Sept. 26, 2009

Monsters of Folk. A new music group with M. Ward as one of four members. They have their entire cd on MySpace for preview.

Radical Face. Found this guy on Pandora. His song "Welcome Home" reminds me of Iron and Wine in some ways.

The61. A music site, similar to Pandora. I found an interesting band called The Asteroids Galaxy Tour. You should listen to pretty much any of their songs.

A reunion story between South and North Korea.

Last night, the Panther Den watched FlashForward. Wow. The only other shows that grabbed me from the beginning so completely were Heroes (which has since failed me) and LOST. The plot is this: Everyone on earth passes out for 2:17. When they wake, planes have crashed all over the world (887 in the U.S. alone), cars have crashed, surfers have drowned...probably millions have died. And everyone, when they passed out were not asleep but were seeing into the future 6 months. Everyone sees a different piece of the future.

Some of the characters are from LOST. Penny and Charlie are there and the whole idea makes it seem like J.J. Abrams is behind the scenes but I looked it up and he doesn't have anything to do with the show. There is a random kangaroo, reminiscent of LOST's polar bears, and there are clues to the development of the story everywhere. You have to really pay attention to catch them.

The last 2 minutes of the show were freaky. All of us had chills. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, ABC probably has the rerun online. Check it out.

Roommates:

August 28, 2009

I've been looking for a local coffee shop this last week. I still have a few more to check out, but Green Bean has been my favorite so far. Some Mars Hill students host a poetry slam there occasionally on Saturday nights called FreeForm (I think).












In our search of the local thrift stores for furniture, I found a panther. It's a dark hue of goldish...something, with the cat crouched menacingly on a fake rock. The elbows (?) of the cats legs are meant to hold a square of glass for a table but the glass didn't come with it. Cost me ten bucks. And now it is the first thing you see when you walk into our house.

We wondered what to call it at first. Cheetah, Cougar, Lion, etc. Cougar sounded too much like a woman thing so we settled on Panther. Johnny got some keys made for our house with a panther on them and a swirl of red fire around his black body.

Skip ahead to August 29th...

We (me, Dan and Johnny) just returned from FreeForm. We walked into the small, crowded coffee shop and sat in the front row, the last available seats. People came up to read poetry, sing a song or tap dance. Mostly they read poetry. And mostly it was good. Like, some of it was really good. Publishable.

One student from Louisiana read a poem about her study abroad program. It was about Spain, the culture and loneliness. Another guy read several poems, almost plainly but with meaning. One guy in a "To Write Love on Her Arms" t-shirt played a banjo and sang about God and home.

The main "act", I guess, was Sara...something. Last name sounds like sassafras. She read 4 or 5 poems of her own, two with math in them. She reminded me of my mom. Shortish, hair cut to the length of her neck, in dark colored clothing. Confident air of success about her. And aggressive.

Partway through her reading, she asked if everyone was ok to go on.

"You guys ready to go on?"

I, sitting in the front row, shrugged my shoulders and said, "Meh."

Her eyes dropped like an elevator and stared at me. "What the fuck?"

I laughed quietly (and a bit awkwardly).

"This guy in the front row just shrugged his shoulders and said 'meh'," she announced.

I could hear laughter in the crowd and feel my face getting red but I wasn't very embarrassed. I kept thinking of my mom and how she can be aggressive sometimes but I love her for it anyway cause its part of her personality.

The red rose in my cheeks and I could see her eyes. Noticing it.

"Now his cheeks are getting red."

I raised my hands in the air in a gesture of defeat. "I am sufficiently embarrassed," I admitted, laughing. She continued to read the rest of her poems, watching me from time to time.

One of the last read two poems about the earth and Michael Jackson. She looked like a tomboy. Recognizably a girl, but hair either cut short or hidden in the top of her hat and long black polo.

"My first poem will be read in the voice of the earth." She threw up her hands. "Because she's tired of our shit."

I nearly lost it. I couldn't BELIEVE she was reading a poem in the "voice of the earth". She had good things to say, I'm sure but it felt forced. A bunch of hyper-environmental agenda stuff.

