Becoming a Biker

My last post was Feb 8th. That's just embarrassing.

I spent this past Saturday riding a bike around Queens. My bike is an old Giant, rescued from the refuse pile and fixed up by my mechanically-inclined boyfriend. It’s not shiny or pretty, but the worn body makes it look like I’m much more of a biker than I am, like I’ve been riding for ages and know my way around the city’s bike lanes. Which I don’t, at all.

The Giant is quite a step up from my first and second bikes, both of which were pink. My first had a white banana seat with pink polka dots on it that I absolutely begged my parents for, and thin white streamers coming out of the soft white handlebar covers. It was a single speed with pedal brakes, and I’m pretty sure it came from Target.

The second bike, which I graduated to in Texas, was a pink ten-speed, though I never actually used the gears—I mean, I flipped the little switches, but couldn’t figure out what they did beside make it much harder to pedal. On this bike I moved up to handle brakes, and I remember the amazing feeling of coasting around corners in Texas, the hot air suddenly much cooler as it blew through my sweaty hair.

The Giant is a city bike, covered in dings and with some of the paint peeling off. It’s the first bike I’ve owned that doesn’t have a kickstand but does have a lock attached to it. The grip tape is dingy and some of it has slipped off, but there is a light on the back that blinks for when I’m riding at night. I’ve become familiar enough with the gears to use them all, but I still need a little reminder on how they work (“Go UP for downhill, and DOWN for uphill,” I sing to myself).

This it the bike I rode up and down the hills of New Paltz, through the busy streets of Park Slope, over the Pulaski Bridge from Queens to Brooklyn, and along Vernon Boulevard and the East River. This is the bike on which I rediscovered that wind-though-my-hair feeling, that freedom that comes from using your own human energy to propel yourself forward, and the feeling of coasting—which might just be the most delicious reward in the world.

What I have been missing, up until now, is a helmet. Rest easy, Mom, I bought one.

On the back it says “I love my brain.” I should add “and my bike.”

Books in the Attic

Due to a very long story, I was recently up in my parents' attic in Florida, digging through some old boxes of my books. My main goal was to rescue a few old copies of my Baby-Sitters Club books, but I stumbled on some old favorites as well, including:

The Kid in the Red Jacket
Ramona Quimby, Age 8
Katie the Pest
The Boxcar Children

I loved, loved, loved books with multiple children -- whether they were all main characters, like in Boxcar Children, or just the foil, as in Katie the Pest. Living with several siblings leaves you predisposed towards books like this, I guess.

Life List, Part 5

Part 5? Really? Hm...perhaps I need to stop spending time thinking up things to do and start spending time doing them. Which reminds me of what I keep telling myself recently: "Stop being so lazy."

41. Go back to Finland in warmer weather
I visited Helsinki while I was studying abroad, but had the bad sense to do it in February. Even though I spent most of my time trying to get warm (except for the time in the sauna, when I was trying to not die), I was totally charmed by the city. It's somehow modern and quaint at the same time, and I image it would be an amazing vacation during summer.

42. Go back to Prague with Dan
He was supposed to visit me when I was studying abroad, but his car burst into flames one day and effectively put an end to that plan. I'd like to go back and spend some time there without having to think about the paper that's due in my Media and Communications class.

43. Own one amazing dress
At the moment I own about 5 mediocre dresses. I want one that takes my breath away. In my head it has a very full skirt.

44. Own one pair of designer shoes
I'm not one for buying stuff just for the name, but I would like to own one pair of really special shoes.

45. Throw a fancy-dress dinner party
For my 30th birthday, we all got drunk in a bar. I'd like to do something a bit classier, though I might have to wait until we move to an apartment that can accommodate more than 3 people at a table.

46. Take a tour of the Library of Congress
How have I not done this??? I only live 5 hours away from it! I really need to make friends with someone who lives in or around DC.

47. Take a tour of the White House
Apparently this is harder than just calling and making a reservation. It stays on the list, though, because it's not impossible.

