Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Dueling Bus Rides

On the sad days that I don't bike to work, I take the bus -- two of them, actually. Most often I'll take the 21 and the 8BX, though sometimes I'll catch the 30 (or the F, if I'm feeling masochistic). Today's two bus rides were vastly different in quality and tone. Examples:

On the 21, the sassy lady driver remarked, "Oh, you look so cute!" as I swiped my Clipper card. (Nothing to start the day like a random compliment, eh? Note: I feel as though I should now spend more time planning my outfits to garner more compliments from city employees. Maybe. 2011 project idea?) Though the bus was crowded, each patron remained in his/her personal space. Bus was quiet, but for the sound of the wheels on the wet street and the occasional sniffle.

On the 8, I was pushed/jarred by a minimob of old, fish-smelling ladies. In fact, one of them [accidentally?] whacked me with her umbrella, which action caused me to glare meaningfully in said old biddy's direction. When I was finally able to snag a seat, I was promptly surrounded by a cluster of middle school boys who smelled like The Devil Himself. Don't kids these days know anything about hygiene? Has brushing one's teeth fallen out of favor among the under-15 crowd? Who knows. One thing is for certain: KIDS SMELL BAD.

I'm hoping for sunny weather tomorrow. Muni avoidance is my overall MO.

Monday, December 6, 2010

I'm BA-ACK!

If only to kvetch about a few things(!)

In all seriousness, I've lately been wanting to post about things unrelated to gastronomic happenings -- my recent move, what I'm reading, and Things I Find Annoying. (Note: My plan is to relay the Annoying Things in a manner both comical and straightforward. That's the plan, anyhow. Advance apologies if my kvetching gets way out of hand, but what are blogs for if not to vent one's frustrations to the world, right?)

So like, this afternoon, en route to Borders to pick up my holiday cards (watch yer mailboxes!), I decided to get my eyebrows done. It has been weeks since I've had my brows groomed -- eeeeek! -- and they were starting to look as they did when I was in grade school (i.e., before I was allowed to partake of any cosmetic rituals). No problem, right? WRONG! Not only did my brow lady bruise the hell out of my right browbone -- how? God only knows -- but she managed too to drip wax in my hair. How is possible? This lady grooms brows for a living! I'd assume that her fine motor skillz, after years of waxing brows (and other things), would be more honed, but no. Nope! To remove the wax from my bangs, the Brow Lady used oil -- a ton of it. Which was great, given that I was to leave directly for the mall. There are far worse things than going shopping with grease-slicked bangs, but let me assure you that the grease-haired shopping experience is not a pleasant one. I mean, in case you had any doubts.

Adding to my general bitchiness was the group of guys smoking a blunt at the back of the bus. (Note: I was sitting in the last row of seats; these duders were a seat ahead of me.) Don't get me wrong: hypothetically, I have nothing against blunts. Do what you feel, right? Just don't do it on the damn bus, especially if the weed you're smoking is skunky and terrible and clouding the rear section of the vehicle. ACK.

OK, I'm better now. Those were my two main gripes. They're over now. Thanks for reading, if you made it this far. (Note: If you made it this far, mad props. I almost didn't make it through that bitch session, and I'm the aggrieved!)

Here's some good news: I registered for the Kaiser Permanente 5K, to be held Sunday, February 6th at Golden Gate Park. I've only run one 5K so far (the one associated with the SF Marathon), and while I achieved my goal of completing the race without stopping to walk (DER), my time wasn't what I'd have liked. My goal for this race is to shave 2:30 off of my previous time (which shall go unnoted). Lofty? Yes. Achievable? I think so, especially considering the amount of time I spend biking (cross training is good, right?), my renewed enthusiasm for strength training, and Hook's and my New Year's resolution to actually start the Insanity program. (Note: Since receiving my Insanity DVD set in the mail, I've done two workouts. OK, one. The other "workout" was the fit test, which I pretty much bombed.)

That's the scoop here. My plan is to reinvigorate this blog while continuing to update Garky Eats. Lofty? Yes. But lately, lofty is my MO.