Monday April 13th, 2020

The Back Log

I did thirty “tricep” push-ups on my knuckles and toes on the floor, thirty “chest” push-ups on my knuckles on the matte, also on my toes, and added ten more on my knees. Those last ten were slow so I could go lower. I try to do the sixty fast because that is what will be expected during the test.

Today I will try to get in some cardio during lunch. If I can, I will do thirty minutes on the treadmill: twenty minutes running and ten walking. I’ll finish listening to the podcast about the family from Cuba, the one that the Two Dope Queens gave their slot to.

Kids are up already doing homework.

I need to call the DMV about a ticket I received for not securing the registration stickers to the car’s license plate. Hopefully they will let me text or email a photo of the tags in place.

I have also not made much progress on the website. After staring at a computer screen during work, I usually want a break. If I want to keep this thing going post-pandemic, then I need to start: carve out time for it now. Perhaps I should pay for a web design and not spend too much time thinking about it: just get one that works and looks nice. When and if I have time to put into the technical side, I can do it at that time.

Once upon a time, back in 1996-1998, I worked on websites as part of my job. I didn’t use WYSIWYG editors then to write HTML because there weren’t too many. I’m sure HTML has changed a lot since then!

Ding ding ding goes my timer!

Sunday April 12th, 2020

The Back Log

It’s Sunday, also Easter, and cloudy, so even more quiet than usual. My legs are sore, though my feet are better. I decided to rest today and run tomorrow.

We, the whole family: kids, grandparents, D and I, watched “Parasite” together. While it was impressive as a work of art, it was also disturbing. And yeah, it’s supposed to be. I’m sure we’ll be talking about it for weeks and we’ll want to watch Bong Joon-ho’s other films.

As a social commentary on Capitalism, it was stark, as well as a stark commentary on human nature. The movie’s humor made its message all the more poignant, since it was really funny until it was absolutely not funny. The whole thing made me so sad.

I guess I am usually more optimistic, based on my own experiences. When I was growing up, there were times when we didn’t have much, but I never went hungry nor did we ever lack necessities.

My mother did, and of course my sisters and I helped her when we could.

I remember my father absolutely despising the ripped-jean trend; he remembered wearing clothing worn with holes, or patched; he and his brother and sisters wore clothes with holes or patches because they had nothing better. The idea that someone would pay good money for worn jeans flabbergasted him, particularly if they did not need to.

He did not consider this: if you were an economically disadvantaged teen, you might look no different from the middle class or rich kids your age. The other classes’ adoption of an impoverished look could have a weird leveling effect. If you are both poor and self-conscious, this fashion was not a bad thing.

Camouflaging need is not necessarily a good thing, however.

Today I called Jessica and we talked for about an hour. She felt better today, from what I could tell. Yesterday, through her texts to me, she worried about her job; she worried she would not be able to afford her apartment if she lost her job.

I should call DW. We text but it has been more than a week since we talked.

The kids spoke with T, my nephew, over Google Duo. That was good. He’s staying with friends and seemed happy. He is back in Albuquerque. I’m glad he is no longer sleeping in his car. He is working as a delivery person during the pandemic. I worry about him. His smoking could put him at a higher risk for complications if he contracted COVID-19. That said, he’s young and active, so fingers crossed for him.

I usually call C, my sister, but I felt talked out. She has been texting with me and the cousins.

F and I took the Prius out. We drove past the zoo, but there were service vehicles blocking the entry way for Griffith Park. So we did a U-turn and drove past Travel Town. A few people were out walking and biking. It was so nice to see different scenery.

I need to work on the website. I’m getting hung-up on the design, and shoudl probably just pick a simple, canned design to be done with it. It’s annoying, though, because I used to know how to do exactly what I want. I’d been a web designer-wrote HTML-and perl CGI’s-years ago. There is a way to do what I want. There has to be, if there was in 1996.

Saturday April 11, 2020

The Back Log

I am taking the day off from exercises but I did run on the treadmill for twenty minutes, plus five as a warm-up and five minutes for a cool-down.

Last night, I got on the scale and I was 110 pounds. That’s up from my usual range of 93 to 97 pounds. I’ve noticed other changes: I can’t put my wedding ring back on, and a pair of pants that once required a belt to stay up actually fit in the waist now. Needless to say, the extra weight worries me.