48. Visit Mount Rushmore
Sometimes I get all dreamy-eyed thinking about all the other countries I want to go to and all the things I want to see there, and I forget that we've got some pretty cool stuff here, too.

49. Go to Montana
I've been to a lot of states in my life, but there's an entire swath that I haven't stepped foot in, and I'd like to change that. Plus, I imagine its really beautiful.

50. Camp in Yellowstone
So long as I do it in the Montana section, I can hit 2 goals with one trip. Of course, after learning that Yellowstone is a GIANT VOLCANO, I might rethink this goal.

Not enough distance...

Kudos to Pamie for having the courage to post her high school journal entries. I was also fortunate enough (or...really...is it "unfortunate enough"?) to have rediscovered all my high school journals in a box at my parents' house.

She has this to say about her vantage point:

I don't know how many of you out there are fifteen..And know that in like, ten years you'll find these letters and it still won't be funny, and in like, fifteen years you'll find them again and someone will laugh and you will be like GET OUT OF MY ROOM, but right around the twenty year mark you might see a couple of these letters and be like, "Wow. Okay, maybe that one went a little too far."

So...yeah, I'm just at the 15-year mark for most of what I wrote in high school, and it's still cringe-inducing enough that I can barely bare to read it, much less release it into the wilds of the internet. Maybe in five years my self-indulgent anger, ill-advised crushes, wandering poetry, and haughtily judgmental ramblings will seem charming.

For right now, however, stay out of my room.

Things To Do In 2010

You might recall (all 3 of you) that I have been posting pieces of my "Life List" (tm Mighty Girl) for the past few months. This post will be another list, but a much more short-sighted and immediate list: Things To Do In 2010.

This is not a list of resolutions, because I don't really like making resolutions for the same reason I don't like giving things up at Lent: I tend to forget promises I've made to myself, then I do things/don't do things I promised to I wouldn't/would do, then I remember how I forgot, then I feel bad.

I have a really good feeling about 2010. 2009 felt like a strange, twisted, hard, uncomfortable year -- a 365-day struggle to stay afloat. I'm happy to leave that all behind and look forward to what's up ahead. Perhaps the optimism has to do with the feeling of a new decade starting (I know, I know, it's actually the end of the last decade, no year 0, etc, but whatever: there's a zero on the end of it, it FEELS like a fresh start), or perhaps I'm actually redirecting my "I just turned 30" anxiety. Regardless, I'm excited.

Things To Do In 2010
- run 2 1/2 marathons
- ride my bike to work one day
- see my brother get married
- go on a road trip with my family
- get my finances in order (I'm looking at you, small-but-annoyingly-hard-to-kill credit card debt)
- focus on creating amazing events for Women in Children's Media
- focus on saving money wherever and whenever possible

Not exactly the most ambitious list, but who says everything has to be a list of goals? Can't we make a list of stuff we are really looking forward to, rather than a list of crap that we need to fix about ourselves?

Valentine's Day, the movie

The first time I heard about this movie, I thought: "lame." When I read the synopsis on IMBD, I continued to think: "lame." When I saw the cast list, however, I wanted to give the trailer a try. I mean, Julia Roberts? Anne Hathaway? Bradley Cooper? Topher Grace? Jennifer Garner? (Of course, when I saw Joe Jonas on the list, I kind of recoiled.)

The trailer had me right up until the last 15 seconds, where Jessica Biel manages to ruin it. (Though, to be fair, it's not her acting so much as the line she was given.)



Really? We're still making "cell phone as vibrator" jokes? Just because the phones are now iPhones are Blackberries doesn't change the fact that this is a really tired joke.

...I'm still going to see it, though.

Currently reading and listening to...

A Widow for One Year by John Irving.

I like Irving, but he's kind of predictable. Sure enough, I got about 5 pages in and there was some weird sex thing. His predictability, however, also means that I have a good read to look forward to.


The Boy Who Knew Too Much by Mika.

Can't get enough of him.