shitona stick
DOUG Friday:
30/04/1999
Today was a fantastic day! I started my new health routine to prepare for the up coming summer months and I feel like a new person. I arose at early dawn to do a quick run in Central Park with the Navy Seals trainees. This is a program I read about in Time Out and was eager to see what it was all about. It turned out to be tough but rewarding. I met many new friends while desperately attempting to do the post 5K run calisthenics. 2000 crunches after a 5K run is enough to make a jock like me cry! Anyway, my new Seal friends, as I like to call them, are really cool so we planned to hook up over the weekend. After the work out, I rushed off to work to present my Clamato project which is up for an IRI Innovation Award. This is a really big honor and I was very nervous about competing. I was on pins and needles waiting to hear the winner's name announced. When they finally called my name as this year's winner, I almost cried. This Clamato project was something I had worked so hard on and to be recognized by my peers for it was something really special. As I came down from the high of accepting the trophy and the $15 gift certificate from 'Nobody Beats the Whiz" (it was the thought that counts), I was ready to celebrate with my friends. A bunch of us got together at the new vegetarian restaurant, NOMEATS, in the East Village for some health food. Since I am trying to slim down for the Summer I opted for the avocado and sprouts on pita. I must say it was quite tasty. The Seals showed up for some after dinner fun and we all ended up going to this funky old mansion on the Upper East side for a poetry reading. We were all a little reluctant at first because it was primarily love poems but we all got into it when Jennifer Love Hewitt was the reader. She is gorgeous and sweet and we got to hang out with her afterwards. We just sat around into the wee hours drinking cappuccinos and talking about poetry,love and life. I really found it quite spiritual. She invited us to her church on Sunday and we all promised to go. More on that under Sunday's note. Saturday: Since I was well rested from the night before, I woke early and began my Central Park workout. I am really starting to get into the grove of the Seals workout and was able to keep up much better this go round. Pat, a fellow Seal, and I were teamed up to do after workout clean up. This is part of the Seals Good Humanitarian Program (SGHP) where we pick up litter and dog mess from the common areas throughout in the park. I never realized all the effort it takes to keep America clean! Afterwards, Pat and I went for some fruit and decaf coffee with our disabled instructor, Bob. Bob is a vet with no legs and he was telling us stories about Vietnam and being a POW. He asked us to join him on Sunday after church to help volunteer at the Veterans Hospital. A lot of vets need someone to read to them and help them with bathing. How could we say no to such a worthy cause? This evening was a lot of fun for me because it was the first time, in a long time, that I stayed home, curled up on the couch and read a book. I am reading the Memoirs of a Geisha and I must say, I never realized how difficult the life a geisha girl is. Sunday: The Big Day has arrived! I woke up early again (probably the same time my friends were returning from Siberia) and headed for the park. The Seals take Sundays off so I just jogged with another group a few times around the upper loop and headed to the Great Lawn for my push ups. After the workout I changed and went to the 10am mass at Jennifer's church. It was amazing! It was very different than other churches because everything was presented in a song. I know it sounds weird but it was actually quite fun. The priest sings the sermon, the parishioners sing the responses, everyone sings. Jennifer is a great singer and actually sings one of the songs on the St Anthony's Live in NYC CD. I had to buy it. I think it will be great to put on when I need a little inspirational push. After rockin' at church I met up with Pat and bathed the Vets. Interesting to say the least but not as bad as I had first expected. I spent 4 hours there reading books, the weird thing is that they all loved the new Monica Lewinsky book. I can tell you all about it later but it did inspire me to get some friends together and start a book club. Anyone interested? After church and the Vets I was too tired to do anything else except read a few chapters of the Geisha and fall asleep.
back to best of listing by name
back to best of listing sortable
