Ranting Knitter

One of my 2008 Goals was to workout every day. Do some serious form of cardio every day and lift weights every other day. I use to be quite anal about working out and looked awesome. I want to get back into that.

The other day, I decided to sign up for a gym membership. I am unsure why I agreed to do this. I do want the availability of all the machines, however, I’m not a huge fan of all the people that go for the possibility of hooking up with someone or those that feel they are full-time body builders and need to offer you all the advice in the world, not to mention criticize the hell out of you. I hate those. I just want to flow in and flow out, not be bothered or leered at. I woke up at 5am today, only to take 1-½ hours to talk myself into actually going to the gym. I drive to the gym, roughly 20 minutes away. Only to find out it was incredibly packed. To the point that I could not get on any type of machine for either cardio or lifting. I was pissed. Still am.

Now, I recently moved into an apartment complex that hosts a small gym. Very small. There are simple machines in it; no extra charge for using anything. I could just have easily been going to this gym all along. Not a bad thing. However, I wanted more variety in the machines I used, thus working different muscles differently, or the same muscles differently. Whichever.

Here were my proposals (to myself):
Join the gym – Cost: $600 (roughly) Includes: tanning booth (a must for the upcoming months), variety of lifting machines, free weights, treadmill, stepper, elliptical; trainer available (additional cost); open 24 hours; feel motivated by others in that atmosphere, more likely to push myself harder

OR
Apartment Complex Gym – Cost: no additional; open to any
resident on complex Includes: treadmill, elliptical, Nordic-Track lifting machine (a home gym), free weights; open 24 hours; working out by myself, dependent on self-motivation.

Some other added Pros for working out in the Apartment Complex”
- never packed/hardly anyone ever there (I like this, as I don’t like working out in crowds, etc.)
- a short walk down the sidewalk, a few buildings over (not wasting 50 minutes of my time: 40 minutes for total travel time, roughly 10 minutes to get ready and change and jump on a machine).

I think I am, very obviously, selling myself on my complex gym. It’s not a bad set up, considering it’s in an apartment complex. I should have been using it all along, but another issue up for discussion is Time. That will be for another post.

I have decided to return to blogging.

I realize that I was on hiatus for so long….two years, too long.

Quite a bit has happened in my life, that I will share in due time.

The first order of business? 2008 Goals.

2008 will be the year of ME. I came to this conclusion just before the ball dropped signifying the New Year.

In short, I broke up with my Man, the one I was with for the last 5 ½ years. The one I was set to marry. I listened to my gut on that one and canceled the wedding; deciding he was not the one I wanted to marry. We can get to that at another time.

My heart has been broken and I need to be done brooding over it. Enough is enough; I have hit my personal threshold. For the entire 5 ½ years, I have done nothing but support Him and never minded myself. I did take care of myself, though not how I would have liked, as well, I did not support my own personal interests. People change and grow. I did, but was held back from doing anything because all my focus was on Him. Now, I see, that was not healthy. Thus, I declare 2008 the Year of Me.

I made a list of everything I want to do this year; every thing that came into my mind. And looking at the list, my biggest gripe is time. I have to learn to budget my time accordingly. This could prove to be a struggle. However, it will also be a challenge.

Some of the goals that I would like to accomplish in 2008 appear to be pretty generic: read more, knit more, write more, exercise daily, and hang out with friends more. But as I previously stated, I need to learn to budget my time. I have purchased the book ‘Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress Free Productivity’ by David Allen. This book appears to be highly recommended and referenced often by friends and professionals alike. I have not tackled that book just yet, as I am currently a one-book-woman kinda gal and am currently reading ‘On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft’ by Stephen King.

In addition, I will be making some changes to the site, in hopes of making it more up-to-date and intriguing.

Stay tuned for more…..I have returned.