Glass half full

Yesterday I met the half-way mark in my marathon training: 13 glorious, unforgiving miles!

The night before my run I stayed awake until 3 a.m., painting part of a mural at Denison's coffee shop and drinking beer with friends. I didn't plan on running the next day, but agreed with C that we should do our long run on Saturday since we had time. My late night really undermined my running--I was dehydrated and had trouble getting into a good stride. I managed to complete 135 minutes of running but decided that until I run a marathon, I'm not going to drink any alcohol. Maybe after a few months of no beer, I'll lose the habit of buying it or drinking socially. I hope to replace beer with homemade juice full of vitamins and antioxidants!

FYI, here's what I painted on Friday:


Good life go!

Exorcise

As the days have been getting colder I've been motivated to make an effort to not drive my car when I can get to a particular place efficiently by walking, biking, running, or skating. My drive could be fueled by a combination of an increasing desire to rebel against winter (since so much time this season is spent indoors) and live up to a New Year's Resolution I've unofficially set for myself (that is: drive less). I can't take all the credit: C and I have both decided to make a concerted effort to car-less-ly transport ourselves to places nearby. Within 2 miles of our house you'll find: 4 grocery stores, the recreation center, 2 hardware stores, 3 coffee shops, a public library (with a Starbucks in it), 2 bike shops, 2 tattoo parlors, a high school track, a skate park, a skate shop, a shoe repair shop, a post office, [a college campus], a farmers' market, numerous parks, and myriad restaurants, including 2 Paneras, 2 Chipotles, a Graeters, and the best Chinese restaurant in the Western Hemisphere, Lucky House.

C has been a huge inspiration to exercise...regularly? How about, "relatively frequently." For the past couple of years I've been resistant, but after she annihilated the Athens Marathon (Athens, Ohio) last spring, I realized how amazing exercise can make you feel. More specifically, it became clear to me that running is a powerful ability that I strongly admire. I will admit that I've not been interested in doing push-ups, and most days I can't muster up the desire to lift a weight. However, more and more I look forward to runs on my training schedule. In my mind I'm racing toward a goal, and at the end of the tunnel I will be rewarded. I hope I can keep this up for the rest of my life.

Running, biking, walking, skating--why should these things make me feel good? Maybe it's endorphines (possibly anandamide). I think I've been enjoying them because they are ways to realize my potential and be a responsible human and citizen, all at the same time.

C is a great teammate. I might not be excited about living room curtains and she might not be happy about watching another skate video, again. BUT we both support each other's efforts and most times we both step up to the plate, with minimal fuss, to push forward, side by side. She is teaching me a ton about myself and about relationships. I hope I'm teaching her some good stuff too.

Good Fashion - Part I: The Endangered Thrift Store Experience

One of my guilty pleasures is my relatively high attention to and fascination with fashion trends. I may not be very well versed in the subject of fashion history, the details of design, or the obscurities of haute couture, but I've been developing an arsenal of opinions about popular fashion and shopping culture. This is my first installment of writings about fashion and I hope to uncover a place for fashion within the good life (or my good life, as it were).
--
Vintage patterns, clashing colors, gaudy accessories, and the unparalleled comfort of distressed textiles. At one time these words described the coveted treasures of another man's trash: the trophy thrift store purchase. Rare finds and unique combinations of clothing and accessories allow one to construct a fashion identity that separated him or her not only from their mainstream counterparts but also fellow thrift-store creatives. This experience is quickly being replaced. In the past decade, many clothing chains have discovered that sand-blasted denim and tattered fabrics (though mass produced) are loaded, not only with comfort, but with imagery of hard-work, utility, and freedom, to say the least.

Two particular stores have mastered mimicry of the thrift store experience: Forever Twenty-One and Urban Outfitters. Forever Twenty-One offers disorderly racks of clothing with retro color palettes, funky patterns, and unconventional style. They sell seasonal selections of accessories to be paired with their latest mix-and-match outfits. Urban Outfitters pools together brand-name urban-wear, approved retro styles, and have upped the ante by featuring vintage home furnishings. Hordes of angstful, teenage, suburbanites flock to these stores to feed their need to construct an anti-pop identity. The mass produced image is sold/the "identity" is bought.

What is wrong with this transaction? I strongly believe that youth who crave alternative lifestyles should seek out authentic experiences that challenge mainstream culture. The thrift store experience involves a hunt, local knowledge, and discriminating taste. It involves creativity, imagination, and effort. Thrift stores offer at least one inherent benefit, too: by recycling clothing and furniture, unwanted stuff is diverted from the waste stream. This also allows consumption of used materials, rather than new, and dilutes the exploitation of natural resources. Suspend your distaste of materialism and set voluntary simplicity to the side: we can't deny that identity is at least partly a social construction. The thrift store is an essential tool for sub-cultures.
Chains like F21 and U.O. don't need to necessarily replace thrift stores; currently, the two factions coexist. If nothing else, this entry has reminded me to be more creative when amending my wardrobe.

