every bruise is a badge of courage

on my birthday, i wanted to do some geocaching. after 3 unsuccessful attempts by myself earlier in the day, i went out with parley again after he got off work. the three new caches we looked for were all in the same park, one with a lot of bike trails. parley thought it would be a good idea to take our bikes down there to expedite our search.

parley let me borrow one of his mountain bikes, and good thing he did because the trails we ended up going on were pretty rough. we spent 2 hours in the park, found 2 of the 3 geocaches, and biked home in the dark. i got pretty beat up on our trek. i fell once- i couldnt keep my balance on a hill and fell over- not too bad. my pedals kept hitting my legs, and i'd get hit by branches and brambles and other things on the trail. but it was fun. so so fun, and i felt like i had really pushed myself to do something, and that felt good. parley and another friend of ours were going riding the next day, so i said i'd go with them. we took a harder trail, one with a lot of hills and sharp turns. i couldnt keep up very well (i had to walk my bike up most of the larger hills), but i think i did pretty well for a beginner.

at one point we came to a part of the trail where a small tree had fallen and was in the way. parley told me to just hop over it, just like hopping over a curb. i backed up a little and got some speed.....my front wheel went over, but my back wheel got stuck. i kind of flew over the handle bars, and my leg got twisted up in the bike. hitting the ground wasnt bad, but the bike hitting my leg hurt. when i got home, i noticed a nasty bruise forming. that was sunday. i took the following picture last night.




i think it kind of looks like antarctica. the lighter areas are more swollen and hurt to touch, but the edges are ok. you can see my speckled calf where the pedals would hit. my right leg was the one that didnt get caught, and it's pretty much unscathed.

on tuesday i went out biking again. just on some basic flat trails (some of the mkt, some of the mu rec. trail. see map here). i took my bike this time, which has a much bigger frame and bigger wheels. i felt a little unsteady at first, since i was up higher, and when i rounded a street corner my front wheel slid out from under me and i almost fell over. i put out my arm to try and brace myself on a fence, and ended up hitting my wrist pretty bad. i kept riding, but after a while noticed this huge goose egg forming where i hit it. i could move my wrist without any pain, so i knew it was ok, but a huge bruise formed around the bump. below is a picture i took last night. the swelling is mostly gone, but the bruise is still prevalent.

before all of this happened, i had such a fear of falling or injuring myself. but now, ive had the experience of falling, and it wasnt so bad. i think i'm riding with more confidence now because i know what to expect, rather than expecting the unknown.

sacrelicious

i saw this article today about an artist's chocolate jesus sculpture. the guy's done some pretty bizzare things with food, as outlined at the end of the article. it reminds me of the andres serrano 'piss christ' controversy, although i think people are more upset about the sculpture's name (and the time of the year) rather than the medium.

bizzare...

on saturday, columbia was hit by a mini snowstorm. at least an inch and a half fell in the morning. by the evening it had all melted away. it just seemed like an odd occurrence.
and to top it off, our toilet experienced a major clog and subsequent overflow- water got everywhere in the bathroom. not a great start to the day...

but i did snap this pretty picture:

more than i wanted to know...or others to know...

so a year or so ago i went to nevada to visit my grandparents. on the way home i went through security at the las vegas airport and had to go through this big machine that puffed air at me from all angles. little did i know that this technology essentially took a 'naked' picture of me, allowing airport security to see through my layers of clothes to determine if i was carying any hazardous materials. there was an article about these scanners in slate magazine today, and it was interesting to find out exactly what these things are.

as weird and slightly uncomfortable as it may seem, i dont think there's any reason to raise a stink about this. if i had a choice between a quick scan or a strip search, i'd go with the scan any day. and it's not like everyone in line gets to see the picture, broadcasted on big screens for all to see. anything that makes security smoother and less of a hassle for me is ok in my book. frankly i've gotten annoyed with the hyped up 'everyone's a threat', '30z conatiners of liquid toiletries only' (in a ziploc baggie no less), 'x-ray everyone's shoes' mess that flying has become. it's like airports have aged just as i have- there was a point in time where we could be reckless and have fun... but now we're older and must use better judgement. only i think the airports are being a bit too paranoid.

room updatez

on monday i went into a room-reorganizing frenzy. i suddenly felt like i had to make some real progress, especially since i wont be in this house after july (lease ends, and from there....who knows). i really want my last 5 months to be in an environment that i enjoy, and my room is a good place to start. before monday, i'd already managed to throw away a decent amount of stuff- 3-4 garbage bags full. i've also pulled a lot of clothes out of my closet to sell/give away. it was kind of sickening to see all of this stuff that i had that i didnt even use...and it felt good to be rid of it. i still have a long way to go, but here's the progress i've made so far:


i moved my bed and my screen. i'm also using the little table that used to be by my desk as a bedside table (handy place to keep laptop). probably going to get rid of the little bookcase, as it's holding junk right now, and move the big bookcase where it used to be- that will give me some more wall space to hang stuff.

the most change has occurred on the other side of the room:


my ultimate goal has always been to create a sleep space and a living space, and i think i'm headed in a good direction now. so far my desk and the record player in the corner are really the only things that are in the right place- i plan on putting a little love-seat where the brown chair is now, and then putting the chair in the corner. i've separated the desk into a computer/sewing station (sewing machine is on loan from mom- i bought awesome fabrics for curtains...havent started on them yet).

m.a. will notice that the pillow she got me is getting more and more stuffed. when i find clothes that are in no shape to be given away, i cut them up and stick them in the pillow. maybe by the end of this it will be cushy enough to sit on...

anway, i got really excited about it all, and was up until 1am rearranging things. i'll definitely post more pictures as i finish my curtains and get my seating arranged.