cindy's world

Mel posted a reference to a Newsweek article that cites a study finding that exercise actually promotes neurogenesis. You can read her inspiring post here. I’ve been on this personal mission to get people around me to get healthy, eat better, exercise more, and a lot of people have taken me up on it. It’s not just about longevity, it’s about have a better quality of life while still alive. And now we find that exercise actually makes you SMARTER, too! Okay, I admit that my “mission” isn’t all charity — it’s selfish, too. I want my friends and loved ones around longer so they’d be around to hear me bitch and moan when I’m having a bad day. And take me out for some fun. And sushi. And for that, they get to live longer and healthier. We all win.

This study, of course, supports the theory that the gym is a great place to pick up. Not just weights, but dates. It also shoots down at least in part the stereotype that gym rats are meatheads who go around grunting because that’s all their tiny over-muscled heads are capable of processing in the way of social interaction and conscious thought.

Last weekend, Mr. W and I had dim sum with his friend. We’ll call him John because that’s a totally generic name and because that’s actually his name. John brought his new girlfriend whom neither Mr. W nor I had met until that day, and the four of us had some interesting conversations over brunch. Monday or Tuesday, I got a call at work from Mr. W. “John was just here,” he said, “And he told me, ‘Cindy’s really smart! You can tell by just 5 minutes of talking to her! I bet she keeps you on your toes!’ And I told him, ‘Yeah, she is really smart, and in spite of my many years of living and life experience over hers, I still learn new things from her every day.’ ” Awwww, isn’t that sweet? And here I thought I was being acknowledged and complimented on about my cognitive functions, when in actuality, I was being praised for my dedication toward exercise!

P.S. Today is a court holiday – Caesar (thanks Wilco) Chavez Day. I’m not able to list his accomplishments off the top of my head, but if the County says he’s important, who am I to dispute? So to all you non-County workers, *putting fingers behind ears and waving them at you* Nyanny nyanny nyah nyah!! Pttthhhh!!!

James said he is making good use of his birthday goodie basket. Any takers on guessing the content? I’ll repost the items here and then post the answers in another password-protected post. If you comment and give me some guesses, I’ll email you the password! Fun, huh? =)

* There’s a magazine in the collection. To help with his…”hobby.” He probably wouldn’t read it for the articles, tho.
* We included a bottle of performance-enhancing supplements.
* A rapid hand-jerking back-and-forth motion is required to take full advantage of some of the goodies.
* There’s wood involved.
* There are many little packets that you tear open to use the contents.
* There are lots of products meant to make you swell. Real big. And hard. Like a real man.
* Some products may result in frothy, milky fluid production.
* There’s plastic to wrap the wood in.
* We even included a cloth to put around the hips, you know, to catch the drippage.
* There are multiple single-use packages of long items for inserting into moist holes.

Vanessa managed to steal some free time to post about James’ birthday shindig, so I’ll just refer you to her post. 🙂 Plus, the photos she sent me were so large that my image hosting site wouldn’t take them. This is the only 2 photos I was able to successfully download, so I’ll refer you to Vanessa’s blog for the photos, too. How large were they? Well, as I told Vanessa, they were SO large that when I tried to view them, all I got on screen was, like, an elbow, and I couldn’t see the rest until I scroll it to death. And then the image that scrolled in was so large that it scared me and I had to close the window.

Oh, I will add one thing that Vanessa didn’t cover in her post. We didn’t get to the ice cream cake until past 10pm, which the waitress was nice enough to have stored in the freezer for us and brought it out with plates when we were done with dinner. Around the same time, she told us that the bar was about to close, and asked if there were any last drinks she could bring for anybody. I highly recommended the chocolate cake shots, which Wilco’s fiance Christi turned me on to when Mr. W and I visited San Francisco a year ago (time flies!). We finished the cake closer to 11pm, and left a bit after that. The waitress was very nice the entire time. It wasn’t until later that James realized Taps closes weeknights at 10pm!! We totally overstayed! This is such a different treatment from when I, Mr. W, Vanessa, and her friend were eating Korean tofu and they KICKED US OUT because patrons were waiting for a table. Aside from having the BEST ahi tuna tar tar (which I ordered and everyone was jealous of once they got a taste), the service is enough to have me going back more often. I’m glad I gave a 30% tip. James’ friends were so generous in putting down their shares of the tab that I was able to apply extra toward tip. 🙂

I managed to shove a 3.75 mile hills run into my evening before Vanessa came by my house to meet me before leaving for James’ house. I would’ve liked to go 4 miles, but as it was I was already late. When Vanessa got to my house I had just emerged from the shower. Rushing out (with 5 minutes to make a 15-minute drive to James’), I grabbed my purse and thought, “Oh, it’s empty in here. That’s cuz I still need to put my cell phone in.” The cell had died earlier and was charging upstairs. Right after thinking that, I closed up the purse and LEFT. Without the phone. (I did say I was insanely absent-minded this week, right?)

