Where the hell I've been

Aside from the obvious like a girlfriend and work, I've been finding my time consumed with a ton of new or renewed pursuits lately. For example:

In the 4 weeks or so that the mountains have had snow, I've been snowboarding 6 times. I've managed a couple rails, am getting better at jumping, and went through thigh-deep powder. I've even gone on a couple of back country style runs, albeit short ones, something I never would have dreamed of with my board control last year

One Piece, a manga about pirates, is my new obsession. I'm working through the manga and following it up with the anime. My girlfriend, her best friend, a buddy of mine in taiko, and a whole slew of Japanese and foriegn people LOVE this series, and it's not hard to understand why. Great stuff, but the sheer volume of it (50 books and 430+ episodes) is a bit daunting. I'm aiming to get through it in a year :)

Weight is once again an issue for me, though certainly not the extent that it used to be. By summer, I had gotten down to about 167 or so (76 kg), but am now back up at 176 lbs (80kg). This may not seem like a big deal to many, but it's a step in the wrong direction and a sign of overall laziness and lack of control of my diet. My last physical indicated my metabolism is slowing and I eat too much salt (mostly from tapatio and sriracha, I'm guessing), so I've been taking steps to correct it. It's tough in the winter because I don't want to move around as much, but taiko and basketball have both started again after a winter break, I'm boarding every weekend, and the local guys have really been pushing it at the gym lately (probably because they also gained a bit of weight this winter). My goal is the same as it was last year: 15% body fat. After getting to about 18% last summer, I'm back up over 20% apparently.

Movies. I've never been a big movie guy, but since it's cold, I've been watching more movies lately. Akina and I rent from Tsutaya or borrow from friends, so I'm finally catching up on a lot of the stuff that came out lately. Just watched the Watchmen, saw a bunch of Japanese movies, and have Sweeney Todd at home now.

I'm going to make it another New Year's resolution to try to get 5 posts up a month at least, which shouldn't be too tough considering a few of them are bound to be food posts.