Welcome To The Gym

Yeah, I joined a gym. It's to help counteract all of the bagels and muffins I've been eating since moving to New Jersey. Not really, but it helps with that too.

I joined a gym to stay healthy and help keep myself strong enough to get out of a fight if I need to. Also to someday try out for American Ninja warrior. That show is awesome (the Japanese version even more so). My roommate talked me into joining the same gym that they go to. It doesn't have a pool, but there's an ocean about an hour away from here. I think I'll manage.

What did I do before I joined a gym? I worked out at home. It was convenient, didn't cost anything (except maybe a few bucks for DVDs), and I had my own space to do my work out.

So, why did I decide to join a gym even though I had a good thing going for me working out at home. Well, back in Maryland I had a ground floor apartment. It didn't matter how much noise I made or how often I banged on the floor. Now I live on the third floor with all wooden flooring, plus a baby lives down stairs. It wouldn't be polite to my neighbors (or roommate) for me to work out at home. I also thought it would be a great place to meet new people and learn some new workouts. So far, I've only accomplished learning the new workouts. Making friends is hard (if you don't believe me there's a blog post linked at the bottom for you to review).

Finding a gym wasn't the hardest decision for me. I went to a few different gyms, tried out there equipment, looked at there prices and made my decision (no, actually I did all my research online and ended up taking a great deal after checking the place out). I liked this gym because it wasn't expensive, I could walk to it, and my roommate belongs so I don't feel completely alone.

So far, I've been happy with the decision. I take two yoga classes and a spinning class every week. I also try to go one extra day to do weights. It can be a little difficult because my shoulder and hip still give me problems (old rugby injuries), but hopefully after a few months they won't be that much of a problem any more.

Now, would I recommend joining a gym after just starting out. Eh, it depends. If you have a very strict budget, my answer would be no. It's not something that is necessary. However, if you are in a new area and it wouldn't be easy to workout at home, I say go for it. You never know who you might meet at the gym.


If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.

Oh, right, here's that blog where I mention how hard it is to make friends after college. Enjoy...
http://startingoutinwonderland.blogspot.com/2014/03/welcome-to-learning-curve.html

Welcome to the 100th Post

I almost didn't realize it was my 100th post until I went to check on which titles I had already used. It doesn't seem like it has been long enough for 100, but I guess it has. This week was a fairly average week. Nothing super exciting happened. I can sometimes be hard to find something new to write about.

After our big party last weekend, my roommate had a fairly calm weekend (or at least I did). Yesterday was a shopping day for me. I discovered that the Bed Bath and Beyond near me is huge and has almost all of the products one could find at Target except for cloths, produce and a frozen section. Today I went to the farmers market and then my roommate and I cleaned for the rest of the day. I feel somewhat accomplished (though I never did get around to writing anything for my web-comic or novel).

Here's to hoping next week is just as smooth.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I started a web-comic. No I'm not going to link it to this blog just yet. I'm still trying to find my voice and get a better feel for my style. I will say that it is a mixture of humor and mystery (mostly humor). I've started watching Twin Peaks, which is definitely helping with the ideas. It's the strangest mystery show I've ever watched.

 The web-comic is just as much an experiment as my blog post started out as. Yet here I am at blog post number 100, still occasionally struggling to figure out what the heck to write about. I don't think I've explored all of my wonderland just yet. Oh, no, then I wouldn't freak out every time something new happens to me. But maybe I've started to get used to all the changes.

I don't know, at least I know how to fix a running toilet. UPS and I still have our issues, so not everything is peachy.

Let me know if you guys ever want me to write about a topic. I'm sure I'll have one for next week.

See y'all then.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me. I'm going back to watching Twin Peaks. Maybe I'll one day live in a town like that (the almighty only knows).

Welcome To Party Time

Summer is in full swing and what's the best way to celebrate than with a party. Yesterday my roommate and I threw a party to celebrate all things summer. It was my first major party that I was hosting (or at least helping with the hosting) since college. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to next one.

