Good

The weekend rocked.  We spent much of the day Saturday biking through downtown Charleston - it was awesome.  I've already got my sights on a half decent bike for when I move downtown.  Part of the allure is not having to drive everywhere.  Everything here is accessible by bike.

My world has settled down quite a bit over the past couple of weeks but there's still a significant amount of "up in the air" going on.  The good thing is that it really  doesn't feel all that much like "up in the air" at the moment but regardless, that's what it is.  I've been here for a month already and I'll finally be moving into my apartment next week.  I've been living in other peoples' spaces (thanks to dear friends!), out of a suitcase, and generally without an address for several weeks now so finally having a place that's mine (well, as long as I pay the rent) will truly be a significant step towards "settled".

I'm moving into a place right in the middle of downtown Charleston.  I've never really lived downtown anywhere before and although I'll agree that this isn't a typical downtown it's also very much the heart of the city.  There are restaurants, galleries, scenic streets and homes, the ocean is 3 blocks away - it's right down in there.  Anyway, I'm looking forward to sipping this experience to see how it tastes.

I've even started going to the fitness center again.  The last time I remember going was just before Easter.  I've shared before how overall fitness is directly connected with my overall psyche and sense of wellness so when one suffers they all do.  Thankfully I've been keeping myself active with walking, running, kayaking and other activities that provide at least the illusion that I'm keeping myself in some kind of shape.  But there's nothing like going to the gym and spending some time lifting weights to tone, or running on a treadmill, or spending 45 minutes sweating on the elyptical trainer. 

Truth be told, I've set my sights on competing next year during the wrestling season.  I don't expect to be the champion and actually my most significant opponents aren't other people, they're my body and my head.  But next year is the year that athletes will be qualifying to compete in the US Olympic Trials and that seems like a worthwhile goal.  They happen next April.  It's ironic that the US World Team Trials are happening this coming weekend and that's where I got hurt last year.  The athlete who beat me there won the US Championships in Cleveland a few weeks ago and is currently ranked #1 in the country.  Anyway - I'm a very goal driven person and that's one of my goals.  So is not getting permanently injured....

I mentioned in my last post that I had been asked to write a column for CNN.  It was published last Thursday (read it here)  and email from haters was only a trickle of its usual flow from these kinds of things.  As I've said in the past I'm very careful to NOT read comments - last I saw there were 335 of them but that's as much detail as I want.

One of the reasons this is pertinent is another story on CNN today about "reparative therapy" for a "feminine" boy who eventually committed suicide (read it here).  People seem to think that these parents in Toronto are irresponsible parents for not giving into societal pressures to socialize their kids based on gender but tragic stories like this highlight just how crazed so many people get about this.  Who's irresponsible?  The parents should be shot.  The doctor should be prosecuted.  All in all, everyone let this poor kid down.  The real tragedy is that is happens every single day over and over again.  Anyway, this kind of stuff makes me crazy.

I never had to deal with any of this as a kid because I knew how I was supposed to act and I did what I needed to do.  I "passed" as a guy very well to the point that by high school anyone who even looked at me wrong was looking for a fight.  I made sure to get into at least one fight every year because just being in one brought a level of street cred that deflected any other indications that might seep out.  By the time I was in college I'd go out with the other wrestlers and they'd all order beer while I ordered a Tequila Sunrise (they're very pretty!).  Nobody gave it a second thought, and rightly so.

Onwards....