Last Saturday actually felt like summer, which made me quite happy. (Remind me I said that when in August I’m daydreaming about October.) I do hate the heat and humidity, but I love these first few days of early summer.

I went for a run last weekend, and it was decidedly more successful than the last time. I brought along my MP3 player and that made a world of difference. Though I rather felt like the marching band people in this xkcd comic. And none of the songs really matched up with my stride, which drove me batty the entire time. But I went the whole nearly 4 miles without having to turn back because I was too annoyed to follow through. I left the house around 11:30 am, though, which was stupid of me. My route is usually pretty shady, but I forgot that at noon, nothing is shady. With nine months of winter, it’s difficult to remember how to behave when it’s actually warm out. I got pretty dehydrated and overheated and got dizzy so I only ran about half the distance and just walked the rest. But I still call it a win since I actually got my arse out the door and running. And the cross training Summah Resolution is in effect! I need to put the pull up bar back in the doorway, and really, I’ve neglected doing any sort of core work for entirely too long. It’ll all pay off when I can kick more ass at derby.

Speaking of which, I’d love to publicly thank roller derby for helping me overcome a metric shite tonne of body issues that have plagued me my entire life. I’m really not that much smaller than I was when I began derby, but my perception of my body has changed tremendously. I’m stronger and faster than I’ve ever been in my entire life, and that thrills me to pieces. I’m not running to lose weight, either. I’m running for the sheer enjoyment of the movement and to increase my strength and stamina to be able to better play the sport I love. I really don’t give a shit about how other people see me when I’m running down the street in spandex booty shorts and a tank top.

Every other time I’ve ever exercised regularly it’s been about getting stronger and gaining stamina, yes, but always looming in the back (or front) of my mind was the desire to become smaller and to lose weight. It was always there. And now I hardly have any of that crap left rattling around in my head. It’s almost entirely gone. I say almost, because no matter how hard I try I can’t turn off the voices outside of my head telling me that I should want to be smaller. I’m average size, really, but a large percentage of society, however, thinks that I am fat. And even if I was, who the hell cares? It’s my body. How it looks is no one’s business but my own.

And while I’m at it, society: Fuck you and your fascist beauty standards. I’m so sick of all of the hate-yourself bullshit that is everywhere during the summer. (Well, it’s everywhere all the time, but seems especially omni-present these days.) I don’t need 53 specials on how to get my body ready for bathing suit season, thanks. And I’m going to stop there before I get really caught up in a body issues rant. I’ll let others (more capable than I) handle that one.

Moving on.

I fell at practice this past Tuesday and my knee pad slipped. No major damage, just a bruise and some swelling, but it was a little scary. I’m going to take it easy (ie no scrimmaging) for a couple more days, but it should be good to go for practice next week. I did not run this week like I had planned, though. It was rainy most days, so I’m probably kidding myself into thinking that I would have gone out if I hadn’t been injured.

Oh and as for my other Summah Resolutions, I did see Ida Maria last week. Two local bands opened for her. I really enjoyed For What It’s Worth (who were super nice and gave PRD a lovely little shout out mid-set). And The Danger Room (while they didn’t completely strike my fancy) were decent, too. In other local news: I went to my first Waterfire last weekend! It was sruprisingly really great. I hate crowds and it was a little touch-and-go for a little while, but I settled in pretty quickly and enjoyed myself thoroughly. Plus, they had fried dough. Oh, and I also got to see the Red Sox this past week. I saw game two in the series against the Marlins. It was really fun! A friend of a friend had an extra ticket for the roof deck standing room area. It was a wickedtonnalotta fun, and half way through the game the people sitting at the $500 table in front of us gave us their seats. (And I got to have fried dough at the game, too. Nom.)

And tonight is the BDD bout against the Texecutioners. (I missed last night’s Gotham/Texecutioners bout in CT, but I heard it was phenomenal! Gotham won, but it was a close one the whole time.) And the Nuts and the Cosmos are kicking things off before the interleague bout gets underway, so it should be a pretty fun derby evening.

My last day at one of my jobs is the 30th and next Friday they’re throwing us a library-wide “assistant appreciation party.” Translation: “sorry the economy sucks and you’re all getting laid off at the end of the month.” I wonder if they’ll actually have anything I can eat. I usually end up with just juice and plain crackers at these “appreciation” gatherings. Though the following week I’m going to a separate gathering just for those of us who work in my department who are getting laid off. That should be much more fun. I went to the library summer party last Friday (though I left early due to a migraine) and it wasn’t as awkward as I had expected it to be, and there was a ton of vegan-enough-for-me food, so perhaps this Friday’s party won’t be as weird as I’m expecting it to be.

It’s still weird to think that in a couple of weeks, I’ll have five-day weekends. I know I should feel bad about my looming unemployment, but I’m actually looking forward to it. It’ll give me time to catch up on a bunch of projects, namely R’s book. Things keep getting in the way and my life keeps exploding all over the place and I can’t seem to get my act together to actually meet to discuss the work thus far. It’s really cool that I get to participate in this project, as I’ve never edited a novel before (just books of poetry and essays and things), but I haven’t been as efficient as I would like to be. It’s a pretty fun story, and I want to be able to devote more time to it. Check out the author’s new website!

That’s the news for now, friends.
Hearts and Stars.