It’s been a number of years since I wrote anything about going to the gym, or being healthy. But that time has come again. I realized a few weeks ago in going to Drum Time that I was getting winded running up the three flights of stairs to get to my space, and then getting tired too quickly. Specifically the muscles in my arms and wrists.

So I set off on going to the gym at my complex. In addition to my new Drum Time schedule of three times a week, I’m going to try to go to the gym three or four times, too. Nothing major, I don’t want to kill myself, just enough to be healthy. So,e treadmill or bike time, and some light free weights to get some muscle back in my arms and wrists, which should help with the drumming stamina.

I feel pretty good after today’s 45 minute workout, which included a mile and a half on the treadmill at a 5.5 incline, and a few sets of free weights with the dumb bells. My arms are going to be sore tomorrow in addition to my calves. I think the incline may have been a bit much for my second day of exercising, but we’ll see tomorrow.

I decided to take Friday off entirely, to give myself a long weekend. Which worked out well with all the errands I had to do. My dad moved a week ago and I’ve been helping clean up the empty house in preparation for being sold, and that’s included a number of trips over there to meet people to buy some of the unwanted antique furniture. It’s hectic, but I don’t mind helping out.

It’s back to work tomorrow, which is good. I’ve got tons of irons in the fire. So to speak, and need to get to work on a bunch of those irons before they get backed up. (Is that even a thing, do the irons get backed up?)

I suppose being busy isn’t the worst thing ever. Setting myself daily goals (thanks to Wunderlist, the best task manager for every operating system on earth) has helped immensely. Having a daily routine has helped quite a bit, too. Not that I was a giant mess a few weeks ago, but having some sort of regiment has made me feel better, in some strange way.

The week ahead will be another busy one. Starting a new (and huge) project, finishing up one more, and continuing one more ongoing project. Based on past weeks, that should help the week go by quickly, which is always nice. It always seems that time is relative based on how busy you are. Time doesn’t actually go by faster when you’re busy, it just feels like it does. Time goes by at the same rate it always does.

That’s all I’ve got today. You’re welcome.

Ever since I moved in May of last year, my drums have been at a music complex about half an hour from my apartment. Not ideal, and certainly not as cushy as I had it when I lived in my house. But it is what t is, and that’s the best I’ve got for right now.

Up until this week, I’d only been going there once a week, usually on Friday nights after work. They recently changed their hours, so they’re open much earlier all the time, so it’s slightly easier to go on Saturday morning. It’s also a lot quieter on Saturday mornings, too. Friday nights are hit or miss. Since there’s close to 100 rooms in the place, sometimes I get there and there’s no bands rehearsing. Sometimes there’s a bunch. And as soundproof as they built the place, it’s still pretty loud. Thankfully once I put my headphones in and start playing, it’s tough to hear any other musicians, so that’s okay. I think, but haven’t confirmed, that I’m l the only musician there that’s not in a band and just plays for fun. That’s probably because of the fact that the place is kind of pricey if you’re by yourself. Since most of the other renters are in bands, they get to split the costs between them, whereas I’m by myself.

Starting this week, I’m going three times a week. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning. Not only does this make financial sense, but it’s good for my mentality and physicality, as well. It’s no secret that I’m out of shape, and have been for years. And it’s also me secret that I can’t go to the gym consistently. The only form of exercise over the years that I’ve ever been able to manage has been my drums. So why not take advantage of it?

I got myself an iPad mount a few weeks ago, which has worked wonders. I used to,play along to my iPhone in my pocket, but that wasn’t working out so well. If a song came on that I didn’t want to play, I’d have to reach into my pocket and take the iPhone and change the track. Which doesn’t sound like a big deal, but when you’re trying to play along to songs that may start instantly, it’s too to get the iPhone back in your pocket before the song starts. Now the iPad sits gingerly to to the left of my hi-hats at a height that I can not only always see what’s playing, but I can reach over and swipe to the left or right to change tracks. It works out way better this way.

Here’s a gallery of my drums. Because this post is really long right now, and your eyes could use a break from reading. And because you’re probably curious about what it looks like if you haven’t seen it before.

I’ve also been experimenting trying to play some songs that I’ve never tried before. I’ve always tried to stick to albums and songs that I was confident I could play, but that’s getting kind of boring. So why not try new stuff? I’ve got a playlist on the iPad that’s just called Drums, with tons of songs that I either know I can play, or that I want to try to play.

People often ask “Can you learn to play this song?” And drumming isn’t really something that you can learn. Either you hear what the drummer in the song is doing, or you don’t. Granted, you could read the sheet music, and play it note for note the way the composer did, but that’s usually not likely. More often than not, you just play along to what you hear. You may get to a part that’s hard to hear or too complex, and you improvise. Most of drumming is improvising. At least the way I play it is.

I’ve had this particular drum kit for almost a year and a half now. I bought it for myself in September of 2011, as a birthday gift to myself. It’s my dream color, Pearl’s Ocean Sparkle. I’m a hit miffed that there’s two different shades of blue, but it happens. I got such a good deal on Craigslist, I couldn’t really complain. Perhaps some day I’ll replace the mismatched drums wit matching ones. The issue is that they don’t make this particular line or color anymore, so I’d have to custom order them. Price isn’t a big deal, but there’s around an 8 month wait for custom ordered drums from Pearl.

In short, or to sum this whole thing up rather, I’m going to start playing more. Not just because it makes me feel good, but because its good for me. I love drums.

It’s Friday afternoon and I just finished today’s run.  Though my body didn’t want to do it, I went three whole miles today.  I had wanted to do the 3.5 I ran yesterday, but I eased up and didn’t push myself too hard.

