The Moldy Girl

I think I'm getting used to administering pilocarpine drops twice daily in both my eyes. The drops do sting and feel like I'm squirting citrus into my eyes. But I guess you can get used to anything, especially if it's something that might keep you from going blind. The liquid bandage I put on my finger also stings, but it's also an antiseptic so that's expected. The wound is difficult because it's a gash in my cuticle, at the edge of the nail bed. Fingers bleed profusely, and even though this is more a paper cut (fomented by the edge of a metal tray that I was scrubbing), it bleeds like something more serious. The New Skin finally thickens enough and I wrap a plastic bandage around my finger.

Later, I peel an orange and wonder what the red gooey dots are on my paper towel. And on the kitchen table. And what the heck? It takes me a full 5 minutes before I realize it's actually my finger, bleeding out from the bandage. Because the orange juice has dissolved the seal. Well, that's not mentioned on the packaging anywhere! Ugh. Okay, Take Two. I wash and dry my finger, apply more liquid skin, and wrap another plastic bandage around it. Luckily, I have a box of blue nitrile gloves that fit well, and are better than most of the cheap dish washing gloves from the supermarket. Problem solved, as long as I'm in my own kitchen...

At the Smith machine today

It's raining when I get to the gym but it's not crowded. That makes me happy. The power blips while I'm in the locker room, and although all the machines are working, not all the overhead lights have recovered. Patience pays off, and I'm able to mount the favored cross-trainer for 30 minutes. But I'm tired. And my cough seems worse today. I'm not getting the mileage I'm used to so I'm a tad disappointed. My heart rate seems unusually low today. Usually it's on the high end of things. Pull ups are hard today, and I'm actually dreading doing deadlifts. So I don't. Instead, I decide to do a Push Day. I'll be working tomorrow. I can always do deadlifts on Thursday or Friday when I'm feeling less susceptible to injury.

Even push ups feel incredibly difficult once I get to 80 reps. So I stop. Knock out some crunches, and then 25 Hindu (Dand) push ups. They're suppose to be harder than Dive Bombers because you push yourself back up into the Downward Dog position as oppose to gliding back low on your belly. These really aren't that hard. I could probably do 30. Next time I will.

Smith Inclined Presses follow, and then I move on to the DB area for DB laterals super set with Reverse Inclined Flyes. I don't know why I'm so surprised when I do more reps on the latter exercise. The gym is starting to fill up with guys. And one or two "power couples". I hate it when people pull a bench out just to sit on, and it's in everyone's way. Then they leave and never put anything back. Such bad gym etiquette! I'm glad I don't work here.

Some people wear waaay too much cologne, or godawful dime-store "perfume" that reeks of flammables. Some guys need to wash their gym clothes more than once a week. But the worst is the moldy girl. She doesn't realize she's moldy. Maybe it's the towel she used to dry her hair, but once she aims the hair dryer at her head (and at me behind her) in the close confines of the tiny locker room, I start gagging and coughing like I'm going to spit up a lung. All I can smell is sickly-sweet moldiness. Or mildew.

To be honest, I'm not really sure what the difference is, just that this is the smell that happens to clothes that get put away when they're not fully dry. Mildew is the smell of damp towels sitting in a pile too long. Of clothes taken out of the dryer prematurely. And this gal blow-drying her long blonde hair positively reeked of it. My coughing fit causes her to cut her session short and she flees. Should I have said something to her? Like what? "Excuse me, but you're covered in mildew." Uh, maybe not. Maybe it's not her towel, and actually her?!

My clothes are soaked from the rain, and I'm tired enough to consider wearing my peony print pajamas to Boy Scouts this evening. (The hubs is en route to Boston so he's missing all the fun.) Truthfully, my hubs actually thought the pajamas were just a set of women's casual wear, so I could probably get away with it. But the pants don't have any pockets. Again, neither do most women's sets, and half the pants I own have ridiculously tiny, almost purely decorative pockets. As if all women always stuff everything into their purses. Good grief...

Tuesday Workout
6.04 total miles

30 min x-trainer
3.54 miles
138 cal
7.04 av speed
8:31 av pace
124 av heart rate (weirdly low today)

HGPU 31
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 80
Crunches 3 x 50
Hindu Push Ups 25

Smith Inclined press
Bar x 15
12 x 50, 70, 80, 90
25 reps x 50 lbs

DB Lat s/s Rev Inc Flyes
25 lbs x 12/15 x 3

Rip Skulls
30 lb bar x 13
35 x 13
40 x 12

HGPU 31

30 min elliptical
Program 1
Miles: 2.50
Calories: 280

 HGPU 31