Throwing parties now is very similar to parties I threw in College. Major differences include more food, better drinks and the number of people to help clean up (there were seven people in a house on campus as oppose to an apartment with just me and my roommate).

For anyone wanting to throw a party and need a little advice, below are some pieces I picked up from my roommate and lodgemates.

1) Pick a simple theme and is seasonally appropriate (also that isn't offensive to another culture). This is helpful because decorations will likely be easy to find and might be on sale. If you decide to not have a theme that's okay too.

2) Make your apartment / house look clean. I don't mean do a full scrub down before the party, just a quick rub down so that people aren't questioning the green stuff growing in your sink (just kidding). Parties tend to be messy and you have to clean up after them anyway. Why put in all of the effort to make you apartment spotless before hand only to have to clean up all over again the next day?

3) Recruit people to help out with set up and clean up. You will need the help. I don't know how many times I've woken up after a party, looked around and wished I wasn't the one who needed to clean up. It's a little less daunting with a few extra hands.

4) The type of food to have. This is tricky because I feel it depends on the type of part. If you are throwing a dinner party or back yard BBQ it's kind of a given that there will be a lot of food and enough to cover at least one meal. If it's neither of those than I would suggest some finger foods. Things that are easy to put together and clean up after. Chips and dip are good bases for these parties, but not usually enough. Small sandwiches, meats and cheeses with crackers, and plenty of desserts keep people filled up.

5) Have people bring something (drinks are the best recommendation). When I was in college, my lodgemates and I threw a party within the first few days of moving in. We had a supply of drinks and some chips when we started the party. The next morning we didn't have any more chips, but about three times as many drinks as we had started with. Yesterday we asked everyone to ether bring a drink or a snack. We currently have a cooler full of drinks and no more tuna sliders.

Of course these are suggestions. All parties are different. Heck there have been many parties where it's just a group of friends who order pizza. Clean up, though, still sucks.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post or it really pissed you off, please like, share or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Now I just need to be ready for work tomorrow. Joys.

Welcome To America's Birthday

Happy Forth of July everyone! Or at least the day after the forth of July. And what better way to end the holiday weekend celebrating everything 'Merica than by watching the USA in the Women's World Cup. It is a glorious game.

The forth of July was a little different this year. It was the first year that my dad, sibling and I didn't set off our own sparklers (the legal stuff of course). Instead we watched what we could from my dad's balcony and the PBS special. To be honest, I thought watching the DC fireworks show on TV was a lot more fun  than actually going to DC. At least we can hear the music and fireworks when watching it on TV. It was also really cloudy yesterday and made it hard to see anything.

All other forth of July traditions were celebrated.

Our first mission of the morning was going out and buying a Blueray copy of 1776. If you've never seen the movie, it's worth it. Mr. Feeny (William Daniels) is in it and it totally explains why the high school in Boy Meets World was John Adams High.

My sibling and I then fought over control of the TV as both the England v. Germany game was on and Independence Day (another must in my family). Sibling won, and I followed the game online (today's game was way more important anyway).

We finished off the day by watching Jurassic Park (the original of course). I really wanted to see it again after seeing the new one and we all wanted to laugh at the original line Jess Goldblum says in both Jurassic Park and Independence Day ("Must go faster! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!")

In some ways the forth of July reminds me what American's fought for (and are still fighting for), the right to be independent and create there own destinies. No one tells the United States what to do (well they try, but we tend to ignore them). It also reminds me of how our nation has changed since we signed a piece of paper telling the world that we didn't belong to anyone.

Since 1776, we no longer have to have property to vote, we can be of any race or nationality as long as we are a citizen of the US, we don't have to be a man, we have 17 more amendments than we started with, and we are continuing to grow. Sure we don't agree on anything (internationally and internally), but we're learning and evolving. Hopefully for the better.

If I had one wish for the United State's Birthday, it's that we keep growing and evolving. We're probably going to make some more mistakes (it's not like we haven't before), but we have to continue creating our own destiny.

Here's to another year and not f!%*&$g it up too much.

If you enjoyed this post (or it pissed you off), please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.