soooo longboarding...

in an effort to help michael understand skateboarding - and by understand i mean stop barking like a maniac and trying to take down every skateboarder he sees - i am taking up longboarding.
stay tuned for news of cuts, bruises, and eventual success, or more likely, failure.

boring isn't an excuse anymore, exercise is officially awesome.

for those with limited attention spans and incurable curiosity, the 'new exercise' revolution is here for you!

it seems that sometime in the 90s people began to bore of the 'bike ride' and a run around the block and since then the world of exercise has transformed.
from dodgeball (YES i am aware that this isn't breaking news. but remember when this game was reserved for 5th period PE?) to playing with swords, the new exercise is all about having fun.

plain old spinning on stationary bikes is a thing of the past. new revolutionary RealRyder bikes (seen at places like CYKL) offer THE most intense spin workouts possible in a stationary setting where participants maneuver their bikes back and forth simulating a real outdoor cycling experience.

hybrid spots like "SPYNGA" have also cropped up. not developing new fun forms of exercise, but combining individually popular programs (in this case spinning and yoga) for a split and full body workout.

for the slightly braver, and hydro-brave, there is kayakexercise. i shouldnt have to explain this but i will. basically you head down to the waterfront, pay some fit, tanned guy $25 and then do an intense 15 minutes of crunches and pushups before hopping into your speedy vessel. next steps: learn how to kayak while trying not to tip over into gooby lake ontario. the on water session lasts for about 1.5hrs which will get you over to the island and back with some tinkering about.

then there's stripping. oh sorry "pole dancing". one of the most difficult of the newer trends (both physically and rationally) taking to the pole to tone up the core and legs has become near cult-ish in popularity extending well beyond the occasional bachleorette party visit.

and most recently samurai in japan. this sounds awesome. its exactly what you think it is, and apparently (much to the surprise of the programs founder) it is almost entirely women signing up. WORD.
i CANNOT WAIT for this to make it to the big city and to get ninja-like-trained.

all this to say: you haven't an excuse in the world to be lazy.
exercise now = playtime.

it's cussin' hot

although the recent heat wave has lifted slightly, the heat is still on here in da big city and i can't help but notice that my theory about seasonal tolerance for vulgarity appears to apply when the mercury is rising as well.

it was on one of those 35plus degree days last week (about a million with the humidex) when @michaelthepooch and i were in the dog park that this became glaringly obvious.

i was sitting on a picnic table in the shade, my head in my hands, sweating. just living and sweating.
i looked around at the other puppy-parents scattered on tables under trees throughout the pit doing the same. our eyes would meet and slowly our gazes would fade back to the ground between our feet. unable to muster the energy required to engage in polite chit chat to pass the time.

a moment later a newfoundlander (k9 not human) came stumbling into the park. his owner following lowly a few paces behind in an obvious b-line trajectory to the one remaining free picnic table.
as he approached he glanced back and forth at the other humans taking refuge in the shade with desperation in his eyes.

finally, he dropped to the bench next to me with a reverberating thump.
and without a seconds pause, looking straight out into the sun drenched plain, he simply said "fuck".

any other day, this kind of remark would prompt disapproving glances or raised eyebrows among the sheepishly polite park parents. but that day, and on these damn hot days, when that word so perfectly captures the difficulty of simply existing, it was met with a wave of nodding heads.