Oblique Master

Well this was certainly one of my busier weekends. Graham and Brie were out here for a week and they left on Saturday afternoon. The problem was that I had already signed up, a few months back, to volunteer for New York Cares Day, which is an annual Fall event with my volunteer organization when they go clean up schools around the city. I was banished to...I mean assigned to Washington Heights, which is way up at the north-western tip of Manhattan, one of the more difficult areas to get to from the Upper East Side where I reside. I thought that the best resolution was for me to flake out and sleep in until noon, but then I felt guilty, knowing that there was probably a door at a school that would remain unpainted because of my selfishness. And I don't think that I could justify my existence on earth if that door remained unpainted...

I stayed up moderately late on Friday night (til around 2:00am) with Graham and Brie, with whom I went to dinner, went to the Coffee Bar (where there was no coat-check girl working; Loretta from Madrid, if you read my blog, please let me know where you are!), went to an improv comedy show starring Graham's childhood friend, went to a few bars, and met a few of Graham's college friends down in the West Villiage. So, yea, it was a busy night. The subway cards were utilized to their full extent.

So, a few hours later, I was awake and bus-bound for Washington Heights with Cathy. Paul was going to join us, but the poor guy had to go to Israel for work. So while he was basking in the Mediteranean Sea getting sunburnt, I was utilizing my unusually large bicep, pectoral, and glutious maximus muscles carrying school books from a bookroom to organized piles out in the auditorium. I tell you, public schools are amazingly disorganized. It's amazing what a team of 10 volunteers can do for a school in just one hour. We had that book room completely cleaned out and had the other book room completely organized within another 45 minutes.

To show their appreciation, the parents' of the students (primarily immigrant families) made us an awesomely authentic lunch with about 3.5 tons of rice, beans, whole chickens, salad, desserts, and some orange-colored substance that tasted exactly how easter eggs smell. I guess that would be vinegar? Well, suffice to say that I burned a few K-calories and added some more lean mass to my already bulging triangle-shaped upper body. Uh...that would be an inverted-triangle, I suppose.

...All of which brings me to my blog title for today. In my Eight Hour Abs post (a not-so-witty reference to There's Something About Mary), I mentioned how I wanted an exercise ball for Christmas. Well, Santa came early for me this year, because the very next day I went to the sporting goods shop to investigate said exercise balls. And, naturally, if I was already checking them out, I might as well buy one. So I did. And now I sit here, blogging away while sitting with yogan posture on my 65cm exercise ball. The muscles along my spinal cord and down around my waist are very curious about this new posture, and they seem to be complaining about the lack of bad posture. I will provide updates as I adapt to this new lifestyle, but, regardless, I hope to actually use the exercise ball for exercise, as well. Since these are frequently used for pilates, I have no doubt that I will make one or two attempts to use them for these exercises. And I have no doubt that I will be able to add the "oblique" muscle to my list of abnormally burly physical attributes....