5 Sep 06

Time:

Left 0726, arr station 0733, express train arr 0733, arr Union Sq 0745, arr gym 0749.

I wasn't paying attention on the way back - see comments below - but it is useful to note that when I got to the platform, a train was just leaving; the one I rode arrived about three minutes later.

Money:

$130, year's locker rental and towel and laundry service [didn't come from weekly budget].
$5.25, momentary supply of caffeine and protein (diet lemon Pepsi - not as good as lime, of course - and a Revolution bar, to be more exact) to sustain my "pets" during the locker-line wait.
$6, Veggie Delight sub for dinner.

More interesting things:

Thought about my discussions with Tyler regarding the concept of large muscle groups as household pets, with all the associated requirements for food, water, exercise, and rest to be provided by their owner (see above.) I don't believe this will ever fail to make me giggle and/or snort.

Appreciated a couple of those affirmative signs about my current situation when, first, I was assigned a laundry pin (an actual pin, not a P.I.N.) numbered 521, and second, found that THE classic first-day-of-school challenge - opening your locker for the first time - would in my case be performed to the tune of "New York, New York," sung by Frank and Tony. I'm talking about the SECOND I started spinning the dial... and how often do I wear headphones off the treadmill? I am always very grateful for this sort of indication.

On the way to the train, caught a whiff of peaches (well, they could have been nectarines) and was whisked back to my Gym-Nats days of brown-bag lunches warmed up in the sun. That's very much a summer smell to me, of course, but the funny thing is, it's the first day of school for me and all the kids around here too.

Got irritated during my evening trip to KMart: I was rained-on, in need of a shelf for my gym locker, and tense-muscled after nearly slipping three times on my way into the store. But it turned out that I spent precisely enough time fruitlessly wandering the three floors in search of a shelf; I stood for just a minute in the train station across the street before my professor came bumping up to me. I hadn't seen him standing off to the side, and not only did we enjoy a VERY pleasant conversation from there to Grand Central, he also a) mentioned a grant I might get to work on, and b) demonstrated - I think - that I haven't been too irritating (or else, I hope, he wouldn't have volunteered to talk to me that whole time.)