The democracy workout

Got up around 9 today, web-browsed for a while, then went out and voted. Straight Democratic ticket (even held my nose and voted for Major Owens), and No on Giuliani’s leftover proposition about the public advocate. (My polling place is the Brooklyn Museum. Casting a vote there just doesn’t feel as good as it did when I was voting against Rudy.)

Then I headed into Manhattan and checked out the New York Sports Club branch near Union Square. I got a free one-week trial membership, and if I decide to join by Thursday I get a discount on the initiation fee and November for free.

I’m pretty psyched to get back to working out. I’m currently at 274 pounds. Two or three weeks of effort could bring me to the lowest weight of my adult life; from that point on, every new pound I lose sets a personal record. Exciting territory.

Transit sketches

I’m getting better at drawing in moving vehicles. Some recent material from Sketchpad Minor:

These women were sitting across the aisle from me on my bus trip up to Boston last Friday. The one on the left, with her hair in a kerchief, was directly across from me (I think). The other was diagonally behind; I got her profile because she was looking out the window. I was too overwhelmed with social withdrawal symptoms on the ride back to draw, or even read. I mostly just slept.

I drew this guy on the subway today, coming back from the gym. I started with a woman across the car, but she moved shortly after I started when her friends found seats. I got her nose and one eye. This guy was writing something, so he was pretty intent and didn’t move much.

Carrying Sketchpad Minor (my name for my small Moleskine sketchpad) and a small pen (Sakura Pigma Micron 005; that’s permanent, waterproof, pigment ink with a .20mm tip — I love modern technology!) in my hip pocket (more than three decades wearing pants and I’ve only now discovered a use for hip pockets) has made me much more likely to whip ’em out and start sketching on a passing whim, just as I’d hoped it would. On the down side, I’m nattering on about art supplies again. (Hey, there are far worse things I could natter on about.)

And the new, OSX-compatible scanner has made me more likely to stick art in my journal entries. Again, all according to plan. Next, I gain control of the Senate....