RhymePhile's Rat Race

One of the spokes on my bike wheel ptoo!ed off this morning after I had reached work and was waiting for the elevator. Obviously it could no longer withstand my ample, heaving largesse. I walked it over to Sid's Bikes here in Chelsea, and hopefully it'll be back by tomorrow.

In related news, there's this girl in one of the offices here that I pass by every day who eats nothing but salad for every meal. Salad for breakfast (yes, breakfast). Salad for lunch. She's a wisp of a thing -- which I guess is her plan? -- but how much salad can you eat? How boring must your life be to eat the same thing for two meals every day? I equate this to the types of people who are happy screwing bolts onto widgets while working on an assembly line. You do the same thing every day, relentlessly, with no thought needed. It's brainless work that would kill me in 2 minutes. This girl who eats the same thing every day is like that to me. Of course, she also might be lazy. Or maybe she really, really likes salad. Or food is simply fuel to her. More likely she does it because thin = good.

My life revolves around food. I love to cook it and eat it. I use it when I'm happy, or to soothe me when I'm sad, or because I'm so angry all I want is pie. Love me some pie. Unfortunately, I do not have the metabolism to support all this emotion! This was revealed to me when I was 10 years old, the age I started my very first diet.

I can also honestly say that food is the one thing that has both enhanced and ruined my life at the same time. It is tied to my emotions, my self-worth, my self-image, my lack of belief in my abilities, my misanthropy, my relationships, my anger and depression, my everything.

But when I get right down to it, do I want to be like that boring waify girl who eats salad for every meal? Hells no. I bike, and do yoga (I will again now that it's cooler), and jog (well, I used to before I moved and had to give up my treadmill), and have not-very-girly muscles that I'm quite proud of, and I want the outside to match the way I feel inside. But life is hard, and my metabolism is slow, and I hate salad, and a motherfuckin' Twinkie sounds really good right now.

David Byrne, most popular for being a member of the group Talking Heads is a huge bicycling advocate in New York City.

He speaks about biking quite often on his blog.

But one post in particular from a few years ago should give you an impression of what my daily commute is like in New York City. Granted, he's bicycling through one of the most dangerous corridors, 42nd St., a route that I will not take even though it would be quicker for me.

David has a camera on his helmet as he bikes to an event near 42nd.

I can't embed the video, but it's an interesting look into what New York City bicyclists deal with every day. And on another note -- his claim about New Jersey trucks is true, and I am a native New Jerseyan.

http://journal.davidbyrne.com/2007/10/10072007-how-ne.html

Heh, I made a joke in the subject header.

It's really because it's the start of Torchwood miniseries week, "Children of Earth." Please be good WHOO. I've been looking forward to it. My GF is a HUGE Janto shipper and was literally *bouncing* the entire time we listened to the third audio drama this weekend. She's super excited. All she does is read Janto fic. Seriously. It's all-consuming.

I'm hoping to find a good download tonight, specifically from a user by the name of Mad Martha. Her versions of past Torchwood episodes have been excellent. I hope she uploads tonight. I hate that BBC America has decided to wait TWO FREAKING WEEKS before they air it. WTF? Don't they realize some of us have friends everywhere? We want to see it!

I also rode my bike into work today for the first time. It wasn't super scary, but biking in Manhattan is still a study in anxiety and stress. Getting from Grand Central to the West Side at 16th St was challenging. Considering I hadn't really ridden the bike all that much since I bought it, I think I did okay. I'll get better as the summer goes on. It was a relief not to have to deal with the piss-scented subway for a change (and save $2.25 a trip, GAH, price increase!).

I hope everyone enjoys Torchwood tonight and uses cut tags tomorrow!

The above is my favorite line from the Star Trek film, which I finally saw on Saturday. The GF and I wanted to see the IMAX version, but they were only playing it once that day, at midnight. WTF is up with that? Stupid theatre.

I think I really am the last person on my Flist to have seen it. All I have to say about it is WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AWESOMOSITY.

The acting, the script, the special effects, the action, and even the plot were all fantastic. I think I will call it by its Malaysian English title, Star Trek: The Future Begins. Better.

I was sort of prepared to hate Chris Pine as Kirk. I try not to pre-judge actors in certain things, but I really was ready to hate this kid. But no! He was actually good! YAY. And hello, casting? PERFECTION. Everyone was good!

All those caps mean I really loved the film. Heh.

In other weekend news, I took my new, tuned-up bike for a ride yesterday, to get used to it before I start riding to work in Manhattan. I love biking, and I look forward to saving the $2.25 one-way subway fare (right now it's $2, but it's going up June 28, the bastards), but I am also hyper-vigilant and wary of biking in Manhattan. It's dangerous. Well, I'm waiting on my pretty new Nutcase helmet to arrive, and then I'm takin' it to tha streets!