Look-a-like

Yesterday I was at Rite Aid getting an assortment of random things I realized I needed once I actually arrived. It was supposed to be just trash bags, but then I saw Maybelline was having a buy one get one free sale and, well, you know the end of that story! When I finally made my way to the checkout counter the guy took an extra long look at me before asking what he assumed was a rhetorical question. “You know who you look like, right?” Of course this is said as if the answer is obvious. But as any person of color will tell you, the answer could be any number of celebrities that have a little color to them. For some reason, non-black folks just don’t have the best judgment when it comes to who black folks might look like.

So today I decided to not even take a guess and just have him tell me who I look like. I would hate to be wrong and make the guy feel like I had no clue as to who my universal twin was... because he was so positive. Obviously I look like Jada Pinkett Smith. Obviously. I just shook my head and smiled as if I hear that every day. It’s really only as often as I hear any other brown-skinned starlet, save a few who happen to be a little more frequent. So I figured I would ask your esteemed opinion. Do I look like I could be Will’s wife?



In the past few years, I’ve also been hearing Alicia Keyes an awful lot. I don’t quite see it…not really. But I figured I would get your opinion on that as well. I chose a black/white pic of myself because let’s be honest, I have a far better tan that she does.




And the one I really do get more than any other is Holly Robinson-Peete. If I had to say I resembled anyone at all, I would probably pick her. And if I do end up resembling her even more in the next 10 or 15 years, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.





I’ve actually heard this all the way back from 21 jumpstreet days, which gives it a little more credence. But I don’t know, maybe it’s because I copied her hairstyle when I was younger.



So what do you think? Any of these people? Someone else? Let me hear your thoughts, no matter what your ethnicity.

Honoring our Veterans: Two Heros I Know

Veterans Day is probably one of the most important days we have to celebrate and I almost didn’t even realize it was today. Of course a holiday to me in the middle of the week means nothing to my work schedule and I don’t get the opportunity to take a day off in remembrance, but that doesn’t mean I still can’t pay tribute. I have mentioned this before on here, but the US Olympic Training Center is also a home training base for many of the Paralympic athletes and a few of them that I have gotten to know personally are some of the most admirable Veterans I can think of. So today I just want to take a moment to say a special thank you to them personally in this public forum, as well as put a mini spotlight on the incredible people they are and the amazing way they have served our country.

Kortney Clemens

While serving in the U.S. Army as a combat medic in Iraq, Kortney Clemons and three other service members were helping soldiers in an overturned vehicle when enemy forces detonated an explosive device. The explosion killed the other three service members, but Clemons' life was spared. As a result of the blast, he lost his right leg above-the-knee.










Jerrod Fields

In 2005, Sgt. Jerrod Fields lost his lower left leg after an IED exploded during a patrol in Iraq while deployed with the 3rd Infantry Division. Fields recovered from his wounds and passed all of his physical requirements with his prosthetic leg to continue on active duty with the 3rd ID at Fort Stewart in an ambitious six months instead of the doctor-predicted nine. Re-enlisted by Vice President Dick Cheney, Fields is now a Bradley Fighting Vehicle Gunner with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Squadron.
For his service, Fields was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.








Seeing these athletes compete and train on a day-to-day basis just like I do is already inspiring enough. But once you have the chance to hear their story and understand exactly what they’ve been through, you realize that you’re training next to real-life heros. These men are the most brave and courageous people I personally know and I should probably tell them thank you every single day, but today I just wanted to make sure I said it extra loud. THANK YOU.

Getting in Shape

Officially I have one week of practice under my belt. But this year I actually cheated a little bit. I started working out to get ready to start working out. Sheer stupidity or utter brilliance? The jury is still out. On the one hand I cut back on my time of being a professional couch potato, but on the other hand I’ve become a professional spinner. Didn’t I tell you?? I now spin with the best of them. For those of you considering spin class but have thus far been too scared to take the plunge, believe me when I tell you that going consistently for about a month will make the experience a lot more bearable and it actually is a great workout. I actually consider myself one of the best in my small class (I find that most people do not increase half a turn when the teacher says so—they’re only cheating themselves!)…well besides the over-excited guy across the room who must consider himself a spinning guru and feels the need to whoop and holler the whole darn class. Who has the energy for all of that? I must admit though…I do appreciate his encouraging clap while we do the sprint portion. It always adds a little boost.

