One of Them

With all this bike riding and walking I have been seeing the same street people over and over again.  Seems they may not have homes but they do have territories.  Since I am always wearing my safety orange nap sack , which I must post a picture of soon, I am fairly certain they think I am one of them.  I think I have said it before that I just don't have the heart to let them know I am not homeless, just car-less.  The bus stop is another big homeless hangout out but it is shady and so the other day I was sitting there and eating my tuna sandwich.  This guy, who is carrying in bags all of his life's possessions, comes and sits down and so naturally strikes up a conversation with me.  He first tells his tale of woe he recently had with his "bitch" (his word, not mine) and that he is on his way to TJ because he has a buddy there that has a job lined up for him.  I am thinking, hmmm so we get their illegals and they get our homeless - interesting.  Well he prattles on and on and I admit I am very intrigued by him and definitely by all his stories and how freely he tells them.  Next he asks me for a cigarette.  I know how bad smoking is for my health but they are expensive so I don't give too many away.  I would have given him a cigarette for free though as I did find his chatter interesting.  Before I could even say yes he tells me that if I did give him a cigarette that he would give me a pair of sunglasses and then from his huge back he pulls out a grocery store size bag with about 30 pairs of brand new sunglasses in it.  I ended up buy two pairs of sunglasses for the price of 2 cigarettes plus I gave him 1 extra one as a tip.  They are not really my style but I figured I could give them to my nephew or maybe the next time I get to go down and see Oscar, whenever that might be.  Unfortunately it dawned on me later that I should have asked if he had my missing bike seat in one of his bags lol.

Unrelated at all to this story - doesn't my head look awfully odd in this photo?  Oh how my mind wanders.

Unexpected Finds

I got up yesterday and  rode my bike down to do Zumba.  When I got to the American Legion where the class is held, a fund raiser yard sale was in progress.  I poked around a bit and did not see anything that immediately caught my eye and headed on into class.  After class I was tired so I figured I would mill around the yard sale and as I did, boy did I unearth some ah-mazing treasures!

I died over this 70's funky, chucky Spiedel ID bracelet.  Sure my name is not EARL but that is ok because EARL is a very respectable and manly name plus man do I look like a fox wearing this!  Oh what joy bought for just one mere quarter.  And all that quality and timeless style is 100% made in the USA - hooray.  Love, Love Love It!

In addition to my fabulous Speidel ID bracelet I also got these prescription quality 70's aviator sunglasses.  I've wanted to be an old man since I was 14 and so I was so happy to be able to take one step closer with them.  They were also just a quarter and I was thinking at the time that they they said "70's swinger named Marv" but now I am not so sure.  Turns out they are transition lens so get lighter at times and now I actually thinking they just say, "Creepy old guy".  Hmmmm - not quite the old guy look I wanna work.

Silly Me

There is a smoke shop right next door to the gym - which is pretty funny in an of itself but now they have this above sign in the window.  Oh the chuckles it gave me.  I texted it to a bunch of Boston friends with the caption, "Do only people from Boston think this sign is funny?".  I also texted it to a bunch of San Diego friends and wrote the caption, "Jeez the economy really does still suck.".  Either way I got even more chuckles out of it.  Ah silly me :)

Everything Is Breaking - Including Me!

Eeek what a bunch of craziness lately!  My laptop broke.  It was all locked up with a virus so I had to get that resolved.  Man it feels freaky to know that I cannot just pop on youtube and watch Wake Me Up Before You Go Go by Wham whenever I want to.  It really was not the end of the world but it certainly did remind me that we truly do live in George Orwell's 1984.  So I dipped into the car repair fund to get it all set and I am back online.

While on my forced hiatus I went to the doctor's for a check up since I did not go all of last year because I had no insurance.  I do like my new primary care physician but my one visit has result in 4 additional appointments.  The did the routine tests and it turns out that I am pre-diabetic.  I do not want that so I am going to go to a nutrition health education class and have a follow up test near Halloween.  Of course he said that I need to exercise (even more?), avoid white foods (processed flour, sugar, potatoes), plus quit smoking and drinking.  I dunno.  I do not think I excess in any of those - except perhaps sugar.  I am definitely addicted to sugar and am trying to figure out how to fit my dependence to it.  I also know that smoking to any degree is horrendous to my health.  

My health care provider has all sorts of online tools so I have signed up for them to get the ball moving in the right direction.  They also have a lot of health education classes so I have been sorting through the others to sign up for them too in order to assist me.  

