Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

For some reason the reintegration back into real life has been a bit difficult. There was the inevitable backup of work at the BGA (“vacation is its own punishment”), breaking things off with someone I’d been dating, adjustment back to east coast time (which means I have to try and fight my normal nature to be a night owl), and just doing the little things like unpacking everything and putting it all away, sorting mail, grocery shopping, etc. Still haven’t done the grocery shopping, so I’ve been subsisting on ever-shrinking supplies of staples from the freezer and cabinet. Not a bad thing, it’s good to clear those out every now and again, but not perhaps the healthiest meals I could be eating.

One thing I’ve been doing to integrate some of our practices from DLOC has been to post “appreciations” over on FaceBook. Just little things to acknowledge those things I’m appreciative of for whatever reason. It does help to make one more mindful of what’s going on in your life, which has made it a useful tool for me.

Past that I’m trying to find my motivation to get back to tri training for my last two races this season, and finish up my commitment with the club’s volunteer work this month. “The Pile” of books has grown since coming back, including some re-reading of classics I feel the need to reexamine in light of the DLOC and SF experiences (The Ethical Slut, the Tao Te Ching/Dao De Jing). I’m about 1/2 an inch from finishing sock #2 on pair #2, and I have another pull ball ready to go on the next set, but the one sock’s been sitting here unloved as I try to work myself back into life.

Picked up another bike yesterday. I wanted something a bit better for zipping around town than my mountain bike (which is a good bike, but not the best for commuting). I went in a slightly different direction, a single gear, and put “campus pedals” on it (clipless on one side, regular pedal platform on the other), so I don’t have to throw on bike shoes just to zip somewhere if I wish to bike out. My goal there is to bike about more to things in town, and sweat be damned. It even came with a kickstand! I feel so retro with a kickstand on a bike – I don’t think I’ve had one of those since high school. With the bike, though, comes the last big purchase for the year, I think. Need to back off and pay off the remnants of vacation and the bike and plan for the end of the year and Giftmas. And to plan for the next body electric workshop next year, of course.

It’s hard to fully describe the changes wrought by DLOC, but I’ll be working on them this year.

Bought myself a new shiny while out in SF.

Seems to be becoming a habit, commemorating a body electric event with jewelry. A habit I kinda like.

Finished the Lawyers Have Heart 10k this morning (an hour and 8 or 9 minutes – I forgot to hit the stop button when I zipped over the finish line and they haven’t posted results yet). Ran for the first 4 miles or so, then took some walking breaks. It was made pleasant for those first 4 miles by a young law student who decided to chat with me about triathlons (I was wearing a club shirt). She had a good pace and we ran pretty well together, which was nice. I finally let her go when I needed to drop down out of zone 4 and back into zone 3 with some walk breaks. Glad I did the race, I needed the experience, even if it did mean I didn’t go out last night.

One thing that annoyed me was that they used a new disposable timing chip system – as if Championchip’s resuable chips weren’t good enough. So now we all have a piece of miniature electronics and plastic to throw away. Ugh. I’m going to send a polite note to the race organizers expressing my displeasure over the waste.

Popped down to the parade this evening. Dear heavens but that took forever. The sun had been down over half an hour and floats and groups were still coming past the reviewing stand. Someone needs to work on their timing. Or start the thing earlier. Or something, because N and I finally gave up and went to meet the typing pool for dinner down on P street. Took a lot of pictures, not sure if any are worth anything. Did discover my backup battery had no charge (whoops!), so those are getting charged now and in the morning before tomorrow’s day at the festival. My plan is to spend pretty much all day down there seeing folks, chatting and what not. I always prefer the festival over the parade because the pace is more leisurely and it’s not such a logistical mess.

In the meantime, I’m going to try and get up and get in a bike ride in the morning, as well as hitting the work ATM so I don’t have to pay fees. Sunscreen galore for tomorrow, too. No sense getting more fried than I need to.

My stomach has started the pre-race jitters dance this morning. I’ve gotten up, taken delivery of a chair I ordered a couple months back (and yay for prompt delivery people – window was 8 to 12 and he was here at 2 after 8!), started assembling my race gear, and put the bike rack on the back of the mini. Weather today is sticky, and threatening rain. Tomorrow looks to be cool and damp (arm warmers have been put in the gear pile).

Once I get packet pick-up and bike drop-off done here in a bit, it’s home to finish packing, clean, and generally try to go over the race day and how things are going to go (visualizing transition is a good thing). Get to try the wet suit on and see how tight it’s going to be this year – I’ve not worn it since last July-ish, and I gained a few pounds over the non-running part of last year which haven’t quite come off yet. With it looking to be damp tomorrow I’m glad I got the new, lighter shades. Lighter in terms of tint, that is – wanted something for dimmer conditions like pre-dawn rides where the sun would be coming up, and I’d want some protection once it did, but not the full dark of my normal sunglasses. They’re perfect for this weather, protecting but not obscuring.

Will try to crash shortly after sunset this evening since I have to get up around 4 to get ready and get up to Columbia for the race in the morning. Gonna be a long day tomorrow.

What is it about traveling that always throws my system off? My hands are covered in eczema from something, likely the stress of travel and not drinking nearly enough water. Driving a ton more today, down to North Carolina to visit my grandparents and back, probably didn’t help any.

