Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Resolutions: Part Deux

Amazon "Gold Deals" is stuffed with ads for exercise equipment.

I guess the "get in shape" resolution is a common one.

That's not actually mine, mind you. It's not specific enough: "pear" is a shape. Mine is more along the lines of "run a marathon". That's not it, either, but my target is to increase ability, not so much shift my career to underwear model.

My looks aren't much of a concern. Dropping dead of a heart attack or developing diabetes--that is.

6 comments:

  1. Weight and weight issues are an overwhelming concern these days. I remember back in the day when I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn and people didn't worry so much about weight. Your grandma wanted you to eat and put a little weight on. When you were too skinny you were sick. But most of the people in the neighborhood worked physical jobs on the docks, so they didn’t’ gain too much weight. The kids were out in the streets playing fistball or stoopball or Ring-a-levio or Johnnie on the pony. No kid sat at home in front of the play station or the computer. When I visit my nephews, I bring along a football or my glove and a spaldeen and take them out in the street. Soon a bunch of kids gather and we start up a game. Then their fathers come out and get involved and the whole block is playing. But it’s not a freaking play date. It’s a bunch of kids playing ball and running around and cursing and arguing calls and occasionally breakin’ Mr. Freaking Wilson’s window. But hey that’s just me.

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  2. Admit it. You have been thinking about the professor in her oversized bloomers all day. Don't be ashamed. It's natural. Like the turning of the earth.

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  3. I actually don't worry about my weight. (Why worry? It is what it is! Hah!)

    Inactivity, however, that's a killer. You notice how all the dancers (Fred & Ginger & Gene) they lived forever and moved like kids practically to their dying days.

    I have a friend who's had a physically stressful job for all of her life, from construction to installing leather interiors (which requires you to lift out 100# seats and then put 'em back in) who was also a chain smoker.

    The doctor told her she had lungs like an 18 year old. I believe it, and I think the activity is a big part of it.

    I suspect weight, by itself, is hardly an issue.

    Bloomers-wise...They just don't do it for me....

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  4. Yeah, the whole "play-date" thing is pretty odious.

    On the other hand, the tendency when I was a kid was to push the kid out of the door as close to dawn as possible and not let him back in till it was dark.

    Not sure that's ideal.

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  5. Listen, that's the way for kids to learn how to interact with each other. A friend of mine moved to Jersey when he had a kid about 13 years ago because he thought it would be good for him to live in the burbs. This is a guy I hung with since we were kids and got in a lot of jams with. I told him he should give his kid a chance to grow up in the city, he would watch out for him and the people in the neighborhood would let him know what was going on just like they did for our parents when we screwed up. But he moved to Jersey and commuted, ended up getting divorced and moving back into his grandmothers brownstone. I saw him and his son over the holiday's, the kid weighs 300 lbs and had a gameboy with him in church. He should have just kicked his ass and told him to hang out in carroll park. But hey that's just me, what do I know.

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  6. Depends on the age, I think.

    I was four when I was running around my neighborhood (including riding my bike into high traffic areas). I think that was probably a bit young.

    I mean, it worked out all right for me, and I'd say that was better than school in a lot of ways--at least nobody's pretending to teach you algebra on the street--but there's gotta be a good middle ground.

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