Sassy

I've been a little moody lately to say the least. Let's concentrate on the good now. It happens pretty often - not to complain about it, because it's the greatest and cheapest thing - that I feel positively drunk after not even being around any alcohol. Maybe some hormones are to blame, like endorphins produced while exercising or eating spicy food.

Today, I was talking to a friend, complaining - shit, so hard to kick that bad habit - and he told me to stay sassy. I know what sassy means, but for some reason, I wanted to know the exact definition; after all, someone had just told me to be it, I wanted to know exactly how that should be. The online dictionary said that sassy was "vigorous and lively" as well as "distinctively smart and stylish". I love it! Thanks, D!

So I decided: I gotta be sassy! The word also somehow implies some other things to me: easygoing, carefree, free-spirited maybe. Someone who doesn't take things so seriously.

After work, I was meeting a friend and his friend to go for a bike ride. I love riding my bike around Manhattan on either the West or the East sides by the rivers, particularly along the Hudson on the West side. There is a separate bike road, smooth pavement, not too crowded on a weeknight, breezy and with a lovely view of New Jersey and the Statue of Liberty once you get south enough. You can go miles and miles without having to break, and can up to some higher speeds - only as high as my poor little single-gear bike allows. Ah, it's the best feeling ever! The wind in your face, cooling you down on a hot day, looking at the sun setting, then sitting on a park bench and eating a cheeseburger with only half a bun (not sure if that was a mistake or they figured I didn't need the extra carbs) and the sweetest, thickest strawberry smoothie. Felt positively sassy, although not super stylish in my padded biking shorts and eating a top-less cheeseburger. Details...

When I take life less seriously, like on an evening like today's, things I tend to worry about start looking pretty amusing all of a sudden. For example, competing for a man's affections with a beautiful, blond, model-figured, rather popular and maybe even famous Italian actress living in Rome, who plays an ER doctor on Italy's "General hospital". To make it even more amusing, the man happens to be a real-life ER doctor, who has met this actress at a yoga retreat on the island of Bali and is now learning Italian and planning their life together. And no, this is not a movie script. It's the sort of people I meet these days. So very New York. So very amusing. Can I please meet some real, down-to-earth people now? Because the movie-style drama is getting to me now.

Until then, I will just keep being sassy and try to feel drunk when I am not and even drunker when I am and go on long bike rides and even longer runs and will do seemingly impossible things like running 21 km's in a sauna and reaching for my dreams without ever settling for anything less.