CHE BELLO recovers…
Last night was epic. I won’t recount the whole evening for the sake of those with angelic impressions of my behavior, but I will detail a number of things I can now check off on my lifetime to-do list.
48. Ride in the trunk of a car because, with 11 people in the portion typically used for seating, there’s just no way your ass is making it home otherwise.
91. Have a blacklight dorm room highlighter party and scribble obscene bathroom-stall-esque pictures all over some of your favorite friends.
183. Actually watch someone eat the agave worm from the bottom of the tequila bottle. Hallucinations may have followed, I’m not sure, but homeboy didn’t look like he was feeling so well.
In other news, I got cast yesterday in a production of Bernstein’s Candide. I’m beyond thrilled, as it’s been a long time since I did any kind of classical singing. So, even if it’s not your kind of music, you guys have to listen to this absolutely gorgeous aria, Candide’s Lament. The tenor is William Burden, arguably America’s best tenor at the moment. There’s so much emotional presence in his voice, made even easier by Bernstein’s soaring melody. It gives me goosebumps and is now firmly placed in my audition repertoire.
Workout Accountability Report (for yesterday):
Weights: Inner and outer thighs, calves (2 sets of 15 calf raises at 130 pounds. Ouchies this morning.), and quads with the leg press.
30 minutes on the elliptical.
Plan for today is a 5-mile run, crunches, and then some evening yoga. Need to find some exercises to target my hamstrings. Thoughts?
CHE BELLO relaxes…
Hello from Friday! I got to meet my new statistics kiddies today and they seem to be a good group. I finally have a non-traditional student in my class! I think it’s absolutely wonderful when people go back to school mid-career, etc., and I’m excited about getting to know her and learn from her experiences. Have any of you had non-trads in any of your classes? If so, how did you interact with them and what did you learn?
And today was super awesome because I got to have dinner with some of the wonderful kids from last semester’s show. I’ve never seen a cast that cohesive during a production, and it thrills me that the connections are still strong. I’m so proud of the family I was able to build in just a few months.
Workout Accountability Report:
Ran a 5k this evening after dinner; felt not very easy for the first mile or so, probably because I haven’t had any slow carbs today.
For all of you who have iPhones, if you’re at all interested you should check out the CrunchFu app, a training plan for, surprise, crunches! Today I did a total of 84 split over 5 sets.
Lifting: chest, biceps, triceps, shoulders. I’m hoping that at least keeping track of what muscle groups I work on will help me get on a more regular schedule, with ample time for rest of course.
CHE BELLO gets decisive…
I know, that title made you all spin your heads almost off your shoulders because you couldn’t turn back to the computer fast enough. Me, the boy who pretty much just drifts through every day following whims and chance opportunities, is mustering what initiative he possesses to start making some firm decisions. But, y’know, it’s time. College is supposed to be about figuring out who you are and whatnot, and I think I’ve come nearly to the end of what needs to be discovered here. I know what I want for myself, and I know what that takes. The part I haven’t figured out yet is the concrete middle stage, the planning and training and accomplishing.
What got me thinking about all of this is my gym “routine,” if it can even be called that in air quotes. There really isn’t one. I try to run a 5k every day, but some days I run more, some days I’ll swap a mile for some time on the elliptical machine (which I know is a cop out because those things are so easy)…there’s no rhyme or reason to it. There’s no sense of training toward a goal of faster or farther. I haven’t been on a long run since the 10 miles I did back home over break. And weightlifting is the same way. I’ll think “oh, well, my arms aren’t sore today, so it must be time to use them again,” but there’s no progression. I’m flailing around and only getting more frustrated at the fact that I’m not getting what I want. Same goes for nutrition, and keeping my apartment tidy, and getting my work done for an amazing job that I should be happy to have.
So I think I’m going to start using this blog a little more in a different way — to hold myself accountable for reaching the goals I’ve set for myself. I’ve learned the tools, I’ve gained enough perspective to realize where I want to go and who I want to be, and starting right now I’m setting my plans in motion.
See! Decisive! It feels strangely good to act like I’m in charge of my own life!
PS, lots of inspiration came from reading the blog of a Cornell alum whom I love dearly. We performed in the same musical theatre troupe before she graduated. She lives in California now and is a graduate student in neuroscience. She’s amazingly talented and amazingly driven and amazingly amazing, and you should all start reading her blog if you’re the kind of person who would just randomly start reading the blog of an amazingly amazing person.
CHE BELLO shivers…
A chilly hello from Ithaca, NY, or, frozen hell! The semester has started for me (if one can call only three classes a semester), so my blogging has been even more infrequent than before. I’m working on that. But today I wanted to ask you guys a Constitutional law question: how do you feel about the burning of the American flag? I’m (re)reading Texas v. Johnson, the 1989 Supreme Court case, and I’m kind of shocked at how viscerally people reacted to seeing Johnson burn an American flag. Maybe I’m just supremely unpatriotic (I mean, I have the right to be since I’m treated as a lesser being in my own country), but does it really make your blood boil to see a flag being burned? Ultimately the Court ruled that Johnson’s expressive conduct rose to the level of speech, and that no legitimate governmental interest weighed heavily enough to abridge his First Amendment right, a decision with which I agree, but it strikes me as ridiculous that Texas would even pass a law against flag burning in the first place. So, what are your thoughts?
CHE BELLO 