It’s been a long time since I’ve written in my blog. I didn’t mean to neglect it, but it seems that craziness has ensued. I kind of decided to work harder this year, because I think 2005 was the Year of Leisure. 2006 is the Year of Digging Out from the Hole That Leisure Created and Getting Back into Pre-Leisure Shape. Yeah. I know. 2005’s nickname is too short.

Anyway, as soon as I decided this, things got really busy. Work picked up, and people started buying computer equipment like it was going out of style. I couldn’t talk them out of it. All kinds of people seem to want to be photographed too.

I decided to go back to the gym at least twice a week in the mornings. I haven’t been in ages, and it’s starting to show. 😐 I’m not quite comfortable in the body of an out-of-shape guy. It doesn’t feel like me, and it doesn’t look like me. It feels good to be doing something about it. I was so sore last week from lifting weights, and I loved it. I am concentrating heavily on doing cardio too. If I don’t make it to the gym, I go for a long walk. The weather has been decent so this is a non-lethal activity.

I’ve been doing some more improv too. I had about a month away from improv because of the holidays and travelling to California, so when I went back to the Big in Japan rehearsals, I felt really out of touch with it. I was on stage for the last two Sundays in a row, and my improv instincts definitely feel dull. I felt pretty mediocre about last night’s show, and I was lying awake all night being angry at myself because I was piecing together what I should have done instead of what I did up there. I have been doing improv for long enough to realize that once a scene is done, it’s done, but I also know that instincts can be trained, and mine have suffered terribly from lack of recent training.

I had the opportunity to wander about Toronto for a few hours yesterday. I went to the Gap, where I exchanged the generously-well-meaning but not-really-me stripey shirts that What Not To Wear told Jadine to get me for Christmas. She was considerate enough to give me a gift receipt, so I exchanged the stripeys for a new wool coat.

Thanks for the coat, Jadine! I think I’ll go buy me some stripey shirts to go with it…

I also decided that I would try out some of those crazy DVDs being sold in Chinatown. Every store seems to have a huge display of them, 10 for $20. Has this suddenly become legal while I wasn’t looking? No one seems to be stopping them, so I figured I was in the clear. I picked out a bunch of Hong Kong movies, starring Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Chow Yun Fat. I also grabbed a bunch of artsy looking Japanese movies, and a couple of Japanese gang movies. The front cover of the Japanese gangster flick Brother has an endorsement from AHEHA TV that says: “QIWYREI Through AETRAF AIE!” in big letters. That must be good, because Siskel and Ebert’s “Two thumbs way up!” is left for the back cover. Check out the synopsis:

Abandoned by the brotherhood of his yakuza clan, tough guy Yamamoto is forced to leave Tokyo. He flees to Los Angeles and finds himself quickly back into the routine violence of his old Tokyo life there. Before long, his gang grows in number. Business flourishes, money flows. Soon after he starts an all-out war against the Mafia, his brothers betray him again…

Most of the movies seem to have a similar plot. Vengeance, betrayal, tough guys. All you have to do is switch the names and places around and you’ve got a whole new Asian action movie. They’re all filled with a wide assortment of chop socky ass-kicking, so they should make for some tasty watching.