The last she read was about Michael Jackson. A couple people kept calling out, "Michael Jackson!" and I didn't know what they were talking about until she stood to read the poem. Again, forced. Something about his childhood and how we didn't understand him. Yeah...

Quite a day. I'll post pictures of the house soon. Especially the panther.

June something, 2009

I honestly don't know the date. 

My first week of camp is over and thank God. It was the roughest week I can remember but as rough as it was, God moved. 

Sunday all the kids come and sign into camp around 4 in the afternoon. I found out the day before I wouldn't be in Grizzly Yurt, I would be a counselor for the overflow cabin at Outpost. Outpost is a couple small buildings for bunks and then a long building that acts as a common room. They're about a mile from camp and you can reach them in a truck but they make you hike the trail. And a Yurt is like a cabin but is really a big tent. I'll post pictures someday. 

I'm not technically a counselor but we had so many campers this week, they needed extra help. So the real counselor (we call them shepherds) was Blaze. And another co-counselor was David (who had other obligations and wasn't around much). 

We had eight kids to start with, ranging from 14 to 17 years old. By the end of the week, we had five left, due to attrition. 

Mostly it was me and Blaze and the campers. Eight shouldn't have been such a challenge but oh my God were they. 

The first camper we lost was Willie who has anger issues and wanted to punch another kid, Jonathan. Plus another kid, Bo. They almost fought so Willie left and joined another cabin. He flat out announced he loved Playboy and watched porn all the time. I didn't know what to do with such a bold confession. He also confessed he had just punched his step dad in the face because he thought he was beating his mind. Willie frequently jumped the gun when he was angry. Shoot first ask questions later. That sort of guy. 

Dylan was one of the older campers. If any of the campers led the others, he did. Calm and collected, he seemed like a good guy on the outside but I could tell there was more going on in his life. He had a fakeness about him. I don't know if it was because he was detached from his world or what but he lacked genuineness and I was never sure if he was being honest or not.

Jonathan. Oh man, this guy tested the patience of everyone he knew. A colossal wreck of a child, full of anger and dark hatred. A small kid, with blonde hair to his neck, I didn't initially think anything of him. He looks normal. But the kid had a knack for pissing the other campers off. He would constantly hit another kid, Jared and then tempt everyone else to hit him. Whenever I talked to him, he would look off in the distance and find something fascinating about trees or birds. If he did look at me, I would swear the calm exterior of the kid held a dark, brooding heart, plotting what part of my chest to stab first. Whenever I told him to do something, he was so slow to respond I thought there might be something wrong with him. But there isn't, he just enjoys disobedience. He also lies a lot. He eventually attacked Jared for no reason I can name and I yanked him out into the rain and towards the Office. Blaze took over instead. He spent a lot of time with him, listening and talking with Jonathan.

And then Trebor. If Jonathan was Blaze's project, Trebor was mine. Straight up 15  year old gangsta. Angry at the world. Angry at anything that made him less than comfortable. He rarely got excited about anything unless it was girls or violence. Most everything else was dull to him. He probably knows more about sex than I do. He told me he would miss my "whispering eye". I found out it means vagina. I truly do not understand why he said that. I talked him out of three separate fights and each time managed to talk reason and calm into him. One of the first times he tried to hit Jared and I caught it. I yelled and pulled him aside from the group and told them to go into the lodge. I still remember the conversation clearly:

"What is the matter with you? What's your problem that you have to hit someone else?"

"Man, I don't like him! I hate immature kids!"

"Oh, so you should respond to immaturity with immaturity."

"That ain't immaturity, he needs to shut his fucking mouth."

"He's a kid! Of course he's going to be immature! He's growing up, same as you. Why are you like this, angry and violent all the time?"

"I told you! I don't like immaturity..."

"No no no, I'm not talking about Jared. Forget him. What's going on at home, at school?"

"I don't know. Nothing man. Its just...."

"Just what?"

"Everything ends, man."

I was silent for a moment. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing good lasts. This week is going to end and then I have to go home again. Nothing lasts, I have to go home to the same bullshit. Same bullshit everyday. So what does it matter?"

