Yesterday was absolute busy-ness insanity: after going to the license office on Wednesday to try to renew my license plates and discovering that I couldn't because of some bureaucratic crap about odd and even years and needing safety and emissions papers, I decide to dedicate part of my Thursday to taking care of that. Unfortunately, it ended up being most of my Thursday.
I started off with emissions test, which went off easily, without a hitch. $24, check. The safety inspection was more tedious: around 11:30, I dropped off my car at the store where they were going to do it and walked to a nearby McDonalds for lunch. Thankfully I had brought my Lorca book, so I ate and read. And then it turned 1:00 and I was a little tired of Lorca, so I bought a newspaper and sat outside the safety inspection place, because it was a nice day--a little warm, but a great breeze. Eventually I went inside to ask how much longer it would be but decided to just sit down and watch As the World Turns, which I've never seen before, in the little waiting lounge area. There was an older lady there too, reading a part of the newspaper, but I didn't pay much attention to her (being so engrossed in the plot of As the World Turns) until she spoke up and started a conversation with me about the outdoors.
She first told me how she was tired because she had spent most of the morning watering and weeding her garden, and I asked her what kind of a garden she had, and she said that it was just a few peppers and tomatoes, because she wanted to make pepper relish later on. Somehow the conversation turned to hummingbirds and how she put out sugar-water (but it has to be in the shade or it'll sour) (and it can't get ants in it because ants give off a certain smell and hummingbirds will have nothing to do with ant-smell). She got started telling me about squirrels but by then it was 2:00 and my car was ready, so I got up and told her to have a nice day. $12, check.
I went to the license bureau again, and this time I had everything in order, but I was 20th in line so it did take a little more than an hour to get my two-year renewal on my license plates. $49.50, check.
After that my brother called, and we went to see Star Wars Episode III, which was good. He was very excited to be seeing it; when we found out that there were tickets available for the 4:15 show, he actually hissed a "YESSSS!" and started humming the theme song until I shushed him into silent reverence and made him buy the concessions: for $14, we got a jumbo tub of popcorn, two drinks (with plastic Star Wars Episode III cups--I got Yoda, Ty got Anikin/Vader), and a bag of M&Ms. The concessions guy said, "Enjoy your movie and may the Force be with you." I enjoyed the movie, but I think I'll need to see it again to really savor it. Maybe I'll make my family take me again tonight. After the movie, I dropped my brother off at his car and he drove home and I drove to the Y.
During the workout, the serious weight-lifter guys were all about giving me tips. "Lower the seat on that bicep machine so you can actually get the action in your bicep muscle, rather than straining your elbows" (which I was actually struggling with, I guess he saw that). Another guy gave me kind of a hard time while I was doing leg curls, asking me how much weight I had on there and why I was doing so many: "You should only be doing 20 reps". I'm less willing to take his advice, since he is a guy. Men get fit differently than women do. They want muscle (lots of weight, small # of reps), whereas I just want to burn fat (less weight, more reps). Plus it's my fitness routine, what does he care?
After the workout, I was pooped, but I went home and my mom made me waffles for dinner, which was great. Then I took a nice long bath with Moonlight Path Shower Gel from Bath & Body Works; that was actually a Mother's Day gift from my brother but she said it was okay. And I felt much better afterward.
Today, I basically sat around until 1:00, when I decided to go work out.
I might have done too much today, I can feel a little twinge in my left elbow, extending up toward that bicep. I'll be taking it easy. I learned my lesson. I soaked in a hot bath, and now I'm just relaxing, because I have earned it. I have no evening plans, except maybe that Star Wars thing possibly with the family, though it is a Friday night and everyone and their mom will be at the theaters tonight. I guess that doesn't matter so much, if you get there early enough. I kind of like the feeling of a full audience.
I'm tired of typing, but I have been listening to a lot of NPR lately and they've been saying interesting things: why Star Wars and similar stories provoke such cult audiences and so much fan participation (and what philosophies are contained in the stories)... comments about the Luis Posada terrorist case (I'm not very sure on this one because the host kept trying to rush his guests and callers to get to their point--I had to turn it off because the host was so irritating) ... questions as to whether South Koreans' improved hand dexterity owing to chopstick use has aided their lab skills in their advancement of cloning technology. It's all very interesting.
