Trip Like I Do

So… What Was I Doing?

One reason why I didn’t post for awhile was because I was playing World of Warcraft - like a mad woman! I did my best and hit the level cap of 70 before my subscription ran out. I was pretty excited to do that because, well, once you hit 70, you could get a flying mount! Just how awesome is that? Really awesome!

It was a little weird though since I didn’t quite know what to do with myself once I hit 70. I spent a lot of time just flying around on my mount and helping some of my online buddies. Of course, I finally did a decent dungeon the night I was quitting, but oh well.

I had a lot of fun playing this time around. I think it’s because I was a heck of a lot more social online than I was with my other character before. I met a lot of really nice people online this time and oddly enough, most of them were from Australia!

There is a new expansion coming out at the end of November called Wrath of the Lich King too. I am not sure if I m going to pick it up yet. I’d like to, but, that would mean that I should be spending my time now upgrading my gear to prepare for the expansion and I don’t really want to do that right now. Oh well.

I got so preoccupied with WOW that I hardly went to the beach in September and I also wasn’t working out. Of course, I haven’t been working out furiously now that I’ve stopped playing, but I am trying to get back into the habit again. Wheeee.
I’ve really been enjoying this time away from my Mom right now too. Of course, I haven’t gotten to all of the stuff I wanted to do while she’s away, but it’s just so nice not having her around right now - I am just trying to enjoy this time and soak it in until she comes back later this week.

One thing I have been doing is checking out a lot of new, (to me), music lately. I started a free trial with this service called Podfitness. I was lucky enough to et a 6 week free trial of their service through the iVillage Walk on, Rock On 6 week walking challenge. Of course I signed up and went walking like once outdoors! Whoops! So much for that.

But, I am obsessed with the Podfitness workouts - not doing them, yet - but with creating them. Podfitness is a service where they create audio workouts for different programs, like walking, weight lifting, biking, etc. The difference between them and say, Cardio Coach or iTrain is that you use your own music for the workouts. So, it’s an easy way to make a “work out” mix and you get the bonus of having a fitness professional give you audio queues on when to step things up or recover. It’s quite fascinating really. The only downfalls are that you can not use music with any type of DRM and they don’t mix up the music so that it is more inline with your workout - you kind of have to judge that the tunes you choose are up to the pace of the workout.

But, it’s okay. I’ve made something like 20 mixes so far, but I haven’t actually used any of them yet. Doh, but I am getting them ready for when I am ready for them! Yay!

How does this relate to music? Well, I do have a lot of mp3’s on my computer that I got from my ex. However I am only now realizing that I have a lot of mp3’s, but the majority of the stuff I have is crappy techno. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like me some techno, but I really do like the brit rock and dancey alt pop a helluva lot more. Grrr, there are so many genres and sub genres, I have no idea how to describe things anymore.
Grrr, that is another thing that I gave up for Tom. I mean our tastes in music were similar to some extent, but he was waaay more into techno than I was and he always had to play his music whenever he wanted to. If I played stuff I liked, he would usually complain so he could listen to his stuff - and I let him! Gah! What was I thinking?

Anyways, so I’ve been looking around for stuff to download and have discovered a few cool things. First of all, as I am sure a lot of people have heard already - Radiohead just released a new album In Rainbows. I was never a big Radiohead fan, but they are trying different with the release of this album. Different in the sense that you pay what you want to download it from them - including absolutely nothing if you want to. Hells yea! I can afford free! I am pretty surprised, but I really like. Their sound is really different from what I remember them to sound like. It’s certainly worth the download, in my opinion, and if you don’t like it, heck it’s not like you’ll be out $20 or something.

The other thing I’ve found out recently is that Amazon has started selling mp3 downloads! What’s so cool about that you say? Well for one thing, all of the songs sold by Amazon do not have any type of DRM and the majority of songs are cheaper than what you would find on iTunes. Most of the songs are 89 cents each vs 99 cents at iTunes. Of course their catalog isn’t as big as the iTunes catalog, but it is pretty respectable and growing.

I downloaded the new album from M.I.A. called Kala

OMFG, she is soo awesome!  I was a little wary of getting it after listening to the samples, but it got some really good reviews and it was cheap, so I figured why the heck not?  I am glad I did, I am really enjoying listening to her.  Her music is hard to describe - it’s like elektro world music - lots of Indian and Southeast Asian influences and sounds.  I am really digging it.

Oof, anyways, I am pooped right now, I think it’s time for bed.

1 comment October 29th, 2007

It’s Been A Long While

Here’s an old picture of me, my sister and my paternal Grandparents.

My Grandpa passed away about 7 years ago. My Grandma just passed away last week.

Kristen, if you read this, this is the picture I wanted to share with you when you wrote that post about the tribulations of having curly hair. Yea, I tried pulling that feather hair clip thing off with my fro. (Yes, I am the one in the Sunkist shirt.)

It was a little shocking to hear that my Grandma passed away, but not completely unexpected since she was almost 90 and had a heart condition. I wasn’t very close to her or my Grandpa though, so it’s sad, but not devastating like when my other Grandma passed away.

My Mom went to Utah for the funeral, but I opted to stay back - mostly because I really, really, really needed a break from my Mom. She’s very difficult to live with and I really miss having any sort of privacy. I figured that this is the first time in over a year that I actually have some time and space for myself. It’s a little weird right now, but I think I am going to enjoy the next 10 days immensely.

I haven’t been up to much lately. I think I’ve fallen into a rut - again. I kind of stopped working out in September and I have the body to show for it. It’s just soo damn frustrating. Of course my Mom’s insistence on a steady diet of takeout doesn’t help much at all either.

I’ve tried starting up exercise again, but it’s just so difficult when you’re overweight and out of shape. I know I have to keep with it in order to gain my strength and stamina back, but it’s so discouraging when you don’t get results right away. I know diet plays a very large part in it and that is another reason I am so glad that my Mom is on a trip right now. I can finally eat the stuff I like to eat without feeling like a freak.

I started going swimming at the beach again, but it just isn’t as fun as it used to be. Mostly because the weather is changing and so the water is “oh so not refreshing” chilly when I get there and the sun has usually set by the time I get, so drying off isn’t as nice as it was before.

I did manage to get to the pool at 24 Hour Fitness last Friday though and that was nice. I jumped on a fancy exercise bike for about 20 minutes and then went and did laps for about an hour. I considered the bike fancy because it had a fan built into it! Genius!

I really should start walking again, but I seriously still need to get new shoes for that. I tried walking around Ala Moana part about a week ago and my feet were hurting. It was only about a mile, but I had to stop - not just because I am out of shape, but because my feet were just aching. Maybe it’s because I hardly wear shoes anymore and only my Crocs, so my feet weren’t used to the shoes anymore. But I think it’s probably because I have been wearing the same workout shoes for about 3 or 4 years now. Doh.

I don’t know what else to write anymore.  My life is pretty dang boring right now.  I just know that I really do need some time to myself so I can hopefully figure some things out in my life.  One thing I know I really need are positive thoughts and to be around positive people.

I just wish I had more encouraging people in my life right now.

1 comment October 24th, 2007