Exercise.

We've stayed pretty busy lately, which is why this blog has been updated --- nary at all! What have we been doing? So much! So much! Brandy got a job, which I think she will describe in greater detail later. Lisa got rejected by many jobs, which she will probably never discuss in greater detail because it makes her feel worthless. Notice how I just wrote in third person in order to displace my own pain. But it's okay! Perhaps there are brighter days ahead! Or perhaps there aren't.

Anyway.

I want to talk about some of my adventures in bike riding, but first, I think everyone should enjoy a clip from the latest fitness routine that Brandy and I have been using. After a tough day involving chasing buses and knocking on their windows as they moved in order to gain entry and watching Notre Dame lose to USC and selling $134 worth of friendship bracelets at the Chicago Children's Theatre gift shop, all I wanted to do was go running. But it was dark outside and that felt unsafe. So. Brandy and I decided to find a workout video using Comcast OnDemand.

DID WE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!

After you watch that, I encourage you to watch the related videos of "Don't Cha" and "Cardioke Slide." It will probably help you understand our lives in Chicago better, and you will also whip yourself into shape!

CARDIOKE IS THE GREATEST INVENTION OF ALL TIME

Yes but in other adventures, the other day I was riding my bike and a voice popped into my ear out of nowhere as I was moving. In a heavy Irish accent, I heard,"Eh miss 'er's somethin' wrong with yer tyre!" And sure enough, I looked back, and THERE WAS AN IRISH MAN RIDING HIS BIKE ALONGSIDE ME. And then I looked down and sure enough, MY TIRE WAS DEMONIZED. So I pulled over to the side of the road and abandoned my bike right there (after locking it, of course) and just hopped on a bus. I was so scared. But now I am somewhat spoiled by public transit. Because frankly... I did NOT look cool on a bike. You know how city bike riders are super cool? In their super cute pink and blue trendy Zooey Deschanel helmets? Or helmet-less, windswept hair, fixed gear bikes, leaning forward with messanger bags? Always moving forward at a brisk speed, whipping around cars with ease, proving that green transportation trumps a car any day? Yeah, I've never looked like that. I pass storefront windows and I notice myself. My mountain bike makes me sit straight up. And I can't ride fast. And my helmet is literally the dorkiest thing ever. It's not cute and it's not hardcore. It's just somewhere in the middle... like leisurely... 90s... 10 year old... neighborhood... biker. So anyway, yeah, I really want to fix my bike, but I'm enjoying looking like a real city girl on public transportation with my newspapers and books.

Another sport I've decided to take up is crossword puzzles. I've just never done them. I think it would be a good skill. I realize I am about 6 years behind most people my age, which is why I'm not going to do it competitively. This is going to be something I do for myself. I tried to go to a raucous Notre Dame game watch the other day at a bar. I imagined middle-aged men throwing beer around, spilling it on me, and generally creating a ruckus. This did not happen. This is when I realized that I was imagining watching TV in a pub in Ireland and not Chicago. Chicago: it is not all drunk people and sunshine and rainbow dreams. Sometimes, it is just a few young professionals watching a heart-wrenching game in a trendy bar. Sometimes it is getting sprayed with all-purpose cleaner by your roommate. Sometimes it is being rejected by a job everyone said you were going to get.

But sometimes? Sometimes Chicago is when your roommate brings you donuts and a (another) random man gives you and Mallory free pizza and you get to see The Room in the theater for free! So it's okay.