I remember feeling an intense sense of truth and connection with Trebor. On the outside, Trebor seems like he's slow. But when you get him talking, you find an intelligent kid that can accurately describe his troubled world. 

We talked for a while more and told him about hope and how I found it. I told him that no matter what the world had done to him he had no right to create the same hell he lived in for others. We wrestled through a tough conversation and at the end Trebor was calmer but with the same angry heart etched into the lines of his face. His mouth curved into a constant line that suggests disgust and hate. 

I found Blaze and told him I needed a break. I went into the staff lounge in the ARC basement and wept deep tears. I heard his voice say over and over again, "Everything ends."

This post is exhausting me and there is so much to tell from the week that I don't have the time or energy to put here. I'll shorten it by saying by the end of it, Trebor was considering God. Jonathan left camp with seemingly no resolve. Bo came closer to God. Dylan was as fake as ever. Clayton may have been worse for the influence of the other campers. And Jared and Aaron seemed unaffected. I'm not sure what, if anything, we did could be called a success but by the end of the week, things were different. Not all of it was good, Trebor almost fought me an hour before his parents picked him up and Aaron retreated into himself and gave everyone a blank, unblinking stare that frightened me. But on the whole, despite the exhausting mess of the week, God moved. 

After all the campers left, me, Blaze and David were almost giddy. All the energy and life had been sucked out of us but with them gone, we felt alive again. David and Blaze grinned and alternated between jokes and laughter. I laughed almost maniacally, uncontrollably. Someone said, "Those kids broke Barry." That's probably true, but in a different way than I think they would suppose. 

June 7, 2009

One more week of training and then camp starts. After that its never calm until August 15th when it ends. 

I've also been trained on the high ropes course at camp carl. The inserted picture is of an older version of the tower. There is a person at the top left standing on a platform that is now an incline addition to the wall. Thats where I chill and hook people into the zip line when they climb up. Once I get my camera going I'll shoot some pictures of camp. 

Part of my job description is that I'm in charge of the Ropes...um, department, I guess....at camp. Which is odd because I had zero experience before camp. 

I've learned a lot about myself through training. The whole heights thing has been a challenge but a blessing too and I am gradually less and less concerned with heights the more I face my fear of it. 

Today, camp had an open house and people showed up and toured around camp, seeing the facilities, swimming, playing volleyball or climbing the wall. So I chilled at the top of the tower for 3 hours, hooking kids into the zip line and shoving them off the tower. It was a fun job. 

I am having a great time so far but camp hasn't really started so I wonder how I will feel when kids start showing up all rowdy and awkward. 

May 5, 2009

Tomorrow is my last exam: the final obstacle to my graduation goal.

Saturday, right after I graduate I head to Amicolala Falls State Park. Sunday morning I begin my hike. I float between excitement and anticipation and fear and worry. What if I get on that trail and can't do it? What if I can't do twenty-mile days?

I would probably cry.

But I think I will do well. These fears are like any other before a big event. It's completely normal to worry about things going wrong with something you've poured your heart into.

I think I'll do well and have a great time. There will be challenges: physical exertion, ankles, loneliness, weather, animals, blisters, and a dozen other unforeseen snags. But that is part of the adventure. Not knowing is part of it. Anything else is called a vacation and those are usually at the beach.

I HATE the beach.

By the end of this trip, I will know myself in ways college can't accomplish. There is no classroom for this. A short quote from Whitman's Song of the Open Road says it best:

"Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons, It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth."

Whatever happens on this trip, God is with me and so are the prayers of people who remember me. Walt Whitman, in I Sing the Body Electric says that man "brings every thing to the test of himself...he strikes soundings at last only here." I will strike my soul against God's earth and hear what echoes back. What good, what false. What true, what flawed. What beautiful, what weak. And God will strike the soundings of his soul into my flesh. His echoes will ring in my body and I will hear the call to the character of Christ.

April 22, 2009

So I don't have a kidney infection...odd. They did a urine test at Student Health Services and said everything was normal. My symptoms have been getting better. A lot better than they were in the fall but I expected there would be something for them to prescribe medicine for.

