You're not hardcore unless you live hardcore

I'm coming up on a 3-week break between productions. I'm looking forward to travel, time with friends and family, intensive La Bohème study, and plenty of rest, but the voice of my new obsession is saying, What?!? 3 weeks without a treadmill? I've gotten pretty comfortable running indoors, reading a magazine or watching episodes of Gossip Girl and How to Look Good Naked on my iPod. I decided today was the day to get back to nature in order to prepare for a treadmill-less existence.

It was highly discouraging. Despite my super-cute new workout clothes, handy new iPod armband and perfect weather, running outdoors felt horrible. Turns out, it's much easier to just stop when the ground isn't moving underneath you. It didn't help that I forgot my watch and that for some reason I couldn't get my iPod loud enough (if you know how to solve this problem, please enlighten me). It also didn't help that numerous wizened old men passed me with ease, chatting to each other comfortably as I wheezed and panted my way through the slowest/shortest run ever. Ugh.

Luckily, my confidence cannot be shaken that easily, especially after the rockin' get-together we had after the show last night. We're all getting kind of sad, because The New Oregonian is leaving for her Oregon home tomorrow, and it's going to be a while before we see her next. CaliBoy brought over Guitar Hero: Rocks the '80's. The coffee table was cleared to the side, wine was poured (yes, we are indeed hardcore rockers who love nothing more than a glass of slightly spicy red wine), and we did…rock the '80's, I mean.

I came into the game a little cocky, I'm not going to lie. See, the first time I ever played the game was at a video game party (don't judge) about a year ago. I hate to toot my own horn, but I…well, I won a Guitar Hero tournament at this party. At the time, nobody else had played it much, either, which made the playing field (so to speak) pretty level. So when CaliBoy suggested bringing the game to our place, I have to admit that I had smug visions of strumming my heart out to "Freebird" while my friends oohed and aahed in the background.

Of course, what I failed to take into consideration is that the things that made me good at the game right away, like musical background and pretty good innate rhythm? Yeah, all my friends have those things, too, in spades. Before too long, we were all being told YOU ROCK! by the rockers on the screen (definitely preferable to the alternative, Song Failed). CaliBoy held back, letting everyone else have a couple turns before he took the stage (and by "stage" I of course mean "living room floor"). After quietly setting the level to Hard, he schooled us with a mean rendition of "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors. It was insanely good. All side conversations ended abruptly as we stared mesmerized at the screen as the notes streamed by.

I was almost inspired enough by his performance to spend all my time indoors "strumming" the white bar on a plastic guitar improving upon my natural rocker tendencies. Instead, Monday morning I'll be heading outside for a run again, determined to have a better time than I did today.

Maybe it will help if I download "Turning Japanese" onto my iPod. And figure out how to blast it loud enough that it drowns out the voice in my head saying, "Why don't you just stop. It will be so much easier. You don't need to run. Walking is a workout, too. Just stop."