Sit-down Country

Oh my holy god, am I out of shape. I played basketball this morning..full-court!...and I can barely type. How the hell do one's hands get tired playing basketball? If that isn't a sign of my decrepitude, I don't know what is.

One thing I've learned over the past four months working with the poor and the elderly...bodies are governed by the same law that governs the universe...the law of entropy. Things fall apart. So do people.

That being said, I'm a young man, and I believe in my heart that I can get my body into a more functional state than it currently enjoys. While I would enjoy the aesthetic benefits that such a change would bring, I would be even happier to be able to climb stairs without losing my breath, or go on a backpacking trip, or play a goddamned game of basketball as well as I could when I was 15.

Like most Americans in this post-industrial economy, my work life will undoubtedly involve a tremendous amount of sitting. And my leisure time tends to involve a tremendous amount of eating. This summer was my induction into that reality, the Office Space reality, and I have to say that I agree with Mike Judge...humans were not meant to sit in little cubicles all day staring at screens. To those who have chosen, or fallen into, careers that involve something else, I commend and envy you. I have not been so clever or lucky, and I will have to get it into my gut that I will have to devote a significant portion of my free time to staying healthy if I am to have a highly functional body.

I guess I just feel like I'm getting old, and things aren't working quite like they used to.

Giving up free time is a big sacrifice for me, psychologically. I have a lot of hobbies, and I have a lot of friends, and I'm trying to find a job and fall in love. All of those things demand a portion of the precioius little free-time that a 40 hour week affords. Spending ANY of that time on a treadmill, or on a weight bench, fills me with flesh-searing rage. I have so much other shit I'd rather be doing! And work will demand my presence in such a short while!

Alas, I must swallow this bitter pill. I am a professional sitter...which means I need to be an amateur mover and a finicky eater. Fuck!