Photos
- I forgot my camera’s charger at home, and it’s too old for the local CVS to have the right USB cable 😖.
- My photography skills are rusty. I can see the “spirit” of the photo and the reason I took it, but it’s not quite there.
Between the shops, there was a green space, a shed, and plants for sale in the yard. The owner was attending to the various plants, apologizing continuously for the long hose that was snaking around the visitors' feet. 📷
I enjoy industrial buildings since I ever seen one I think. Not sure why. Another iPhone picture of opportunity 📷.
After the thunderstorm, the heat broke to a cool breeze. We had a nice walk next to the water 📷.
Attempting to take photos 📷, I realized two things:
of motorcycles and he-mes
I’m currently at a motorcycle cafe. I just sat my butt down 20 minutes ago. The music is good (90s rock, punk and such). There are motorcycles for sale inside, parked next to the tables, shelves with helmets, and other riding gear hanging from hooks. I’m enjoying a good cup of almond milk cappuccino.
Some version of me in an alternative dimension owns a motorcycle. Probably a Suzuki or a Kawasaki, maybe a Ducati (my this-dimension self doesn’t know much about motorcycles). He-me went on a couple of roadtrips earlier in life, but nothing in the last couple of years. He’s reflecting on some of those moments right now, sipping coffee.
Like me, he read Zen and That Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, but earlier in life, and got interested in motorcycles enough to get one. I started my career with computers around the same time. He had different jobs in different locations for a while and eventually settled working at a cafe in a small town like this one. His organizational skills and trustworthiness worked in his favor to eventually manage the cafe, with the owners' blessing. He probably got involved with one of the regular customers or maybe even one of the younger baristas, but only that far. He-me are not monogamous, and even if he got comfortable for a time, it was probably more of a temporary arrangement.
Some of the emotional energy can pass between dimensions. Deja-Vus that are not mine, memories of scents I’m not sure I smelled before, faces of people that I’ve seen before and can’t place.
I think I found my new avatar🦉📷
Yesterday, I went to see The Muppets Take Manhattan at the Museum of the Moving Image. The Muppets are ageless and always relatable, as were the people who came to the viewing - all ages, colors, and sizes - just like the muppets themsleves.
As Pete said, “We’re all just people.”
I haven’t used this coffee ☕️ beaker in a while. Very fitting when I’m writing about org-mode experiments.
This morning, made Seitan tacos as part of improving my cholesterol intake. I don’t know that I’ll go full vegan, but I’ll go back to “my roots” and past it. 📷
Spotted on a weather appreciation walk. 📷
Nature takes over… good day for a walk today. 📷
One of the things I realized (again) on this staycation: I am curious and my hunger for technology didn’t go anywhere. It was just squished under layers of workload.
Captured this guy this weekend 📷. We’re enjoying “hunting” birds: Nat identifies them using the Merlin app, and I try to capture them with the camera. It’s not easy, and I’m rusty, but it’s fun!
I’m visiting my mom, who lives with her boyfriend of several years. As a New Yorker, this place is huge - a garage for two cars, two showers and a half, a dining room separate from a kitchen and a foyer, and more space that I don’t know how to name correctly. I’d say it’s a big house, not a huge house, somewhere in Pennsylvania where you can afford something like this on a mortgage without robbing a bank, I guess.
I’ve lived in NYC for over a decade, and I’m used to small spaces. My new bedroom is huge compared to anywhere else I’ve lived before, but the apartment itself is small, but not in a contrasting way, it’s comfy. I don’t understand why people need all this space.
Most people my age (40s) have a family and kids, so a few more bedrooms make sense, two bathrooms and showers, sure, but let’s say you only have one kid, or maybe the kid moved out, or maybe you just don’t have kids. I think (and I may be wrong?) most people live in houses, and these houses have space, and, well, what do you do with this space?
Over here, they love plants: 📷
And then there’s the art they like to get, and the basement has a lot of tools and additional storage, and then there’s another old fridge in the garage, and the dining room has a table, but you can also eat in the kitchen - but why? I feel like I’m criticizing and not coming from the angle of “this is wrong,” I just don’t get it. Maybe if I were to live in a place like this for a while, I would. What do you get out of the extra space and extra stuff?
Walked from Canal to WTC to catch the path. Good weather for a brisk walk. I like the style of the area 📷
Good morning ☀️ 📷
East Harlem. I used to run here when I lived in the area. 📷
For brunch today, we wanted to try a new cafe in the neighborhood that looked interesting. It was small and loud with conversation and beats. We waited for our veggie burritos - 20, 30, 40 minutes. The sign on the door said they take some time to make food, so we were patient until the table that got in after us was served the same dish we ordered, while we only had our tea and coffee still.
Turns out the waitress, even though she nodded and repeated our order to us when we oredred, completely forgot to put it in the system. A dog owner walked in and sat next to us, and when the dog started barking loudly, I felt the blood drumming in my ears, and I excused myself for a minute outside. The food, which was disappointing (it was OK, but more of a breakfast veggie wrap with nothing on the side, not a burrito with extra rice and beans), finally arrived. We swallowed the food without a word, paid, and left.
As soon as I walked into my apartment, I felt the calm surround me. The relaxing feeling was even better when I got into my room and stepped on the rug I got, colored in blues and brownish-coffee colors 📷 . It’s incredible how such a simple thing can affect my mood so much. I don’t know why I’ve waited so long without having one.
Snow march
I woke up after a solid 6.5 hours of sleep, the first time since last Wednesday, and felt energized. It was a crisp day outside, cold but not bitterly so, with fresh snow on the ground.
Running was a bit too much, as I haven’t run in months. I also didn’t want to fall on ice and hurt myself, especially now when we’re packing and moving. So I went for a “snow march” instead - the idea was to push harder than my usual walking speed.
It was around 35 degrees this morning (almost 0 degrees celsius), so I dressed up as if it was 45, to account for warming up: a light coat, hoodie, cozy home pants (it’s not like anyone was up at that time on a snowy Saturday morning), and my Timberlands boots that I usually wear at this time of the year.
The goal was just to get out there. To move, walk, and stay out for a while, with the idea of completing four laps around the local park (the size of one block).
The snow was shallow and melted a bit, making that “crunch crunch” sound when I walked. I stomped my fit a bit, forcing more of my boot into the snow with each step, partly to increase my heart rate a bit but also for stability and to avoid ice.
It worked out nicely. I started warming up toward the end of the first lap and needed to take my beanie off. When I was hot enough to walk with my hands out of my pockets (I forgot my gloves…), the additional momentum from my arms' movement added to the exercise and warmth. It felt good. On my march, I spotted three miniature snowmen:
With Trainwell, the workout app I stopped using, I would have probably skipped this fun morning exercise. If I already pay a hefty sum for a workout app and a coach that comes with it, I should improvise and come up with my own ideas. Meanwhile, the app doesn’t count as an exercise, and I would need to send screenshots from my Apple Fitness to my coach to review. Because the app wouldn’t count the walk, it would still push me to do the routine for the day, making me do the usual leg exercises even though those’s the muscles I already worked on in the morning.
This flexibility is important. If I want to work out later, I’d probably concentrate on my upper body, doing isolated exercises of pushups, crunches or pull-ups without starting a whole new workout.
What’s more important now is that I did /something/. I got out there. What I did and how I did it doesn’t even come second - that sport is reserved for consistency. Picking up the habit. What I do and how I do it comes next down the line; I know that if I keep this up, I will push myself further and harder by instinct and the motivation I’ve developed, and things will fall into place. I know this because that’s been my experience since I started exercising.