Sticky, Sweet, & A Little Overdressed

After the tree lighting ceremony, Karsten and I meandered around “the District” for a while, idly looking for a place to eat. It was a chilly evening, but not too cold for walking, so we took our time walking up Second Avenue and back, passing all kinds of tourists and touristy places. I love walking around the District. I always hated the tourist areas in Chicago, for some reason, and hated being surrounded by tourists. But here I enjoy it (on occasion). I think it’s fun in the same way it’s fun when someone compliments your boyfriend or girlfriend: it’s rewarding and validating when other people have a chance to recognize what you love about someone or something. Not that the District is what I love about Nashville, but the emphasis there is definitely on music, and that is one of the main characteristics I love about Nashville: it’s unabashedly a music-lover’s town.

We finally gave up on finding reasonable veg*n food in the District and hopped in the car, headed west. On West End, we spotted Chili’s, and agreed that splitting a fajita meal sounded like a good idea. It was pretty tasty! Not bad at all, for a big chain restaurant.

Then we drove over to the Demonbreun strip, where Karsten and I treated ourselves to juice and cocoa, respectively, at Caffeine.

It’s funny: it was only supposed to be the tree-lighting thing, but the mood was just right for keeping the evening going. I love having spontaneous dates.

I called Karsten from work at 4:30 yesterday and asked if he wanted to go watch the city’s holiday tree lighting ceremony at Riverfront Park. We got there about two seconds before Mayor Bill Purcell asked the crowd to count down from five with him and when we reached one, whee! The lights went on. And then they got the crowd to sing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” That was a nice touch, but it felt kind of funny, as if it should have been something with more depth, like “Silent Night.” Of course, that would probably have felt too religious.

Anyway, that was cool.

Can’t decide what to do for lunch. I could:

• eat some tofu I brought from home,
• eat something from the cafeteria,
• find someone to go out for lunch with, or
• sit here mulling it over until the cafeteria is closed and everyone else has eaten, thereby reducing my options to only one.

I’m probably going to end up doing the latter.

I’m such a psycho. Yesterday morning I was in the gym thinking, “You know what I really need to do? Some squats. I haven’t been doing my squats lately, and I could use some.”

So I grabbed two 12-pound dumbbells and assumed the position. And then I thought, “You know, I can never really feel the effects of doing squats. I wonder if I’m not doing enough weight or enough repetition.”

So I got it in my mind to do squats all the way through two songs. And I did.

I woke up this morning, oddly enough, with sore quadriceps. Go figure! But I thought, “You know, I should work out anyway, because I can always concentrate on different muscles.”

And yet I went and used the elliptical machine — it was calling me! — and completely overworked my quads.

So now, all day long, I’ve been having difficulty even putting one foot in front of the other. saw me coming down the stairs today; he can probably attest to how gingerly I was descending them.

I hope I’m not stupid enough to work out tomorrow morning. But how else am I going to kickstart my day? (Ouch. I said “kick.” No sudden leg movements, please.)

While I was working out this morning, I was startled by a song that came on my MP3 player. I’d forgotten that I transferred it there.

It was “Takin’ My Country Back” recorded by the Honky Tonkers For Truth. (I suggest reading the story, but definitely scroll down to read the song lyrics. The MP3 doesn’t appear to be downloadable anymore, sadly.) And it made me awfully sad.

I sure hope someone figures out a way to get a pro-peace, pro-hope, pro-USA country song on the radio. I’d love to be part of making it happen, but the missing piece seems to be a big-name star to record it. (Well, and then radio folks who’ll play it.) I’m tired of all the Toby Keith propaganda where being “Ameri-CUN” is presented as equivalent to being proud of any war the US happens to participate in, no matter the reason or lack thereof.

I managed to finish 15 songs in 30 days, but even that was only by scrambling through four songs tonight. Still, at least I got halfway to my goal.

And now it’s 9:30 PM on the last day of November, so I think I’ll call it a month. (Hey, I like that. Except maybe “I think I’ll call it a year.” I’ll write that one tomorrow.)