The doctor was a nice guy though. We were talking about the AT and he showed me pictures of property he owns in Virginia the AT crosses through. When I mentioned Seattle, he showed pictures from there too. Really funny guy. He hunts, apparently, cause he had pictures of dead deer and turkey but every time he clicked through one of them he apologized and said, "Oh you don't wanna see that."

I ran yesterday and it sucked. My knee acted up again so now I'm not going to be doing any running at all. I'll swim or bike, whatever is low impact on my joints, but running is out.

Oh my God, The Wheel of Time series is incredible.

Dan, Of Montreal is still weird.

I'm up to 11 or 12 books this year.

A neat story.

A link to a cool blog I visit. Most recent post is of toilet paper roll sculptures.

A short story about a homeless man and an interesting perspective to go with it.

April 19, 2009

I swallowed three cranberry supplement pills (for my crappy kidneys) with coffee (which causes my kidneys to be crappy). Haha.

I started The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas but the next day another book came in the mail. It's the second in The Wheel of Time series I'm reading. They are addictive reads. This one is called The Great Hunt. I reluctantly set aside The Count and started on The Hunt Friday. There are eleven in the series so far with the twelve to be released in three different parts, starting this November. It's a massive work. The books are at least 700 pages each and the last is supposed to be well over 1400 (which is why its split into three).

Almost done with school and work. Just have to stay focused long enough to pass everything and write a bunch of papers.

I still have weird aches and pains all over my body from exercising. I've tapered off my routines to rest up for this trip but still...my lower back is sore from some new exercises Thursday, I'm not certain if my knee is ready for running again, my shin splints are gone...I think, and I woke with a really tight upper back this morning. Maybe I should get a massage before I go.

Everything is winding down, the trip is getting closer...

April 15, 2009

I finished The Eye of the World today. Really good book. There are 11 in the series, with the 12th to be released in three installments, starting later this year. I've got the next two in the series on the way. This makes 10 or 11 books I've read so far this year.

I had to kill a cat today. Gabe came home and told me about a cat he found near campus, almost dead. Probably got hit by a car. He said some dog was chewing on it but it was still alive, back legs kicking. He wondered aloud if we should go back and kill it quickly so it wouldn't suffer.

We got in my car, found the cat and I gunned it, aiming for its head. It might have been dead before we hit it but I got out to check just in case. One of its eyes was bulging out of its head and the skull was probably crushed. It smelled terrible. I'm glad we killed it that way cause I brought my pocketknife with me in case it was off the side of the road and I had to slit its throat. That would have sucked.

My knee needs to hurry up and get better cause I'm running Friday.

Link here to a pretty frickin sweet thing happening between Jim Wallis and Rush Limbaugh (Jim Wallis, by the way is my political hero).

April 14, 2009

Dan, you were right about Of Montreal. They do grow on you. I was listening to them in the car today and realized I was tapping my foot to the music. That's when I knew I liked them.

I did something to my knee running yesterday. Going up and down stairs is a little painful. I've had this before and I always get it when I run weird because of stiffness or soreness. I'll have to stay off it for a little while. It should be back to normal Thursday or Friday.

I've recently had a frustrating dialogue with Justin Taylor's blog, Between Two Worlds. The blog, itself, I like, but some of the people on there are hard to relate to. It's their way or the highway (the highway being hell). The link to the post is here.

JT has been a consistent critic of Tony Jones, which I understand. Their theologies are often on opposite ends of each other. But what is irritating is the way they (meaning a lot of Calvinists) ignore anything good about Jones and take anything they can critique about him and blow it out of proportion. This particular post was of Jones statements on penal substitutionary atonement, which you can read here. This post stirred up a lot of controversy so Jones has since explained himself in other posts you can find on his blog.

All that to say the Reformed community seems, at times, like an exclusive club. There are times when I feel they have an important place in the body and others when I wish they would just shut up. Of course, not every Calvinist leader in the church is like this. Far from it. But JT seems to be one of the guys who bucks at anything not Reformed, but doesn't hold the Reformed community to the standards he holds others (such as Mark Driscoll).

I don't agree with JT or Tony Jones one hundred percent. But who really cares? What irritates me is the arrogance each side can level at each other...

