Month: August 2007

I entered my first kayak race, the Harrison Street Regatta, (sponsored by The Downtown Boathouse) and came in last. Dead last. That is the actual kayak I raced in to the left. I was ten minutes behind everyone else, maybe more, maybe a lot more, but at least I finished!! I’m quite proud to tell you the truth. In my defense: I went out on a kayak for the first time, what? Two weeks ago? Or was it last week? Plus, my oar was messed up (seriously). And the wind was against me. Okay, it was against everyone, but I’m a weakling to begin with, so, ah, yeah. I feel great. It was a beautiful day and a perfect thing to do. I’m going to pay tomorrow. But maybe all my gym work will save me and I won’t ache too badly.

One sad note, I was walking home and there was a big fire downtown, and it looked like it was in the exact same spot as the Trade Center. Of course it brought it all back to see the smoke, and I swear I could smell that smell. Sure enough, I just looked it up and it’s the Deustche Bank. That was one of the buildings surrounding the site. It was coming down anyway, but still.

Anyway, the race was a mile, and I practically collapsed at the end of if and then I learned we had to row BACK. I almost burst into tears. But they gave me a narrower and faster boat to row back with and an oar that wasn’t messed up and I was fine.

Volunteers rowed on the sidelines, making sure everyone was okay, and this poor guy got stuck with me, because I was so far behind everyone else. He was very nice about it.

Pretty kayaks.

And a bouquet of oars.

How could you not vote for this guy?? Please everyone, look at him for the love of God. I am always in the minority with my opinions. Always, always, always. Which means my candidates rarely win, etc. Sabra is a doll, and talented too, so who can be bitter, but, well, oh well. Last year I wanted Danny’s brother Travis to win. Sigh. It was great to see Sara and Hok again.

I wish they’d have dancers from previous seasons come back to dance instead of having other performers, like the Pussycat Doll girl, for instance. It would have been great to see, oh, I don’t know, TRAVIS dance.

[Video removed because the link no longer works.]

But I also called in a few votes for Lacey. She inspired me with that waltz. I called in four votes for Danny, and three for Lacey. By the way, I wish there was a way of restricting people’s votes to one vote per person. I feel required to vote more than once, knowing that some people are going nuts, voting repeatedly, but it’s annoying.

I’m so sad it’s all going to be over after tonight, though.

[Video removed because the link no longer works.]

This is me (and my badly in need of a fresh pedicure feet) out on the Hudson River, facing New Jersey. To my left was a Coast Guard guy, watching me with binoculars. I was taking pictures while probably drifting in a little too closely to the wind tunnel for the Holland Tunnel. (Such is life in post 9/11 New York City.) Not on purpose or to taunt the guy, more a matter of I don’t really have a lot of control, this being only my second time out.

Kayaking is an incredibly invigorating thing to do, I love it. A volunteer organization called The Downtown Boathouse gives free lessons and provide kayaks, for FREE, so you can kayak on the Hudson River. I’m going to try to practice so I can go on a trip to Governor’s Island in a couple of weeks. There’s a race next week between 56th and 72nd Streets. The guys who showed me how to kayak suggested entering the race, just to see if I can finish it, not win. If I can finish it, I can probably deal with the trip to Governor’s Island.

But it feels great. It just feels great. It’s energizing, even when you’re just floating. I researched kayaking trips on the east coast. Most emphasize white water, which I’m sure is fun, and I want to try it, but what I really want is a nice weekend trip, more of a leisurely kayaking, enjoying the scenery and being out on the water thing. Maybe something with white water and stretches of calm.

The Delaware River looks like it fits the bill perfectly. It looks like it offers exactly that. And there’s a few places in West Virginia.

The caption for this photo is, I love you, but I must bite you. Finney does that a lot with me. My little biter boo. Also, please note all the scratch marks on the coffee table. Walking, purring, destruct-o-meters they are.

I feel like I spent most of yesterday in Big Brother chat. I get the 24 hour feeds, and it’s really addictive fun, I must say. I usually go to the same channel every day, but I can’t always get in so I’m often talking to a random selection of people from around the country. I almost never agree with anyone about what’s going on in the show and there’s an uncomfortable period where I need to convince people not to hate me because I don’t hate Dustin and Eric and am ambivalent about Dick.

But today I have to go in the other direction. Since the weather is so great, I think a nice long walk, luxuriating in the non-hotness of the day.