helikedmyshoes

This has been a horrible work week, so slow. I'm on a double and got cut at 2 because it was so dead, so I'm sitting next to Chicago River on Michigan Ave talking to old friends and reading and daydreaming and the sun is shining and the breeze is cooling and it's a good day even though I'm not making any money. My back is better and my head is filled with pirates and half-sided conversations and stories. I am going on a road trip in two days and my destination is full of people who I love and miss.

It's a good day.

I booked the hotel for Vegas. We will be staying at the Signature at the MGM Grand, in a junior suite with a jacuzzi tub in the bathroom. Yeah. Happy birthday to me! Got to the website and tell me how awesome that room is.

So Adam's flight has been booked, and now the room has been booked. Next I have to start packing. Figuring out what to take, what to throw out, what to give away. I'm probably going to ship most of my books media rate to free up room in the car, and I'm buying those Space Bags for most of my clothes to keep my suitcase free for other things. I keep thinking I don't have much, but I know I'm going to have more than I think.

Yes, I am getting excited. Yes, I am counting the weeks. It's still too soon to do the days, but once September 1st comes it won't be. I am a little scared, too, to be honest, getting up and getting a whole new routine, learning a new city, meeting new people, but it is something I have been preparing for, longing for, thinking about for a long time. I am ready.

Also I have to figure out what I'm doing with my gym memberbship. I went on the LA Fitness website but the only two gyms in the Chicago area are not actually in the city, even though Adam said he saw one in Lakeview. I have to go in and talk to them and find out what the deal is. Otherwise I have to give them my notice that next month will be my last.

I need to talk to Kevin as well, and I'm thinking of calling the temp agency and asking for an assignment just for the week if they have one, just to make some extra cash. I may do that tomorrow. I'm hesitant because I keep thinking the restaurant will pick up (even though it's going to keep winding down as summer coms to an end) and I don't want to spend my last few weeks here working like a crazy person. But I also don't have to get a job as soon as I get to Chicago, so I may just bite the bullet.

Still have to write up my parents' stay - we had a great time, and I love them so much.

Random celebrity sighting: Travis Barker skateboarding on the bike path at Santa Monica Beach. We were riding bikes in the opposite direction so we just passed each other briefly, but he was covered in tattoos, all skin and bones.

I should go to the gym - I told Louis, the bartender on today, that I'd go in early to relieve him so I have to be to work at 4 instead of 6. I'd like to get a brief workout in, maybe just run a mile or two and jump on the stairmaster for a few.

Yesterday, as I was working out on the bike reading The Kite Runner (a fabulous book that everyone must read), one of the personal trainers interrupted me and asked what I was reading, then went on to say that I wasn't getting a workout because I was reading and listening to music. He gave me his whole spiel how what I was doing wasn't enough and I need to work my core and strenghten and tone and blah blah blah, obviously just trying to get me to sign up with him for sessions. Umm...no. I've lost 20 pounds already doing what I'm doing, obviously it's working for me just fine. I HATE that about my gym, the trainers are always on your ass to sign up with them. It's like, if I wanted to, I would do it, so leave me the fuck alone. As soon as I said I was moving he backed off and went away.

The thing is, I DO want to have a session with someone just to get new exercises to move to the next level, start strengthening my arms and legs. All I do is cardio. But I don't want to take my free session that I still haven't used from when I signed up in January because I know all it will be is an hour long pitch on why I need to hire them to be my trainer. I'm thinking of asking my neighbor downstairs, he's a trainer and I'd much rather have him show me than someone else.

Anyway. I'm going.