Racing towards the void

You would think after the first car crash I would reduce my speed.



I heard a long time ago that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  Well I have perfected that definition.  Recently I began to examine my own physical activities.  A friend of mine asked what I do to workout.  I was completely caught off guard.  You see I am one of those individuals that does not belong to a gym or really engage in any group physical fitness activity.  Ever since my grade school teacher introduced calisthenics I have resisted group exercise.  Aside from the Chicken Fat records he played there was one particularly cruel game that consisted of scooter races in skirts.  I have always been a proponent of just keeping a grueling work and personal life schedule that currently consists of the following:

1)  My ex and I still maintain shared custody of our dogs.  They are hunting dogs who require a tremendous amount of activity outside the house.  When it is my watch I walk them, feed them, play ball with them and generally keep them moving as much as possible.  On the nights they sleep over they wake me at 3:00 a.m. or 4:00 a.m. and will not settle down again until they have had at least a half hour of ball throwing, food and trips to the backyard.  Occasionally I have assistance from my niece, a brave young woman fearless in the face of 50 lbs of muscle charging at her at break neck speed.   

2) I clean house for my landlord (also my ex) and myself.  More than a few eyebrows have been raised over this arrangement but it is win/win since he takes care of some of my utility bills.  I find housecleaning very therapeutic and since we live next to each other it is simply an extension of caring for the dogs.  I cleaned houses at a resort on Fire Island when I was in college and frankly nothing after that experience would surprise me.  I realize the boundaries seem fuzzy but I do have a few, I will not clean on weekends and I do not do dishes. 

3) At Christmas I engaged in my once a year baking ritual.  This is perhaps the most strenuous of my hobbies since I have a baking oven but no counter space.  I prepare all the ingredients at the house next door and bake in my own gas oven which has a true temperature.  This requires perfect timing as I race from one house to the next to glaze, powder or cool whatever I am baking.  If I have the dogs then they too get their exercise as I occasionally throw the ball into the backyard while juggling the door, the cookie sheets and cooling bake goods.  I think it is a good exercise in balance, beats yoga plus you get a treat at the end.  Sometimes the dogs get all the treats, especially on slippery winter days.

Time to get laundry going, cut out a Vogue Pattern and put away groceries...