Homage to the New Year

As you may have guessed, "Frequent and regular updating of my blog," is not high up on my list of New Year's Resolutions. I'm considering amending the name to "Several Weeks Later In The Good Life..." Any thoughts?
--
Cheers to a great and satisfying holiday vacation filled with family, good tasting food, and too many bite-sized chocolates. C and I each crafted neon colored stockings from felt, which were placed near the 12" tree with care... Mom and Dad Love brought us a living Christmas tree (Norway spruce!) to be planted in the yard--haven't figured out a suitable location, but the frozen ground has afforded us some time to keep thinking.
New Year's Eve dinner was enjoyed with friends & family at a terrific (and patient) restaurant called Lemongrass in downtown Columbus. Later, Allison O., C, and I used bikes and a skateboard as transportation to attend the first annual "ball launch" in uptown Westerville to ring in 2008 and celebrate the town's 150th birthday, simultaneously. On New Year's Day, C fixed a terrific dinner of pork tenderloin, sauerkraut, sweet potatoes, and asparagus, for tradition's sake and good luck for the two of us plus C's sister and her fiance(herein referred to as J&M).
I won't get into my expanding list of resolutions, but I've identified some short term goals that I'm excited about. I say "expanding" but I need to write them down, else the abyss I call my short term memory will continue to dissipate them as quickly as I think of new ones. Maybe I will write a list for my next post--Stay tuned!
Ok. Go see Juno and see if the soundtrack doesn't melt your heart forever.

contester

I was surprised to run across this entry in the January 2008 issue of Transworld Skateboard Magazine:

The contest was to design a graphic for pro skater, Karl Watson. From what I know about him, he's down to earth and real spiritual, and is all about "Positive Mental Attitude" (PMA). Anyways, C and I ran across this picture and caption haphazardly tonight and were geekin out in the bookstore like crazy. I benefited from a huge morale boost from the accomplishment. I've been struggling to feel good about my art and haven't found much motivation to even put work in. To put yourself out and invest a little bit, and then to be noticed when you least expect it feels really good. This has reminded me to invest more faith in my own abilities and to work hard to get where I want to be. You have to apply yourself when it comes to the things you enjoy and/or feel passionate about.

So, I'm apparently supposed to receive a product package from Karl's sponsors, with skateboard part, clothes, etc. But I'm trying to not get obsessed with it, cause I'm pretty satisfied with being announced the winner...

Later skater, D

Snow

We got 5 inches of snow between midnight at 1:00pm today. Everything is still crisp and pure white. Very nice. After work I bought a snow shovel to clear our steps and driveway. That kind of work, when it's new, is pretty fun and exciting; refreshing. Our first snow in our house, and in our marriage. Check. Check.

Everything is well. Back to painting the trim...

Weekend Warriors

"Holy F balls." That's how C suggested I start this entry. I agree that this phrase sums our exasperation at our current situation. We had slept in the morning after Thanksgiving and were brainstorming all the wonderfully relaxing things we could fit in to our three extra days of holiday vacation: "Let's sleep in and wash my car windows;" "let's watch football and go shopping;" "let's clean the house." Somehow the conversation turned to dream house renovations. C asked me what I would do to change the kitchen. We then started talking about knocking out walls around the house. In an attempt to reign ourselves in, I mentioned that if we were going to do anything, we should pick a needed change--like removing this dirty carpet. A blink later and C was on her knees pulling carpet back to appraise the hardwood floors. I think she was as excited as I when we realized the floors were probably in great condition throughout. By noon we had removed all the carpet and padding in the hallway. We went to lunch and wrote down our strategy for refinishing our hardwood floors. However, our flowchart involved a lot less steps than what we've done so far. It is late on Sunday morning and we are at Panera for the third time this weekend. Our refrigerator and oven are conveniently blocked by our couch and a few bookcases. So that is why we ate Wendy's last night.

--

I'm finishing up this post Monday morning. C is at home finishing up the second coat of stain in the living room and hallway. This project has involved renting (for 24 hours) an electrical floor sander and 3 passes over approximately 900 square feet with successively finer sanding pads; scrupulous vacuuming; tack-cloth-ing; and now TWO coats of noxious wood stain (English Chestnut!). That is, not to mention dismantling our home and packing our possessions into the basement and garage. Soon we will be polyurethane-ing. Did I mention that we overlooked the fact that 40 degree temperatures and rainy weather is really slowing down our progress? Well, the floors look gorgeous so far and pictures will be up soon.

--

I want to mention that this project started on "Black Friday"--the day after Thanksgiving--the largest shopping day of the year, and also designated as "Buy Nothing Day" by radical "Jammers and Cultural Creatives" across the developed world. I'm proud to say, in the spirit of B.N.D., C and I rented a tool to work together to improve our house. We didn't have to wade through crowds of sale-hungered mall shoppers to exchange money for services, improve our quality of life, and support the economy. We also improved the value of our house, which might, in a small way, improve the value of our neighborhood. The cynic would remind us that we did buy some tools (a sanding block, a broom handle...) that will remain in our possession, that we quickly went through some inexpensive latex gloves, and that we created a lot of trash. I will remind the cynic that we saved some beautiful wood floors, original to the house (50 years old!), and that carpet should never have been put into the house in the first place. Our house will be cleaner, contain less allergens, and be easier to clean, and our knowledge and independence is increased. Remember the three R's: Reduce, Reuse, Refinish...?

(All my love to C, my beautiful wife, who was a powerhouse this weekend and this morning. She is an incredibly hard worker and inspires me constantly. She was in her element from the point of ripping out the carpet. C, I know this project has been testing your patience, and the fast food we've been fueling up on is killing us slowly, but everything looks great and I am loving you more and more every second. When this project is finished, hopefully I'll make it up to you, big time.)