What: #25 See the DSO
perform at Orchestra Hall
When: January 30th
Where: Orchestra Hall
Why: For many years, I attended the 4th of July event at Greenfield Village and enjoyed the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's performance. Then, there were some hard times and the orchestra endured a strike and bankruptcy issues. It is finally back in the black and doing well, including putting on this great concert with the Ann Arbor Youth Chorale (conducted by a friend of mine!). The venue is really lovely and the acoustics were wonderful for this piece - Orff's "Carmina Burana" - and even our seats in the upper balcony provided a great experience. The whole evening was another fun night out in Detroit, starting off with dinner at Maccabees in Midtown, then a post-concert stroll through the falling snow.
What: #46 Eat
wings
When: January 25th
Where: Buffalo Wild Wings
Why: Those who know me are aware of my food habits, mainly that I eat like a kid: grilled cheese, pizza, PBJ, cereal, and so on. While I do love chicken tenders, and it seems an easy leap to chicken wings, the fact that there are bones and skin on the wings have always limited my involvement with devouring them as so many others do. Also, I'm not really prissy, but the idea of having my hands and face coated in sauce was not appealing. Still, this blog is about breaking out of my comfort zone, so that's what I did. We were at "B-Dubs" to watch the Michigan/Michigan State basketball game, and it seemed the perfect opportunity to knock this one off the list.
I perused the menu to select my wings, deciding on Parmesan Garlic as my flavor of choice, thinking it was going to be a dry herb seasoning and hence I'd get out of the messy factor. It was, in fact, still a super messy sauce concoction, but I guess that's part of the experience. So, armed with many napkins, I rolled up my sleeves to dive right into my first wing. The hard part was that it was so messy, and that I was being very particular about the parts I ate, all the while trying not to look too closely at the bones. Overall, I'd say it was a fun one to check off the list, and made even sweeter by the outcome of the game!
What: #22 Play a
level of Assassin’s Creed
When: January 24th-25th
Where: Detroit
Why: My video game experience is really based around Mario and Nintendo. My favorite game that I actually played enough to develop some skill is MarioKart. From the N64 system. From the 1990's. So, when I saw people playing Assassin's Creed 2, with the storyline and the graphics and the amazing likeness to real places I'd visited in Italy, it captured my attention enough to want to give it a try. I know many guy friends who will play a game like this for hours, leaving the imprinted couch cushion only for basic sustenance and bathroom breaks. I wanted to get into that mindset. So, armed with an empty bladder and a full stomach, I embarked on my quest to complete a level of this game. The development of the story takes awhile, and I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't choose to be Kristen Bell's character, as she is my doppelganger and that would have been fun. Still, I learned the plot of the game, and then went through some basic stages to learn how to move through the scenes, including scaling buildings, fast walking, drawing my sword, and punching people. The frequency with which my character has to get into very violent conflicts was a bit upsetting, at first, but you really get numb to it after even a few hours, which is a big part of the reason for so much violence in young men these days, if I do say so myself. I digress, however, and will tell you that I had to take a break in the action. When I returned the next day, I was eager to keep at it, finding ways to be more efficient at my moves, and getting excited when Leonardo da Vinci was one of the characters with whom I interacted. After becoming an assassin, I played through a few more scenarios to meet my basic requirement for this blog. I will, however, keep at it because it was a lot of fun to move through Florence in the time of the Renaissance.
What: #53 Go
to a trampoline aerobics class
When: January 11th
Where: SkyZone
Why: In the winter months, it gets harder to be active because it is so cold. Running or biking outside aren't really options, and I loathe the treadmill and stationary bikes. I still climb every week and have started doing yoga with more regularity, yet I still crave new activities to get my heart pumping. And full disclosure: I'm anticipating a possible beach vacation in the near future, so this body needs to be ready for that, and after an extended vacation over the holidays, let's just say I enjoyed a lot of time on the couch with enormous bags of my Dad's famous homemade caramel corn. Yum!
So, after a year-long hiatus, my friends Elizabeth and Sara joined me for another adventure at the "tramp gym" (which, I realize, isn't a great term, but it's sticking around for the fun of it). This time we invited a few other great women to join us and have an impromptu bounce party to kick-off Elizabeth's annual 29th birthday!
The moves are definitely specific to the trampolines, and not really something you could duplicate on your own at home, and it requires the wearing of very cool socks (of which I'm now the proud owner!). A lot of the class was partner work with weighted balls you'd toss back and forth after a series of moves. One fun combination was to do five really high jumping jacks, a full twist, and air splits, all with the weighted ball. There were also a lot of plank movements, which were very difficult on the trampolines. This time, there were no flips, but there was the move where you fall all the way down to your backside and bounce back up to do the next move. I had a hard time doing that without using my hands to brace myself from falling back, which I'm assuming is due to a lack of core strength. Or, perhaps my abs were just exhausted from all the laughing...truly, that is an integral part of this workout!
