Change of plans

Okay, I’m not going to do the run today. Normally I do a faster, shorter run on Wednesdays, but with my legs still hurting, I figure I should give them a rest.
In other pain news, I have blisters on my palms. I enjoy poking at them. But there isn’t any real pain. Just a weird feeling. Poke poke poke.
In lieu of run I think I will take a half hour walk. It should give my muscles a chance to clear out the lactic acid. And give me some fresh air.
Today is a special day. My week has ended. I’ve signed up for a four day improv course. So I’ve taken tomorrow and Friday off to attend.
I get to stay up late!

Pain

It was 31.37 km according to Google pedometer.
And today was filled with a world of hurt in my legs.
And yet that is nothing compared to what happened later. I went to help my friend with the last scene he needed, which involved me falling. This was not a professional production so there were no stunt men, or even padding. Trying to get a good spill for the camera I got a nasty rug burn on my palms. And man, does it hurt.
I’ve tried Aloe Vera gel, but only ice understands my pain.

Aftermath

I have survived. And my car was still there at the end.
I ran for 2:55:05. My legs really hurt. And I have listened to the dulcet tones of Bob McDonald through three episodes of Quirks and Quarks.
The original plan was Chianti’s. I’m not sure I can make the walk that far away and be there before it closes.
A shower wouldn’t hurt either.
I’ll look up how far I actually covered later.

Excuses not to run

It was probably 1987 the last time I was roller-skating. Not rollerblading, but roller-skating. I was in grade 7 at the time, and I was bad at it. It was a school trip and I spent most of the time clutching the wall.

Rollerblading is much easier.

Today was the Rapid Fire Theatre AGM, held at a roller-skating rink. The meeting, as usual, was fun as we have a bunch of people with short attention spans all trying to be the center of attention. The chair was competing against a bunch of retro-arcade and pinball games for the remaining attention span.

There was pizza as well. I ate quite a bit of it. The acting I was doing for my friend did not result in the promised lunch so the last time I had eaten was breakfast. I’m not blaming anyone for that. We were running behind and lunch would have taken too much time. As is, we still haven’t finished.

The acting was really tiring as I kept having to sprint through the halls of Grant MacEwan college. I’m not used to anaerobic exercise, so it is draining. But we got good shots and I’m looking forward to the final product. Of course, I did have to make sacrifices. I had to repeatedly collide with an innocent bystander.

Anyway, the AGM was fun. And after it was over we went roller-skating. I could have brought rollerblades apparently, but it hadn’t occurred to me. So I had the standard, ancient, four wheels like-legs-on-a-table roller-skates. They didn’t quite fit, so my feet started hurting. I think I’m getting a blister on the bottom of my foot.

Which all leads to the planned run tomorrow.

  • I have blisters on my foot.
  • My back is feeling weird from all the crashing into people.
  • I gave pretty nice directions for someone who wants to spend three hours stealing a car.

I’m still going to do it. I’ve been thinking of parking some distance a way so that my car isn’t completely obvious. But that should extend the distance. Which might also be a good thing.

Night off

Usually I do the long run on Sundays. But not tomorrow. I have a friend who needs an actor for his movie project for school. He needs me on a Sunday for quite a long time. I can’t fit in a run before, and I have an AGM to go to in the evening.
I really want to do the run. It is supposed to be one of the two longest runs of 32km that happens when training for a marathon. I feel I should do it. I missed a long long run two weeks ago. I had hoped I would be needed for a shorter time tomorrow so I could do it on my own (as opposed to the usual running group) in the afternoon. Apparently not.
I’m now thinking of doing it on Monday evening: Leave work, immediately drive to Whitemud creek, run to Capilano bridge, and back again. (Not quite 32 km, I think, but close enough. It’s the same route I tried to rollerblade at least once a year before I started running.) Then enjoy a well-deserved dinner at Chianti’s on their cheap pasta night.
My only fear is that the sun will set and make it completely dark while I’m in the river valley. I guess that will encourage me to run faster.
The benefit of this is that I don’t have to go to bed early tonight. I’m thinking of watching My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Maybe popcorn?
If I was more ambitious I would go out to a bar and “socialize”. But I would rather see a movie.
But first, dinner.

A good movie

Today was a D&D game day.
In the past I’ve been making my own adventures, or heavily modifying them to fit into my “campaign”. This time I’ve been basing it all of an existing adventure I bought last year. It is amazing how much easier it is. I’ve still modified it, but mostly that is just changing the names.
And it has been a good adventure. It was very cinematic today. An old stone bridge collapsed around the heroes. The monk threw a large keg of explosive powder into an army of undead. Unfortunately, he then ran down the stairs to escape, and the explosive went off a little soon so the foundations of the keep were collapsed. But he used his monk-y skills to dodge the rubble, running along walls and escaping with his life. All to meet his friends who were proceeding to blow up the remaining bridge. It went off a little sooner than expected, so we had the classic run-faster-than-the-explosion scene.
Classic.
The army of thralls is still largely intact, but delayed. And about to march on the city that is in the midst of a major party.

