People Power

I have not always been a "thin" person.  In fact, I still don't see myself as thin.  Average maybe, but thin by most people's standards I guess.  I think if you are or have ever been fat, you'll always be fat on the inside.  There is a certain self-devaluing mindset that accompanies obesity.  But happily, I lost weight in college.  I'd lost some in high school mind you, but instead of gaining the freshman 15, I lost it.  Twice over.  In the intervening 5-7 years, I'd done the gradual, 5lb a year weight gain.  It finally came to the point where I was going to have to do something, or buy new clothes.  Read that first post again...being impoverished doesn't exactly jive with new wardrobes.  Fortunately last year the organization (and I use that term loosely) that I worked for offered Weight Watchers to any employee willing to go through the program for something ridiculous like 16 weeks.  It was fantastic.  People chided me as, "not needing to lose weight," but at 175 lbs and standing just under 5'9", I was considered to be overweight.  I lost 25 lbs last summer doing that, and vowed I would never let that happen again.  A year later, I'm within 5 lbs of last year.  But that is how it started before, no?  Those sneaky 5 lbs. 

That is the backstory of course, and you're here (well, if anyone actually read this) because of the present.  I'm trying to find ways to increase activity, and save money.  So I've decided to merge the two goals, and I'm planning to begin commuting to work by bicycle at least part of the time.  I don't live as close as I used to.  When I worked downtown, it was just barely over 2 miles to work.  Now, it's just under 15.  Before you assume I'm crazy, hear me out.  At 15 miles, that should take me near an hour to make the trip.  Many people drive longer than that.  And let's face it, a 15 mile bike ride is nothing.  I'm also looking at selling one of my cars and buying something uber fuel efficient.  And incidentally, cheaper to insure than a Luxury Sport Coupe.  My only concern is traveling a rather busy route to work on a road where there is no shoulder in most cases.  That means as a bicyclist, I have to do the "pisses everyone off" thing and take up a whole lane by myself.  But hey, if it's the difference between me, and me squished on the sidewalk, I can curse and flip them right back off when they pass.

People powered objects are liberating in my opinion.  It connects you more with the task at hand.  Ever done laundry by hand?  Decidedly more fun than people realize.  Ever make something on a treadle sewing machine?  Very rewarding.  The mechanical connection between man and machine, and the substantive relationship between man and his ability to provide for himself is liberating.  Liberating in perhaps a way that laundry has never been.  There is corporate slavery involved in using your washing machine.  Without a job, you can't afford the machine, or the gas and electric to run them.  I think sometimes our own leisure time contributes to our petty dissatisfactions with life.