Running, around in my head…

July 8, 2012July 8, 2012 ~ Live & Learn ~ 26 Comments

Thinking too @#$%^&* Much…

I got off to a late start this morning. Reading posts. Watching videos. (Now, in addition to these cat videos that I can’t seem to stop watching, I’m watching Mimi’s and LaDona’s video posts – they’ve figured out how to post videos – watch out world, these ladies are Game On.)

It’s hot. (Cursing that I got off to a late start. Maybe I can go half-way today. Oh, here we go again. Rationalizing away my exercise before I’ve even started. You are sad sack, Pal.)

Today’s theme: I see. (I think.) (Too much.)

Continue reading “Running, around in my head…” →

Lift your head up…

July 1, 2012July 1, 2012 ~ Live & Learn ~ 22 Comments

This photo was taken on my run this morning. Yes, I know, “Amateur hour” and completely unremarkable (borderline trash). I took me a bit to post it as my mind raced to the incredible photographers that I follow and the word association games that I play to keep going…Bill Pevlor (Mother Earth)…Tracie Louise (Surreal)…David Wetzel (Photographer, Painter, Writer), Robert Santafede (Pause), Vicky Taylor-Hood (Home)…and many others I’ve neglected to mention.

Yet, this photo is remarkable to me in other ways. Here’s the journey on the run this morning.

I set Mr. Endomondo to the workout mode of “Beat Yourself” – competing against my time from last Sunday. (Endomondo destroyed me yesterday by a whopping 3 minutes. Heat. Humidity. Excuses. Stack them up. I can’t use yesterday as a base line. That’d be cheating…)

I strap on my Garmin GPS. (You just don’t know when you’ll need the back-up.)

5:42 am. I hit the start/go buttons on my gadgets. And down the road we go. (LaDona is training for a half marathon in Victoria, B.C. The least I can do is get 5 miles in before the thermometer hits 90°F.)

I’m less than 1/2 mile out, and Endomondo tells me that I’m 16 minutes ahead of Friday’s pace. (Argggghhhhhhhh. I must have pressed the WRONG button. BAD Endomondo! Here’s exactly why you have a contingency plan.)

Continue reading “Lift your head up…” →

Relaxing Sunday Run…

June 24, 2012September 22, 2013 ~ Live & Learn ~ 17 Comments

6am. And I’m off out the door. I’m running.

Beautiful morning. 66° F. So slight a breeze. Sun’s up. Birds in symphony. God couldn’t have designed it better.

Mental Check: all clear. No mist, fog or clouds. All pistons firing.

iTunes set on shuffle. 10,000+ songs rattling around.

(When did I collect so many songs, and the real question is why? Packrat. And here I am annoyed and banging on the forward button…missing the button…fat fingers…Apple’s too small screen…sweat dripping all over the iPhone…banging again…trying to cycle through the nastys to get to the gems…can’t break my stride…now sweat burning my eyes because I’m looking down to get to the right song…must be the hair gel from last night…chemicals likely peeling off my cornea…all because I can’t bear to throw anything away…or better yet, because I’m too lazy to make a playlist for running…ok…there…Santana…good beat…now pick up the pace…look up…get back in stride. Why do you get so annoyed with the little things? Now laughing at myself. Be happy you can run you idiot…)

Continue reading “Relaxing Sunday Run…” →

The “Boredom” Test…

June 19, 2012June 19, 2012 ~ Live & Learn ~ 19 Comments

Brainpickings.com shared a post on the Anatomy of Boredom. I’m drawn to personality self-tests like a moth to flame. This test boosted the ole’ psyche this morning: My Score – 79. (Naturally that led me to think that there is something wrong with me if I’m such an outlier with my great score.) Check out the entire post to find what researchers say a high or medium boredom score means for you.

The statements to follow can be answered using a 7-point scale — from ’1′ (highly disagree), to ’4′ (neutral), to ’7′ (highly agree).

It is easy for me to concentrate on my activities.

Frequently when I am working I find myself worrying about other things.

Time always seems to be passing slowly.

I often find myself at “loose ends”, not knowing what to do.

I am often trapped in situations where I have to do meaningless things.

Having to look at someone’s home movies or travel slides bores me tremendously.

I have projects in mind all the time, things to do.

I find it easy to entertain myself.

Many things I have to do are repetitive and monotonous.

It takes more stimulation to get me going than most people.

I get a kick out of most things I do.

I am seldom excited about my work.

In any situation I can usually find something to do or see to keep me interested.

Much of the time I just sit around doing nothing.

I am good at waiting patiently.

I often find myself with nothing to do, time on my hands.

In situations where I have to wait, such as in line, I get very restless.

I often wake up with a new idea.

It would be very hard for me to find a job that is exciting enough.

I would like more challenging things to do in life.

I feel that I am working below my abilities most of the time.

Many people would say that I am a creative or imaginative person.

I have so many interests, I don’t have time to do everything.

Among my friends, I am the one who keeps doing something the longest.

Unless I am doing something exciting, even dangerous, I feel half-dead and dull.

It takes a lot of change and variety to keep me really happy.

It seems that the same things are on television or the movies all the time; it’s getting old.

When I was young, I was often in monotonous and tiresome situations.

To find out your own proneness to boredom, add up the total of the scores you gave each question and see results below: