Some updates

Whether or not I promised to update or whether or not you care, here are some updates, mostly lacking in juxtaposition.

First of all, I survived Christmas. We spent eight days in our hometown catching up with greatly missed friends and family (and breaking the news that we'll be in NYC for awhile - everyone should just move here). I had a goal of buying Christmas gifts for which some of the proceeds would go to charity, and I succeeded in all but a few, and everyone got something to unwrap. Before you go thinking I'm a good person, next year's gift theme is that it has to be sold on TV. Because this is awesome, Christmas shopping may not make me want to drink this time around. Only maybe.

We did go see the balloons being blown up on Thanksgiving Eve. It was rainy and packed full of people, but still worth it. Well, worth it to see half of the ballons and then go get pizza and cupcakes. And we did go Thanksgiving morning to the parade. The day was warm, our location was good, and I actually ended up wishing that we'd shown up earlier to see more of the parade. The police block the parade route off a block away from the route, so parade watchers have lots of space to set up ladders and see the parade without being in anyone's way, the kids can run around without getting hit by cars, and vendors can sell pretzels and hot dogs and coffee etc. Everyone cheers when a balloon goes by. It's fun.

I didn't go see Jonathan Lethem read the final part of Chronic City because my sister-in-law came to visit that weekend. While there are far worse ways to spend an evening, many can think of better ways than to listen to someone read a book (as silly as this seems to me). So we went to the Brooklyn Brewery instead and got her drunk. This night also included pizza and cupcakes. I got many Jonathan Lethem books for Christmas, so I'm hoping he does some more readings of some kind and that I turn into a big groupie.

Because of all of the pizza and cupcakes and my inability to walk by a bakery without going in, my body has become what you'd call a little soft. (Don't worry, my heart's as hard as ever.) I'm looking forward to marathon training for many reasons, but one them is to watch and feel my body change. This was fun for the half marathon, so if my math is correct it should be twice as fun for a full marathon. The consciously eating more healthy - which means not changing my consumption patterns but adding more healthy food to them - helps with the desoftening too. Food consumption itself earns a different meaning when you're paying attention to the amount and kind of energy it will give you. What I'm not looking forward to is running outside in the cold. A gym membership to use the treadmills because I'm a wus doesn't really seem justified. Likely you'll be hearing more about this since it will likely be the most interesting thing about me until June.