The walk in to work was damn near paradisal. It’s sunny and about 45. Hoody weather. Bounce-in-your-step brightness, the mind filled with the hope and excitement of somehow still being alive.
By the way, The Perfect Hoody is so named because of its universal soundness. Paired with gloves and a hat, you can be comfortable down to about 35 or so. Warmer than that, you can unzip the top or all the way open and wear it loosely. Tie it around your waist. Good to go. Perfect hoody. Little rain? Perfect hoody can handle that. Sudden meeting? Perfect hoody is slightly sheeny and looks good over a collar shirt. Because it’s black, it’s always clean.
Similar to my boots, the Perfect Hoody has been with me everywhere since I sprung for it 2.5 years ago in San Francisco. Last winter, I wore it nearly every day, no jacket needed. Black hoody, gray pants, black Limmers, good to go. Universal.
I’m attracted to the simplicity of that arrangement. I now have three gray pants, two black hoodies (one Patagonia, one Arc Teryx) three white collar shirts, two suits, 24 band t-shirts, 8 hiking socks, 17 underwear. Plus a major new acquisition, because the timing was right: a new pair of Limmers.
The Limmer Standards that I’ve been wearing for about 6 years are holding up fine. I wear them just about every day and they feel like running shoes that I can wear into battle if need be. I grease them up probably every other week, or more if it’s wet or snowy out. I’ve had them resoled once and they’re about due for another. While chatting with Ken Smith over at Limmer Boot Company up there in Chatham, New Hampshire, I decided it might be worth checking out one of their other models, just to compare to the Standards. So right now on my feet I’m wearing the Limmer Light Weights, and I love them already.
It’s the same design, same construction– one piece of leather. By all other comparisons, these are not “Light Weight” at all, but compared to the Standards, they’re noticeably lighter. Instead of 3.2mm full grain leather and weighing about 5lbs/pair, these are 2.8mm waxed nubuck leather, and weigh about 3.5lbs/pair. But interesting and contrary to what I had imagined, they’re still stiff as hell, which I love. The leather is strong and stiff, like a shell, and it will slowly break in around my feet the more I wear them. Also, the color will continually darken as they age and as boot grease is applied over time. I like the way they look– though of course I prefer black. It’s nice to have one of each now, dark brown and black– Light Weight for super long hikes and treks, and also my beloved heavyweight Standards for everything else. The Light Weights are also slightly less expensive than the Standards, but the prices at Limmer have gone up since my last purchase about 6 years ago, so these were about the same as what I paid for the Standards. They still had all my foot measurements on record so all I had to do was call them up and place the order.
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It’ll be a strictly working weekend. I’ll be home or in the library working on my dissertation, pretty much until Monday 9a. I don’t mind. I like being alone right now. I’m actually glad I have the circumstance that allows for it, otherwise I’m not sure I’d get done all that I have to. Also, after spending time in meetings during most of the day, I look forward to my time alone at night. I get lonely sometimes, but it’s a particular kind. I miss particular people. The feeling is that if I went out somewhere, with people I know or around strangers, I’d still be lonely for the people I miss.
Swimming was great last night. I did 30 minutes of laps and then the rest of the conditioning routine. Curious? OK then. Check this out:
- 30 minutes of either running or swimming at 80% max heart rate
- 20 (sets) x 25 (reps) pushups
- 10 x 10 pull-ups
- 10 x 15 slow leg raises
- 2 x 100 flutter kicks (on a four count)
Ater the cardio, sometimes I do the routine one exercise at a time, but if I have the pull-up bar to myself, I like to do it as a circuit. So that’d be 25 pushups right into 10 pull-ups, then still holding the bar, grind out 15 leg raises, then drop to the floor for 50 flutter kicks on a four count, then flip over and back to 25 pushups, and around the whole circuit again until all sets of everything are done. I prefer the circuit because by the time you get up to the 7-8th set, your entire body is awesomely wrecked. Your arms are deadening, your chest and tri’s are nearly paralyzed, your hips are practically useless. That’s when it’s most satisfying for me, to keep grinding it out, every rep a new little battle between mind and body, the sweat dripping onto the floor right in front of you, your handprints visible, leaving a record of the work you’re doing, and your victories over gravity.
You keep going. Even if it takes you 3 minutes to grind out one of the later sets of 25 pushups, hell even if it takes 5 minutes, with 10 seconds between each repetition, you keep going. The pull-ups near the end are motherfuckers. You might have to kip your way up above the bar by swinging your legs, and you might have to drop down before finishing because your hands are incapable of holding the bar any longer. But after shaking your fingers out for a few seconds, you get back up there and do the next rep, because you can and will.
Eventually you get every last rep in, because you always finish what you start.
Hobbling home from this kind of workout is great and satisfying and important for me. I like the feeling of total depletion. I think it’s my happiest state, when there’s nothing left inside. Getting home empty is the only way for me to be home safely. Otherwise I think too much, and go too deep inside myself and it’s hard to be there. When you feel like you left it all out there, and now your only job is to recover and enjoy the state, then things will be OK, another evening will end well. Drop your stuff inside the door. Go to the kitchen and eat a fish, or a chicken, or a cow, a bunch of grains and nuts, some leafs of stuff. Drink a liter of water and then take a shower. Jerk off to temporarily dull your ever present desire for sex, give your longings a break, and then stretch out while listening to the next album on your list, made by other people who understand certain things that others don’t, and then pass out into the universe for 8-9 hours with a smile on your face for the first time that day.
Have a great weekend.
