OK, so I'm a day late, really two days, as I should have had my February resolutions ready to go by January 31, so I could have actually started them on the 1st. Not a good way to start the shortest month of the year, but first a recap of January.
I completed three out of the five January resolutions. The two incomplete ones were christening the brew kit and finishing the book I got for Christmas on how to brew. My other three were done, as well as being mostly faithful to the Fab Abs workout. I had a couple times when I was injured, and I thought it wise to take a couple days to recover and get back to it. Still, I reached the point of being able to do 30 push-ups and plank for over two minutes, as well as getting up to 75 crunches (sit ups are too much on the back right now). Not a 100% success, but nowhere near as much a failure as if I hadn't tried at all. Time to step it up.
Fitness goal, 90 crunches, 40 push-ups, three minute plank. I'm going to create my own schedule to get there. In addition, my February focus is to find a good leg workout, hopefully one that can add both strength and size. I've complained about my legs most of my life, and for a few years I was actually self-conscious about wearing shorts. I kind of still am, but no longer to the point where I won't wear them. It's the truth that I stand on a pair of long, skinny legs, and I wouldn't mind having the problem of having to get a couple new pairs of pants because my old ones just can't accommodate the extra circumference of my newly bulked tree trunks. But seriously, if I can find a workout this month that, faithfully employed, adds an inch or two around for the year, I'm a happy man. I don't have machines, a barbell or a budget to get either, so I may need to get creative. I have bands, and I think they can be incorporated. The point is to get started doing it until it becomes a regular routine, no complaining, just doing. Oh, and if anyone knows of any workouts good for building leg strength and mass, feel free to share them. Even if I have a good routine by the time you share it, I can always tweak the existing one.
Enough waiting on the brewing. I want it done this week. The one Judy got me with the kit is a dark brown ale, and after brew day is a two week fermentation period, then another two weeks after bottling, and it looks like that brew is good for cold weather. As for the book, I need to get a little cooperation from life on giving me some reading time. So no more crises that involve anything that can't be handled without me.
Musical goal remains the same, one song written, start to finish. If I finish one that I already had the idea for, that doesn't count. I've had an idea for a musical, or maybe a concept album, still undecided, and decided yesterday to start working on the Intro/Overture. A prog rock song in the shortest month? What am I thinking? Ever since I performed Felix Mendelssohn's "Elijah" with the Catholic University chorus in the spring of 1993, I was intrigued by the idea of an intro with singing before the overture. It seemed to break the rigid musical rules we were told to obey, only to break them elsewhere, and so the rebellious side of me embraced that. So my second musical...or first concept album...will have an intro before the overture, unlike "Chrysalis," which has no overture at all. I have a couple other musical ideas long buried in my head digging their way out of the grave like zombies, except instead of craving brains, they crave completion, performance and recording. I suppose a zombie wouldn't have the capacity to say that, though, so these undead song ideas are probably a little smarter. I mean, how many zombies do you know that understand anything about 7/8 time?
I think those are reasonable expectations for February. It's enough to keep me busy, but not so much that I'm sabotaging myself. Here's hoping and praying I improve on January's results. I didn't win the race to keep those resolutions, but I got out on the track and ran it. Maybe that's the most important part of all this. God knows we're imperfect, but still expects us to try, continuing to get up and keep going when we fall. I don't know if the groundhog saw his shadow, but I say a new springtime is beginning to bud in me. I can't wait to see what grows.
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