rain rain, go away...

i swear i have good reason for the lack of posts!

ok, no good reasons, just a bunch of excuses. but... i've been out of town in dallas for lisa & tom's wedding, some wisdom teeth extraction, and just when i get back into town... it rains ALL. WEEKEND. LONG. this is no bueno for the training, that's for sure.

but... in case you're mildly interested about the other goings-ons(?) of tina chang...

one. lisa & tom's wedding.
beautiful ceremony at the crescent hotel in dallas (one of my favorite hotels as far as architecture goes); beautiful, stunning bride (duh); best best man's speech i've ever heard (but i'd hate to give d.payesteh a bigger ego boost than he already received); most uncomfortable father-of-the-bride speech i've ever heard (highlights? having a dream about his daughter riding a strong, fast horse...i think something got lost in that translation?); full night of dancing that i haven't had in YEARS, but oh.so.fun!; great dancing practice for slp's wedding in september (cannnnnot wait.)  so that's that.

two. wisdom teeth extraction.
not as painful as i had been told it could have been... mostly because my teeth (thank you mom & dad for those wonderful genes) were all erupted (that's a good thing in dental speak, apparently) and not impacted so NO CUTTING. just pulling.
things i learned/reaffirmed about myself through this process --

• i'm chicken sh*t (ok, i didn't really just learn this about myself, but my mom said that i looked far more scared than she thought i would be... and that i was this nice pale shade of white that i (obviously) never am.)  
• i can't relax for ...well, sh*t. the dentist lady put me on the nitrous...i asked her when i would know that it had kicked in.. she said, "you'll know." then i felt nauseous/hungry. then i fell asleep (clearly...relaxed). then she woke me up to start.. and that's apparently when i started to strain against the effects of the nitrous. i thought i was relaxed...but then when the effects started wearing off, my chest/shoulders were SO SORE...and she said, "see? i told you to relax." *hangs head in shame*
• i have some serious separation issues... even with my teeth! i suppose it had been a source of pride that i'd been able to hold onto those wisdom teeth for so long. (they came in in HS). and then, you know... i grew to love having them... and now i have these gaping holes in the back of my mouth and it's so... empty. my dentist let me keep my teeth though (see below).  yes, i'm a baby. i'm ok with that.
• apparently, i have an exceptionally large tongue. that is what the dentist told me. when this will come in handy, i have no idea.  but it gets in the way of tooth extraction. 

hiding the one chipmunk cheek. and look how pretty those two are!
i'm totally making a necklace...

three. shadow of the wind. (carlos ruiz zafon)
SO. GOOD! go read it. quickest 500-page read (except maybe HP) out there.  next up? still taking recommendations. but i realized i never finished love in the time of cholera so that's probably next. what's with me & the spanish books?

four. i miss texas.  but that's nothing new.

alright -- so. aside from all that, i came back to atlanta to lots of rain, so no rides. the first couple of spin classes since i've been back have been... uninspiring. i think i just need to be re-motivated. plus, i can feel my mouth throbbing (sounds hot, i know.) this weekend though -- i'm ready for some back-to-back rides sat/sun with leon & workman... northside revenge? you have NOTHING on me (so i say now. wish me luck. only 24 miles... but over 3,000 ft. of climbing. *snort*)

ps - here's a shout out to all of my supporters so far... thank you SO MUCH for everything! beyond the monetary donations, i really TRULY appreciate the encouragement :) so, thank you.

the hills are alive...

with cows! ATVs! wildlife!

this past saturday was another silk sheets ride... i finished my first 50-mile ride! whoohoo! and i didn't fall! double woo! (it's the little things y'all...the little things.)

fellow texan (and longhorn fan), greg shoemake

saturday morning, we (greg, blake, john, jeff, and that-other-guy-whose-name-escapes-me-but-is-a-teacher-at-paideia-and-doesn't-own-a-car) headed out to do a 50-mile ride in palllllmetto, georgia.  (that is how i expect one to pronounce that.)  and yes, it was the silk sheets ride again, but a longer loop. and much MUCH warmer which was definitely appreciated.  i suppose i had SORTA forgotten it would be hilly, but greg assured me that nothing on the actual ride would be worse than any of the hills we hit that day.

along the way, we passed... (many) cows. 3 ATVs. random wildlife. LOTS of trucks. an unbelievable number of john deere lawnmowers. and even something that looked like a cult compound... kids - stick to metro atlanta. i'm telling you what... i don't know how people live out there....the only non-residential buildings we passed were: 1 fire station, 3 gas stations, a "grocery mart" that was attached to one of those gas stations, and a whole heap of churches. (not surprising.)

3.5 hours later, despite the nice weather and lovely scenery (hey, i can see the plus side to things!) i was SO ready to be done (and to eat my arm)... but thanks to the boys and their encouragement, i was actually able to finish because really... i didn't think i would at about mile 43 or so... then again, i wanted to scream every time i saw ANOTHER HILL because someone may have told me, "i promise, that was the last one!"

lies. allllll lies.

but now, after finishing 50, i'm thinking 100 (back-to-back) is going to be super challenging... especially when the heat and humidity kick up in georgia.  but i don't suppose i can back out now, especially since i just mailed out those "sponsor me!" emails... with this link... and you know, that whole not-backing-down-from-a-challenge personality flaw that i have. hm.

