If I had more energy I'd put this to rhyme, but I want to get this on here and get out on time.
I love hearing little slices of people's lives. I love imagining how other people live, or getting to participate in their lives for a short period of time. I think it offers a lot of perspective for my own life in many ways.
I also want people to have a greater understanding of where I'm coming from, to see what influences the things I write about.
Today was such a beautiful day, I wanted to share it with the world. But as I thought back to a starting point...I realized I've had a pretty exciting week, month and year so far. But I don't want to summarize my life to boredom... so I'm just focusing on the last two days.
Thursday, 12:30am:
I'm closing the creaking gates on the park behind my lover and his friend as they shout "bye" out the window. After some slight tidying up in the house, I crawl into bed.
6:00am: Rise and Shine! It's workin' time! I snooze. 30ish minutes later, I pull back the covers and begin my morning routine. Bathroom, open the gates, raise the flags, unlock the bathrooms, admire the sunrise, come into the warm house, put the clean dishes away, turn on the radio, dance. Not wanting to commit to a full workout, I did 1 minute max of full-body exercises, from push-ups, to pull ups (on my rings), to sit-ups and dips, etc. I feel it today.
Bucket bath in the sink and get ready for a day. Contemplate my new fairly professional style of dress, label it "functionality".
Bike to work. 2 relatively productive hours+ chatting with co-workers
Bike back to park for 2 hours of pruning fruit trees (+ learning how to prune fruit trees) with a group of women in their 40's-60's.
Grab a lunch and drive to Balloon Museum for a talk about Citizen Science. Appreciate the cadre of outdoor educators present, and that I am familiar and friendly with almost all of them.
Leave poster session early for a meeting at a chocolate shop with a group of wonderful women. Order a "South Pacific" which is a HUGE, frothy, chocolatey latte, that made me a little sick to my stomach. Spend the next 2 hours creating an 8 day arts-culture-adventure expedition for women. 
Drive back to the office, Catch up with the boss. Work til 8:00. Phone call to friend (my phone service sucks so I use the land line when I can).
9:40- drive home. Make dinner. Walk to adjacent building with internet to research some things for my upcoming trip.
11:00ish? Bedtime ritual, sleep.
...Friday
6:00am: Rise and Shine! Snooze... 6:15, no really, Rise and Shine!
Bathroom, gates, flags, bathrooms, inside. Stretch and dance. 12 minute workout: 3 rounds of tabata cardio (mountain climbers, burpees and switch kicks). Bucket bath and dress for the day. (I should probably shower at some point this week...) Bike to the office to grab computer and forgotten journal, then to the train station, hoping each minute that the sun will pop over the Sandias. Arrive at train station with 16 minutes to spare, take advantage of wi-fi (again, shitty phone service =utilizing other resources). Train to Santa Fe and enjoy a delightful 1.7 mile downhill ride to my meeting, where I arrive with 20 minutes to spare. Plan a trip for 50 8th graders!
Bike next door to Santa Fe College of Art and Design which was previously the College of Santa Fe, which I had looked at to go to school. Admire the similarities and differences from 10 years ago.
Bike to Annapurna's for lunch and catching up with a friend, do some work on the side. Realize I have 17 minutes to catch my train. Bust ass back up hill. See the train in the distance. Begin wheezing. Continue busting...soooo clooosee! Bike toward train, to see it slipping away (next train not for 3 more hours). Wave frantically at train as asthma attack (out of breath+emotions= no good) comes on. Train stops. Doors open. I spend the rest of the ride coming down from that, and getting some work done.
Take the long way to work. Finish by 6:30! Bike home and start dinner (Spaghetti Squash with sauce from leftover soup + "special toast"). Entertain friends at a semi-work-related/catch-up dinner. Friends leave, I come to write this...
Still to be done tonight: cleaning the house, packing my bags!, and sleeping...'cause at 6:45 I'll be on a plane to NYC!
So, other than possibly an overshare of insight into my world... hopefully this paints a picture of possibilities, and a perspective of how we all engage in this world in different ways.
Last October, I set a little goal for myself. I was determined (for economical reasons as much as Environmental) to use only one tank of gas for the whole month. Surprisingly, I met my goal! I have about a 13 gallon tank which takes me a little over 350 miles, and I came in about 50 miles under.
Now-- I have to admit, the main reason for my success was because I was driving a 15-passenger van to Grand Canyon and back as part of my job, and I wasn't home very much...but the success inspired me to continue. In November I bought at least two tanks of gas, running a lot of errands for work, but in December, I made an attempt to ride my bike into town- a whopping 10 miles away.
Until that point, I had only ridden to yoga (4 miles each way), or to the library (4 miles round trip), so taking it to 20 miles in a day was a big jump.
But what did I learn? I was amazed at how easy it was. I was reminded how damn flat most of Albuquerque is (at least compared to some places), and it inspired me to mobilize myself. Each month since then, I challenge myself to only use one tank of gas. I haven't been as successful as the October trip, but I have also been riding my bike a lot more. Another beautiful thing about working part time, is having the time to enjoy the journey, and not be focused on getting to the destination on time. I feel so free while riding my bike (except when I'm worried about being killed by an asshole driver...which is honestly about 50% of the time) -- I get to breathe fresh air and get some exercise, while also seeing things that I normally just blow past.
Also- if you pay attention to hipster environmentalist trends, riding your bike instead of driving is supposed to save the world, right? In theory. I'm sure Exxon isn't hurting from my once a month purchase of gasoline. If I haven't made it clear from my other posts, I strongly believe (and fear) that we are in an environmental crisis. I recognize that deciding to ride my bike around isn't going to solve that. But if everyone rode their bike around, and our infastructure evolved to encourage bicycling, as in European cities, a good trend could catch on. Bicycle traffic in Copenhagen prevents 90,000 tons of CO2 from being emitted annually. [City of Copenhagen] That's huge! And think about how great all those people feel when they get to work all sweaty and buff. That's some true brain food to chew on.
I read an article recently about bike riding in China being at a historic low (can't remember the source, or I'd link it). Because so many countries want to be like America, countries with far less space and far more people are increasing their automobile usage. We need to make biking sexy so the rest of the world catches on.
 |
| What's not sexy? |
Mostly, we need to convert our minds, our habits and our hearts to renewable energy, such as biking. I feel like I've been reading more and more about our desperation to drill into BLM land, historic sites and national parks to get a few precious drops of oil so we can run our cars a few years longer. Let today be the day we wake up and ride.
But it's not enough to "put the fun between your legs" as the patch says... we have to invest in this lifestyle with our economy. 89% of Americans believe that transportation investments should support the goals of reducing energy use. (National Association of Realtors and Transportation for America, 2009) If 5% of New Yorkers commuting by private car or taxi switched to biking to work, they could save 150 million pounds of CO2 emissions per year, equivalent to the amount reduced by planting a forest 1.3 times the size of Manhattan (Rollingcarbon.com).
Even if we can't transform into biking cities overnight, we should at least begin shifting our brains to the possibilities of living on renewable energy. If you're reading this and you've never rode your bike to work- challenge yourself! At least carpool.
When I visited Austin last month, I was inspired by the confusing bike lanes that were painted on all the roads. Austin is pushing for 20% of their commuters to switch to bikes, someone told me. Another person complained about the bike-efficiency manager making 90k a year, but who's to judge?! They're clearly making waves of inspiration. I hope it catches on.
Props to my friend Aaron who took the lemons that life handed him when his car broke down and decided to commit to public transportation, bike riding and carpooling. That's a heroic decision in my eyes. Lets all go be heroes and put the fun between our legs.
