Wednesday, March 30, 2005

brian greene

this guy can illuminate and communicate a difficult subject to a lay audience.
rebecca and i went top hear him speak, along with michael turner at the smithsonian on wednesday. there was a huge line by the time we got there. by some quirky twist of fate, rebecca managed to sit next to her professor (unintended). i would have liked a lot more in the way of detail, but the talk was not aimed at that purpose. instead it gave personality to the books by brian greene - the elegant universe and fabric of the cosmos. he uses analogies extremely well. for anyone with a remote interest in string theory, read this guy's books. along with john gribben, they are my two favourite authors for astronomy and cosmology.

Saturday, March 19, 2005

down to 9......

all packed up. well i am. rebecca is down to a bed covered with everything that isns't male-related and nine pairs of shoes in the other room. everything is, i'm promised, "highly organised......".

we pick the car up at 9am tomorrow morning. then it's off to savannah. stay overnight in a hotel, of to cape canaveral for the best part of a day and then it's a four hour drive to miami.

stopped by neil's store to pick up some music:

vinyl: fear - the record (rebecca)
esthero - o. g. bitch remixes
betty davis - this is it (have wanted this since it came out)
landslide - buddah
aphrodite - royal (turns out this is tiernan's old record!)

to add to what we're taking for the road trip

cd's: nirvana - nevermind (rebecca)
funky kingston- reggae dancefloor grooves 1968-74
massive attack - protection (rebecca)
luscious jackson - electric honey (rebecca)
dr. dre - the chronic

rebbeca is asking me about what shoes she should take.....

Friday, March 18, 2005

friday

that's it.
last work out. got on the scales and guess what.. 194 lbs. that's a whopping 3 lbs less than when i weighed myself a month ago and after cutting out all the good/crap foodstuffs. i feel and look a lot better, so i'm not too unhappy. to be fair, i wasn't just trying to lose weight, i was trying to get some of my overall fitness and shape back. 15 months on crutches followed by the operation and the long recovery period doesn't do too much for your form.
leaving for miami sunday morning at 9:00am. i'm ready. feel like playing some records later on tonight and being a bit social. haven't sorted any music out for the trip yet, either.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

tuesday

day 25 of detox. no energy. only sleeping in 2 hour chunks. not too bad as long as you don't have to be at a specific place at a specific time. went for a long walk. i'm finding that the legs like me a lot better the next day when i hit the exercise bike in the 'gym.

bright and sunny or what? it's going to be in the 40's or 50's up 'til the time we set off on sunday morning. miami will be in the 80's......

we ordered a table to use for study. had to. not enough table for both of us. got all my books and stuff ready to begin in earnest when we come back. i'll have the time available, so no excuses. found some colleges online using my textbooks, so i'm going to use their course syllabi to work out a timetable. it's going back to school without the school. if i want to learn more than i can from just popularist readings i have no other choice. at least i'll be well tanned ...

monday night

got up at 6:15am. mad.
i'm eating huge amounts of cereal compared to normal. went to work, went straight to the gym, cardio, weights, swim. then off to get a tan. by the time i came back i was starving. had some soup (campbells of course) and crashed for 2 hours.

have been to the gym without fail every other day since feb 16th. i almost feel fit. being on a detox still messes with your sleep, even after 3 weeks or so. eating healthy, you begin to notice things you wouldn't normally pay attention to, like the only people you see eating crisps (potato chips over here) are fat people. you notice those that don't get any exercise as you pass them in the street. they just look tired. you become aware much more of people's energy. weird.

my reading has dropped off so much so that i find it hard to get through more than a few pages at a time. never mind. in a week, i'll be on the beach. need to sort some music out for the trip. i only have to work wednesday this week. nice.

loaded half life2 yesterday and played a little. incredible graphics. best i've ever seen for a game. the only other games i have that look really good are doom3, call of duty-united offensive and far cry. i'm still plowing through halo2 on the xbox. want to complete hl2 without cheating.

i'm awake now. see if i can read. current book "fabric of the cosmos" brian greene.

Monday, March 14, 2005

eyebar

sunday night. 12:30am.

just got back from sama's birthday at eyebar. what a nightmare place. it's everything i don't like about going to clubs that you don't already go to. she was happy to see us and we were happy for her. she looked great. shame about the music, though ( a massive understatement).

rebecca has just walked in with a couple of pita bread with branston pickle. i can't describe the joy. less than 20 mins ago we were being tortured by the dj and now i'm feeling almost normal again.

got to get up really early tomorrow (6:30am) ugly! will console myself by going to the gym after i finish work and maybe hitting the tanning bed. this time next week, we'll be in savannah :)

Sunday, March 13, 2005

it's sunday. day 23 of my detox

yes.

just created my first blog. haven't really woken up yet, so don't feel like writing much. my girlfriend is reading some nonesense out loud and making other sounds. she says she's inspiring me. she won't stop..."if you had to think of one word that described your culture or home, or feeling of home what would it be?" she says she'll leave me alone now. and she has.

my answer to that one is "london" when i walked into the kitchen and told her, she asked why (she's an american. we live in washington, d.c). i said that's where you get to experience the most of everything that i identify with being british. i can't imagine a more stimulating place to take anyone who has no idea of british culture and just let them look, smell and hear. exploring london is tiring, dirty, expensive and wonderful. new york city is the only other place i've been abroad that offers the same, albeit in a very different package.

anyway day 23 of my detox. that means no alcohol, no coffee or caffeine, no added sugar, no fried foods, no cheese (basically everything that makes you feel good and gives you energy) and hitting the gym on a very regular basis. i do this every year. sometimes cutting out less than this particular detox. this year is my best detox yet. rebecca, my girlfriend, is doing the same. it's a lot easier to do a detox when you're a couple. being a single bloke and doing a detox is very tough. standing in a bar at midnight with a glass of soda water in your hand makes you feel a fraud. only your friends help. you also discover that when you're on a detox you now have a "window" when going out. that means that you have a maximum of 3 hours to do all your socialising and then get back home for a cup of royal vitality, or lemon ginger tea. not very blokey at all! luckily, my body aches from all the working out to make up for it...great.

we're setting off on a road trip to miami next sunday. i'll try and write something every day before we go. we'll see.