So, it’s cool that I’m seeing Dead Meadow for free tonight. I was actually planning on paying for the show because Dead Meadow, well, they rock in that sort of dark and guitar-soaked dreamy way that I like so much. Plus, The Out Crowd is opening, and I’m always up for The Out Crowd. Oh yeah, and if you can prove you live on the Eastside, MGD’ll only set you back a $1.

For the love of all things sacred, does there need to be any more reason for me to go out tonight?

But more than anything, I keep thinking about how I won the tickets. It was a very simple contest, actually, and yet had got me asking everyone around me what they would have done to win tickets. The question was simple: What cd puts you in the mood for love?

I’ll tell you mine, if you tell me yours…

What more could a girl want in her team sports?

Rose City Roller’s Roller Derby
6pm Saturday – doors open at 5pm
Expo Center (take the MAX!!)
$10 general admission
800-992-8499
or TicketsWest outlets

So why is it I’ve really suffered this past week? The cold bug floating around really wiped me out.

What started as a sore throat quickly stripped my normal voice into a sad little croaking toad until I decided to stop talking and just whisper for a few days. Some would argue my lack of vocal ability was some sort of karmic repentance for blabbing too much. And honestly, I wouldn’t wholeheartedly disagree as a matter of fact.

As soon as I got my voice back, however, my head filled with what still feels like quick drying cement. My body aches from the coughing, the sneezing, the nose blowing, lack of energy and sheer and utter inertia. Though I’m thankful I literally had nothing better to do than sit (laying down only makes my head hurt) for long periods of time (once for 12 hours – though it helped that I watched nearly the entire first season of “The Wire” on dvd; officially my favorite show at the moment, by the way) and rest, being sick blows.

I’m just wondering how much worse off I’d be if I hadn’t been taking Zicam for the several days before this head cold hit me? And frankly, if Zicam causes anosmia or not, I really couldn’t tell you. I haven’t been able to smell or taste anything for the last 7 days anyway.

What are you doing to fight off this season’s bout of stealthy bacterias & viruses? Or, if you’ve got the bug, what are you doing to make yourself feel better?

Oh, and thanks for all the support on my bogus Kalga Cafe experience, by the way. I did have one guy write me and use lots of expletives and tell me to get over myself, and well, though I contemplated leaving the comment up, it was sort of mean and angry, and frankly, I think I may have got in trouble for leaving up such hateful spite, and like I said, he sweared a lot, so I took it down. But anyone is interested, I’ll email them privately if they want to read what he had to say to me…

Anyway, ok, I know it’s January 10th, and really, I know there’s this big movement to make New Year’s Resolutions on New Year’s Eve. But me, I’m more of the Gentle Introductions of New Year’s Resolutions as the Month of January Rolls Along, so bear with me, ok? After all, resolutions are not things that just happen overnight. Resolutions take committment and perserverance. Resolutions are promises to ones’self to make long-lasting postiive change to one’s life and the world around us.

So you want to do something good. You want to volunteer your time, feed the hungry, preserve endangered land, give underpriveleged women an opportunity for a mamogram. I’m telling you, you can do a little bit everyday, and it’s easy and fun.

The Hunger Site donates, depending on clicks, an average of 164, 000 cups per day of staple food for the hungry in the US and around the world every day. n 1999, a year marked by good economic news, 31 million Americans were food insecure, meaning they were either hungry or unsure of where their next meal would come from. Of these Americans, 12 million were children. The Hunger Site began on June 1, 1999.

The Rainforest Site protected approximately 1,015,000 feet of land every day.

The Breast Cancer Site funds at leat 5,900 mamograms (approximately 5.7 per day) to underprivilegded women in the United States througout the year. According to the Breast Cancer Site, “Your click on the “Fund Free Mammograms” button helps fund free mammograms, paid for by site sponsors whose ads appear after you click and provided to women in need through the efforts of the National Breast Cancer Foundation to low-income, inner-city and minority women, whose awareness of breast cancer and opportunity for help is often limited.”

Click everyday!! Every click counts!

I even deliberately waited until after more than 15 hours and a solid night’s sleep to see if I felt any differently, but, alas, I’m still miffed and I must vent.

