Jacked Up

By 7pm this evening I was giddy as a gumdrop and high on life (I don’t know how a gumdrop can be giddy, but I like the alliteration). I had finished a project that I had begun working on when I should have been working on two or three other things; what can I say? I’m a productive procrastinator – but not for long! Anyway, by 7pm I was simply gleeful, right? But I still had to work out. No problem. There was still a little light in the sky so I figured I had time. I farted around some until – oh look! it’s 7:30p – better get out there! A few minutes time had me dressed in funky old work out clothes and out the door to discover it was drizzling. No matter, I was determined to kick rocks. Then it got dark – like, dark and gloomy – which meant I had to hit the gym. I can’t stand the gym! I’m still upset with myself for signing up for membership! Nevertheless I deluded myself with some distracted thoughts and found myself there in no time. Once I had a stretch or two under my belt, I hit the treadmill. My mission: 5.4 miles. It wasn’t as bad as you may think.
However, one thing I happened to notice was how everyone was hooked up to their Ipods, eyes glued to a television screen or a magazine/newspaper page. Don’t get me wrong, I would have been hooked up too if my Ipod weren’t DEAD right now. It’s saddening, but I haven’t mourned as deeply as I thought I would have. Of course, my biggest fear was being able to continue to work out without driving rhythms and fleeting melodies pushing me along. Lucky for me, the treadmills at the gym have TVs in them! They’re all high tech and fancy, showing you different views of your progress and whatnot, BESIDES a variety of cable television channels. I never would have guessed the tv was in the machine had I not looked over at my neighbors machine to see how fast she was going, and if I could go faster. Imagine my surprise when I discovered this treasure. Now, imagine my surprise when moments later (literally less than a mile) I was repulsed by it. What the heck? I’m not trying to watch tv and work out, I’m trying to reach a goal! Yes, ideally the goal will fly by if I’m distracted by something wonderful, but that’s not the point. Sometimes, it’s good to focus – especially when you work out. I like my Ipod when I work out so I can’t hear my breathing which often freaks me out into quitting before I really need to. But today, when I was going full stride in the middle of my third mile, the running itself became a trance. It was like, nothing was there; just my reflection in the glass bouncing up and down rhythmically. It was really quite pleasurable. In a world where everyone’s hooked up to something, maybe we should stop and think and focus on what we’re distracting ourselves from. You never know what we could be missing…

Epiphany

What better way is there to start the week than to take Monday off? Since this weekend was particularly full, though less taxing than I had expected, I was eagerly looking forward to having the day off today. My mental “to do” list was full of tasks that frequently rearranged themselves as I remembered things I had forgotten. It wasn’t in the plan to get ALL of the things I needed to do done as long as I got some of them done and enjoyed the day in the process. Mission accomplished! And as an added bonus, I happened upon an epiphany.
In a previous blog post I mentioned that I am terribly and chronically late. I described how horrible being late makes me feel [blah blah blah] and how agonizing it is to be unable to understand why I can’t even FORCE myself to be on time. Yet this very day, while doing some research for a project, I think I may have found the key to my life. If you don’t already know, the library is a WONDERFUL place. Go there. Immerse yourself in the shelves of bound knowledge and learn something new. You never know what might change your life and when. I guess you all may be wondering what keys I found, eh? Well, I’m not going to tell you. I’m still uncovering the gems and have yet to test them as solid-gold facts. BUT, if you’ve ever read or watched or heard something that seemed to be exposing the entirety of your insides for all to see or hear, THAT’S exactly what I ran into today. I’m thankful, therefore, that I was able to have this beautiful day all to myself. I foresee that my near future will be under some much needed construction.
Ciao, bella negra!