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<

RENT!

First things first: I have read Fairest, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, Salamandastron, and I'm in the middle of Melting Stones. Still haven't touched that big reading list, but I did get my library card right before leaving on my vacation, so that'll help me accomplish that in a more cost effective way, I hope!

I am here in California once again, getting my fill of friends and family and extremely MOIST air before heading back to the dry cold and regular life. I miss my hubby, my animals, and my body misses my teaching. But I'm having tons of fun.

My friends and I went to see RENT in Sacramento last night. While it's usually difficult to get me to go see shows (I want to be IN them a lot more than WATCH them!), I was sold on the fact that the two lead roles were being reprised by the original actors, Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp.

While I am not the type to get starry eyed, I will admit that Anthony Rapp is right up there with Nathan Fillion on my "nearly rabid fan-dom" list. I read his book, I love his voice, and he is someone I would love to meet.

So when I heard that the actors were coming outside to meet and greet after the show, I was torn. Two of my friends went to get autographs; two other friends and I hung out on the fringes of the occasionally screaming crowd and watched. We were not fond of the idea of joining the giddy masses just to shake a famous person's hand or get their indecipherable signatures on a program that will probably get shoved into a drawer and forgotten.

However.

For a brief few seconds I saw Anthony's face as he signed posters for the people pressing close. (I found out later my two friends got to talk to him and some of the others.) It was soooooooo hard to resist the urge to rush up, beat my way through the crowd, stick out my hand and screech, "Hi! Nice to meet you! I'm a huge fan!"

What a war going on inside my head. I hate rabid fans: actors are human, too. Rabid fans can be scary and nerve-wracking. Drooling and foaming at the mouth is like saying these people are better than us little creatures that scurry around them begging for a touch, a glance, a smile.

And yet I sincerely appreciate what they do. It was clear Adam had a cold or a sickness of some kind while he was performing last night, and yet he still delivered a powerful, electric performance. I think about the amount of time and effort they put in, and yet they still take the time to come out and show some appreciation for their fans. (Well, some of them did, anyway.) And rabid fans I think have a tendency to forget that these actors have their own needs that should be respected.

So when my friends brought me a program signed by a few of the cast members (not Anthony, unfortunately, but "Maureen," "Mimi," and the female soloist for "Seasons of Love"), I was totally floored by their generosity and thoughtfulness (my friends' and the actors'!) And very happy to have a piece of memorabilia of such a fantastic experience. Nothing beats seeing such a passionate show in person, no matter where you're sitting.

So I will admit to being a closet rabid fan: I do my drooling and frothing at the mouth inside my own private thoughts, as is proper. Hee hee hee!

Wind, books, and dogs!

What do these three things have in common? They're all driving me crazy!

The wind has been gusting somewhere between 50 and 100 miles per hour for the last few days. Sometimes it's kind of funny, like when the wind blew me along the corridor to the front door of the club today. It was like effortless jogging!

But when you can't even set you garbage can out for pickup because it blows away, or when thick drifts of leftover snow get packed into the road or your driveway, or your power goes out for hours and hours, that's not fun at all. I really hate it when it sucks my breath away and takes me a few moments to inhale again. I feel like I'm suffocating.

I haven't touched the 100 book list yet this year, though I have read a novel of Redwall and Ella Enchanted so far this year. I think I'll need to get a library card to accomplish this reading task I've set myself. And my own novel is still inching along at a glacial speed. I may be able to finish it sometime in the next geological age.

My dog Bruno decided to take a jaunt through the neighborhood with his new canine pals. A lot of people in this area let their dogs run around loose, which doesn't bother me too much as long as they don't start fights with mine or damage our things. Since I was working on digging out the drift that has blocked my husband's truck in the driveway, I let the dogs have a little fun and run in the yard.

Uffda was a good girl. When Bruno left the yard, I didn't see him, but she did. I could tell she badly wanted to follow him but she came back to me when I called her. I gave her love and brought her inside for a cookie.

I went back out to call for Bruno. I was sure he couldn't hear me thanks to the dratted wind, so I had to go back inside to thaw a bit before I could search for him. I grabbed a leash while I was in there.

I walked along the road (or trudged, since I was wearing heavy boots.) I passed the next door neighbor and reached the duplex on the other side before i saw him. Sure enough, he was running around with two or three other dogs. When I called him, he pulled up short. One of his friends ran right up to me, stumpy tail wagging, so I petted him. Then I called Bruno again.

He took as long as he possibly could have, moving like a snail because he knew he was in trouble and was in no hurry to reap it. But he came straight to me. Since he came when I called and sat when I told him, I merely put the leash on him and said, "Say goodbye to your friends." He walked calmly beside me, not pulling as he usually wants to do. All the way to the house. No cookie for him today.

I can't wait until spring.

Flashbacks

After the last post, I was struck with the sudden desire to look back on my other New Year's posts. There were only two others since I started this blog. Here's a very brief recap of what was going on:

In January 2008, we hung out with one of our coworkers and shot off fireworks in his backyard. We had also adopted Bruno right around that time. We were working, eating, and sleeping and that was pretty much it (though we did squeeze in a drive to Talkeetna and saw our first moose after three months of living in Alaska.)

In 2009, things had quite dramatically changed. I helped my new writerly friends make a video to enter in a contest and we got second place. I'm still very proud of that video and I remember how much fun we had making it (and how cold it was, too!)