I’ve also picked up a new workout phenomenon called CrossFit. I don’t know, perhaps it’s just new to me and my world of running around in circles and jumping in sand, but this stuff is legit. In fact, if you live in San Diego you should come join me at CrossFitInvictus. I promise you will sweat buckets and get strong like nobody’s business. What I love about it is that it’s a bunch of random Joe’s and Jane’s but they work out like some G’s. How many soccer moms’ do you know that can do pull-ups?!

So basically, I’ve chosen to broaden my horizons. Of course I can’t incorporate these workouts all year due to the specificity of my sport, but it feels nice to switch it up a bit. It gives me an appreciation for other types of workouts and the people who do them for the sheer joy of being in shape. Pretty soon I will be one of those people. And once I become a soccer mom, I want to be able to hang with the best of them.

The Challenge!

I’ve been a bad blogger. Horrible actually. And it probably wouldn’t really matter except that I know people expect me to be writing things. Each day I check to see how many folks have stopped by to be let down and it makes me feel a little worse each day. Of course this isn’t my job and I don’t get paid to write about my sometimes boring and not so fabulous life, but I do feel a responsibility to fulfill expectations, however small they may be. The problem at times is that my life can be reaaaalllly boring. Like, majorly so. During those times, it takes effort to write something I could feel ok with people wasting 2 minutes of their life on.

I happen to be experiencing many of those days now. Just ho hum life void of any creative juices to inspire me. In an effort to get myself out of this funk, I’m challenging myself to be better…or at the very least write a bunch of crap. For the next week I will vow to blog each and every day. I don’t know what exactly I will blog, but if nothing else I’ll share what I ate for lunch and how I get really mad when I accidentally step in the poop my neighbor failed to pick up. Yea…that happened earlier today. What I have found lately, is that people seem to respond far more to dating/relationship blogs then they do to anything related to athletics. There is only one problem with that…the lack of useful data to write such a blog. So for now I am open to any ideas and suggestions as to what to write about, and in the meantime check back daily if you have a couple minutes to waste!

Day 1

They say that all good things must come to an end. That sentiment must also apply to laziness…otherwise known as my off-season. Today marks the first official day of practice for many of my professional counterparts and I. It’s time to lace back up the shoes, pull out the spandex, and start eating as if we are going to be seen in said spandex. Last I heard it’s not a good idea to sport a muffin top in a sports bra and boy shorts.

To say that I kind of let myself go during this time would be an understatement. Eating and behaving the way I do for 4 to 6 weeks out of the year is not something I would ever recommend for someone leading a healthy lifestyle. You hear of cheat days, but who really justifies a cheat month??? We do. I speak for others in my same boat only because I know I’m not alone during this time. For some of us, we show our six-packs in the summer and by November it’s just one big keg.

Peaking your body is quite different than just being fit and staying in shape. Track and field athletes probably exhibit this more than any other sport. Each part of the year requires a different type of fitness and because of that, its ok to basically start from scratch. After you climb the mountain, so to speak, and peak for your Championship, the aftermath is a slow descent down the other side of that mountain until you find yourself at the end of the season completely and utterly depleted. Sometimes you even hit that point before the season is actually over, but whatever the case may be, you still allow yourself the opportunity to hang out at the bottom for a little while before it’s time to turn around and take that first step in tackling that mountain again. I’m not quite sure if it’s as much of a physical necessity as it is a mental one, but I definitely need the downtime to reenergize myself to the task in front of me.

Day 1 of my year starts today. I don’t need a calendar to tell me that my 2010 season has officially begun. For the most part, I feel like I’m ready. And even if I’m not all the way there, I need to get going before none of my jeans fit me anymore and I’m forced to wear sweats at all times. It’s that darn muffin top trying to rear it’s ugly head.

The Single Life

This past weekend, I celebrated a friend’s imminent passing from the life of single and sometimes fabulous, to a life of wedded bliss. At this age, bachelorette parties are becoming more and more frequent and every time I get the chance to attend one of these events, I secretly sing under my breath…
…Another one bites the dust. And another one bites, and another one bites, another one bites the dust.

I kid. While the fact remains that I myself am still single and fabulous, I have yet to feel like I’m missing out on something, even though I’m getting up there in years and those around me are falling like flies. In fact, I may not ever even bother to think twice about it except that probably the most common question I get is the dreaded, ‘why are you single’???