For folks who don’t know me or do not know me well, I’m just over 5 feet tall. Some of that extra weight is muscle from karate exercises, but that would accounts for, say, two to five pounds, realistically. The rest is due to to the fact that I no longer work out at the dojo for three to five hours a week. On Saturdays, I would sometimes take two classes and I regularly attended an hour and a half class on Tuesday and Friday evenings.

My morning and evening push-ups, sit-ups and squats, while better than nothing, is no substitute for a ninety minute class. I do not walk four flights of stairs before and after work, because I work from home. Though I take walks during the day, those are not exactly strenuous. Additionally, F and B bake a lot of bread, pies and cookies, and D and I drink wine or make mixed drinks just about every day.

So, given I am:

  • 1. eating more sweets,
  • 2. drinking more alcohol, and
  • 3. exercising less

I guarantee some of that weight is just, well, excess weight! I don’t look particularly fat, granted, but that’s how it starts: a little more here and a little more there. Over time, it adds up.

The black belt test requires cardio fitness, and mine is in August, if we are able to do it. Might as well start now, before I get too out of shape.

The treadmill is in F’s room, but we all use it. Richard walked daily when F was in school. I put on a podcast and got on the treadmill with bare feet. Jogging on the treadmill is not something I enjoy.

I’d tried to talk D into going with me to look for a place to run outdoors. We do not live far from Griffith Park. It rained all this week and now it’s beautiful outside! On a Saturday! My idea was to drive to the zoo area and see if we could walk or jog along one of the horse trails. D thought everyone else in Los Angeles would have the same idea.

He’d previously emailed me an article about how people exercising outdoors could potentially spread the virus faster. Apparently it is also critical to be more reclusive for the next two weeks. Folks are being advised to limit our already limited contact. So I borrowed a pair of loose, old shorts from D, put on a podcast and got on the treadmill.

I admit, during that first five minutes of walking in bare feet, I considered getting off the treadmill to put on shoes. “But no,” I thought, “I’ve finally started and it’s important to push through.” My mind wants to get out of exercising, I told myself, rationalizing procrastination. I’ve started–I need to stick with this. So I did. At the end of my jog, the balls of my feet burned.

My daughter came into the room to tease me about running in front of the window. “I want the neighborhood to see my newly-muscled back. Why not?” I told her. “There might not be a lot of muscle back there by some people’s standards but it’s much more than I had!”

That’s the great thing about being fifty, I told her: you become shameless. “You know what?” I said. “I wish I’d lost my shame earlier!” She laughed.

She’d talked to me about the weight thing earlier. “A few extra pounds will not hurt you!” she said. “You do not need to diet.” I agree.

For context, one of F’s friends was hospitalized for an eating disorder shortly before the pandemic started. This poor girl–a beautiful kid and an overachiever–top kid in her middle school last year, was downright skeletal when she came to our home in January for F’s birthday party. She was quite ill by the time she was hospitalized in late February.

So I told F, “No diet. Just exercise more and eat less sweets. That’s all–just don’t let the weight gain get out of hand. And maybe I should drink less.”

So I was proud of myself for getting on the treadmill and jogging and walking a full thirty minutes, but boy, I blistered the balls of my feet. I showed F. We laughed. “You wear shoes if you go the treadmill, okay?” I told F.

Full disclosure: we both like running around in bare feet. I already had calluses on my heels from wearing Keenes as my normal shoes, even to jury duty. (Once, in the elevator in the court house, a dude in a suit, probably a lawyer, said to me, “Those sure look comfortable.” I responded, “Yeah, they help me get to court on time when I’m parked a good thirty minute walk away.”)

I popped the blisters on my feet with a safety pin dipped in rubbing alcohol, squeezed out the puss, then took a shower. Afterwards, I put salve and bandages on my feet. I wear two pairs of socks for extra padding, and sandals if I need to walk.

Goal for tomorrow: get on the treadmill with sneakers!

Friday April 10th, 2020

The Back Log

I did push-ups, sit-ups and squats last night and this morning. I also sanitized the kitchen.

One of our neighbors from Clybourne came by. She had a little dog. She wanted to talk to Miriam about the noise complaint regarding the dog.

Lawrence, our neighbor, had put in a complaint about the dog and Miriam backed his complaint in a kind of formal proceeding.

