galaxy42

Well, in direct opposition of my longstanding and deeply personal belief structure against diet and exercise... I'm on a diet and started exercising.

It's fucking tragic.

All I want is a King Arthur Supreme from Round Table and a pint or two of Ben & Jerry's (insert name of highly fattening, calorie laden, but absolutely yummy ice cream here). And that's just lunch. Breakfast... oh how I miss breakfast. A couple of greasy little breakfast sammiches (that is the proper spelling, by the way... anyone trying to convince you that it's "sandwich" is a terrorist...), a tightly compressed "hash brown" or three, and enough Rock Star energy drink to fuel the next mission to Mars used to be the norm. Now I have to make due with a bowl of Cheerios (OK... the off brand "Toasted Oats") and a squirt of milk that hardly gets anything in the bowl soggy. I won't even go into what my dinner was normally comprised of and what it's been reduced to, but it's not pretty, kids... not pretty at all. Uncle Galaxy is gonna starve...

Throw in a trip to the gym 4 days a week (more if I ever find the freakin' time) and that's a recipe for some serious loss of poundage. When I'm not at the gym or in the corner curled up into a little ball weeping about all the yummy things I can't eat anymore, I'm off walking Maggie for an hour or two at a time...

"Why the madness?" you might be asking? I'm tired of being tired for one... I need a little more pep in my step. A better diet and more exercise will do that for a fella... or so the rumors go. I'm also going home for Christmas and I want to surprise the friends and fam with a "new me". And three... well, I'm not getting any younger. My current blob shape isn't encouraging female attention, so I figure I'll try to lure them in with a new "Brad Pitt" shape (or as close as genetics and my seemingly solid place in the space/time continuum will allow). Yup... I'm gonna be a babe magnet.

Or at least babe velcro...

I've already dropped 6lbs since last Saturday's weigh in. I don't expect those results every week from now until X-Mas, but it's a great start at being down to my "high school weight" which seems to be what everyone always aims for. I've got about 20lbs more to go...

Wish me luck.

I've been taking the pooch to Basic Dog Manners training classes at the Humane Society 2 nights a week for the past 3 weeks. I'm not sure I notice progress... The Roommate says he's seeing some, so I guess that's good. I'm not sure what I think of how they run the classes up there. Feels like there needs to be more structure (which they are seeing as well... all the classes this month are themed) and more more participants. The past 2 Thursday nights we've been the only ones there... the whole hour. Just me and Maggie and the trainer (super cute she is!) so I'm not going to complain. There has been plenty of good one-on-one training, but we need other dogs and distractions. Maggie listens great when we're in a quiet room and I'm the only one talking. It's out in the real world when she sees a squirrel or crow or a leaf blowing across the sidewalk... that's when I can't bring attention back to me.

I'm signed up for a full two months, the last class being the 16th of November, I think. I'm hoping in the time that remains we'll make some progress that I can see.

The band thingie is moving right along with no visible progress to anyone but the 3 of us...no, make that 4. We have a drummer. Not only do we have a drummer, but we have a drummer with a mostly empty basement where we can practice and (more importantly) leave our stuff instead of packing up, dragging a car full of shit to someone's house, unpacking, setting up, playing... packing up again, dragging it all home and unloading. Oh, it is wonderful...

Seriously, though... we took a break from practicing the three songs that we had written and just started jamming the past 2 or 3 times we got together. We're starting to gel with that. We'll be back to practice proper, and hopefully a collaborative effort on the songwriting front, very soon. I'll get to try my hand at being producer again in the upcoming months when I record and mix an EP of our stuff. I think the plan is to shop that CD around town, play some gigs, hone our skills, get comfortable in our skin, then hit a professional studio sometime between the end of next summer and Jan 2010. I'm a bit excited about it.

Once we have something worth hearing, I'll post it here.

Ahh... that Portland weather...

It's gray here again. The blue skies of summer are giving way to the gloom that is... P-town. I don't mind it though. I've said it before, and I'll say it again... the worst winter weather here beats the living shit out of the average winter day in Ohio. I'm ready for it. I've resigned myself to the fact that the next 200 or so days of dog walks will be wet ones. Bring it on, weather... bring it on.

A friend of mine back in Ohio just opened a skate shop there. Apparently, his son is tearing up the local skate parks. The kid is only 6 or 7, I think... yet high school age kids are telling his father that he can do some stuff that they can't. They've only been open for a few weeks now, but business is booming.

The fun part for me is that he asked if I would design a logo for them. I did. He liked... a lot.

Not only did he like the design, he bought a vinyl sign and 1,000 decals from the business I work for, with the possibility ordering up a million other products (t-shirts, beanies, jackets, etc...) from us as well.

I'm also going to try to design a few custom decks based around the logo.

This feels like the stars are finally lining up because a couple of months ago my coworker and I talked about designing t-shirts and skate decks. If my designs sell well in my buddy's shop, we have a better chance at being picked up elsewhere. This was the kick in the ass we needed to get the ball rolling. Things are going to get interesting...