What, may I ask, would be an appropriate answer to such a question? I honestly think it’s probably the most asinine question one could ask. It’s quite obvious I’m not a nun so I have not dedicated my life to religious devotion and given up my right to marry. Either I throw myself under the bus and claim to be totally un-dateable and un-loveable (in which case I might as well become a nun), or… I throw them under the bus and claim there are just none out there that measure up to my awesomeness. Well I won’t tell you what side of the scale I believe the truth to be found on, but if you know me you could probably take a wild guess.

I kid. The truth remains that there are a lot of fabulous single people in this world of both sexes, and for some reason they haven’t met each other yet. I believe I’m in that group and I truly believe that my future husband is as well. So I wait patiently for him and in the meantime I don’t worry about the fact that I haven’t found him yet. There is no reason for me not to be single right now and that is the most honest answer I can come up with. Besides, as fabulous as I might be, perhaps God is still working on me and preparing me for the more fabulous version that will exist in the future and knock the socks off my future hubby. If that’s the case…patience is a virtue.

In the meantime, anyone have a clever answer I could add to my arsenal?

Angels Game: Two Perspectives.

Many of my friends know that I blog. They always wonder if whatever we are doing at that particular moment will end up on the blog and what my spin on it will actually be. Yesterday I went to the Angels and Yankees game with a friend and he asked if I was going to blog about it. “Maybe”, I replied. And then he said he could probably blog it for me because he knew what I was going to say. So I told him to give it his best shot. Tell my story, in my voice, the way you think I experienced it. Even though it wasn’t as easy as he thought, he did give it his best shot. And since I had already blogged it too, I’m giving you my real version. How close did he get? (I know…it’s hard to nail down my biting sarcasm).

HIS VERSION

I decided to take the train to the Angel Yankee game last night. It's a two hour train ride, but its better than dealing with traffic, and the train arrives exactly at game time 5:00. I'm supposed to meet someone there at 5. However, he didn't show up till 6. Obviously I am annoyed by this, I can be understanding when it comes to traffic, but an hour, come on buddy. Not to mention this isn't the first time this person has made me wait before. I'm debating whether or not to turn around and go home and delete this person from my phone. Needless to say, he finally arrives and although a little annoyed we proceed to go into the game.

When going to a baseball game one of the many traditions is to experience stadium food. You can't go to a baseball game and not experience the fine cuisine. Being a bud girl, I had to partake in a couple bud lights and some sliders from Ruby's Diner. Being that it is a baseball game I also had to have a hot dog. You can't go to a game and not have a hot dog right? It would be Un-American.

The game was very entertaining, from the action on the field to the drunk yankee fans that proceeded to high five me on his way out. Even though I wasn't rooting for the yankees, I wasn't wearing my Angels red and neither was the person I was with. I can see how I can be easily confused with being a yankees fan.

All and all I had a great time at the game, and the person I was with completely made up for being late and I enjoyed his company tremendously. He walked me back to the train station, saw that I got off safely and I proceeded to enjoy my train ride home.


MY VERSION

I like going to sporting events even when I’m not a particularly big fan of the sport. Like Baseball for instance…I never watch a game on T.V. during the regular season. I’m going to need a little more action and a little more signifcance if I’m going to shell out 3 hours of my life like that. But I will go to a baseball game, and I’ll even be excited to go if it’s the playoffs. So when my friend called me up to ask me if I’d like to go to the Angel game at 5pm, when it was already 2pm and I was sitting in San Diego, I did my best to make it happen.

Not only did I make it, I made it on time. What is the implication here? The fact that he did not. If I hadn’t already traveled 2 hours by train, I would not have still been sitting there almost an hour later when he finally showed up!! I don’t appreciate waiting on people, especially when the excuse is bad traffic. This ain’t Kansas buddy, this is the 5 Freeway in Southern California at 5 pm on a workday en route to a major sporting event. You may not live here, but our traffic has a reputation, so there can be no cop out. So I did what I do best, and failed miserably at hiding my irritation.

We managed to make it into the game before either team had scored (big shocker there), so my experience wasn’t totally ruined. I then proceeded to eat 3 days worth of calories in the next 3 hours. If you can’t watch a baseball game eating and drinking the whole time, I really don’t even see the point.

The Angels ended up losing and I pretended to care but it was all for naught as I was accidentally dressed in Yankee colors and I got more hi fives than sad looks anyway. In fact, the buddies I met on the train ride home invited me to join them in their celebration. Who am I to ruin a good time? So yes, I ended up enjoying myself. And next time, he probably knows if he is going to be late to just turn around and go home.