Old Tricks, New Dog

A lot of recent changes have found me returning to interesting old patterns. I recently moved... twice, actually, and I'm realizing that one old habit I need to break is never quite figuring out how to settle myself into a space. Still, while I'm not yet settled into my new home, I am finding some comfort activities that make me feel new in my old ways.

One, the big one of the day, is that I joined a gym today, and I hope to go regularly to a gym for the first time in years. Now, this is not to say I haven't worked out, but I've done so in a more private setting for the last year or more.

Today I returned to that sweaty semi-social environment where people gather with a collective purpose and move... sometimes in parallel, often in varied patterns, all in a close proximity. It was exhilarating to get off my ass and do this, and I'm very glad I finally did. Signing up and starting to go has been a to-do list item for a couple weeks now.

Going back to the gym is not isolated in its status as a newly re-established old practice of mine that is helping me feel a bit renewed. Another such activity has been a recent re acquaintance with and focus on actively listening my way through the vast collection of music I've compiled in the last few years. In the last few weeks I've found myself pulling out the CD books to discover discs I never uploaded to my ipod (or discs I only uploaded partially and have found myself wanting to hear more of). This has all been a very therapeutic way to spend time, and has had me dreaming up new runs of mix CDs to send to good friends and family and all kinds of other things.

A third activity on the list has been a renewed interest in both photography and Flickr as a venue for photography.

Others I hope to add to the list in the not-too-distant future include reading more, cooking more, finding a church that I like in the area, spending more time outdoors, and signing up for some sort of class by January at the latest.

I have often expressed here my love for turning things on their heads, and this is one entry where I feel the adage I used as a title is really apt. I've been trying some old tricks out for the first time in awhile, and man if they aren't helping me feel, in some small ways, like a bit of new dog.

Woof.