I remember when Kalga Cafe served delicious and aforable lentil soup and fresh organic salads for lunch. How sweet it was the day my friend and I ordered the soup of the day and the server informed us his mother had made it. I swear at that moment I could have eaten that soup everyday. Oh how I wax nostalgic for those heady lunch days; how disappointed I was when they stopped serving lunch, but I wasn’t ready to give up on them, their food was just too good.

And dinners! Suberb! And affordable! Mostly vegetarian, vegan for that matter, and absolutely mouth-wateringly (is that a word? I don’t care at this point – I’m in the middle of a rant) delicious.

So last night around 8:15pm my friend and I ventured to Kalga for some dinner. The sign as we entered encouraged us to seat ourselves. The vibe was happening! The music was softly thumping and the restaurant was full of those dreamy spices that instantly make me hungy.

We had just sat down. Granted, the place was busy. There are maybe 12 or 15 tables in the whole restaurant, plus a bar area seating, oh, maybe 8. The bar was empty and we took one of the 2 empty tables.

A server approached – not the kind sweet server who served us his mother’s homemade soup all those months ago mind you – asked us how we were doing, and then informed us that they were no longer serving.

What?

There is a moment of silence as the words sink in; as the rain drips down my face from our 15 block walk and the hum and scent of Kalga tease me.

“You’re kicking us out?” is all I can manage to say in my shock and disbelief.

“Pretty much” says the server sheepishly. Then he mumbled something about them being busy and the wait would be immense or something. I really can’t say for sure because my love affair of Kalga ended at that very moment those ugly words left his lips, pretty much. pretty much. pretty much.

I cannot believe what my ears have just heard. Why, I ask you dear readers, why were we allowed to sit down? Why, my friends, did their sign welcome us with “OPEN”, why would they tease us so?

Sadly, being kicked out of a restaurant at 8:15pm on a Friday night for no other reason than the server feeling as those the place was too busy has completely changed my tune about Kalga.

I’ll drive by and wax poetic for the good old days. But I will NEVER set foot in that restaurant again.

So, me, I decided to take baby steps…. lots and lots of baby steps. Rather than binging and purging, I decided to start walking. Walking like crazy. Walking like I’ve never walked before. I know for some of you the idea of walking 10,000 steps per day for overall health and well-being is no shocker. But mark my words, for those of you who haven’t strapped on a pedometer and measured how many steps you take in an ordinary day you may just suffer a small heart attack when you check your stats at the end of the day. The average American gets about 2,000 steps, by the way.

10,000 steps is approximately 5 miles, give or take, depending on your stride. Did you know that In the May 2004 journal of Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise, a study showed that men & women who walked at least 10,000 steps per day averaged 18 percent less body fat than those who walked fewer than 6,000 steps per day?

Granted, my baby steps started right before New Year’s Eve of 2005, but hey, now that I’ve got over 4,539,000 steps (yes, I’m serious) I’m completely proud of my baby steps and well, hey, they take a little longer than regular steps, but in the end, isn’t it all about the journey? Point is, I’m moving in the right direction. Did you know that you can walk about 1,200 steps in approximately 10 minutes?

I’m telling you, people, it’s not hard and it’s FUN! I’m completely and utterly addicted to Trainster, a site that will track your daily steps (with the help of an inexpensive pedometer) from here on out. Don’t get crazy at first – set your goal for 10,000 steps per day. See if you’re on track or if you need to step it up! Once you get going, you can challenge yourself to more steps per week until you’re, well, a slimmer, healthier you.

Now excuse me, it’s 7:45pm and I still have over 5,000 steps to take before I can go to bed.

START WALKING. IT FEELS GOOD. IT’S GOOD FOR YOU.

And why do I have this sort of strange superstition around New Years? There’s this expectation in my mind, I suppose, that I’ve got to have this really fantastic, mind blowing New Year’s Eve. Then somewhere down the line I got it in my head that what I’m doing and who I’m with on New Year’s Day will set the tone for the rest of the year. Are you smelling the recipe for disaster in this scenario, too?

So here’s to bags of rubber bands and pooka shell soap holders. Cheers!

Ok, I think I’m ready for some shopping now.