I offered to drive so Vanessa can drink. We hopped in my car, and I called James via its bluetooth as I pulled out of the garage. “You know what happens when you have GIRLS pick you up, right?” I said, about to apologize for being late. “What? You’re breaking up,” James was able to get out before we lost connection. I figured I’d try again later, but later, I couldn’t pick up the connection again via the car. It kept saying to check phone. And then I realized…I’d left the phone upstairs! The only reason I was able to call from the garage was because my car was able to pick up the connection via bluetooth through the ceiling, which is the floor of where the phone laid. “Screw it,” I said. And then Vanessa reminded me that I’d given everyone on the evite list my cell # for a contact number. CRAP. We were so late I drove to James’, picked him up, dropped them both off at Taps, and then I went back home to get the phone.

…to be continued when Vanessa sends me the photos from the evening. (How’s that for pressure?)

I had a cRaZy day! I’m taking a break from 5 very complicated sentencings to say hello out there to my blogger friends. I’ve got 2 more civil harassment cases to finish up.

Tonight is James’ belated birthday shindig. The weather turned unexpectedly very nice in Southern California today, so we’re gonna grab seats in the giant outdoors patio at Taps Brewery. (It was blue skies and sunshine when I left for the gym at lunch yesterday, but by the time we left the gym, there was a hurricane alert, it was dark and gray and pouring rain sideways in the wind. Leaves, twigs, and pine needles were flying sideways like a brown blizzard. My gym trainee had to throw her body weight against the gym door to open it into the wind, and we almost got blown over when we stepped out. Rain pelted me sideways in the wind so hard that I felt each individual drop, and I was drenched on the right side but not on the left. “Dang! Are we in Oz?” my trainee exclaimed.) The patio has heat lamps and 2 oversized fireplaces, so even if it gets cold we should be fine. Vanessa and I are gonna pick James up at 7:40p for meeting everyone at 8p. That way he can drink to his little heart’s delight. Actually, I can, too. Vanessa can’t, though. Haha. That’s the price of being a good friend, I guess. After we present him with his basket o’ loot, I’ll let you guys guess as to what you think each of the clues referred to, and I’ll give the answers.

I didn’t get to work out at lunch today since I attended a coworker’s retirement banquet instead. Great food! I got to bring Mr. W along as a guest date. That was fun. Obviously I can’t work out late tonight, either, so I’m busting my hump to finish my work and go straight to the gym. The most effective workout I can think of in a small amount of time is running the treadmill, so I’m gonna aim for at least a 3-mile run. As long as I can grab a treadmill, it doesn’t matter how busy the gym is after work hours today. *crossing fingers*

I seem to be insanely absent-minded lately. Earlier in the week, I forgot to put my earrings on after the gym at lunch, and they were dangling on some mesh outside of my gym bag, and by the time I remembered and went to look for the earrings, one was gone. The next day I asked the gym lost-and-found, but no one had turned them in. 🙁 It’s one of my favorite pairs. Actually, I think it IS my favorite pair. It’s a cone-shaped silver dangle with the Celtic trinity knot all over and under it. *sniffle* On the same day I lost the earring, I’d also lost my ID badge, which I wear clipped to the outside of my suit. I know I had it on when I walked from the parking structure to the courthouse, but somehow it disappeared after that. I luckily found it later on the floor of the parking structure. This morning, after stepping out of the shower, I realized I should cut my nails. As I was pressed for time, I cut my right index fingernail first since that’s the finger I use to put on my liquid foundation. I was gonna let the foundation set for 60 seconds (it’s the Revlon Colorstay sets-in-60-seconds foundation) as I was clipping my other fingernails, but after I applied the foundation, I totally forgot to finish clipping my nails so right now I have 9 longish fingernails and 1 short one. Seriously, what is WRONG with me lately? I hope I remember to pick up James tonight.

But no matter how “off” I am this week, at least I didn’t make the dumb decision that one of our defendants was sentenced for today. He went to a salon and got a haircut, asked for recommendations on hair products, brought those to the counter, and instead of paying for the haircut and products, he pulled a gun and stole them as well as the lady’s purse. He probably “saved” about $50 on that spree, but because this is his 2nd strike and he’d used a gun, he was sentenced to 21 years in state prison for that conviction. Score! (Gun enhancements by California law adds 10 years, and 2nd strike doubles the sentence he would’ve gotten for the original count.) He’s only 28, so he’d be in his late 40s when he gets out. My bailiff pointed out to him, “Hey, you’ll be about my age when you get out. There’s still a lot of life left at that age.” The defendant asked my bailiff, really concerned-like, “Do you still have sex?” My bailiff laughed and exclaimed, “ALL the time!” The guy looked relieved.

Okay, back to work. That was a nice little 20 minute break.