The lady’s name was J. She’s seventy-three, and also lives with her extended family. The dog, a puppy that was some kind of mix with Chihuahua, was awfully cute and sported a pink, studded collar. I took down her number. She wanted Miriam to know that she’s been working with her puppy to train it to bark less. The dog was sweet and energetic, and didn’t bark at all while they stood with me.

I remember, as a kid, we called dogs like that one “hot dogs.”

Later, when Miriam came down, I spoke with her about the neighbor and her dog, and gave her the number to call.

Funny, my moods change rapidly these days. During work, I can get pretty wound up. After work with the kids, I’m really happy. I feel bad about not working on my science fiction book in forever. Then again, I’m happy to be keeping up with this journal and planning to make it a website.

The actual karate exercises have the power to change my mood.They can be hard to get through, but then I feel really good afterwards. My arms look thicker–I see actual visible changes in my body–at least in my arms. My shoulders often feel tweaked, though, but usually heal over the weekend, or during the one week of rest I take every three weeks. So I’m almost through one week of 70. (Sensei is having me stick to 60 push-ups.) One more workout tonight and it will be the weekend.

We are doing Passover Seder tonight, so if I have a bit too much wine, I might push the workout to Saturday morning. It would be better if I can get it in before the Seder. That’s the plan.

Thursday April 9th, 2020

The Back Log

I did push-ups, sit-ups and squats last night and this morning. The second set of thirty “chest” push-ups on the matte were hard, so I did at least the last ten on my knees. I also messed up the Japanese count. Hoping to go as low as I could, I added a couple at the end.

Sensei texted last night, asking how I was doing with exercises. I told him where I was at. He texted back that he’s been practicing the gong. I think he was both serious and kidding at once. My favorite art professor, Don Evans, did that a lot, too.

I need a shower. It’s easy to put that off or skip it when you’re not going out. I’m cooking Joey’s breakfast eggs while I write. The eggs require checking. I just cut the heat under them and covered them. We still have Indian vegetable pouches from Trader Joe’s. I took those with a bit of oil then add beaten eggs to congeal it and give it more protein. We have maybe six pouches left. We’re trying to only get food through delivery. D’s still pretty worried about exposure during the pandemic.

The governor of Arkansas was on the news, defending his choice not to require residents to shelter in place, as most of the other states have done. He says it is “recommended,” but he’s leaving the “choice” open, which means employers, like my sister’s, can ask people to go to the office. She lives in Arkansas.

In my sister’s case, her employer has asked her to go into the office. She has no health insurance and is really worried about contracting the virus. Even if, in theory, the federal government covered health issues caused by the virus, it is not clear they would cover complications, etc., not solely due to the virus. Also, if you are not able to get tested and prove the virus is behind your medical problems, then that kind of federal “help” will not help. Bankruptcy and possibly serious long-term health issues are not things my sister is willing to risk. She has told her employer she is caring for an elderly family member.

Aunt D will back her if she needs it. I hate that both my sister and my aunt have to make these kinds of horrible “choices.”

Wednesday April 8th, 2020

The Back Log

I did do push-ups, sit-ups and squats this morning and last night. I have a cat here trying to help me write. Cafe, a black and white tuxedo cat, sits on the recently sanitized table before me. He chases my pen if I am not petting him. He’s very sweet, it goes without saying, since he’s a cat.

We did not have karate last night. Sensei doesn’t have the best reception at his place. Given the puckets of water falling from the sky, which we are grateful for, it is also not a great time to get out and drive, nor is it a good time to expose yourself to getting sick during a pandemic.

But F ran the Pinans with me, after I did my exercises, and S ran Gekisai Dai, Gekisai Sho and Yantsu with me. We tried to remember the one with all the stances, Tzuki no, but we should probably look it up. It was difficult to remember.

Also, to complicate matters, we each imagined different orientations for where we were, that is, which direction was “facing forward.” Basically, we needed to mentally map the space of the dojo onto my bedroom, the space where we practiced karate. We discussed where the dojo “mirror” would be. We decided to align the dojo’s “front door” to the bedroom closet. The back door, then must be the balcony door . This left the dojo’s wall facing the mirror to align with the bedroom’s back wall. Nevertheless, it was good to practice karate.

Sensei texted and both F and I checked in with him. F is also interested in doing an on-line diary for her Shodan preparation.