Under Pressure

I’m back in the office to work today and I am already stressed out as I’m receiving pressure to get things done from multiple sides. Blogs will be brief and RealiTV updates will probably be a day later than they should be (though I did watch last night’s The Amazing Race and will comment on anything you comment about today).

Another LEAF has turned
This weekend saw me drive the Jackmobile up to Black Mountain, NC for the Lake Eden Arts Festival, more commonly known as LEAF. The weekend was a fun, albeit very cold-nighted, weekend. This was my third trip up to LEAF and as in year’s past I got up there and set up a tent and cracked open a beer in anticipation of seeing ITP-Readers Lisa and Randy and their kids. This year I added more entertainment for those around me by bringing my bigger tent, which I’ve not erected in two years, and with the wind on Friday afternoon I mimicked a much uglier male version of Team Blond on Blond as my tent blew over from lack of staking. It was the only moment that I was glad to be alone as I was certain that I’d be the recipient of much laughter because of this.

With the exception of my lunch stop at Zaxby’s somewhere along the infamous White Horse Road in South Carolina I was a vegetarian this weekend. You’d think a man with as many inherent challenges as I have wouldn’t feel the desire to impose more, but when around Lisa and Randy I try to eat vegetarian — not for them, for me. I will admit that the smell of bacon being cooked by one of our tent-neighbors did nearly lure my back to the dark side on Saturday. At the hippyfest that is LEAF it’s actually harder to find carnivorous than vegetarian meals. On Friday night I dined on BBQ tempeh tacos (delicious) with some sweet potato chips. On Saturday I had some red beans and rice, and some vegan spring rolls for lunch and a BBQ vegan “short rib” wrap for dinner (which was surprisingly good). And on Sunday I had a “Breakfast Thing,” essentially a burrito shell grilled with a bunch of fresh veggies and cheese and then topped with scrambled eggs, and dinner last night was some of the leftover snacks and Malbec wine while I watched “60 Minutes” and “The Amazing Race.”

The weather during the day could not have been nicer. Once the haze cleared and the frost melted we were treated with some of the most pleasant days I’ve experienced at LEAF. The days were spent walking around the grounds, stopping occasionally for some hula-hooping (kids, not me) and playing the role of cool “Uncle” Paulie. For me the female demographic of the festival seemed to be teenager and MILF, neither of which were, or should, be interested in an overweight graybeard with back lumps and severe hat hair, no matter how cool of an “uncle” I can be (after all, I’m no Daniel Pecan Cambridge you know). The nights were downright cold, not chilly, cold. I piled into my spacious tent and snuggled into my sleeping bag which sat atop an inflated Therma-Rest and below my “camping” duvet. I thought about tossing one of the handwarming packets that I bought for the photography trip I bailed on during the Great Ice Storm of 2011, but then read on the package that they should not be used while sleeping (damn me and my need to follow rules!).

In addition to the great people watching I heard some good music and saw some entertaining things at the Child’s Stage. This year we also found the location of the fire/drum circle (The drumming is easily heard from the camping area all the way until about 3am. I don’t know how the hell people stay up so damn late. Shit, I’m old.) and traversed the “tricky trail” from the circle down to the lake.

I do enjoy my weekends away. Heck, I will actually put the Spring LEAF into my calendar so that I don’t do something sill like sign up for a half-marathon on the same weekend. 😉

ITP Flickr Pic
I keep thinking “Some day I will start taking photos again.” However, even though there was a DSLR in my car, that only saw the light of day once when I thought about attempting to take a star-trail image, my only snapshot of the weekend was taken with my iPhone 4 (not-S).

This is the view of Lake Eden, the Lake Eden portion of the Lake Eden Arts Festival, from near the start of the zip line which takes you all the way down into the lake.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – tired
Current Music – silence
Website Of The Day – At LEAF we saw a neat new camping trailer called “Go” from Sylvan Sport. The trailer was cool, not cheap ($8000), and I have no where to store it without fear of theft. Oh well, so goes it.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing official, but plenty of walking occurred
Morning Weigh-In – November

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~5.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – ~16.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 13 flights

Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)

Vegetarian Meals – lost count (significantly fewer than carnivorous)
Carnivorous Meals – lost count (significantly more than vegetarian)
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0

October Goals
– “Completely” recover from the bike crash (though I’m beginning to this this will never happen)
– Ride my bike no fewer than 100 miles
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Not get fired from my job
– Run at least twice
– Eat vegetarian no fewer than fifteen vegetarian meals
– Lose three pounds

2011 Goals [will be a little more fluid than in past years]
– Reduce my weight by 25 pounds based on the my weight as measured on February 1st
– Completely read the book Daily Negations which I received as a Christmas gift.
– Run Sharpened Stone as a real business — one which does not get penalized.
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
– Enter no fewer than three photographic competitions / gallery showings
– Ride in no fewer than five 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Run in no fewer than two one half-marathon
– Submit at least one application under the name “Sharpened Stone” to Apple’s iOS store

The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]