Why yes, I am nerdy.

Citadel Theatre

Yesterday was the big premiere. I was on stage at the Maclab in front of people I know. People with blogs! wrote a review in hers. also wrote about the experience. Lana was there as well with a friend, but it remains to be seen if she mentions the experience.
I had fun. But let me comment on the three plays I was in.
The first “Eye to Eye” could have gone better. The background music was too loud and the principal actors spoke too softly. And they mixed up their lines. I was the waiter in the scene. Since I had such short stage time I memorized my lines between the brief moments I was onstage. In practice that worked. I thought I had more time at one point, but since the lines got mixed up, a large chunk of the play was missed, and I didn’t hear my cue. Then the other actors started asking for a pen, a prop they have never mentioned before in any of the rehearsals.
All in all, that could have gone better.
“The Interrogation” was my showpiece. I was on stage the entire time, and I think I did well. I mixed up only one line, and the actress didn’t even notice, so I’m pretty sure the audience didn’t. The bigger problem I found was that I had forgotten to take off my waiter’s apron between the plays. I don’t know if anyone noticed since I was sitting most of the time.
The final play, “Now we’re getting somewhere” went well. I got all my lines right, and I was a properly smarmy sales-schmuck. I was getting pretty thirsty by that one, so I was jealous of the actress who had to chug an entire can of pop.
Go read other people’s blogs for better reviews.
I was really wired after, so I didn’t get to sleep until much too late. And I haven’t recovered from the 29km on Sunday, so the run today was not pleasant.

Last chance

I’m not too nervous yet about the show tomorrow. I’ve mostly got my lines down pat. I’m actually more worried about what to wear.
We haven’t exactly had a dress rehearsal.
Still, should be exciting. I’m especially looking forward to having more free time now that the class is over.

YourSpace, not mine

The weirdest thing is happening.
For a Halloween party, I took many pictures. People of course wanted me to send copies. No problem. One woman only gave me a MySpace address. Unfortunately you can’t send messages unless you are also a member. I signed up and sent the pictures. And then washed my hands of the whole thing.
This weekend I’ve gotten five requests from people who want to be my friend. It’s great for the self-esteem, but I have never heard of these people. And looking at their profiles, they all seem to be young sex-starved women from the US.
And their descriptions about themselves match word for word.
And who is this “Tom” guy from L.A. that actually is supposed to be my friend. I didn’t say he was. Does MySpace think I’m so lonely that it is assigning me friends. Awfully forward of it.
I must say, my opinion of MySpace, not high to begin with, is not being helped by this.
I’m marking them as spam.

So I did the run this morning. And I feel tolerable. The injury didn’t bother me, so I’ll assume that it is gone. I would like to say I feel great, but 29km doesn’t afford that luxury.
That and I think I attacked myself last night.

Ain’t no cure for the running time blues

I have a theory about why I hurt so much from the treadmill run I did last week. The Wednesday before, when I went for a quick run outside, I did it in shorts. It was a bit above zero, so usually that is warm enough that the exercise will let me get away with being comfortable. But, my knees did feel a little stiff afterwards.
So maybe it wasn’t my company’s fitness program. Maybe it was my own fault. It would explain why I always seem to get injured in Spring every run.
After the feast today (or technically yesterday) I did the treadmill thing again. This time it felt good. Well, it felt hard, but it didn’t feel bad. I also did a warmup and stretching beforehand.
But, isn’t a treadmill incredibly boring?
Why, yes. It is. I’m only on for twenty minutes, and I do have an iPod pumping out my absolute favorite running tunes. Otherwise it is mind numbing.
When I was in junior high and high school, I had a different exercise program. Before dinner my father and I would go to a nearby track. There I would run a few laps, while my father would walk the dog in the opposite direction. The distance would start at about a mile at the start of summer and get longer and longer over the season, as long as I hit the speed mark I needed to add an extra half mile to the distance.
I have no idea how I did that. It sounds really boring.
The chief architect of continuing that program was the dog. She was very insistent that we go. She loved to roam around the schoolyard where the track was. She could investigate lots of smells and feel safe; At any time she could look up and check that we were still there.
I miss that dog.

