Lost

Sometimes I think this world is too big and fast and noisy for me. This is kind of a new feeling. Maybe I just need some simplification in my life, I don't know. Maybe I should've braved the weather and run at lunch time today. I'm trying to find a way to ...I'm not sure. I think a lot of thoughts, but I don't really communicate a lot of them. For one thing, I don't really like argument or debate or causing confrontation. On the other hand, though, I feel like maybe people don't know who I am. Not that I spend that much time around actual people, I suppose.

Maybe it's just time to go home.

Cannonball Read IV

That's right, I'm reviewing books again. It's much slower going this year, since the small person is, well, much more person-like, and so I made the good decision to only go Half-Cannonball (26 books) this time around. But, in case you're interested, I will link to reviews here.

1. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, by Charles Dickens.
2. Wildwood, by Colin Meloy.
3. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey.
4. My Man Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse.
5. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
6. Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood, by Mark Harris.
7. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami.
8. Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel.
9. Codex, by Lev Grossman.
10. Messy, by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan.
11. Pink Smog, by Francesca Lia Block.
12. Busy Monsters, by William Giraldi.
13. The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov.
14. Scott Pilgrim series, by Bryan Lee O'Malley.
15. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel.
16. The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern.

Lament

I'd like to propose a moment of silence for some truly great children's literature that somehow got made into mediocre (or not even good) film, when it really deserved just as much, if not more, as Twilight and The Hunger Games and Harry Potter ...

Sigh. The Golden Compass made me sad, but Inkheart still breaks my heart. Such a cast ... I would give a lot to see the second and third books realized with that cast.

Sunshine

Wanted to just curl up and go to sleep on my lunchtime walk today. My place of work is on the edge of a very nice neighborhood: big, lovely houses, some of them historic, manicured lawns, nice cars in driveways ... I'd like just a little while to live like those people must. I know everyone's got troubles and worries, but it still seems to me that some are probably easier to deal with than others.

Experimentation

So, I have a stupid-long commute. It makes life seriously difficult in that one has to fit things in rather tightly, and if one gets a little bit off-schedule, things are going to have to get dropped. This means that I generally get up at 4:45 A.M. to run (and can only run a set amount that is within my time-frame), only get to read on my lunch break, and have maybe an hour a day with my kid. I'm planning on most of that changing sometime soon, but in the meantime ...

Today, I attempted a lunch-break run. I have an hour for lunch, and it normally only takes me about 15 minutes of that to actually eat lunch. SO, armed with a towel, deodorant, and dry shampoo, I made my attempt. Success! I needed for 3 miles to happen in under 30 minutes; my time was 29:47, which would have been even shorter minus a few traffic stops. Lunch was eaten, and I feel, if not shower-fresh, at least reasonably normal. Certainly not slimy and disgusting. Hair's still a little damp, I'm probably still a bit red in the face, but nothing major.

I'm excited about this development. If I can keep it up, I can get in 3 miles 5 days a week as opposed to struggling to get up in the mornings and barely squeeze in 2 and a quarter. Plus it's a major pick-me-up in the middle of the day. I feel great! Woooo.

Signifying nothing

How much of our lives is just noise?

zzz

I am owning the fact that I made the reasonably poor decision to stay up Sunday night and watch the Oscars. This means that I did not get up Monday morning and run, and on Monday nights I have choir rehearsal that runs late, which means I do not get up on Tuesday mornings and run. It also means I'm still tired.

It's an interesting study, however, in attempting to maintain my equilibrium without the benefit of a run. So far, ok. Looking forward to going to bed at a normal time and running tomorrow morning.

Thinking about how much I'd like to just do nothing but exercise (run, yoga, whatevs) as a career. Other dream second careers: physical trainer/yoga instructor (see above), NPR journalist, nutritionist, English professor. Movie star, of course: they are essentially paid to work out for hours every day.

I think I'm just going to listen to The Shins for the rest of the day.

Random

I ran my fourth 5k last weekend. I thought I was being really slow, but I actually killed my previous PR. Went from 27:39 to 26:52. So that was awesome. Looking forward to a St. Pat's themed one next month, for which I am hunting green running capris. No real luck as yet. This week, the young lady has not been sleeping well, so I've not been sleeping well, so running has been at a standstill, but there's always tomorrow.

Today I have on a leopard print shirt and leopard print flats that don't particularly match. For some reason, I love this.

Potato chips at lunch? Potato chips at lunch.

There are changes afoot. There will be leaping, and hoping for the appearance of nets. I do that every so often, and it usually works out for the best, so here's hoping this time will be no different.

Panic

I think maybe I'm having some kind of random-point-in-life crisis. It's not particularly pleasant.

Time

It is truly amazing to me, what a difference getting up an hour later and having ample time to go for a run, shower, have breakfast, and clean up makes in terms of one's feelings throughout the day.

I had a Diet Coke today, which I try not to do often, but I really enjoyed it, so I think it was a good choice.

Trying to start things slowly and build. Worked with the run this morning. Not sure about application to other things.

Things I liked about today (besides the altered schedule): Mailed registration for the first 5k of the year. I tried to find one in January but apparently people don't like running this month? Also, in the middle of my own conversation, I stopped, looked over at the people having lunch at the next table (work break room, not random strangers, though it might not make a difference) and said "I'm sorry. Did you just say Fassbender? I heard you say Fassbender. Hi!" Proceeded to switch tables to engage in conversation about said Fassbender. Admitting you have a problem is the first step ...

PS - I am doing Cannonball Read again this year, although only 26 books this time. I managed to finish The Pickwick Papers before January ended, but I haven't found the time to write it up yet.

Stuff, 2012

I should blog more. Lately I have been low on motivation for any kind of blogging, though. 2012 so far has been a little bit of a rough transition. Very disheartened and unbalanced by my commute these days, and I think it's starting to bleed over into everything else. Anyway, I was looking at someone else's blog and she inspired me a little bit. So maybe I'll get over here and talk some more. I know it's almost February, but I still feel like I'm struggling to get my feet under me. Ugh.

Anyway, today has mostly successes in the appropriate column, although I didn't get up and run, which as a "fail" tends to color the rest of the day. Not sleeping well and my back feeling a little funky is my excuse.

Things I liked about today: hearing "Round Here" on the radio (nostalgia!); having a moderate-to-conservative friend cop to the fact that there's a strong likelihood she'll vote for Obama in November; determining that plain yogurt definitely adds to some leftovers that have been heretofore disappointing.