....Just wanted to rant about this a little.

April 13, 2009

NBC randomly decided to change Kings from a Sunday night to a Saturday night. Which means I can only watch it on Hulu now. Maybe its a better time for them, who knows.

Saturday I had a good run. I ran almost a full 4 miles (3.8) at a moderate to high speed. It wasn't a jog but it wasn't a run either. I felt GREAT about myself. Today I went for a light run and ended up jogging 2.4 miles. My light run would have killed me a month ago.

It took me since late January to get to the point where I am increasing my distance and speed every week. I guess it was a plateau I had to work past. My biggest issues are my shins and lungs. The lungs are coming along great but the shins still throb. I cut it close to getting shins splints again today. My legs, however (except my shins), could do anything.

Later this week, I'll throw in some sprints and fast miles at the rec. Thursday or Friday, probably. Sunday, I am going on a long run. Goal: 4.5 miles.

Excitement is building for this trip...but there are a couple things I'm worried about.

Nights. All the thru hikers should be gone so there might be some sectionals on the trail, but there isn't a guarantee of company every night. There are probably a few nights I'll be sleeping in the shelter alone. It can be lonely and frightening on the trail by yourself. When I was a kid there were a few times I almost had a panic attack because I was so lonely in my room alone. Every once in a while, this happens again. I get claustrophobic and have to get up and walk around the house, leaving the door cracked when I return to my room. I don't understand it. The fear is completely irrational but when it strikes it can be crippling. I hope I don't have to deal with this on the trail.

April 8, 2009

Apathy!

I'm not going to go to Ballet today. I didn't go Monday and one day last week either. I'm thinking about just not going entirely. The grade doesn't matter, I suck at it, its embarrassing every time I go...but most of all I'm apathetic.

I can see it might be difficult to motivate myself this last month of school.

I lifted yesterday, dragging myself through the exercises. What would usually take an hour took an hour and a half.

Probably a big part of my issues with apathy and motivation are knowing I only have a month left here. That's exciting. So exciting I barely care about the month I have. I have to sit down and force myself to concentrate on assignments, block out all other noises, focus on the words I'm typing...

My coffee intake is up. I was limiting myself for my kidneys but apparently they suck no matter what I drink. I'll see someone at Health Services, but in the meantime, I'm drinking some most everyday. It isn't much and it's only a misto (half steamed milk) but I need it to get through.

Excitement is building for May! But no excitement for today.

April 4, 2009

An uplifting story.

An interesting illustrated blog post from the NY Times.

A good blog I follow.

Decided to take 4 days off instead of a week, starting a few days ago, Thursday. Felt more mentally tired than physically. Whenever I get mad or upset about something, instead of doing something to release my aggression, I get apathetic and borderline depressed. This is what happened so I decided to go ahead and give myself a break.

I still have a thin layer of fat preventing me from fully seeing my abs. One of my side goals is to be able to see a six pack by May 1st but that goal looks like it might remain unfulfilled until I return from backpacking. I'll have lost plenty of weight by then.

I figure if I run more I'll thin down enough by then but what is more important is being ready for the trip itself.

Tuesday of this week, I'll have a month until I quit Pizza Hut and Thursday will be a month until I start my trip. A lot of things are winding down like college, my training, my time in TN and with friends. And others will be taking their place: grad school, training for a half marathon (?), making a new life in Seattle and others. But before even those things begin, I have camp in the summer, which I am more excited about after having been interviewed by my future boss, Mike. I look forward to it as a buffer zone, a time of peace.

Once I get to camp, I'll spend some time relaxing. I'll keep up with running and abs but I'll chill for a while. I'm already thinking about new fitness goals after this trip. I'm thinking I'll invest in a better weight set and start doing a whole bunch of full body workouts, like split squats, cleans, deadlifts, and other exercises that require a lot of muscles working instead of just one (like curls, which are retarded and useless exercises). And I'll keep running, but put some days of sprints and jumps in there. Jumps would be fun.

I might not be ready for this trip yet, but I feel ready. That's probably more important anyway.

