I went in and the guys were doing biceps and legs. So, sixteen dumbbell curls of only 30lb, and sixteen lunges with them hanging, each set three times. Then sixteen curls of a 50lb bar and sixteen squats with 20lb dumbbells, three times. Then eight 20lb curls with my elbow against the door jamb and eight or sixteen things on some leg machine or other, three times. Before and after each triad, sixty four crunches on the ab bench.
That's it. I am dead. Wiped out. Three flights of stairs to top it off. Plonk into my chair. Type with my forearms on the bench because they're so weak. Next a long grueling trek back down to the cafeteria for soup and bread and water.
Hey, they have good soup around here. Or whatever. Yesterday it was red beans and rice.
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Speaking of young girl with cat, I left work early yesterday to pick her up and take her to the DMV where she passed her driving test. This would be even better if she had a car. But all I have is my rickety old Jeep and her mother the Infiniti I got when Dad died. Why these are the only cars and why there's no replacing or adding to them is not for the public square.
But the cat was out all night, none the worse. No doubt it dashed cleverly outside when I was moving books and bookshelves. Yes, my shelves are being moved and erected and filled with many a tome. They will line the walls of the dining room as part of our nefarious plan to hide the godawful 1970s country-style wallpaper; and provide the young people with opportunities for improvement, should my collection of Californiana and other eclectic histories prove itself so worthy.
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This weekend I must complete my moving, as I surrender the apartment the following week. This weekend also is my only chance to prepare any dress-up togs for the Edwardian Ball. Fortunately, it's not Edwardian in the usual Edward VII sense. That would get old quickly. It's Edward Gorey Edwardian, and anything pretty much goes, with a strong emphasis on the elegant and anachronistic. Needless to say there is a lot of steampunk and goth mixed into the motif, and other things ... other things for which perhaps the wider world is not yet ready.
7 comments:
You are mistaken about the Edwardian Edwardian Ball getting old quickly. They were completely unhinged back then. The old Queen had died see, and Bertie was on the throne. Anything went.
Anything went, right, but that doesn't translate to 2014 San Francisco. A party that concerns itself with correct period attire will either be full of stodgy re-enactment types or die out quickly.
Then make it your business to see that it doesn't die out quickly. Why would it die out quickly based on the costumes?
The fun. If we're all going to work hard to look like it's 1906 -- Ooh, wait, that would make a great Edwardian Halloween theme. A post-earthquake party, April 19, 1906, come one, come all, the quick and the dead!
Anyway, that aside, a period costume ball is another thing and I don't see the fun in it as compared to almost anything goes in a Gorey kind of way. Who's going to go year after year, learning the proper dance steps and yammering in bad accents about current events. "I say, old man, rough going for those poor chaps in San Francisco. Don't you own a brewery there? And what's this 'Nobel' prize your President Teddy just got? Pass the brandy, there's a good fellow." Once, maybe. Not twice. I like my fantasy worlds to be a bit more ... phantastick.
Why 16 reps on everything? I am curious.
My friends do ten but for me, eight is a much more natural number, and if eight isn't enough, I do sixteen.
You're not working hard enough.
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