Progress Photos!

I'm way overdue for these. I haven't been doing regular weight training for quite some time, due to scheduling conflicts and persnickety injuries. But I haven't exactly been lying fallow. I've continued dancing, walking, and cycling, as well as my occasional calisthenics/plyometrics/isometrics.

Here's what I look like today, aka the day after I turned 40. Oy vey....

( Behind the cut lurks bikini photos )

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"You look at me, you look at me closely, each time closer and then we play cyclops, we look at each other closer each time and our eyes grow, they grow closer, they overlap and the cyclops look at each other, breathing confusion, their mouths find each other and fight warmly, biting with their lips, resting their tongues lightly on their teeth, playing in their caverns where the heavy air comes and goes with the scent of an old perfume and silence. Then my hands want to hide in your hair, slowly stroke the depth of your hair while we kiss with mouths full of flowers or fish, of living movements, of dark fragrance. And if we bite each other, the pain is sweet, and if we drown in a short and terrible surge of breath, that instant death is beauty. And there is a single saliva and a single flavour of ripe fruit, and I can feel you shiver against me like a moon on the water."

- by Julio Cortazar

Not Swimming in the Car Pool

A few days ago, I saw a flier advertising light rail transit in Kitchener. It said that if such a thing came to pass in my city, I would not need to worry about getting a second car. I was boggled. A second car? I've never had a first car! And do you know what? I function perfectly fine without owning a motorized vehicle. I don't need one. At all. Within the city, I walk, bike, or, when the weather is too inclement or I'm sick, I take the bus. It's been this way for me in every city where I ever lived.

My art instructor was pleased when she saw me bike to her class. She says she likes to bike for fun, too. I told her I bike pretty much everywhere, and often year round. It's not specifically for fun. It's my main means of getting around town. She was very surprised when she learned I don't own a car, and have no intention of getting one.

She kept asking, "And that works for you?"

And I kept saying, "Yes."

She asked how I got to Toronto, and I told her I just catch a bus. And commuter trains will be yet another option come the new year. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than paying for gas, parking, insurance, and vehicle maintenance.

In the odd occasion where I need a vehicle, we rent one. It's worked out just fine.

Walking and biking keeps me in much better shape than riding in a vehicle, too. Bonus!

The only places where a vehicle was needed was when I lived with my family far out in the countryside. There is no public transit in rural areas, and everything is so far apart, that bicycles, walking, horseback, and dogsleds just don't cut it. But we still used non-motorized means of transportation as much as possible. Our winter's wood supply was carried on wagons and sleds. We would take a horse and buggy to the corner store when I lived in Newfoundland. It was much cheaper than driving the truck.

I entered a draw to win a car, yesterday. In the odd chance that I win it, I'm selling it. I can use the money for much more useful things.

Sad Days

Well, it looks like the hard drive on my old computer is toast, and I have lost the bulk of my music collection. Unless there's a way of loading it back off my iPad. Is there a way of doing that without wiping it from my iPad? Or should I leave well enough alone and never synch my iPad with my computer ever again? Heh. Unlikely.