Thirty

Yesterday I had my thirtieth Pilates session. My first was in L.A. on May 19, so that means that the 30 sessions were clustered within roughly three and a half months.

Loyal readers may remember this, from the Boston Body website:

Just complete 30 sessions every 3 months and you will achieve the body and the results you’ve always wanted. Our clients are the proof – it really works!


Also, I'm not sure if I have shared this basic tenet of Pilates before:

"In ten sessions, you will feel the difference, in twenty you will see the difference, and in thirty you'll have a whole new body."
––Joseph H. Pilates

This is either Joseph H. Pilates or Reginald E. Treadmill.

Alas.
I am sorry to report, dear reader, that I do not have a whole new body.

I'm not here to blame anybody. I'm just reporting.

I'll admit I'm disappointed in not having transformed myself in some measurable, confirmable way. Remember when I wrote that whole long thing about needing a test to determine if a goal had been reached? (It took me a while to find it; it was the last entry in June.) And remember how I was going to do four things this summer? And remember how summer was going to be the 100 days from whenever I decided it? I reckon there are about 8 days left until the day of reckoning. So, though I am a week early, let's reckon.

What of the "four things"?
I have gone to 30 Pilates sessions (and gained between five and seven pounds).
I have read a total of five books.*
I have cleared out zero cartons from my garage.

All kind of disappointing, to be honest.

This leaves the writing.
My postings here have slowed considerably. I didn't continue with the one-a-day Self-Reliance writing prompts.
But.

I do have this writing project, and it is very much a fish-or-cut-bait situation. Sink or swim. Put up or shut up. Poop or get off the pot.

Trademark infringement?  Sue me.

I'm not sure if it makes any sense to blog about my writing, especially since I'm not yet ready to disclose anything about it. Therefore, I'm not sure how I'm going to use this space from now on, but that has been an ongoing theme here, so I guess nothing has really changed.

I know this all sounds kind of down. Whaddyagonnado? Life is, as the class president at my high school graduation memorably proclaimed, a series of mountains and valleys. If I find myself in a valley and that's not where I want to be, then I have to conclude there's a mountain to be climbed. And that mountain probably isn't going to climb itself.

You were expecting a funny photo of a mountain here, weren't you? You know what I really want to end with, though, since this has been a summer rerun episode anyway? I want to end with this graphic, repeated from June:

Boy, seems like I must have been pretty smart in June.


*Because it took me five minutes to remember what book (besides Bossypants) I was referring to in my June 26 post, I am now going to list the five books I read this summer: Netherland, Joseph O'Neill; Bossypants, Tina Fey; How to Be a Woman, Caitlin Moran; A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan; The Paris Wife, Paula McLain.

Lack of a clever title shouldn't stop me from posting, right?

Gull 1: "May I buy you a . . .?" Gull 2: "Take a hike."

I've been to the beach. 

It's nice at the beach. There's a lot of movement to keep things interesting. The waves, for instance. They just keep coming. High tide, low tide, early morning, late afternoon, at night when you're finishing your ice cream and getting bitten by mosquitoes and the moon is full––the waves keep doing their thing. (Earth science is not my strong suit.)

Which got me thinking about how people always say "Change is good"––in a motivational slash inspirational way–– and that people who change are seen as energetic and brave and forward-looking, while people who don't change are seen as boring or timid or possibly wasting their lives. And how stretching is really another way of saying "attempting to change," which is all I've been talking about here.

But some things that are good and valuable and inspirational DON'T change. See what I'm saying? Not just the waves, but Peanut Butter Cup ice cream at HCICP, and bagels from Neptune Market and scones from Foodies, and doing a really hard jigsaw puzzle on the round table, and going to the same beach with the same people for 20 years. 

I know. You don't have to point out how it's good to change in some ways and keep things the same in other ways. It's just what I was thinking about at the beach.

Artsy.

I'm ready to part company with Pilates. My monthly membership at Boston Body expires right after Labor Day, and I don't think I'll renew for a fourth month. Awww, I know––sad face––we've come so far together, you and I and Mr. Pilates. 

But it has served its purpose, and the stretching as metaphor will continue. I'll get to that in a minute. And I have a very nice DVD and stretchy-band Reformer to use at home. (Thank you, gift-giver!)

I will look like this, but bigger.

So don't worry, everybody! I'm going to keep walking, and in October I'll go back to the Y, where I had suspended my membership for a few months while I was doing Pilates instead. So, it's all cool. I'll be fine––all tall and bendy and whatnot.

Meanwhile, I've got a new writing project I've set out for myself, to begin imminently. Soon. Monday, probably. It's going to stretch me good. 

I am sorry to be so coy; it's not something I'm ready to get all share-y about, and I'm taking a "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched" approach, as protection. However, as one very astute counselor pointed out, "Being excited about the eggs is OK!"

I am pretty excited about the eggs.

I realize they're all "in one basket." One cliche at a time, please.

Travel is broadening

We had a perfectly splendid vacation in Scotland.

This sums things up.

There are more photos to share, and if you haven't been informed how to see them and are interested, just get in touch.


Now that my last planned adventure of the summer has been completed, I'm at a loss, again, as to what it is I'm to do in this space. There are thoughts and observations that occurred to me while I was away, but writing them here would violate the "nothing maudlin" policy that I wisely enacted a few months ago. So those thoughts will find another outlet.

I'm going to be away on a post-vacation vacation starting in a few days, and I will not be blogging during that time.

When I return, I'll try to figure out if I've stretched this metaphor to its natural limit.

Cheers!