Venting

Work is in a weird state.
We got acquired a few months ago, and I think that was a good thing.
It is harder to notice when you are in it, but there were a lot of problems. Morale was bad. Innovation was stifled as we would only do what a customer asked instead of being proactive. Decisions were discouraged, so that none were ever made. It was depressing.
But it became really depressing when I noticed.
This really happened on Tuesday when the new company had someone over to examine the corporate culture. We were first made to fill out a survey about the old company, rating aspects of it on a scale. Most of us noticed that it was rating pretty poorly. So the round table afterwards became a gripe session. This was escalated by the lack of managers present. I hear that the afternoon discussion was not nearly as illuminating. They say that no names will be recorded, but it is really hard to complain when the manager responsible is across the table.
Since we still have the same managers, decisions still aren’t happening. (A meeting happened where only the organizer showed up, and the managers “forgot” about it.) The new company claims to really like innovation, and I believe them. I feel empowered, so I am taking the lack of decision as a sign to create my own project. I’m looking at rewriting the UI to be more standard, and allow the OS to handle globalization and 508 compliance for us, and still be cross-platform.
I complain about this, but it still a nice company. We are getting a social activity tomorrow. Pizza and An Inconvenient Truth. It’s a nice perk.
Still, I have to start improving myself. I really do want to be more innovative. It’s been beaten out of me, so I’m working to get it back. The new company has career counselors, so I’m interested in that.
Or maybe I should look somewhere else entirely.
I’m not sure what I want. What do I want in life? As a cliche, I’m going to say “I have to find myself”. Maybe the European trip will help. But that is going to happen in Autumn. I need to start focusing on the now.

DST

As much as I hate to admit it, this has been one of the better daylight savings times.
I hate that George Bush shifted the dates. It feels imperialistic, and something Microsoft would do to get its way.
Despite the running injury, I still woke up early on Sunday, but then I was able to go back to sleep. That set me into the new timezone in a rested state. Now when I wake up it is dark, and I seem to be sleeping better.
And coming home while it is light out is a nice feeling.
How long this lasts? I don’t know.

Final exam

The final acting class was today. Well final before the big performance.
Next Tuesday, at 8:30 in the Maclab theatre at the Citadel, I will be on stage performing. Anyone is welcome to come and watch. It’s free! It shouldn’t last more than an hour.
Hopefully I don’t embarrass myself.

Love’s labour

On Saturday there was an all day improv class. Overall, it went well. But there was a part that didn’t.
We were doing a longer-form improv set in a Jane Austen novel. I was the dashing stableboy who was in love with the woman of high society. It was a good play. However, the notes given afterwards said that I did a terrible job of showing love for the girl.
I plead guilty. I had the same note at the last class. I really can’t portray love, or interest in a girl.
I was hoping the real acting class I’m taking would help with this. But that class hasn’t taught me much about portraying emotions. Instead we try and get into the head of the characters and act like they would. Which doesn’t help when you have nothing to base the portrayal off of.
I need more practice with women. Fortunately this seems to be happening. A week before, I went with a friend to New City. She wanted to go to look at the goth people, and try out some semi-goth clothing she had. I’ve been there before so I was the guide. (Not that I totally feel welcome there.)
It was actually a very nice experience. She has a boyfriend, so there was no pressure to try and make a good impression and I could just be myself. (Yeah, I know that’s what I’m always supposed to do. And I will say that plan looks good on paper.)
We spent the time looking at people and commenting. There are always interesting costumes to look at. When she was pondering the structural support of a piece of clothing (more a lack thereof) for someone’s breasts, I was more than happy to ogle and offer my opinion. (They do dress kind of slutty down there.)
It was a nice way to boost confidence.

Bureaucracy at work for you!

I skipped my long distance run today. I blame my company’s fitness program.
I have made no secret of my running habit. I regularly go out and do half-marathon distances as training.
My new company will give me extra benefits if I have an active lifestyle. Cool! Their measurement of an active lifestyle is exercising for twenty minutes, three times a week.
Sounds reasonable?
When I do my running, I do forty minutes on Wednesdays and around two plus hours on Sunday mornings.
That is only twice a week. So I don’t qualify.
To “cheat” the system I’ve been trying to run on Friday evenings. Twenty minutes on a treadmill, doing a light run. Usually this is late, after eleven o’clock at least. This is because there are the Friday Feasts. On a typical night Rem cooks a delicious light meal. But last Friday it was potluck night which gave us fried pork, a casserole and a chicken pot pie. Not quite so light.
Apparently this weighed a lot in my stomach so the run felt a lot harder than usual. That and I didn’t do a proper warm up before the run. (Remember, it is supposed to be light.)
So all yesterday my right leg felt gimpy.
I do not want to seriously injure myself, so I am listening to my body. Which is a weird feeling.
So the active lifestyle program made me do twenty minutes of exercise I didn’t want to do, which made me unable to do the 29km run I wanted to do.

Wahoo.
A simple cache for the X side of the equation sped up the creation of a spherical planet from about six seconds to about one second.
Boo-yah!