Saturday, September 03, 2011

A G-roundup and a New List

I did not make it into the gym yesterday and so my intention to run alongside tight Lycra bodies of the fairer sex was not realized.

What I did was what I usually do most days now and that is to work on edits until the wee hours of the morning with Mita curled up and sleeping at my feet.

Somewhere after midnight my cell beeped with the following accosting of my fragile sanity:
"Seriously. Chasing after Lycra? You've changed ... "
I let the projection slide.  Too late to start the roller-coaster up and so I decided instead to catch-up on tennis scores on ESPN but got sidetracked when I flipped into a movie channel with a character I recognized.

Well not the character but the guy playing the character.  I remembered meeting him somewhere close to Venice Beach in LA a few years ago.

He is a B-List actor but his sister is a former Miss America, a respected recording artist, and of late she is a fixture on a high profile TV series.

AnyHowze, my memory of him was somewhat jolted by the fact that he was playing a gay man and the scene that caught my attention had him passionately kissing a fat white man.

The jolt part is because he and I are somewhat 'connected' by a woman we both dated a few years ago - at different times of course ... geez!       

Ummm ... I think or at least I hope it was ... ;0)

OK so he dated her before me. I found out about them around the time that I decided to kick-start my green Kawasaki and roll for good.

So there I was piecing meaning together between a late SMS from a former girlfriend who seems perennially disappointed with me at ungodly hours and a scene on TV that stars the ex of a woman who has all but fizzled from my memory.

The scene was whack and I am not making any value judgements.  It was whack because the ex was playing the lover of a powerful man who was married with kids.

They eventually break up and the movie ends with a closing scene featuring the ex jogging on a treadmill and flirting with another man in what seemed like Lycra tights.

I never did find out what the scores from New York were last night.

Somewhere after breakfast this morning I started humming the lines to a tune I have not heard in years.  It never was a favorite but I found a compilation CD with it on and listened to it as I drove to the gym.

The lyrics are catchy in that 80s kind of way but I am left wondering what it all means to me. Why did it just start playing in my head?

The riddle goes a little like this:
"When they insist on knowing my bliss, I tell them this
When they want to know what the reason is
I only smile when I lie, then I tell them why"
I struggled to run on the treadmill at the gym.  No there was no inspiring Lycra tightness to gawk at ... truth is there rarely is ... we are a decidedly out of shape and unattractive nation.

My treadmill woes are about getting older.  My knees can't take the pounding of running anymore.

It seems that my body wants me to hit the weights harder like back in the day and that has everything to do with getting older too.

Well I am vain and I want to show some of the young guns that the old gees can still push an impressive stack.

The reason I was at Venice Beach the day I met the ex of my ex was to look in on the famed gym where bodybuilding and bodybuilders drew international fame. 

It is a legendary place but it is also an ordinary place.  A chain link fence around some really old skool equipment and no treadmills or Lycra.

Is it not funny how life is filled with unrelated events/things that only have meaning when we piece them together and then sometimes take them apart to make new meanings?

I think I need something else to go with all the old memories that clog my head like the dust clogs my nose in Kimberley.

I like that my bench press numbers are gonna be respectful again, soon.

And I like that I can think about a new list.

Onward!

Ps. Ummm ... not everything is what it seems in life.  The sh*t above is more than just piffle.  I think.

But perhaps you may think that this is a weak postmodern rendition of chaos theory.  You may be right.

How's your list coming along by the way?

10 comments:

Kweli said...

Brotha,
I am beginning to think people should be banned from texting. Take the exchange I had this morning, for instance:

Text: A little bird said you live in Beaverton. Say it ain't so.

Me: Who said that?

Text: True or False?

Me: First tell me who said it.

Text: We are heading nowhere...goodday.

Me: Dang, ok. Drama, huh?

Crickets. Nada. Nothing after that. And this coming from a respectable woman.

Ridwan said...

Kweli I am with you on text drama.

Some folks are better at stirring drama with texts than others.

The sh*t stirrer in this case always has a morning after apology and she will be pissed when she reads here so I expect more texts.

Probably why I have stopped my drift toward a Blackberry.

Dunno chief. To be on instant BB would be a pain if even most folks were cool.

The sh*t stirrer in your case seems vexed on Beaverton?

Hell why? Beaverton is the the suburbs but hey at least it ain't Lake Oswego (or Lake no Negro).

Aaah just f*ck it hey. There is more to life than worrying about sh*t that sometimes is just, well ... sh*t.

I trust you are well brother and that your mind has eased some.

Holla,
ridi

Lauren said...

ridwan anyone who really knows you would not make stupid probing comments about your character. is there an axe to grind here? your writing and personality is engaging because you poke fun at yourself. hugs.

Anonymous said...

You the greatest stir master of all. Nothing has changed and I luv it.

I agree with Lauren. You know self-deprecating humor very well.
Be careful tho Riddo. Mi amor you should be above getting riled by juvenile texts.

Le llamaremos.

Celeste H.

Ridwan said...

Hey there Lauren. Great to hear from you and thanks for your comment.

You are too kind as usual but thank you very much for confirming my reality.

I don't think there is an axe to grind. Sometimes well meaning folks make stupid comments.

But I also want to lighten up a shade and just laugh it off too.

To be honest I thought folks would react to the story about the ex of the ex a lot more than the stupid and too late text.

Guess I need to read more Tao Te Ching and get my energy flow and chaos-order balanced.

Dunno.

Are you well up there?

Let me know and catch me up soon.

Much luv and peace,
Ridi

Ridwan said...

Hola Celeste:

Demasiado tiempo ha pasado desde nuestra última conversación.

¿Qué has estado haciendo todo este tiempo?

Gracias por sus amables palabras. No estoy perdiendo el sueño de la mierda que el texto representa.

Me interesa más saber cómo se va con usted.

Vamos a hablar pronto Celeste.

Adelante!
Ridwan

Anonymous said...

Ridi....

*wince*

I have something Very Important to say. Please do not be offended (for long).

But-
Forget your other lists! You need one on Respectable Eighties Music.
Currently, you're mauling your eardrums with the Haties.
I used to have this rhetorical question...Who gets the 80's wrong?

Hyum.
Now we know.
:|

(And ironically enough, I got that answer working backwords.)

Ridwan said...

Sorry P. but at this point we only know one side.

The other side in true Taoism form would be for you to make your claim known.

Please share with those of us who were out of diapers in the 80s what is more respectable music.

And if you thinking Abba you so not my friend anymore ;0)

And to think I have not even posted any Huey Lewis and the News yet ...

Be well P. and if you mad at me now ... you will get over it :0)

Peace sista,
Ridwan

Ps. The "list" song came out in 1981 and went gold across the globe.

*Ouch* ... you had not arrived yet ... and if you making some old geezer comment under your breath ... I'm not offended :0)

Anonymous said...

Don't be silly!
I'd say it out loud...
('cos them old ears don't hear so well nowadays...)

*innocent look*

Anyways...I'm gonna send you an educational-salvational List. And I can assure you, no one on there sounds like a breakfast cereal brand.
(i.e: snap crackle.....poop)

Pser

p.s. Hungry Eyes. You can NOT have NOT liked that song.

Ridwan said...

SLM.

Of course I like snap, crackle, and pop ... but I was a Wheaties cereal guy in the 80s (bran flakes in the US) ... so ahead of my time (you know how old folks need bran?).

Old ears? Not really. Just being selective ... I hear who/what I want ... :0)

But you know I put up with you anyway? ;0)

Be well P.

Onwards!

Ridi