April 2, 2009

North Korea is launching a satellite bearing missile soon, which would violate some sort of UN thing. Obama and South Korea aren't too happy and Japan has threatened to shoot down the missile if it comes anywhere near them. North Korea vows "revenge" if Japan does it. They certainly talk a lot of crap for a bunch of beggars.

Debating between purchasing albums from the following artists:
M. Ward
Of Montreal
Peter Bjorn and John
Death Cab for Cutie (EP)
Mute Math (EP)

Debating whether or not to buy a tent. I wasn't going to but now I don't know. I might regret not having one on the trail. But I also might regret the extra weight.

Last night I hit 12 reps on the stairs.

Want to hear an abusive megalomaniacal sermon? Mark Driscoll, for your viewing pleasure.

If you are not watching Kings yet I have nothing to say to you.

March 29, 2009

I found a website called trailjournals.com. You can post journal entries from your backpacking trip. Its basically a collection of blogs. As soon as I learn how to navigate it, I'll find someone who has done 20 miles of trail a day.

Since I suck balls at math, I decided to try an internet version of math flash cards. I basically did that for an hour today. I started out small with simple addition and worked my way up to more complicated multiplication. I try to do it as fast as possible. It sounds odd, but I am so bad at math, these flash cards are probably going to help. The goal is to do them a few times a week and build on the basic math skills then maybe MAYBE if I care in another month I'll try harder stuff.

I hope my shin splints are gone cause I want to run tomorrow. My legs were so sore this whole weekend. I drank lots of water, stretched 4 or 5 times a day and ate 4 bananas. That seemed to help.

A list of the books I have read since January:

Advanced Backpacking by Karen Berger

Daily Life in Ancient Rome by Florence Dupont

Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright

GloboChrist by Carl Raschke

Home by Marylinne Robinson

Philosophy: The Classics by Nigel Warburton

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

I think I'm missing a book but I can't recall what it is. I've got 250 pages left in The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. My mom got me another book recently: The Consequence of Ideas by R.C. Sproul. Sproul is, in case you didn't know, a Calvinist and this is the second book from this author my mom has bought me. I think she is trying to convert me.

March 25, 2009

Odd news: my mom and her boss are trying to set me up with a chick outside of the U.S.

I stopped by my mom's office after an eye appt. yesterday and her boss thought I would make a good candidate for her niece, who is visiting America soon. My mom sent me an email complete with photos of the chick. She's pretty attractive, but no way is it going to work out, even if I do meet her when she arrives.

I think I have shin splints...Boo

March 24, 2009

I did regular running tonight instead of the stairs. Yesterday was sort of a shitty day, preceded by a confusing weekend so I said, "To hell with exercising" and didn't do anything at all Monday. But today I wanted to run.

I started at a pretty fast pace right out of the door and kept it up to the end. Before I reached the half mile point, I was grinning. Something about the run washed all my frustrations away and I felt joy in doing it. Might sound odd, but it felt like I was worshiping God.

When I got back home, I retraced my route with my car to see my exact mileage. I ended up running a hard 2.2 miles. I didn't jog it, I actually ran it. And on the way home I ran another mile at the same speed. My legs weren't even tired afterward. All those stairs made them tougher. My lungs, though, were in pain. So I am going to run the rest of this week to get my lungs up to speed with the rest of me.

But back to the spiritual thing. While I was retracing my route, I almost cried out of sheer thankfulness for the run. The whole experience was....beautiful. It reminds me of reading good poetry. Something about it was exactly what I needed...

God gave me a good run.

March 20, 2009

My legs are dying and sore. I had this stitch in my right inner thigh all day. Finally got rid of it from so much walking. The back of my left thigh is sore. I think I am on the verge of getting shin splints. My whole upper back is sore from pullups and bent over rows. On the plus side, I got rid of all my lower back pain. I added romanian deadlifts and superman exercises and that took care of it.

Because of all my leg pain, I decided not to run stairs today through Sunday. I'll do some Yoga tonight and lift tomorrow but I won't run stairs. Monday I'll start out with 11 reps and hopefully this time I will work my way up to being able to run 5 days in a row. We'll see. By the middle of April, I'll be running stairs upwards of 45 minutes. Ridiculouuuuus.