But the really big thing last January was "The Spitfire Grill." I was reading about the opening, watching the Youtube videos, and even read all the way through February and the last show. I still get tears in my eyes when I think about that night.

See why I added theatre to my list of resolutions this year?

Christmas, New Years, and the future!

Christmas brought great relief to our tiny Whittington household. Both of us working in retail diminishes the specialness of the holiday season, but we still had something to be grateful for on Christmas day: we both had the day off! We were so stoked when we got home from work Christmas Eve that we opened all our presents that night. My husband totally floored me with his gift: The complete MASH series, plus the movie, plus a bunch of really cool extras, all compiled into this neat green fatigue box. It is without a doubt the coolest collection I now own. As soon as we're done watching Lost, that's going into the DVD player next.

We spent Christmas Day mostly at home, then went to Logan's former boss's house for dinner. Got to meet Morgan and Jake's new baby, Payton. So cute! No, I did not hold her because I was positive I would drop her, she was so tiny!

New Years Eve also passed quietly. Well, quietly for us, if not the town. Lots of fireworks going off in the area, but we couldn't really see too many. The main attraction of the night was the glorious full moon. If it weren't so freaking cold out that night, I probably would have stood out there looking at that moon for hours. But we hustled back inside after a few minutes to watch the ball drop on "Dick Clark's New Years Rocking Eve," or whatever it's called.

We had chosen to stay in for the night after Logan came to pick me up at work. (I bet I was scheduled to work New Years Eve and Day because they knew I wouldn't call in "sick!") He had passed two police "incidents," one of which happened at the Brown Jug Liquor store down the street. Four cops all pointing guns at a guy coming out of his car with his hands up. And it wasn't even dark yet! Good night to stay home.

So here I am, wondering what I'm going to resolve to do this year. Two are repeat resolutions from last year, but I've got a couple new ones to add:

1) Stop biting my nails. (I know, I know. EVERY year the same thing. I'll do it for good one day.)
2) Finish working on my novel Sparkless and start shopping it around as I move on to revise Summerland's Savior.
3) Read as many books from that list of 100 books everyone should read. At least I'll try to get to the classics.
4) Perform in at least ONE show this year!

It's been a year almost to the date when I last opened a show. It's killing me to watch all my friends perform and not being able to take part myself. I realize that resolution has a lot of parts to it (for instance, my job will need to be changed or dropped altogether for this to happen), but it must happen. Or I'll shrivel up and die. Well, maybe not die. But it won't be pretty, I'm sure.

Anyway, I think that's good enough for this year. Heck, it may be good enough for this whole decade, the way my progress on writing has been going. Sheesh.

Many blessings to you and yours in 2010!

Holy Snow!

It has been snowing here for three days, with a little break last night and a little break today. Yesterday it took four attempts of driving, and lots of digging and swearing before I finally got out of my driveway. Ours has a neat little uphill at the top where my car kept getting stuck. Finally got through and I was only a few minutes late to work. Heck, at least I showed up!

My husband met our very nice neighbor across the street. He offered to plow our driveway to make it easier to get in and out. Such a nice guy!

Today it was snowing heavy. Not big fat flakes, just gazillions of little dry dots that piled up quick. The snow is up to Bruno's chest. I had today off, but I was asked to come in to work when two other employees had called out. Since I have tomorrow off, I went. Our driveway was getting thick again, but I got out on the first try.

The roads were scarier than my driveway. I almost thought I'd get stuck going around one tight corner. Another car was already sitting off the side of the road in a drift. But I made it through with a little fishtailing.

When I got to work, I realized I hadn't brought my clothes, shoes, music, and so on for teaching my class later, so I told one of the managers that I would leave when the next employee came in. It was pretty slow due to the weather, so that was okay. That would give me some extra time to get my stuff and eat before my class. The trip home was uneventful.

I was getting ready to leave for class, collecting my things. I had decided to leave early since it was getting dark and I wanted to take my time driving. During this time, I could hear the sound of a truck outside, and the beeping sound it makes when it backs up. I thought, "Oh, I guess the plow is out there."

I got into my car after letting it warm up a bit. I got a good running start -

- and ran straight into a hill of snow at the top of my driveway. It was almost as high as the hood of my car.

The plow had left a big berm of snow blocking my driveway when it came through. We are near the end of the road, with only one other house next to us. That house is a retreat for someone who lives in Anchorage, so the road is not well traveled past our driveway.

Did they realize what they had done? I don't know. Could they have prevented it, or done something to help us out a little bit? I don't know. But they did it at the worst possible time. I backed the car down the driveway and left the lights on so I could see to start digging. I dug until it was too late to get to class on time, and I still hadn't gotten it clear enough. I chucked the shovel and stomped inside to thaw my hands and call the club.

My cell phone kept giving me the same message over and over: "Emergency calls only." WTF?! I'd never seen that before. It would not let me call the club and have them put up a canceled class sign. Everyone was going to think either I was a total flake or something terrible had happened to me. I finally managed to get through (after my big screaming hissy fit tantrum.)

I think we need to get our land line fixed.

After that I called Logan and told him what happened. Then I went out to finish digging so that Logan could get in without a problem.

When Logan got home in his Landcruiser, he took one look at the snow piled up next to the driveway and said even his Landcruiser would not have gotten over that berm.

This is the first time the snow has really ticked me off. And it's not even the snow's fault. I'd like to tweak the nose of the plow guy. And then say thank you for plowing the road.

At least I have tomorrow off.