Life trumps knitting

Sorry if I've been scarce lately - failing to reply to comments, failing to comment on your blog, and so on. I've been making a real effort of late to get my so-called shit in order. After a few months of almost complete inactivity and lack of motivation, I've taken a few big steps that will help me get to a better place. However, all this positive change is really cutting in to my knitting time! The USMP is moving along; I started the increases for the front flap. I think that's the only thing I've worked on, in fact. It still fits me quite well... at my current weight. One of the steps that I just mentioned was joining a gym! When I said "inactivity" I really meant it. I've gained too much weight for my body and I just don't feel like a healthy person, at all. I used to be very active - I played soccer all through high school - but since then I've struggled. The gym I joined (Healthworks, for those in the Boston area) is awesome. They have a ton of classes every day that I think will really help motivate me (I'm going to try "Cardio Strike" tomorrow - wish me luck!) and the facility itself is great. I'm really excited. Today I had my first workout in about a year. Anyway, I'm going to stick with it. I have to. And when I'm done, maybe that USMP will be a little baggy instead of skin-tight :) Oh, and a quick movie review: Last weekend we saw A Scanner Darkly, and I was pleasantly surprised. I couldn't stand Waking Life, and I have an unveiled dislike for Richard Linklater. But I liked Scanner, and I think I know why - Linklater didn't write it. Well, he wrote the screenplay, but the story wasn't his. The supporting cast - namely Robert Downey Jr, Rory Cochrane and Woody Harrelson - really carried the movie and made it worth watching. Cochrane in particular was just hilarious and wonderful. But I don't know. Certain critics were touting Scanner as "mind-blowing," a "head trip," and so on. But it wasn't, really. We were expecting more of the trippy stuff (although what was there was pretty great - Freck's hallucinations especially). In the end, I did like it a lot, but mostly because I was prepared to hate it and I found it to be such an improvement over Waking Life.