Only a month and a half left until I can quit Pizza Hut forever....God I can't wait.

March 19, 2009

Exercising is getting tough. This whole week has been rough. The only thing that gets me running or lifting is remembering my goals. I just finished lifting so I'm about to reward myself with a smoothie...then I have to run the stairs. Blah.

Today I'll be up to 10 "reps" in running. I think I'm getting to know the people at the apartment complex I run in because they same couple kids always yell at me. I don't know what they're saying because I'm listening to my iPod. I'm sure I look odd with a 45 lb pack on my shoulders. I notice I run differently too. It's goofy, my toes are pointed inwards more and it's hard to compensate for that.

One "rep" (for lack of a better term) is this: run to the top of third floor, over to the other side, down those stairs, back up the same stairs, then over to the other side and down those stairs, ending where I started. When I first began I was doing 5 reps and it took about 8 minutes. But yesterday I was at 9 reps and 16-18 minutes. By tomorrow, I'll be at 11 reps and 20-21 minutes.

My thighs and calves are starting to adjust too. Because of the severity of the workout, I don't do squats or any other leg exercises of any kind. This is plenty. By the time I set out for my trip my calves are going to be as big as my head.

Even though it is encouraging to know what I am accomplishing, it has become increasingly harder to get out the door and throw the pack over my shoulders. I don't quit but I think about it. I know have to put my body through hell so I can enjoy the challenge of the trail. Otherwise, it's gonna suck.

On the days I run and lift (such as today), I focus a lot on practical exercises. For abs: bicycle crunches (although I am looking for something new cause I can do 130 of these now), side plank and regular plank and swiss ball crunches. For back: Pullups and neutral grip pullups, barbell bent-over rows, romanian deadlifts, superman (not sure what its called). For the rest of the upper body: explosive pushups, swiss ball pushups and push press. It takes about 45 minutes and I do it Tuesdays and Thursdays.

On the days I just run, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I am going to add some Yoga. Certain poses are reparative to muscle and excellent for athletic conditioning. Warrior poses especially. There are also a few poses that have really helped with my ankles. They have the tendency to twist but since doing Yoga it has happened only once in the last year and a half, and that's because I've been slacking on the exercises. Twisting your ankle can be a real trip killer and I want to avoid that by training them to better adjust to heavy weight and constant movement.

On a different note, some exercises that magazines like Mens Health list for building muscle are absolutely useless. They aren't practical. It's like buying a SUV and then never going off-road. It's just for looks.

I'm learning a lot about myself through all this exertion. I'm placing myself under physical stress and my resolve is being tested. It's a test of the body as much as it is of the mind. I'm not only building muscle for the physical journey but also the mental strength needed to endure it.

March 16, 2009

I found this in an article on the link between the face and personality:

"If you want a sensitive guy who is emotionally available, go for a big mouth and full lips."

I win in this category. My lips are enormous.

Hiking gear is expensive. I am buying up all the stock stores are getting rid to bring in their new shipments on Sierra Trading Post. Yesterday I bought a $100 dollar fleece for $30. And Teva sandals that were $85 for $40. I still have to buy a headlamp (about $20), a tent (I found a good one for $80), and a few other odds and ends like an emergency whistle, extra parts for my water filter, a micro fiber towel and a bandana. None of this includes food for the actual trip. I plan on eating a Mountain House meal every night so 14 of those times about $7 equals $98. I expect another $150-175 will cover the rest of the food: dried fruit, trail mix, Powerbars (1 a day), other bars, oatmeal, instant soups, teas, supplements, etc. Plus, I eat more than anyone I know so not only will I bring more food, but I will lose lots of weight.

Halfway through The Brothers Karamazov. Really interesting but odd. The people in this book have such exaggerated actions. The characters represent ideas so in order to see those ideas cleary, Dostoevsky had to exaggerate their mannerisms. It borders on overly dramatic at times but I feel the purpose behind it in the book and Dostoevsky makes it interesting so I don't mind.

Heard of the new television series, Kings? It's based on 1 and 2 Kings in the bible. Odd, huh?