0 First of many more...

I thought that writing a blog would be a great way to put some of my random thoughts from pen to paper or in this case from keyboard to screen.  There are always tons of ideas, rants and suggestions floating around in my brain.  So why not type them out and see how they look?

With that being said, there is a terrible frozen yogurt store or fro-yo as they called it in the early 90s.*  What can be terrible about a fro-yo store?  It is a pretty simple concept, random flavors of yogurt + toppings including candy + trendy location = win.  However, when you go into this fro-yo store they have about 3 machines working with your standard flavors and then pieces of paper that say "Ask for Raspberry," "Ask for Cake Batter," etc.   So the one day, I was in a fro-yo mood, which is common because I love fro-yo and ice cream, and I asked for Raspberry.  The worker in the store then walks into a the back and brings out a tray of pre-made fro-yo that was super frozen and no longer in the super delicious soft-serve form that fro-yo is intended to be.  Of course I still took some because I didn't want to appear rude and of course it tasted horrible.  If I had wanted some super frozen fro-yo, I would have just walked to the grocery store and gotten a sorbet.  Needless to say, I haven't been back even though it is a 5 minute walk from my place.  Now that is a fro-yo fail.

I'll be back with hopefully much more insightful posts...


*I tried to figure out if there was a way to have footnotes, but I failed, which means this will have to do.  My father was way ahead of the times in may things and fro-yo was definitely one of those things.  He was an addict of TCBY in the early 90's because it was healthier than ice cream.  Now everywhere you look there is a frozen yogurt store.

0 Exercise

I hate running. I hate running with a passion. It is miserable, soul-sucking exercise that holds no joy for me. The worst part about running is that it bores me; with other forms of exercise there is non-stop action or something to hold your attention like a TV  Running is mindless and not in a good way. Given my choice in a gym, I would ride an exercise bike or hop on an elliptical trainer before jumping on the treadmill. At least with those, I could read a book or magazine while exercising or watch television. For the longest time, those were my choices when doing cardio at the gym. I hated running outside, dealing with traffic lights, cars, random pedestrians, and who knows what on the sidewalk so that was a no-go.

Yet, slowly but surely, I have been forcing myself to run. It started out with running intervals on the treadmill at the gym. Intervals helped to reduce my boredom. I barely had time to think about how much I disliked running before I had to start sprinting again. There wasn't time or energy to complain. I then moved to running on the river walk by my apartment. I take the dog with me so I can kill three birds with one stone. I can tire him out, take him for his "walk" and get some exercise for myself. The river-walk extends up at least 3 miles north so if I felt like being really ambitious (hint: I don't) I could run a 10k with him. Right now we have been doing about 2 or 3 miles at lunch time and it feels great to get out and get some air and have a great view of Roosevelt Island and the East River. I also feel less guilty about the dog as well, knowing that he is getting some exercise instead of laying around, as he is wont to do.

I feel like running is the best exercise I can do, I feel and see the tangible effects that running has, and it gives me a new appreciation for the activity. I try to run 3 or 4 times a week for at least 20 minutes and I feel better and healthier for it.

1 Agoraphobia

Agoraphobia is the Greek word for fear of a public place. An agora was a marketplace in ancient Greece where goods were sold and business was transacted. It was a combination shopping mall, courthouse, and grocery store. An agoraphobe was literally someone afraid of the market.

When I lived in Pittsburgh, I did not like going out and doing things. My common refrain or excuse was that I didn't want to wait in line. I was an impatient person and I hated the idea of waiting. I would admit to a mild agoraphobia. I did not like to go to public events because I did not like being surrounded by people. I would avoid things like the Strip and I hated going to the grocery store. Pirates games were an ideal event. There was plenty of room on all 4 sides.

Moving to New York has changed things. Going to the grocery store means waiting in line. Going anywhere means being surrounded by people on a bus or in the subway. Privacy and seclusion are not options for me. I have become used to the idea of being around a large group or groups of people. I don't mind going to the grocery store or riding the subway or getting on a bus. The enormous masses of people has been a boon. Anonymity is readily available and I think that is crucial to what motivates agoraphobia; a fear of being noticed. This is a truncated post since it was written over a weekend, when my motivation to write was low, but I would like to address this moving forward.

0 Television (SOA)

I don't have cable television currently. This is the first time since I was in high school that has been the case. I am not, contrary to popular belief, some new age hipster trumpeting my coolness by my ignorance of television. I am cheap. I get free internet currently through my apartment building and I see no reason to pay for a cable TV package.

In place of sports and reality television, I stream shows and movies on Netflix or get them on disc. I also bought an HD antenna to watch shows playing on the major networks. I always meant to watch television shows like Breaking Bad and Mad Men before, but invariably I would turn on some sports program or some sit-com and watch them instead. Since moving to New York, I have watched Arrested Development, Parks and Rec, Sons of Anarchy, Mad Men and Breaking Bad, and I am currently in the process of watching Game of Thrones and The Wire (again). I think that if I had cable, I would not have even scratched the surface of these shows. It is a real time commitment to sit down and watch a show and if you are an easily distracted person such as myself, borderline impossible.

So without further ado, I am going to use this space to write my thoughts about one of those TV shows. As you can tell by the title of this post, the current subject is Sons of Anarchy (SOA). SOA was a show that I was at first wary about watching. I wasn't exactly sure why, but a show ostensibly about a motorcycle gang didn't really interest me. A good friend of mine from college persuaded me to watch it, and it was streaming on Netflix, so I figured it wouldn't hurt for me to watch an episode or two to see what I thought. Wow. I was dead wrong. The show has some Shakespearean overtones, specifically Hamlet. You have a son's father dying and the mother remarrying albeit under suspicious circumstances. You have a very interesting cast of characters and a setting, the Central Valley of California which is largely unknown to your casual television watcher. I also like the subtle touches, such as naming towns in the show after CCR songs. You also have underlying themes, like the encroachment of development on small towns, law and order and it's usurpation and imposition by outlaws, and the concepts of family (both literally through blood ties and figuratively through the bonds of brotherhood that the gang fosters) that are brought up and showcased, but ultimately left up to the viewer to decide their thoughts about them. The law and order motif fascinates me; The local police are in bed with the Sons of Anarchy and the Sons are the real source of authority in the town. They keep the town clean of drugs and violence and in exchange they are not bothered. The sheriff is at their beck and call and with the exception of one officer in the police department, the rest of the town is as well. The show uses episode arcs to tell a story, introducing new characters as well as introducing the viewer into what seems a semi-realistic world, that of an outlaw motorcycle gang.

My only complaint is that the show seems somewhat limited by being on FX. If it were on a platform like HBO or Showtime, I think it would be more believable. These people are in a biker gang. Sex, drug and alcohol abuse and violence should be endemic. Colorful language should flow out of their mouths like a spigot. This is hinted at but not directly shown throughout the seasons. Being on a more flexible network would make this show even better.

I'll have more thoughts on this later. I haven't seen the show in 3 or 4 months and I have to start Season 4 when I clear up my queue.

0 Taking this for a spin

I am not a good writer. I tend to abbreviate things, I don't lay out my thoughts or ideas well and I cut to the point. I assume that since something makes sense in my head, it will make sense on paper. I also start every sentence with "I" apparently. This blog is an attempt to deal with that problem.

I think the only way to become a good writer is to write every day and work at it and get better at it. It is a trial and error process, but hopefully it will result in becoming a better writer, and at the least a useful place to tease out thoughts and ideas. This is a place to write about everyday events, from the exciting to the mundane. I expect no one else to read this blog, but this isn't for other people.

So that being said, here goes nothing...