IF you are reading this as a result of that email, please know that i'm deeply grateful and appreciative of all of y'all's support and any little bit will help.  And...if you live in georgia and you don't think you can help out financially, the ride can always use volunteers because really - nothing keeps us going like seeing friendly faces at pit stops :)  SO... I hope to see some of you out there!

in other goal-related news:
- i started reading Shadow of the Wind on sunday...it's really good. i'm almost done. i'm pretty sure the last 100 pages aren't going to suck and ruin the book, so i'll stick with that. (this is why i shouldn't be a book reviewer...or a reviewer of any kind.)
- i finished knitting the mittens i started for my friend back in january! that is BIG for me... considering i started a scarf for my cousin 3 years ago and finally finished this past december. and then realized that the scarf was actually a bit short, so... i don't know if i can say i REALLY finished.
- i didn't end of signing up/doing the tough mudder with iljin & hoot-daddy. but after listening to their stories and looking at the pictures, it's probably a good thing i didn't.. i probably would've broken/sprained something given my accident-prone self...
- the SAAC pool opens April 1. which means i have no more excuses on why i shouldn't start swimming/tri-training. which also means that i will have to actually sign up for one.
- tina 2.0 may have regressed to more like...1.5+. still being open-minded. but still being passive-aggressive. we're workin' out the bugs.

i'll be heading home to dallas this weekend for a wedding (congrats tom & lisa!) and then getting some wisdom teeth pulled... i hope this doesn't put me out of commission for too long because i really can't take that much time off the training...eek!  looking forward to some 80 degree texas weather, though!

i need a dream analyst

or i just need to stop having weird dreams.  though, i suppose technically, there's nothing *that* weird about them... but you can be the judge of that:

dream #1: now i think i know why/how i had this dream, so this one isn't so hard to figure out. BUT...it's still bizarre. the other night (and by "other night", i do mean last week), it was the first really lovely evening in atlanta, so of course i cut off the heat/AC and went to windows... yay for pre-pollen open window season! and then i fell asleep on my couch as i am apt to do. and then i woke up at 4 AM from this lovely dream where i had left the doors (windows) wide open at my house, and thieves had come in in the middle of the night and stolen... MY KITCHEN CABINETS. INCLUDING THE GRANITE COUNTERTOPS.  my laptop was right there next to me. my bike. my car (& keys). my tv (although, to be fair, no one could probably carry my TV, nor want it. then again.. if they're moving cabinets...)  but yes -- my beautiful cabinets.  i really don't think i hold any particular attachment towards them, but apparently... i do. and man, was i angry to find out that some thieves had taken them.

discuss.

dream #2: i don't really remember much about this, or what the lead in to the segment i DO remember is, BUT... i dreamed that i went rollerblading down clairmont road with lance armstrong... and then we caused a major car accident at the intersection of clairmont rd. & starvine (up to the SAAC)... why WOULD i be rollerblading with lance armstrong?  meh. i don't know. WHY NOT i say.

go ahead. i've looked. apparently "rollerblading" and "lance armstrong" don't appear in dream analysis books very often.

in other news, i've now gone out 3 times on my bike WITHOUT falling. i call this PROGRESS!  but of course, now that i've said this... i'm probably going to wipe out this weekend. speaking of weekends, my (other pretend) husband (j.bo) was in town this past weekend and it was SO good to see him... i'm trying to encourage him to move back to ATL without really knowing if this is where i want to stay. but at least i can get him & chris back here in the meantime and THEN figure it out... (how selfish am i?!?!?)

and after staying in bed all saturday (thank you rain), i got off my lazy butt to go out and do the Silk Sheets ride down south of the airport with bill & chuck. things i learned on this ride:
1. IF it has barely made it past 42 degrees at the start of your ride, and EVEN IF your meteorologist CLAIMS it will be "warming up"... DON'T BELIEVE HIM. and don't ride. i. was. freezing. i sucked it up, thought warm thoughts, was doing fine... until i realized i couldn't feel my fingers or toes. i suppose i could also remedy this with gloves that cover ALL my fingers. and perhaps some shoe covers. but really...none of me was all that warm. and i was wearing 3 shirts. and 2 pairs of pants.
2. bill has a sick sense of humor.
3. bojangles chicken... is DELICIOUS. i will ride for food :)

all that being said, i'm encouraged by the fact that bill (who is a trainer) told us that the vast majority of the actual ride was much like what we were on...and they weren't so bad. i really am looking forward to a little warmer temperature though....

til next week!

OH! i finally finished reading jane eyre, and spent the vast majority of my awake moments in bed on saturday reading the lost symbol. (yes, i know...dan brown does not equal a "classic", but it was some much needed blah reading).  taking suggestions for my next book. i have the constant gardener, and the shadow of the wind...both look promising. not to mention i watched the 25th anniversary showing of les miserable on PBS on sunday and thought i should revisit mr. hugo's novel. but i'm not quite ready to commit to it again just yet...so. i'm taking suggestions.