Author: cheerfulchaotic

my poor bike

After a year and a half of no serious mechanical problems, the handle bar control for my rear derailer broke, so I have to hold the thing if I want it to stay in any gear but the highest. Most inconvenient. Fortunately, there are several bike shops within easy walking distance of my place.

Today’s Events & a movie review

Dragged my ass out of bed at a not-so-early hour, due to mp3 copying in preparation for my weekend trip to dc, and late night remote work foo. Waffled about biking to work. Even went to the bus stop before turning around and walking back for my bike. Went to work, did stuff, grabbed grub down at the pitt food trucks, more work, then class. Class was interesting today because we outlined an essay _as a class_, about (essentially) what we’ve learned in this class =) It was neat. This has been one of the most interactive courses I’ve been in. I just hope I can come up with a reasonable paper for it in the next couple weeks. More work foo. More HALO (I should swear off that stuff at some point, it’s really a waste of several hours per week. Good for bonding with coworkers I suppose, but really…) Home, packing for trip, dinner, watching Bladerunner (director’s cut), ER, and Six Feet Under. Copying more mp3s from the house afs cell. I’m now up to 1.7GB, or significantly over a solid day, of mp3s. Maybe winamp on random repeat can be the dj for Doug’s housewarming 😉 It’ll certainly go a long way towards keeping me entertained for as long as my battery lasts on the trip.

Bladerunner was cool, though it was a highly visual movie. Not so plot oriented, not so character oriented, both aspects were good, but minimal. It was all about the pretty pictures. I’m more about characters. Style over substance, bleh. I’m all about substance.

I much preferred this week’s six feet under to prior episodes. Though I’d really like to see more of Ramone & friend under the tarp. (haven’t watched for a few weeks, and I missed the last half of the first season. Maybe I’ll get around to filling in the holes at some point.)

Kung Fu & my martial arts history

I took karate in my junior and senior years of high school. I started in on it, after classes, with my Latin instructor, Mr Sobczyk, a multi-tipped brown belt. I then graduated to a course at a nearby healthclub, taught by Mr Sobczyk’s instructor. (whose name I’ve forgotten). I enjoyed that course, in part because it worked on so many levels. We learned practical self defense and kata/forms/series of moves, we got exercise, we were trained in ethics, meditation, and awareness.

I experimented with a aikido, tai chi, and a couple of different stripes of karate throughout college. Most seemed over or under structured. Or maybe I was unwilling to go back to square one.

This kung fu thing seems reasonable. Whether because it’s right, or I’m more ready for it, I don’t know, nor do I especially care. But we’ll see how it works out.

At lunch today, I did my typical hour and a half workout routine. Then after work, I went out & grabbed the 54c down to the scary industrial part of the strip district to pick up the amtrak tickets for this weekend. From there, on a lark, I decided to walk to downtown to catch my bus. When I got to cmu, I biked over to tom’s and shared some pita, humus, samosas, and takeout chinese with him, while watching dr who, court room drama, and some family guy (with, alas, not enough brian and stewy moments =)

Then we geeked for a bit, and now I’m heading home. It’ll be both nice and unique to get home before midnight =)