The family is doing okay, and it’s been a pleasant visit all told. My brother didn’t make it down with the younger two nieces, but I did get to see the eldest niece and give her a hard time (as well as an antique pendant for her birthday). Picked up a set of mid-century import china I’ve had my eyes on for the past 3-4 years now (dragons!), and I’m also hauling back a mounted set of moose antlers from my grandfather (a moose he evidently hunted himself in Canada some many, many years ago). Where I’m going to hang the antlers is a whole other question, but at least they fit in the back of the mini to haul back to DC. Going to have to figure out how to clean and preserve them, too – they’re a tad dusty and dry from years in an attic.

Managed to avoid having to plant walnut trees by delaying the trip until mother’s day. Sneaky, but smart. Though I’ve also missed the last good weekend to get in long training before the race next Sunday. So, I’ll just have to wing it on the 17th. I know how to do it, I know I can do all three events separately, and I’ve done this race before, so I’ll finish, but it ain’t gonna be pretty.

Had some fun on the dating front, but I’m not going into it yet. Too early to tell where it’s going, if anywhere, so aside from noting that something is happening, I’m going to leave it at that.

Had Chris over today to help me cull my clothing collection. 20-odd T-shirts went out, as well as polos, button downs, and others. Much space was made in the drawers and in the closet. All in all, four paper grocery bags got filled with neatly folded clothes. Also found some items I shall offer to my brother for his daughters (blankets our grandmother made, etc.) so perhaps they’ll get use rather than taking up space in my closet which could be better used.

As an enticement to come play fashion critic, I offered lunch. The menu, from The Voluptuous Vegan, was pomme frites, a roasted garlic and herbes de provence aiolï, citrus and cucumber salad, and a provençal stew with couscous. Was tasty, though the pomme frites could have been better (they kept sticking to the paper, making it difficult to turn them when needed).

Finally cleaned up all the dishes (thank heavens I was cleaning as I went along or I’d never have had room for it all), and inventoried and bagged the culled clothing. Relaxing now with a glass of the pinot grigio I opened for use in the stew, and enjoying not having any more dishes to clean. It did push home the need to replace the blinkin’ dishwasher, though – doing that many by hand was trying, and not good for my hands (yay eczema).

Yay, the arc lamp came in (from my order at the beginning of the month). Boo, the connector for the shade (on the arc) was completely crushed in transit. The base and shade (differently boxed) were fine, thankfully. Will have to drag it back tomorrow to the store and hope they either have a replacement in the back or that they can order a replacement piece quickly. I’d drag it back tonight but I’m waiting for Kelrick & Kenny to arrive now – they texted a bit ago and weren’t too far away.

Went out last night to JR’s, had fun seeing folks, chatting and what not. In a change of pace I had bourbon for the first time in forever (I’ve been sticking to wine & beer of late), and wasn’t too painful today from it. Met a couple boys as well, got some numbers. We’ll see how that works.

And there comes Kelrick, so I need to zip.

Had to buy a new ring for the Prince Albert today. Around 2ish last night I woke up, as men sometimes will, with an erection. I suspect, because of some scoring of the ring, that it was damaging the area around the extra hole, so when I awoke there was a bit of pain. Immediately hopped into the bedroom and removed the ring, adding another score to the ring in the process. Sleeping after that was easily done, but when I got back up and looked at the ring, there was no way it was going back in. Slipped in a curved barbel to hold it for the day, then went about the rest of my day.

Left work early for a doctor’s appointment up in Dupont, then stopped in to Fatty’s to see if they had a replacement ring. Thankfully they had one left in stock, so I snapped it up. The piercer also looked at the old ring, confirmed the problem, and gave me some pointers on keeping the removal tool from damaging the ring in the future. One of the tricks worked (covering the tips with bandaids), at least with the initial install, so it’s good to go again.

Also wandered over and got my hair cut a day early, so there’s one less thing to worry about tomorrow night. Leaves me free for a swim after work, and then the DC Boys of Leather’s bar night at the Eagle.

Okay, getting back to exercise = one tired Moose.

Biked yesterday, swam tonight (aside – I don’t seem to smell like chlorine as strongly as I did when I swam at the old gym. hmmmm…). All good stuff. It helps that the USAT Club Challenge started today (swim month!), so I have more pressure motivation to get in the pool, at least. And while “running is my prozac,” swimming and biking are definitely helping.

Spent a good part of the weekend straightening and reorganizing and throwing stuff away. You see, I stopped after brunch at a couple of furniture stores and purchased a couple lights and some shelving, so it all had to get put into place. Oy. Happy with the purchases (one lamp had to get ordered, so will be here in a couple of weeks), and how the integrated into the place. Almost panicked over the shelves – bought 4, but only 2 fit in the space for which they were intended (and did not want to have to drag them back to the store), but the other two fit nicely in another spot where they actually (*gasp*) match the furniture, unlike the shelf which was there before. Decorating is hard, and I’ve not the gene for it, but occasionally I get it right. And, bonus, now it’s finally bright enough in here to knit with dark yarns.

Partial success – they’re going to reimburse me for the items lost. When I take the receipts (and new items) in, I’ll give them some suggestions on how they can avoid this in the future (i.e., mark the rented lockers so when they do a “sweep” of lockers they can tell who’s paying and who’s not). Ludicrous that it would’ve gotten swept in the first place since I pay them, but at least they’re owning up to the goof and reimbursing me for the lost stuff.

Did get in a short (1/2 hour) swim. Probably should have done more drills, but it went pretty well, considering I’ve been off for three months. The new nipple piercings did well, too, which was a relief. Felt a slight tug on one push-off, but otherwise they weren’t noticeable (to me) at all.