Focusing on Fitness and Fun

So I've officially quit my job in the Fitness Department at Sports Authority. My last day was a couple of days ago and I already miss many of the people I worked with. I loved the social aspect, even though most of the time the job itself was rather boring. I'm not a huge fan of retail, but it keeps popping up in my life no matter how I try to avoid it.

Now I'll be concentrating on my fitness instructor career and adding yet another certification to my list: Personal Training. I'm a bit nervous about this; one of the things I like about the group class environment is that it can remain impersonal. I don't have to know a person's life history or get buried in personal hang-ups. They come to class, we have some fun exercising, all of us together, and then we go.

Personal training, well, it's right there in the title: personal. You're there to help the client achieve their health goals in life, so you have to know a lot more about them to start off. And you can't force anyone to do anything. If they don't truly want to help themselves, there isn't anything I can do.

I realize right now I'm thinking too much about the bad sides of things. It's new, it's different, it's scary. And there are some things with the club itself that are ticking me off right now as well, so that doesn't help my mood. But it's something that my Masters Degree in Kinesiology will actually be an asset to. And I am excited about this. Really. >rolls eyes<

I also realize that I need to get out more. We've spent the whole two years (nearly three) we've lived in Alaska fighting for every second of time to enjoy life: hiking, seeing friends, whatever. Because of our jobs, we've had to miss out on so much. Logan summed it up when a coworker asked him if he was going to get out and do things this summer. Logan had answered that we're going to try. The coworker responded, "You say that every year."

And he's right. Each summer we say we're going to do those things that many move to Alaska to do. And our jobs, the lack of similar days off, and our responsibilities have made it thus far near impossible.

So when an issue came up in regards to my class schedule at the absolute last minute, I had to put my foot down and let them know that I would not be available on the day they wanted. It made me feel bad to do that, and yet I was not informed of this change until the day before they submitted the new schedule. What else could I do? My relationship and our well being are important to me.

Now that we have a house, things will settle into a more definite pattern. What we do this summer will set the stage for the rest of our lives here, I think. So we want to make the best of things.

On that positive note: anyone up for karaoke? >big grin<

That change in the air ...

I'm feeling that change in the air a little early this year. I think last year it didn't really start happening until April, but we've had a few weeks in the upper 30s and low 40s. I'm hearing the sounds of dripping in the mornings when I step outside to start my car. My car needs less warm up time. And our driveway is a slush pit for the second time this year. Break out the shovel!

Of course, in true Valley fashion, the temp still drops down to the teens and freezes everything anew. Or dumps a few random inches of snow on top of the slush. Wasilla weather is anything except boring!

That's not the only thing that may be changing, folks ...

I haven't been able to perform in any local theatre for more than a year now. My current line of work plus teaching prevents that from being a possibility. But I am in the process of shaking things up a bit. I'm just trying to decide how best to do it. I'll let you know how that goes.

I went to see "Chicago: The Muscial" in Anchorage this month, a couple of weeks after seeing "RENT" in Sacramento. It was lots of fun. Even Logan enjoyed it, which was shocking in and of itself. One of my theatre friends also went to see it and said, "VPA could do it better!"

I agree. Maybe not as flashy, but I think we could do better than sticking with the revival's modernization of a story based in the 1920s. Part of the fun of watching a show from another time period is the costuming and mannerisms that were missing from this rendition.

But I will say that the lady who played Roxie was an absolute riot and had me laughing at things that weren't as funny in other versions. Too, too adorable.

Things have been quiet on the work front. It's been pretty boring most days. But I'm coming up on my one year anniversary with TSA, so it'll be interesting to see what happens then. And in the meantime, I get some revision work done on my "Sparkless" novel while I twiddle my thumbs in the dead times.

I've been getting comments on my "A Little Background on Me" blog post all those years ago, before we moved from California to Alaska. I admit to some confusion. They are anonymous and some of them make no sense at all. I sometimes wonder if I'm missing something. I'm pretty unobservant most days, you know. But it also makes me think, "Hey! Someone noticed me! Yay!"

I welcome comments, even if they're just ads.

That's how pathetic I am. >wink<