Don’t you love when things like this happen to you? I’d eaten a protein bar in the morning that was so nasty I had to put it aside. After the gym at lunch, I was hungry enough after devouring an avocado to try the bar again. I happened to bump into Vanessa online.

me: dude, I ate one of those yogurt peanut butter bars. NASTY!!! and I have a pretty high tolerance to bad tasting stuff!
Vanessa: I ate one today, too! But I liked it. We should switch some out
me: it was SALTY!
Vanessa: Another koininkadink, or however you write the darn thing
me: which one did you try? the same one?
Vanessa: The same one
me: you liked it? it wasn’t salty to you?
Vanessa: Yup. Not at all. But I have my PMS tongue in action right now and I am craving salt. So that might explain it. I’ll try it in a week and see if I still like it
me: maybe I had a bad bar that used salt for sugar.
Vanessa: But they don’t make them indv. they make batched at a time so it should be the same as mine.
Me: was it gooey to you in the center?
Vanessa: No. Was yours?
me: yeah! omg, what the hell did I eat??? it wasn’t, like, brown nougat in the center of yours?
Vanessa: No. Maybe it was a bad bar! Eewww!
me: you’re sure you had the yogurt peanut crunch?
Vanessa: Wait a minute while I dig the wrapper out of the trash
me: Jeopardy theme song playing
Vanessa: Yup, yogurt Peanut Crunch. See the things I do for you, man?
I went through trash
me: I dug mine out of the trash, too!
Vanessa: Now that is love. LOL
me: koinkidink? we’re both eating bars and digging in the trash during our work hours. nice.
Vanessa: ohh… we are like TWINS. but like the movie with arnold and the smaller guy. Except we are cute
me: danny devito
Vanessa: and not guys. and not old
me: HAHAH
Vanessa: You get my drift
me: and not twins.
Vanessa: Yeah, that’s him
me: and not the same race. and not related. and not polar opposite people
Vanessa: ok… maybe we are not like the movie
me: haha. should I blog this? that’d be funny.
Vanessa: I was thinking that. Do it!
me: OH MY GOSH! Another koinkidink! haha
Vanessa: I love Cilliness. LOL

I’m always the one who gets the gnat in the soup, fly in the salad, worm in the peach. Free restaurant meal advantage aside, it makes me wonder whether I’m just “lucky,” or whether I’m the only one who examines food as I’m eating it.

ARGH! What is wrong with blogger?! I can’t view any blogs that run off blogspot right now! But I can get everywhere else! Why are you guys ALL on blogger?! I can’t get into blogger!!!!

Okay, I’m over it. *pant pant*

When I was a lot younger (like in junior high), my mom told me that the human mind is a remarkable thing. “Have you noticed,” she said, “When you’re asleep and you really have to pee, in your dreams you will run into all kinds of problems in finding a toilet, so you CAN’T pee? Like you can’t find a bathroom. Or when you finally could, all the stalls are taken and there’s a huge line. When you finally find a stall that’s empty, turns out the door’s jammed and you can’t get in. And then the toilet seat cover won’t come up. All sorts of bizarre things will happen to prevent you from peeing because your brain, on some level, knows that you are really asleep so it won’t let you pee.”

I told her that I’d never dreamt I had to pee urgently, because if I had to pee that badly, I’d wake up and run to the bathroom and pee. She said, “Watch, one day you’re gonna have a dream like that and notice that.”

Very soon thereafter, I was indeed asleep when I had to pee. But my dream immediately opened up with me already ON the toilet seat, pants down, ready to pee. I thought, “I shouldn’t pee, I should wake up.” And then I remembered what my mom said. “Oh, wait. I’m not gonna be ABLE to pee. Let’s see what happens in the dream if I’m not able to pee.” So I relaxed and pushed a little.

And wet my bed.

I woke up in a huff as soon as the first drops hit and angrily stormed off into the bathroom to clean myself. And to pee. My mom lost some credibility that night.

After work today, Vanessa and I hooked up to assemble James’ belated birthday present. I’d sent out an evite last week to James’ friends to meet up for a belated birthday dinner on Wednesday evening at Taps Fish House & Brewery. Vanessa and I figured we’d go above and beyond the hostessing of this event by making him a basket of treats, too. Here are some clues as to what we assembled for him.

* There’s a magazine in the collection. To help with his…”hobby.” He probably wouldn’t read it for the articles, tho.
* We included a bottle of performance-enhancing supplements.
* A rapid hand-jerking back-and-forth motion is required to take full advantage of some of the goodies.
* There’s wood involved.
* There are many little packets that you tear open to use the contents.
* There are lots of products meant to make you swell. Real big. And hard. Like a real man.
* Some products may result in frothy, milky fluid production.
* There’s plastic to wrap the wood in.
* We even included a cloth to put around the hips, you know, to catch the drippage.
* There are multiple single-use packages of long items for inserting into moist holes.

We can’t wait to present this big collection of goodies to James! We know he could use it! We just regret that we couldn’t get the inflatable sheep, but it’s on backorder. 🙁