Scaredy cat

Today I am driving myself to Portland; tomorrow morning I get on a plane back to Massachusetts, again.  This time my trip is short, less than a week.

When I was gone for almost a month last time, some good came out of it here at home, in that Brian and Chester finally became friends.  It took me months to befriend Chester while he was still living out in the backyard, and though Brian fed him occasionally, Chester really wanted nothing to do with the big loud scary man.  When we brought Chester inside we immediately appointed Brian the title of “breakfast man,” hoping that Chester’s opinion of him would improve when he noticed that big and scary though he is, he is also the keeper of the wet food.  It was a good idea, but it worked only so well–he’d rub agains Brian’s legs while he was dishing out the food, but the minute Chester had finished wolfing down his breakfast he reverted to scaredy cat.  When I was away, though, Chester had to make a decision.  You see, he actually really does like people, and is a sucker for pets–so when I wasn’t around, he had to either get pets from the scary man or else go without for a month.  Fortunately, he decided Brian isn’t so scary after all…

Fall

Sumikins in the warm tent. Don't ever stick your hand in there, cute as she may be, or you're bound to end up bleeding in short order.

Last night the temperature outside dropped to 37 degrees; there’s no denying it’s fall.  It’s 60 in the house right now, in the early afternoon.  I had to set up the little electric blanket for Sumi, tent-style; she’ll pretty much live in there until next summer rolls around.

Today I am working on finishing my AMCAS application.  (That’s the common app.)  This is something I should have been doing for a long time now, but I got stuck.  I got to a section where they give you 15 spaces to describe activities, awards, jobs, and other relevant experiences–things you want med schools to know you’ve done, and that you think make you a more competitive and interesting candidate, basically.  Me, I read it as, what are the fifteen most important things you’ve done in your life?  I pretty much froze, and it’s taken me a while to get back to it.  On some level I feel like I haven’t done enough, I don’t have enough important stuff to put in those blanks.  A crisis of self-doubt, you know.  Happens every now and then.  And once again, I just need to get on with it.

I went to Massachusetts with such good intentions, about getting work done and whatnot, and in the end I just had a complete time warp, and then coming back and getting knocked down by that cold…I kind of lost all momentum.  However, today I am sucking it up and getting on with things.

Yesterday I went to the gym for the first time since I got back, and they’ve moved all the equipment around and put in new floors.  I don’t see that it’s a better arrangement of space, but I imagine they might have done it because the morons dropping the barbells on the Olympic platform were damaging the building, or so they said.  What I see as the most significant problem in that gym–the distinct demarcation and separation of a “women’s area” near the entrance, where the 2-12 lb. free weights are kept, and a “men’s area” at the back of the gym, with 10 and up lb. free weights, still exists.  Not only does this strange arrangement reinforce the idea that it’s appropriate for women to have only a limited and cursory interest in weightlifting (ie, they should stay near the door–and most do), but it’s also pretty inconvenient for us smaller lifters who need to use weights from both areas.

A minute and a half of toenail chewing

Last night Sumi was far more interested in her toenails than in the chemistry of aromatic compounds and benzene derivatives.

Today's topic

Today, it’s alcohols and ethers at the desk, and pull up day at the gym. I am able to do eight overhand pull ups in a row now, which is one shy of my previous PR, set pre-shoulder injury. Overhand pull ups were more difficult for me to learn than underhand chinups; I think they require more upper back strength, whereas with chinups it’s a lot of bicep.

I have been vaguely considering competing in the next Tactical Strength Challenge, but I think it’s coming up too fast. It’s tempting, where I didn’t do so well in the last one, but on the other hand I know my shoulder just isn’t healed enough for me to do the kind of intensive snatch training I’d need. Next April I will definitely try again though.

I went out back and did a few snatches with my 12 kg kettlebell yesterday–they didn’t feel too bad. The shoulder definitely is healing, but my physical therapist said it’s going to be a six to twelve month recovery, and the more time passes, the more I see she was right.