Snakebitten

Can the circadian rhythm be magnified and reflected upon a calender so large that it represents the four seasons? Can one define their behavior by the absence or unparalleled plentitude of sunlight? If geography cannot cure something, it may certainly aid in pattern recognition. It allows the user to meet and greet new vessels who may festoon their flesh in the manner typical to the youth culture of that region. No doubt. It affords the traveler, the troubled transient, a chance to hub themselves among a set of spokes versed in dialects and practices as yet introduced to the vagrant vessel. It has become very clear that I am undertaking all of the 'freakish' endeavors I fancied as a teenager now that I am an adult, earning decent bread, and with a ripened set of desires that surfaced around 1987. I wanted to have big muscles. Got 'em. I wanted to have tattoos. Got 'em and getting more. Piercings always looked cool, appeared painful, and cost money. Check, check, check. Since my first big session of work in 2002, I have known that being heavily tattooed by gifted artists was going to be a big part of my future. With the stigma once attached to tattoos all but vanquished in this country, the emergence of thousands of skilled artists has made tattoo art just as popular it is affordable. I have found a guy who, though he may not know it, owns my left forearm and the bare canvas that is my chest. I will see him Tuesday night to wrap up the posterior of said arm. It is just as clear to me that these things I do to my body are an external reflection of the new set of emotions I exposed, and now ride, after that deep digging session in Cali back in May. Every time I move somewhere, every major event or relationship's commencement/curtailing has left an impression on me that I have then impressed upon my physical form. In 1998 I scarred myself intentionally to celebrate a near-perfect score on the rifle range. In 2002, on my brother's 18th birthday, I sat in the chair at South Pacific Tattoo in Waikiki, across from two of my Brothers in 'Corps, and allowed Scott Sterling to place a large family piece on my right arm. Well now I am back from the edge of my own sanity and want to redecorate the vessel. Some cats put rims on their car, some girls dye their hair. This armor clad war dog likes to take some pain away but tasting a little from another's hand.
One set of body mods a year. That is the cycle I am on. Spring 2007, pierced flesh and new work. Spring 2006, new work. Fall 2005, re-pierced my ears. Etc. etc. backwards to 1998.

I saw lip piercings all over southern Cal and I wanted one. Two, actually. I performed a bit of holiday shopping for my friends and blood, and then treated myself to a bit of piercing. Saturday night on South Street. 610 and 215 know what that means. And what it can lead to. Though I was chaperoned on this trip by a fellow Crew Member of the Joe, I had set no trouble on the menu for myself by virtue of my new found desire for, well, self preservation. I like to dress, and look scary, yet this bad boy needs no more reinforcement that lies in a bottle, a pool hall, or a night spent scratching an itch. A wee bit of venomous vexation costing me a day's pay is good enough. And if you find this interesting, or if you, for some reason, find this 'out of character' for me, tune in on Wednesday 19 November. I will have a tale for you.

So a guy walks into work, and he has done something different with his flesh. Responses various and sundry fly out of the mouths of the Crew. After 90% of the Crew offered up [some vomited up] their feelings about the Snakebites, I cataloged the phrases I heard and tagged them to demographics that felt appropriate.

The unpierced, unscarred, unink'd crowd- 'Ooooooh, did that hurt?'
The Tattooed Crowd- 'How bad did it hurt?'
The scarred, ink'd, pierced crowd- 'Did it hurt like the rest?'
The Old crowd- [really nasty voices] 'What did you do you to your face?'
The Squares- 'You know in 20 years you will regret that'.
The closet freaks- 'So, where else are you pierced'
The Freaks who are out of the closet- 'Want to see mine?'
The veteran body modifiers and everyone else who actually took a moment to think about what they were going to say- 'Looks good'.

I have been naming all of my workouts since early October with a phrase that begins with the letters of the alphabet, in succession. Today, I was on T. Backwards from today through last week. . .

"Taming the Itch"
Rite of Passage Ladder Climb
5 ladders, rungs of 1-2-3, 24kg.
36:36 Max v02, 5 sets left and right.
I was very, very angry during this workout. Watching the Eagles tie [lose to] the Bengals messed me up. I laughed it off and then it came back. I curbed the urge to go into one of the studios and hit the bag. Instead I unloaded on my shift tonight at Trader Joe's and crushed the closing duties I had. Acting angry only makes an adult look silly and unprofessional. And I knew my profile was going to be elevated tonight for reasons previously stated.

"Some called it home" Thursday 11-13 1900 hours.
Sumo 200-210-220-220-225 for sets of 3 reps. All of these reps were the very definition of a grind. D-O-G reps as they will be referred to perpetually.
24kg ROP Ladders 1-2-3-4 for 4.
24kg Get Ups x 5L,R.

"Reinforcing the Steel" Sunday 11-9 1300 hours.
32kg ROP Ladders 1-2-3 for 3.

"Questions never asked" Friday 11-7 1700 hours.
V02 Max 36:36 [16kg, 16 reps] 12 sets alternating left and right every set.

"Protect ya' neck" Thursday 11-06 1900 hours.
32kg ROP Ladders 1-2-3 for 3.
This was a rough start. I broke right after the first ladder and ate 2 bananas and a handful of raw [always] almonds. My left lat was in attendance but the right lat was lunching on me. I had to reconstitute those presses with tension from the nether region. Rookie style. I'm talking about going back to the loaded clean and spiral of tension that, while always there, had to fall into remediation due to the absence of my 'stronger side'.
SUMO 200-205-210-210 for sets of 3. 1st set of 210 were all DOG reps.
Tactical Pull Ups +6kg, 3 sets of 5 reps. Raised the bar to 8'4". The added clearance from the deck had me hollowing out like it was Level II all over again. True gangsters remember the pull up tutorial from June '05. Combat Applications. Pour out a little juice if you were there.

And another week is born from the death of it's predecessor.