Working It Out…Sorta

My friend R. and I have made a pact to get (back in) shape this summer.  It’s not that we’re total slogs but we both have, for various reasons, experienced, well, a bit of slippage.  We’re not talking about getting Kate Moss skinny (not in the realm of possibility) but just back to where we were – both in terms of fitness levels and yeah, weight (okay, it’s only about five pounds but still).  Here’s the thing: we both used to work out – a lot.  It’s always helped my head as much as my body.  And I have written and edited my fair share of stories on the topic.  BUT  the last year has been kind of minimal so, because we are not ready to give up just yet…

In the past week I have done yoga, a body sculpting class, a step class (haven’t done that in 15 years, was getting serious flashbacks) and a ‘core fusion’ class – tiny little moves that absolutely kill.  I have been told never to use more than 3 pound weights but do lots of reps, I have been told that unless you use 5 – 8 pounds you will never see a change.  I have tried to love Pilates (eh) and I have done everything I can to avoid cardio (I know, I know.) R. and I have vowed to keep food diaries and cut out wine.  (Of course, we discussed this last night after class with, yes, rosé and Sancerre.)  I have bought date books and notebooks and made lists and goals (what can I say, I still believe a new notebook is a fresh start for virtually anything in life.) It’s fun to be doing it together.  It helps to have to report in – and screw off with a pal. And I’m welcoming your in-put.  Here’s R’s question from last night: She weighed herself 3 times in a row and got 3 different weights just by moving the scale an inch.  Which should she believe? (I vote for the lowest.)

PS I have exercise ADD so will try lots of new classes/theories/workouts this summer.  What are you loving at the moment?

The Godfather/NYC PREP/Gossip Girl Connection

Rumor has it that John Gotti and his buddies used to watch the Godfather movies and model their behavior on the mobsters portrayed – who were, of course, supposedly modeled on real-life mobsters. Whatever was once a true portrayal was rendered irrelevant by the funhouse mirror of images endlessly distorted, growing more exaggerated with each reflection.

Which brings me (go with me here)  to the NYC Prep, the new (supposed) reality TV show.  The performers (for I cannot help but believe they are playing to the camera, acting in ways they think will live up to type, or at least the type they have seen in Gossip Girl) drink, hop into bed and spend, spend, spend in the most gratuitous and, let’s face it, obscene manner.  It is a world of rich sixteen year olds swilling martinis and backstabbing with manicured nails.)  But who are they reflecting, really?  The image they have seen of themselves portrayed in that fine example of cinema verité, Gossip Girl? And where does that leave real teens, feeling that they  have to live up to these caricatures that are supposedly modeled on them?

I happen to have a 15-year-old daughter who attends an Upper East Side private school (though not,  thank God, one represented in this particular artistic outing).  Whenever I watch Gossip Girl with her, I repeatedly offer up an unwanted Greek chorus along the lines of, You know you can’t really walk into a bar and order a cocktail, right? You know oral sex is sex, right? (Okay, yeah, I’m sounding old and cranky.  But shouldn’t teens at least have to hide their drinking and carousing?)  My daughter, of course, rolls her eyes and tells me to please be quiet while Serena is talking. Which I do, secretly hooked as much as I am repulsed.

In more serious moments, my daughter insists that she knows the show is fiction, and that she and her friends obviously don’t act this way.   (What, no limo with a wet bar?)

And yet.  Her  most recent letter from camp included the plea,  “Will you please record NYC Prep? Everyone is very excited about it.”    My reply, You know you can’t walk into a bar and order a cocktail, right? You know oral sex is sex, right?