Life here is hard

Today (14 January) at lunch the temperature was around 73 degrees, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. How do people live in this place for years dealing with weather like this? I forgot my sunglasses at home and had to walk to get lunch into the sun. I was forced to squint and sometimes cover my eyes with my hands to provide shade. Unbearable. The hardships and the climate of this place is just so bizzare I don't know how people can stand it. I don't want anyone to cry for me or try to help me, but I'm not wearing short sleeves today, so I might feel slightly overdressed when I walk around the base today. It's ok, I'll adapt and overcome, try to adjust to these extreme weather conditions.

Someone seriously told me today, "This is like D.C., except there you need sunglasses because the snow is so bright." Lord knows how he's been able to survive out here in this challenging climate, it's what separates the men from the boys.

My new life coach

So there I was, sitting in a dive bar at 9 in the morning saturday morning in Las Vegas eating breakfast. It was a nice little place well off the strip and the food was fantastic. On my left was my friend and this girl he'd met the night before, on my right was my new life coach. Yes as I sat there eating my delicious breakfast (and it was fucking fantastic) the drunk man at the bar next to me started talking to me. It turned out that this guy was a retired Cirque du Soleil actor and former Olympic gymnast from Romania.

Turns out Marius had won a bronze medal in the highbar at the Seoul Olympics and had placed 15th in the overall competition, he also competed in Barcelona. After that he went and worked for Cirque du Soleil for 10 years. But on this particular day he took to the time to explain to me what was wrong with my fitness plans, which sports he liked and why I shouldn't like Manchester United. In the space of 20 minutes he insulted my workouts, my sports teams, my choice of athletic endeavors, and which MMA fighters I liked. All in all it was a humbling yet wonderful experience that ended slightly prematurely (like all my sexual experiences) when his wife came into the bar and dragged his drunk ass out to the car.

However in the wake of this encounter it's made me wonder if that's not exactly what I need, a daily reminder of what's wrong with my life from a drunk former athlete at 9 in the morning. A refreshing look at my life from the perspective of a storied Romanian Olympian. For all his criticisms he was a really nice guy and I enjoyed talking to him immensely. I'm thinking of calling him up and asking him to be my new guiding light. A life counselor if you will, a coach to keep me on the straight and narrow. And then his wife to drag him out before he's done criticising something.

Happy Three Kings day!

Or as I like to call it, Mortality Reminder Day. When people ask me what I'm doing for my birthday it's as if they want me to tell them I'm doing something crazy stupid. Because they always seem disappointed with the answer I usually give, which is, "Bike to work, work, go to the gym at lunch, and then go home and cook myself dinner." I think for whatever reason people want me to give a much more extreme answer, something more age appropriate I guess like, "I'm going to get hella drunk and then break into the zoo and headbutt all the marsupials after I get done making out with strippers." Maybe that's what I'll say next time someone asks me.

I do dislike my birthday, it's an annual reminder of all I've failed at and what I've gotten worse at over the last year. Sure I could dwell on what I've accomplished or the things that I've done well. But I'd rather think about how much older and worse looking I am, and how I'm likely to die alone in a failed auto erotic asphyxiation attempt. (I'm kidding about all this...or am I?) Maybe I'll hold off on doing that until I'm 30 or something.

A simple equation you can follow

Boxing + Wrestling + Working out=Hurty Ribs
Hurty Ribs + Uncomfortable bed= No sleep
No Sleep + Low amount of work = You're not gonna have a good time


The shame of it is that I didn't think my ribs even hurt that bad until I was in bed, and I didn't even get punched in the stomach! We were just training. But apparently I have to suffer with even less sleep if my ribs hurt, so the 2-3 hours I get turns into 0. Not cool.

No Adults

Today is one of those very rare days in the office where there are absolutely no supervisors in at any level. So basically it means I get to be productive and proactive and have as much fun as I want. Awesome. I always work with a large degree of autonomy but it feels even better to not have anyone around to come and give me additional tasks. The freedom is gratifying. Don't get me wrong I enjoy a sense of direction as much as the next worker, but I like to think that I'm a pretty creative guy and that I can get the job done without adult supervision. I think many of my co-workers feel the same based on the fact that everyone seems busy today and they all seem to be in such high spirits. Although maybe that's the holiday spirit.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to work for myself, could I get by with absolutely as little direction as possible? Who knows maybe I'll get there someday. In the meantime I'll settle for this feeling of childish delight that I have the whole work day to do whatever I need to do! It's almost a guilty pleasure really, I feel as though I should be hiding my delight at the lack of adult supervision. Not sure exactly why that is since I'm still doing lots of work and being very busy. Hahaha you fools, look what happens when you leave me to my own devices, I do lots of necessary work and fix a bunch of problems! Yes, that'll show them to never leave me alone again! Take that.

Not enough time here

I've spent the last couple days back in the DC area (and the NJ area for 2 days). It's so hard, I want to see everyone I know and have lots of time to talk with everyone. But sadly I have been running all over the place and not accomplishing that at all. I wish I had like, 2 more weeks around here to see everyone, my family and friends and everyone. I wonder if this is going to be a familiar feeling when I come back to DC. Not having that much time with the people I still care about here. It makes me feel bad, maybe next time I won't tell as many people I'm coming back, because I feel like I wanted to see many more people than I did.

I should hirer a prostitute

Because this is getting ridiculous. Just saying.