Lastly I have a lump in my stomach.  I noticed it last year but since I had no pain or health insurance I did nothing about it.  My doctor is sending me to an internist so that I can get a proper diagnosis.  Could me scar tissue from an old surgery, could be a hernia, could actually be due to weight lose.  I made the appointment with the internist as soon as I can.  The doctor was concerned but said that it is a good sign that I have not experienced any pain from it at all.  

Jane said, "It is tough to get old".  Michelle said, "The warranty expires at 40".  I have to agree with the both but I am lucky I have health insurance and will follow up on everything since I do!

More Walking

As if I don't do enough walking - I went on a walking to tour of east side of Old Escondido with my friend from Spanish class.  In a nutshell it was awesome!  The tour leader was so into it and there was about 8 people.  It was a beautiful early evening and I was thrilled with every moment.  Of course I was snapping pictures left and right like a tourist in Time Square - and just as excited.  Here are some pictures:

How awesome is this Arts and Crafts bungalow.  Oh man I would kill to live in a home like this.  

How cute is my city.  This place was so charming!

Another bungalow to die for - such the perfect size for me to.  I love it.

Eeek the scary old Queen Anne on the hill.  It was simply amazing but I do think the Munsters live here.

Check out this Mediterranean!  This could be Hollywood.

Don't mean to end on a sour note but I am so disappointed in this picture.  In my mind I thought I looked good but wow in picture it is slighly horrifying.  Look how large and round my stomach is.  All the walking and exercise and still yuck :(  Oh well I still have a great smile.

Continued Car-Less-Ness

I know I need to get a solution and resolution to this car situation and I am working on several options but in the meantime life goes on.  It odd and weird.  I feel like a bit of a loser without a car.  I am at an age where I should be fine with money and have a car but its not in the cards right now.  So although I feel odd I just keep it moving along.  I don't think about too much about it anymore at all.  Well I mean I think about what I am going to about a car in general but daily I just walk out the door and either start hoofing it or jump on my bike.  I do not do one more than the other but I do prefer walking.  I still go at a good pace and work up a sweat but I find it so much more relaxing because I can wear my headset, sing songs, and even dance at times -- oh such a treat for my fellow Escondioans.  Plus I get a little nervous about the traffic when I ride my bike.

On Thursday I felt like I wanted to get out on Friday night so I called that woman I met at school who was really coming on strong with the friendship request to see if she wanted to go out.  So on Friday I walked over to Cruzin Grand which is the vintage car show that goes on downtown.  I got to met her mom and her niece which was nice.  Then they left and we went over for tacos and a donut.  Although she is from Escondido - she does not nearly enjoy the experience as much as I do.  It actually freaked her out a bit how much I knew about Esco and how much I talked about it.  Plus I kept pointing out everything, you get a different view outside of a car.  The sidewalk on Escondido Blvd has the name of states engraved on the corners of intersections but the intersecting streets are named with numbers not named with the names of states - baffling to me.  I hoped that since she was born and raised her she would know why, but she didn't.  Although her dad was born and raised here in Escondido which I found amazing and she did tell me some stories that he had told her.  She was much more relaxed out of class and not nearly so distracting.  Later we ended up at Pounders - the local yokel, hard drinking bar - and shockingly the first time she had ever been in there.  They had a cover band that sang "Voices Carry",  "White Rabbit" and "Message of Love" --- that combination equals me loving it and dancing a bit too.  Although she is very outgoing she was a little surprised at have very, very outgoing I was.  I was just in a mood.  

Saturday night a friend let me borrow a car so I went down to San Diego.  Oh it was nice to get out of town.  I went to the Starlight Theater and saw an 80's cover band there too, had a couple drinks at the Redwing and then a frozen yogurt.  It was super nice to get out to get out plus the weather at night was so nice.  It was humid all last week in Esco but the air felt so much cooler and more refreshing in the city.  So all in all a good weekend.  I also rode my bike down Saturday morning and did Zumba, so I got execise in.  Funny though all this exercise and I really have not been eating badly but I gained weight last week?  I am curious to see what the scale says on tomorrow night.  By there is a brightside there too.  I know not to put too much pressure on the number on the scale but even if I do not feel good about the number, I can't give up and stop the exercise -- not without a car.

