My 200th Episode!

My page has been viewed 200 times.  I am so popular.  Don't look at anybody else's views.  I don't want anyone to upstage me right now.  200.  Wow.

So, tonight I went to the track (in the misty rain) and I ran UNDER a 10 minute mile.  Granted, I didn't run a straight mile, but if I did, I would have run about a 9:15 mile.  Hello?  That's so awesome for me.  I'm so sucky and slow, so this is something to celebrate.  How shall I celebrate, you ask? 

Well...I'm selling my wetsuit.  Yes, I finally found a buyer (and I finally was willing to accept a lower price than what I wanted).  My size small wetsuit (which is best suited for someone shorter and lighter than I have ever been in my adult life) will find a new home in just a matter of minutes.  I bet you're wondering how I got saddled with a wetsuit that was too small.  Well, let's just look at some of the other choices I've made.

How did I end up with 2 different (and equally expensive) blackberries from Phonies when I initially intended to just switch carriers and get a free one?

How did I end up buying a crappy, low-end bike off of some guy in the Sunset for full retail price?

How is it that in the midst of a leisurely Sunday stroll through my neighborhood, I ended up signing a lease on a new apartment and agreed to move in within 2 weeks before finding out the terms of my current lease and ended up paying rent on two places for a month?

How did I end up with a pair of men's size 9 Pumas that were non-returnable?

How is it that I spent one New Year's Eve drinking cocktails (that I mixed) made with rancid cranberry juice even though I noticed that the juice was a) brown, b) smelled bad, and c) tasted terrible....oh, and d) was informed the next day that the party host found the juice in the back of the refrigerator and thinks it may have been there for 3-4 years?

Why do I always do other people's Excel projects when it doesn't pertain to my job at all?

Why do I insist on not getting cable and keeping my 13" TV/VCR combo until it completely stops working?

So?  Do you know the answers?  Sucker, Sucker, Impetuous, Sucker/Cheap, Undiscriminating, Sucker, Cheap/Stubborn.

And where does the wetsuit purchase land among these answers?  Well, I'll have to add a new one.  Vanity/Sucker for Flattery.

I purchased my wetsuit on the night of the Apparel/Gear clinic which featured a 20% discount off of everything but wetsuits.  When it was time to try on wetsuits I knew that I fell in the middle of the Medium and Large sizing, so I asked which suit I should try.  The wetsuit rep suggested trying the Medium.  I put it on, and it seemed to fit.  He kept telling me that it needed to be tight.  Honestly, it felt pretty darn tight, then he told me to put my hand under the collar.  Upon doing this he said, go for the small.  So, I did.  And it fit.  And I felt so flattered by the fact that it actually fit (while completely disregarding the fact that neoprene is really stretchy) that I ended up buying it. 

Immediately upon getting home after a short 2 block walk, I knew I bought the wrong size.  I also knew that I couldn't return it.  So, I wore it to the first Bay swim the next Saturday.  As I walked on the beach, I noticed that my range of motion was severely limited (much like it is in my oddly restrictive jeans).  I went too small.  Convinced that I could somehow lose the 30 pounds it would take to truly fit into the wetsuit, I continued to wear it.  And then, I split the bottom.  A quick trip to the manufacturer and that was fixed.  Then, I split the bottom again.  Apparently the wetsuit wanted nothing to do with my behind.  Occasionally, other swimmers would aid me in zipping it up and comment on how difficult it was.  I didn't want to tell them it's because I'm too big for it, so I just said, "Yeah. Weird, huh?"  One of my friends, who is tiny, told me that even SHE doesn't fit into a small wetsuit.  How did I make this magic happen anyway?

The too small wetsuit did well even though I tortured it with my extra 30 pounds.  I sent it back to the manufacturer for another re-glue, and now...after sitting in my room for a year and a half, it has a new owner.  She's a tiny Asian girl.  Looking at her in the wetsuit, and seeing how tight it was on her, I really wondered how I ever managed to shove my fat ass into that thing.  Miracles DO happen every day.

Hopefully it will serve her well too.

And now I have to go buy another one that will actually fit me...and my blubber.  Keep you fingers crossed that I've learned from my past indiscretions and will make an appropriate, well-researched choice.