Mid Autumn Festival

The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival began over this past weekend and culminates today when there is a supermoon. I'm happy I finally figured out how to get my phone to take decent photos of the moon instead of a blurry white orb. I'm also getting used to the new iPhone 17 since transferring apps doesn't mean that the passwords have been saved. I spent most of yesterday updating and re-entering apps and passwords, which is probably the reason I don't update my phones very often. But the camera appears to be less distorted, even if every app has reconfigured settings and controls.

I found a Taiwanese brand of moon cakes at H-Mart that is preservative-free. It's my favorite flavor: chestnut. Other brands from mainland China tend to have a laundry list of ingredients, and a lot of preservatives. (I did also buy a sampler pack of different flavor moon cakes from China to save for later in the year. It's not like they go bad.) There's a running joke among Chinese redditors about leaving moon cakes out for months, or unopened packages being edible years past the technical expiration dates. The pastries are so expensive that no one can casually toss them in the trash without huge pangs of guilt unless the cakes are spoiled. Which they never are. 

I got to the gym late. The parking lot was full with the Senior class in session. I could still use elliptical #1. Wind Breaker was already on #3, his mostly white hair topped with an unnatural brown. His dye job has grown out. Pull-ups worry me because my right shoulder has been unusually achy. I can't think of anything to cause this injury, except maybe hoisting gallon jugs of water off the top shelf of the grocery. But that's usually only 5 containers, and only every few days. If the water is close to the edge of the shelf, I don't have any problems. If there's only jugs further back, then I have to climb up on the bottom shelf which is stocked with 40 lbs bags of water softener salt. Which means I'm not moving them. I just have to not slip off them. But surely, that can't be the reason my shoulder has been achy all weekend? 

The second time I reach for pull-ups, the shoulder starts to complain and I get fewer reps. But I always get fewer reps for the second set. I don't even attempt a third set today. Perhaps just looking for an excuse but I had to skip the step machine since it refused to move past "Pause" when I hit the Go button. It's now officially Out of Service. I did complete my 15 minutes on the cross-trainer though. 

The Aerobics room isn't very cold but it never is after the Senior class. We're having unusually warm weather in October so I'm glad I haven't put away my summer clothes. I'll probably skip tomorrow since I have to pack up our fancy coffee machine and ship it back to the manufacturer for repair. And a friend of mine said she had recorded a segment about Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter's performance of Waiting for Godot in NYC. I actually bought myself a matinee ticket for that show later this month. No one I know is interested as far as I can tell, so I'll be solo. In order to afford this ticket, I opted for the nose bleed section. I also invested in a pair of small, lightweight birder binoculars. My eyes are good, but not that good. 

I've been enjoying watch old TV shows, like Wire in the Blood, a British "detective" show from the early 2000s. I watched it when it first aired, but I seem not to remember very much about it except for the main characters. It's much more entertaining now. I'm also checking out a new flavor from the Ensure hi-pro beverage folks: caramel. It's much better than the weird cherry cheesecake. I still think vanilla is the all around winner. 

6 Oct 2025 12:32-2:18

Monday All Cardio

Heatwave 80°F / wonky shoulder

Precor elliptical #1

Program 2

Time: 30 + 5 (5304)

Distance: 2.75

Cal: 301

Avg Hr: 144, 176-83

New FB: 40-139

(1:10)

HGPU 20

Life Fitness X-Trainer #3

(1:28-1:43)

Program Manual L1

Time: 12 (+3 min cool down) = 15

Distance: 1.37

Cal: 115

Avg Hr: 118-122

HGPU 17

20 Hip Bridges (1:59)

20 Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

10 Piriformis stretches

Child’s Pose

Cat/Cow stretch 12

Child’s Pose

Fire Hydrants 25 x 2

Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Push-Ups 25

Arm rotations 20

Air Squats 25

Stretch / eye yoga