"And ladies if you follow these instructions exactly you might bear to pull you a rapper"

I wasn't planning on going to the gym today. I was planning on lying on the couch, feeding my coffee addiction and continuing to relish in my depression induced by being an unemployed twenty-three year old with the most useless degree in the world since I never went into it with the notion of teaching rug rats. If I have to be that unemployeed girl with knowledge of the technical terms for all things politically correct in the world (because what else did I learn in Feminist Theory besides how to charm the lesbian professor with my witty writing), I might as well look good.

Did I ever mention that it is the tiniest gym ever? At first I thought I might have accidentally walked into an assisted living facility. I was the youngest person there by fifty years. I felt very left out of the cool kids club, thanks to their icy stares.

I think the cardio machines are hand-me-downs from the 80's. I don't think. I know. In true Amanda fashion, I had to try every cardio machine, just because I was so amazed that this technology still exists. The most stable would probably be the treadmill but I find that to be so dull so I hopped back onto the elliptical, but the one with buttons. Not the one where you have to crank the knob to select your desired resistance. It groaned and creaked under all 108 pounds of me and at any moment I was ready to jump and roll to avoid any flying parts that might come my way. As my iPod battery decided it wanted to torture me by dying, I only spent 12:18 on the animated, volatile machine.

I headed over to the weights, which seemed a little more promising and up to date. Unfortunately, they didn't have my favorite machine in the whole wide world - the twisty abdominal one. The abdominal one they did have was another left over, this one dating probably to about mid 1990's but I'm not sure because my form of exercise back then included kick ball and not weight training.

To sum up my experience - thank goodness it's only $20 a month.

It's a silly time to learn to swim when you start to drown...

After three weeks of being back in upstate New York, I finally have a gym membership! The best part is, it's only $20 a month for six months! Incredibly cheap for this area. I'm super excited to get back into working out after a few weeks of sitting around. I think that's one of the factors resulting in my intense moodiness. They don't have a lot of classes though which sucks but oh well. Maybe I can find some cheap yoga classes in the area or just force K. to do yoga DVDs with me.

Now that I have a membership, I can start making new work-out playlists! I typically listen to hardcore while exercising (underOATH, From Autumn to Ashes, Every Time I Die, Drop Dead Gorgeous) but lately it's been more electro (The Bloody Beetroots, MSTRKRFT, Boys Noize, Uffie, Blank & Jones). Sometimes there's even my typical indie choices in there (Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, The Pierces) What do you recommend?

I just read "This is Not Chick Lit" which is a collection of short stories, edited by Elizabeth Merrick. I absolutely loved it and would recommend it. Some of the stories are heartbreaking, others comical and heart warming, while there are those that are just disturbing in a way that really makes you think about different situations you may have never considered before. It is not a cheap shot at "chick lit" as many have come to see it, including the editor of "This is Chick Lit" but rather an opportunity to give the spotlight to eighteen female modern literary talents. I think my favorite story was Cristina Henríquez's "Gabriella My Heart" about a young man coming to terms with his homosexuality.