take 2.

The gym that I joined has a slogan on its printed materials: "There comes a time in life when you no longer put up with cheap furniture, cheap wine, and cheap health clubs. Are you there yet?" Well, apparently I'm one-third of the way there, having joined the club. I'm far from being the rest of the way there, considering my home furnishings, and that I still do my best to observe the credo put forth while studying in France, with regard to wine (the best possible, for the fewest francs possible, back when francs were still France's monetary unit.).

The gym is actually not that expensive, a scant $10 more per month than the YWCA I belonged to in Mpls. For that extra $10, I get towel service, a gym that is easier to walk to than to drive, individual televisions connected to the elipticals, headphone plug-ins and television remote controls at all workout machines, a ladies-only area (which is way better than trying to squeeze in between the lovely meathead manly-men), a decent array of classes, a bathroom/ locker room loaded up with every necessity, friendly staff, and bright, airy spaces. It is a luxury, but one I won't compromise. Plus, I've decided I'll catch up on my television veiwing there: football games, news programs, Access Hollywood, all the programs really worth watching.

The rest of my second week of classes was good. In Drafting we'll apparently be drawing things. I suppose I knew this in some vague recess of my mind, but it didn't register. Or I didn't want it to register, drawing of any sort never having been one of my talents. We drew a building this week. First we sketched it, and then we transferred it to another sheet of paper using guides and straight edges and title boxes and lettering. It was the longest 3.5-hour night school class of my life. Using guides and straight edges is very precise, and very, very tedious. I think my building turned out alright though, and the next time it will probably be easier.

Swimming is also progressing really nicely. The class I was initially enrolled in, Swimming for Conditioning, wasn't really what I was looking for. Fortunately the Intermediate Swimming class meets at the same time, so last week I switched over. The class name is misleading, it's more of a technique class, using the Total Immersion System, which is a bit strange and cultish, but reasonably so: it's very effective. Basically we start with drills that focus on different bits of the stroke (freestyle, in this case), and then eventually work them all together, with the goal of never, ever repeating any of the old offenses. The class, for me, is perfect. The technique is cool, and really stresses being streamlined and graceful in the water, and it feels lovely to be gliding along that way. It's also good to be in the water a few times a week. I do miss that, not being in the diving classes, and no longer working at the aquarium.

I'm still looking for work, now to maintain sanity as well as gain an income. I have way. too. much. time on my hands. It's really not so good. I am accomplishing quite a bit, but endless days and nights of free time, with weekends to boot... I need to be more occupied and busy than I am at present. So send me good, positive find-an-awesome-job kinda vibes, because the search continues!