20 Minute Abs

We all know that "you can't have six-minute abs...You won't even get your heart goin, not even a mouse on a wheel." But 20 minute abs are totally do-able. Since I can't go to pilates tomorrow, and pilates is a key attribute of the "self-responsibility plan", I decided to spring for an abs class before yoga tonight. 20 minutes of grueling, masochistic pain. Ugghhh....but I gotta keep it up. Otherwise I'd not only fail myself, I'd fail my self-responsibility plan....

I had a world cultural and historical tour through my Upper East Side neighborhood on Saturday afternoon. I took a walking tour that detailed Central and Eastern European history in my very own neighborhood. I was amazed to find out that there is a plethora of Hungarian shops and stores all within a few blocks of me, including a bookstore, several churches (with services in Hungarian!), a bookstore, a restaurant, and even a Hungarian grocery store / meat market - the food kind, not the club kind. In addition, this neighborhood was also a booming area for the Germans, and we saw several German churches, a German bakery, and of course Schaller & Weber, the German grocery store with the best Bratwursts that I've had, only a few blocks from my apartment.

On such a gloomy, miserable, rainy day, I had to do something to get my spirits up. Why not a taste of Brazil? After my walking tour, I headed over to a school on Park Avenue that was hosting a capoeira batizado, where masters of the martial art/dance demonstrate their awesome techniques and "baptise" some of their pupils into the art. It was a very cultural, very amazing show of people doing double flips in the air, jumps, headstands, handstands, cartwheels, all while deftly swinging at each other with legs, arms, fists, but so well improvisationally choreographed that there was no contact. Checkout the link above for more information.

Saturday night was time to entertain guests in town to visit D and Cathy, including her husband Paul (who went back to college in CA). There was twelve of us in total, so we planned out a little trip to one of our favorite Italian restaurants in the East Village, Baldo Vino. We enjoyed another fabulous meal and a few pitchers of sangria there before heading back uptown to a dive bar called Racoon Lodge, where several pairs indulged in getting in front of the meager crowd and karaoke. After enough beer, I got talked into doing a rendition of Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me" with one of Paul and Cathy's visitors. Unfortunately, somebody had a camera on hand and took a video as evidence. If I ever get my hands on it, why, I'll............post it on my blog along with the videos that I took, of course! I'm always up for a little self-sacrifice in the name of humor for my devoted readers...

Sunday was truly a sun-day. Warm and blue outside, and devoted to my self-responsibility plan as always, I woke from my slumber sometime after 1:00pm. After eating leftovers for "brunch" at around 2:30 and thinking about when I was going to do my laundry for a few hours, I suddenly had the urge to go experience the great spring weather outside. I mean, it was like 60 degrees out there, that's shorts and sweater weather!!! So what better way to recommit myself to self-responsibility than to go shopping! But not for clothes this time - rollerblades! Random? Yes, quite. But I've been thinking about them for over a year and I didn't want to go another warm weather season without them. I was quite the accomplished blader back when I was young and reckless. Well, let's just say "when I was young". So I went down to the sporting goods store and checked out their selection. I couldn't believe how cheap these have gotten since the days when I used to purchase them at cost from my Aunt's sports store in Tahoe. I mean, most of them were in the $59-$79 range. Since I realized they were so cheap now, I went ahead and spoiled myself with a top-of-the-line pair. I mean, they were so comfortable, I couldn't help it. I was appalled to find out that this store only sold pads in a set for wrists, knees, and elbows. $30??? Dude, all I want are wrist guards!

As I sat there trying on my rollerblades and imaging myself do triple-lutzes in Central Park, a funny realization came to mind. I realized that this reputable sporting good store had a hip-hop radio channel playing throughout the store and it was playing Jay-Z's "Big Pimp'n". Does anyone else find that at least mildly amusing? A sporting good store playing some gangster rap about being a pimp? I realized that this city was so infused with hip-hop (and other!) culture that even gangster rap in a department store was acceptable. Awesome.

So I walked out the store with my new gear and felt kind awkward walking around with this stuff under my arms. So, I sat down, buckled up, put on my wrist guards, and headed home. From Third Avenue. Now, those of you who have been to my new apartment know that the streets leading from Third Avenue to Second Avenue (where I live), are quite steep. Maybe I could have come up with a better place to re-introduce myself to urban rollerblading than an uneven, narrow sidewalk lined with cars and full of pedestrians and a 15% downhill grade. I mean, I've only really walked in an urban environment like this, and let me tell you - transportation other than my two bony legs is much more complicated, what with navigating sink holes in the road, trying to stop or slow down with a new pair of rollerblades on rough terrain, etc. So, that wasn't such a good idea, but I did get home in a hurry. Maybe I should use these for commuting....Maybe not. Regardless, I'm stoked to start a new form of exercise in Central Park or along one the rivers seperating me from Jersey or Queens. Maybe I'll even dig up my hockey stick and go take on some junior-high kids somewhere....

As I pulled up to my aparment and slammed into my door on my flashy new 'blades, I got a call from Cathy that they were signing up for lottery tickets to see the Broadway show Avenue Q, which is one that I've wanted to see for quite a while. Half hour later and we were in possession of two $20 tickets for front-row seats to one of the best shows on Broadway. Normally these tickets are $100 a pop! This show is kind of unique in the sense that it is a puppet show, similar to Sesame Street. An R-rated Sesame Street that advertises "puppet nudity" and hilarious topics like graduating from college with a degree in English, relationships, one-night stands, unemployment, sexual orientation, racism, and homelessness. Sounds kinda depressing, right? You'd think so, but it was absolutely tear-jerkingly funny. The great part of the show is that they just come right out and say things that everyone knows, but nobody says because it's not "Politically Correct". Thus, there were songs like "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist", "It Sucks to be Me, It Sucks to be You", "I Wish I Could Go Back to College", etc. It was very very funny. Summer, I think we should go see that one when you get here....

Not yet part of the self-responsibility plan, but still necessary, I have to go do dishes. :(
J.

P.S. Manteca residents, you need to be self-responsible and upgrade your Firefox! Or upgrade TO Firefox!