Mild Amusement

I think I've mentioned it before, but for about a year, I've been doing a type of workout called CrossFit . I usually describe it as "circuit training on crack," because most of the work outs involve cycling through various exercises as fast as you can. I don't know how they always pick combinations of exercises that kick your butt, but they do. Anyhow, one of the things that the guy who got me started on it used to always say was, "a lot of the motions are directly applicable to every day life." I've never thought about it much, it was just some little tidbit of information I tucked in the back of my brain. Until today. I'm home sick today, so I get to see the little kids during the day. Well, they get bored after a while, so they usually ask me to play with them for a bit. One of the things they like to do is to have an adult "fly" them. Basically, you throw them up in the air a few times. I remember the first time I saw i...

It's been about a year now that I've been a semi-vegetarian , and all in all, it's worked out fairly well. I've gotten past the stage where the meal feels incomplete without meat, so it's become routine. In fact, every time I go out to eat, my first thought is to look for a vegetarian option. I always find it easier to order something for myself, because then my diet doesn't affect other people's dining options. The problem with that plan, though, is that every now and then I crave a particular non-veggie meal when I go out. When that happens, the opportunity for a veggie meal is squandered, and I end up having to cook a vegetarian meal for myself. I tend to eat a lot, so a salad is almost never an option for me. Couple that with the fact that I've never been a gourmet chef, and my options become severely limited. Actually, my options become a singular option: fried eggs of some sort. I'll either scramble them with a few other vegetables thro...

I interact with little kids quite a bit, mostly because of the whole daycare thing. When they're younger, I spend a lot of time trying to make sure they don't hurt themselves, or doing things like teaching them to walk. But once they learn to talk and gain control over their basic motor functions, that's when the real magic happens. Now, before I start getting flamed, I'm not trying to make fun of the munchkins. I talk to them, and they respond. I watch them, and they act on their emotions. It's just that they're little, so their conceptions of the world are off, or they mis-speak. Either way, the results are often hilarious. For example: Kid: "I want to play with Sam" Mom: "Sam's not here, he's at work. Do you know what he does at work?" Kid: "Eat noodles" I have no idea where that came from, but I apparently have an awesome food/taste-testing job that I don't know about. Kid's mom: "Hey [kid], com...

When it comes to the vanpool, all of the riders are creatures of habit. Sometimes, we get off at a different stop in the afternoon, because we have dinner plans, kids to pick up, classes to attend, or have to be somewhere other than home. The morning is usually far more stable, though. People rarely change where they get on. In all of the time I've been riding, I've seen someone get on at a different stop a handful of times, at most. What absolutely never happens, though, is someone getting on across town. Until now, that is. This guy about my age (that detail will become important to the tale in a moment, promise) normally hops on somewhere near the Glen Park BART station. On the morning in question, though, he strolls up to the van near the outer sunset. That's a good 20-25 minute drive away, and it's not exactly a straight shot, either. Odd, but I didn't really say anything. I greeted the guy, and hopped into the back where I usually ride. He, too, opte...

The last day was finally here. I'd survived a crappy flight, walked around Manhattan for hours, made good friends with the subway system, spent the better part of a day watching musicals, and eaten like mad for an entire day. All that was left was to wrap it all up. We had lunch with one of my travel buddy's high school friends at a Cuban place in a mall, and it was a good time. The "in a mall" part doesn't sound all that interesting, but it apparently used to be a ship that they hollowed out & converted into a mall. So, there, it was actually cool. *sticks out tongue* I hopped on a bus to get to Newark, and my buddy called for a car to get him to La Guardia. Basically, we parted ways soon after. The flights were uneventful, fortunately. So, sadly, the trip was over. That said, there were some things I'll never quite forget: A guy who looked borderline homeless and performed in a roving acapella group in the subway spent about 10 minutes hit...

The last full day of the trip. It felt a little bit like the last full day, because the plan was to intentionally keep it low-key. Case in point: we decided to finally eat in Chinatown, just to compare against the Chinese food to which we're accustomed. I'd actually heard that Chinese food in NYC wasn't very good, so I was morbidly curious. Let's just say I don't entirely disagree with what I've heard. It could have been the place we went, but I think I'm sticking to other cuisines the next I'm out there. I had another high school friend who happened to be in Manhattan for the day, so we planned on meeting up. We had a little bit of time to kill, though, so we headed over to the UN building. I saw the line of flags, so I had to go find the two that are important to me: Peru & China. I found Peru fairly quickly, but trying to take a picture of the flag billowing in the wind proved to be problematic. And some tourist interrupted me just when...

By the third day of the trip, I was tired enough from the previous day's adventures/subway rides that I felt like sleeping in. And sleep in I did. I think I woke up at something like 11:30 or noon. Of course, that meant that a later start to the day, which started the vicious cycle all over again. By the time we rolled into Manhattan, it was about two in the afternoon. I had tentatively set aside Sunday to see something on Broadway, so we headed over to the tkts booth for discount tickets. There were actually various 3PM options, and after mulling our options, we figured it'd be a good idea to catch one of those. We settled on The Toxic Avenger , which was actually an off-Broadway option. However, we hadn't eaten yet, and the show started about 15 minutes after we got our tickets. Enter the food carts. There happened to be one right outside the theater, and the guy charged a little bit of a premium for the convenience. Still, I was hungry, and I had yet to try...