All in all, I ran a total of over half a marathon this week, just shy of 14 miles total.

I feel great.  My legs, hips and butt are pretty sore later at night, but I think my body will get used to doing the physical activity.  I’m not at all winded when I’m running, so I think my lungs have adjusted to the physical activity of doing the actual running, which is something I’ve never been able to do.

Having done over 3 miles every day this week, I think it’s safe to say that when I tried running earlier in my life, I tried to run too fast.  I always wanted to be the first one done, and it resulted in me getting winded and walking.  I learned to pace myself, and as long as I keep my mind focused on something else, I can keep going for the most part.

Though now that it’s getting warmer out, I have to figure out a solution to get some cool air blowing in my face.  Today and yesterday I grabbed a towel and hung it over the side of the treadmill to mop the sweat off occasionally so it doesn’t get in my eyes, which come to find out stings like a sumbitch.

Next week’s goal is to run all 5 days, 3 miles per day.  (I didn’t run Monday this week because I had to pick Christine up from the bus after her weekend away, and it threw off my timing.)  Total of 15 miles next week, and possibly for the rest of the month of May, too.

If I can do 3 miles every day, five days a week for four weeks, I think I’ll be ready to step up the pace of the miles.  Right now I’m doing the first mile at a 12 minute pace and the last two at a 15 minute pace.  (This was just today and yesterday, the first two days I did all 3 at 15.)

I started looking for 5ks to run later this year, and it appears there’s no shortage of those, so I shouldn’t have any issue in trying to find one to do sometime in September once it’s cooled down from the summer months.

I haven’t weighed myself yet, but I certainly feel skinner, which is good.  I always give up when I get on these health kicks because I don’t see immediate results, and I give up thinking it’s not doing anything.  Here’s hoping I can keep this going.

For those of you who didn’t know, I had LASIK eye surgery two days ago, Thursday December 17th, 2009.

There’s been a lot of questions since then, so I’ll do my best to answer them.  Also, in the future if people stumble onto this page, maybe it’ll answer some of your questions:

• No, it’s not painful to be zapped in the eye with a laser.  It is a bit painful when they put the clamp on your eye, and apply pressure while cutting open your cornea.  It feels more or less like someone’s punched you in the eyeball.  It goes away after an hour or so.
• No, you can’t immediately see after the surgery’s over.  When you sit up from the chair, it looks like you’re under water.  That goes away (mostly) after your mandatory 5 hour nap after surgery.
• Yes, my vision is perfect now.  At least that’s what they’ve told me. According to my morning after test, my vision is now 20/20.  It’s still a bit foggy around bright white things, and Tv/computer, but it’s getting better each day.
• Yes, I could technically have gone back to work the day after surgery. But why risk it. I took a long weekend, and should be more than fine on Monday to go back full time.
• There are a metric ton of eye drops you have to put in pre and post surgery.  Every hour I have to put in artificial tears, every two hours some anti-inflammatory medication, and 4 times a day some antibiotics.  If you don’t like eye drops, you might not want to get this surgery.  I didn’t know about all the drops until the morning of. (Yes, after I’d already paid.)
• It’s still an expensive procedure.  After a discount I got, it cost me just shy of $3500.  However, there are cheaper procedures you can get done. I got the “CustomVue” surgery from The Lasik Institute in Burlington, MA.  Dr. Sheth did the surgery and was fantastic.  The cheaper surgery that the Lasik Institute folks have available is as cheap as $650 per eye. (As of the time I’m writing this.)  The “CustomVue” I got also comes with a lifetime guarantee. If my sight goes bunk at any point, I can have the surgery done again for free.
• Yes, you go blind temporarily when they’re doing the surgery.  My eye sight went completely black for about 10 seconds.
• Yes, you can actually see when they flip the sliced part of your cornea away from your eye.  It goes from clear to blurry pretty quickly.
• Yes, the laser makes a scary sound. (Similar to the first time you hear a tattoo gun. It’s that scary.)
• Yes, the eye drops they make you put in give you a metallic taste in your mouth.  You get used to it.
• Yes, I’m glad I did it.  Once my vision crisps up, I’ll be 100% glad I’ve done it.
• The laser itself is very quick.  My left eye (which was worse than my right) took two blasts. 8 seconds, and 6 seconds.  The right eye (which was the stronger of the two) took one blast, 8 seconds.  All in all, I was in the chair about 8 minutes or so.  (A few minutes for prep, then the slicing, then the laser, then done.)
• My eyes are incredibly bloodshot right now.  The pressure they apply with the clamp, to make it so you can’t move your eye, can cause bruising. It’s normal.  It doesn’t hurt anymore, though.
• If you’re thinking of having LASIK done, and have the financial means to do so.  Just do it.  While the surgery is something I don’t want to do again in my life, it was definitely worth doing it once.

I’m still recovering, but getting to the point where I can function.  I can look at the computer screen for more than ten minutes now, without having eye pain.  I drove on the highway today for the first time since the surgery, and it was a trip.  Being able to read things far away is pretty awesome.

I’ve been playing “Can you read that?” with Christine since my eyes started healing.  I’m determined to find something that’s far enough away that she can’t read it, and I can.  So far, I’ve failed.  She has some damn good eye sight.

Other than that, life’s just chuggin’ away.  Keeping busy.  Did all my holiday shopping today, wrapped all the presents and placed them under our mock-tree. (We didn’t buy one, we just designated a spot on our floor that we were going to stack the presents.)

That’s all I’ve got for now.  Uninteresting, I know.  C’est la vie!