Joan