I have some blisters on my feet.  I fucking hate the hill I live on.  It pisses me off each time I walk by the gas station and see how low the gas prices are.  All that being said -  I sleep really well, I use sun block but am still super tan, regardless of the number on the scale I feel super good about myself, and I have not missed any work at all.  I have everything I need for right now and tomorrow I know that I will definitely be getting even more exercise!  

Optimistic

As I head into my third week of car-less-ness I am thinking a lot about it.  Yesterday I woke up at 7am - pretty amazing for me on a Saturday - and rode my bike down to Zumba, which I proceeded to do for an hour.  It was good and I felt great so I went and splurged on a donut.  I say splurged because I felt like I negated all the calories I just burned.  But it is ok to treat myself every so often - plus I walked 2 miles to get that donut and then had to walk 2 miles back to my bike.  I have to have a little joy.  I guess I could though find a little joy that does not have such a high calorie count though.  

Today I am going to ride my bike to the gym and go for a swim.  I am pretty tired so it will not be a workout type swim, I just want to enjoy a bit and it sounds so refreshing and nice.  I am very optimistic because I have kept everything going that I need to and I am also very much looking forward to Monday night's weigh in (which I have not been feeling too good about for the past couple of months).  I also feel good because I know that when it comes down to it I will do whatever I have to do to get through something.  That is a positive quality and one that has helped me greatly.  I am happy that I have kept everything moving along and look forward to a solution and resolution as I know I can find and obtain one.

There Go The Neighbors

The neighbors in the front are moving.  All their stuff is gone.  I did my best with them but it was a older couple and he was the creepiest man I have EVER met in my life - I just know there are bodies being left behind beneath the deck but the wife was so super nice - like insanely, I wish I was that nice, nice.  So I avoided him like the plague but I would chit chat with her. I swear they were running a bed and breakfast though as people were always coming, staying, and then going.  But for their good and bad I finally had them trained and now will probably have to start from scratch.  I only need two things for a neighbor to be considered in my book as a good neighbor - one don't park in my spot and do not let your visitors park in my spot.  After several cranky episodes of knocking on the door and making people move, they finally got it, but now I guess that need is not so major a need for me anymore.  The second is to leave the sensor light on so at night when I get home it will come on and I can see.  But seriously folks that is all I need - I could even deal with the creepiness if those two things were done regularly.  I am sure there will be new neighbors soon and hopefully no dogs but the landlord does for the most part a good job finding people so I think the change will be a good one.  I will let you know.

Ups 'n Downs

I have seen this sign a million times and always liked it.  I kept meaning to take a picture of it and well walking certainly allows me to take more photos.  It is a roller rink and I am not sure if it is even open but the name certainly strikes a strong chord with me this week.  Dead car, stolen bike seat - what a week!  The good news is that although I am a bit tired from so much exercise, I got everything done that I needed to do plus did not miss a minute of work plus I am super tan.  My bike is up and running again but my new seat is pretty hard on my chunky buns butt so I purchased a gel pad cover that I so hope arrives soon.  In the meantime I had my weigh in tonight and lost 5 pounds over the week!  How awesome is that!  Although I will be off on the 4th of July this week there will still be plenty of exercise to be had and I am going to focus even more on the food I eat.  I have not had a binge in ages but think I need to cut out 96 cents Burger King ice cream cones (but I only had one last week as a treat - I can do that every so often).  I am excited to see what I can do this week with the scale.  I will keep you posted!

Excitement in Escondido

I rode my bike downtown to today to do some errands and also spludge on a ice cream cone from Burger King.  I am sure their "ice cream" is totally heinous for you and probably contains not even one once of a dairy product but one it is YUM and two it is 96 cents - tax included!  I am off topic a bit as the real point is the excitement I saw in Escondido.  Seems some crazy truck hit a fire hydrant and presto magico an instant geyser right there in downtown.  I did not see the accident which made me happy as the truck kept going so who knows what his problem was but there was all sorts of craziness during the aftermath.  The cops were trying to find the truck, the firemen were trying to fix the problem and I and the rest of the spectators were gawking at the spectacle.  It was super hot so although I was across the street the coolness of the water still felt awesome.  No one was hurt which is good.  It was just a touch a craziness in what was otherwise a very welcome relaxing and quiet day. 

If He Can, Well So Can I

I saw this sign while walking and it made me think.  All the problems in the world - disease, war, famine, etc - and yet God is going to smile.  I am not too religious but I did decide that if in the face of everything God can still smile well then fuck it so can I - and that is exactly what I am going to do!  I hope all have a wonderful day and please do remember to smile, no matter what.