Eye of the Tiger

Okay guys’ cue the music. The montage sequence is about to begin. Show images of Kimberlee at home, getting up on time and getting dressed, putting on make-up. Next come images of Kimberlee at work, learning how to be a library clerk, lifting red plastic bins full of books and smiling at customers. Then come images of Kimberlee at the gym, riding a stationary bike and lifting weights. Finally, we see an image of Kimberlee falling into bed, asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow. The good news is that training is over and my regular work schedule has begun. My last week of training at the library was also my final week of school, and since training was full-time, it was a crazy struggle to try and balance everything so that it all got done.

It almost didn’t get done. I arrived at my Astronomy final without bringing any of my homework, and had to put everything I had stored on my flash drive (which wasn’t everything) onto my professor’s computer. Luckily, I had so many points already that I had an ‘A’ grade in the class whether I turned in everything or not. That was a wonderful relief. So I managed to maintain my 4.0 GPA, and although I didn’t go, my graduation was on the 25th. I don’t have the certificates in my hands, but for all intents and purposes, I am the possessor of two shiny A.A. degrees. Yay me. I start school at SFSU the last week of August, and I have my orientation in July. I have to get my immunizations before I can register for classes, but that’ll be taken care of in June, so I’m not worried. As long as I can get into all the classes I’ve chosen, I should be rolling in puppies on that front. My regular schedule at my new job for the library is on Thursdays from 11 - 8, Fridays from 12 - 5, and Saturdays from 9 - 5. It’s taken a little bit of adjustment to get used to working a schedule like that, but I’m enjoying it.

I love the library, and I’m even glad I’m on my feet all day because it will help me lose the 30 lbs. I want gone by December. At the end of the day, my feet are sore but I feel good about the work I’ve done. The patrons of the library are generally less grumpy than were those at medi-cal, and that’s really helped with my nerves; it’s great to work in a place where the biggest arguments you encounter with the patrons are regarding late fees in the $10+ range. My new job is a lot more physical than the old one, and that’s a good thing. Instead of sitting at a computer in my cubical all day, I’m moving all over the place and rarely get to sit down at all. It’s a fairly busy environment, which might sound surprising for a library, but I’ve discovered that there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes than people realize. There’s also a dress code, so the shoes I wear all day are of the generally uncomfortable, non-tennis shoes variety.

I refuse to wear high heels, because they hurt no matter how hard the companies try to say they’ve produced a ‘comfortable pump.’ That’s an oxymoron if ever there was one. I’ve also started going back to the gym, which is something I attacked with my usual vigor only to have to pull back again because I’d pushed too fast. It’s really difficult to take things slowly when you feel you’ve lost time already. My first time back at the gym I did my usual routine at what I thought was a comfortable pace. I rode the stationary bike for half an hour and then lifted weights for half an hour. While my intentions were good, I should have made a greater effort to go at a far slower than comfortable pace, at least until my body got used to moving those muscles again in their weakened state. I was sore all over for several days, and had I not been wearing my surgical garment, I think it would have turned out even worse. I also developed a kind of ’stitch’ in my left side; a painful knot in my muscles that twinges if my abdomen stretches too far in any direction. I first noticed it Monday afternoon (having returned to the gym the previous Friday), and I’m not sure exactly what caused it, but it’s prevented me from going back to gym for a full week. I want to resume a normal workout routine, but I don’t want to go too fast and hurt myself even more. It’s frustrating, but I know it’ll all work out in time. I see my doctor in a few weeks, and if I’m still having troubles I can talk to him about that then. So school is out, I’m working part-time, and I’m trying to get my routine settled.

I figure that by the time I’ve gotten settled into any kind of a schedule, it’ll be time for school to start and I’ll have to reconfigure and adjust all over again. That’s the way it goes. Right now, things are going well, and my biggest hassle is getting myself out of bed on my days off and accomplishing some of the other things I want to do - like my writing. The only part of my ‘Rambo training sequence’ from the intro that isn’t correct is the part where I fall soundly into sleep at the end of the day. No matter how exhausted I am, I still have trouble both falling asleep, and actually making the decision that it’s time to go to sleep in the first place. I’ve always been a night owl, and my desire to stay up late is made worse by a lingering touch of insomnia.

The hard part is that when I stay up late, I sleep in later, and then I start a sleep cycle that difficult to get out of, especially now that I’m only working three days a week at very different hours than I’ve gotten used to over the last six years. I suppose that, and getting back into a regular workout routine, are the next hurdles I need to jump in my never ending search for normalcy - whatever that is.