johnguinness's Diaryland Diary
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Monday is big
I'm having a medium, sort of Limbo day today. I tried watching CNN for a while, but they're just repeating things. I read one story about a guy who climbed on his roof during the tsunami, and the thing washed him out to sea. He held onto it for two days, and they rescued him nine miles away from shore. But the whole event is just overwhelming in scope. Imagine if half the people in your town were missing. I need to take a break from watching it all. It's just too sad for too many people.
I walked for a second day in a row. I'm not good at it. In the little If I Win the Lottery daydreams I allow myself occasionally so I don't give up hope, I make plans of what my daily life will be like as I get in shape so I can travel and do bike tours and things.
On Tuesday and Saturday mornings, I would do 90 minute Wildside Walks in the closed Zoo, pushing up all the hills in the area for quality workouts. On Thursday mornings, I would walk the 10 kilometer nature trail around Cahokia Mounds, at a slow, fast-burning pace. Friday would be a rest day between the long walk and the hard walk.
So my brain that's all souped up on supplements asked why the poverty level me aims for the do the same thing every day approach. I've got any number of hills available, up to 3 blocks long. There's a different direction that I can go to extend a a flat walk. If I can stay motivated (and on supplements), I'll get past these first air-sucking baby steps, then start building my Tuesdays and Thursdays towards Zoo walks, and on Thursdays keep the pace easy and just keep going.
Part of the Limbo thing is that I hope my meeting Monday afternoon will be life-altering. I'm down to eating food pantry stuff, and not the interesting things like Corn Flakes, fig bars and saltines, which were gone the first few days. If they approve me for cash, I could eat. I have already printed up all the documentation they want, so I don't have to worry about the printer running dry or anything. If I can walk across the street in broad daylight, I'm set.
I watched some cycling today from Italy and France. A lot of the time, the camera is on a few guys riding alone at the front. The camera moto is usually behind or to the side of them so they can't draft behind it, so what I see looks like a few guys riding through the countryside on roads with no traffic, climbing up mountains or rolling past vineyards and stuff. I don't think of personalities or guys who lie in interviews, I just wish I was out there able to ride a nice bike along with them.
Magdalena Nuener put in a brilliant Biathlon performance today in the relay. She had the anchor position. When her teammate tagged her, they were in fourth place, a minute and seven seconds behind the Ukrainians, who were shooting like Calamity Janes. She ended up shooting perfectly, catching everyone from behind, then crossing the finish something like 27 seconds ahead of second. The announcers gushed.
I did a bit of searching for info on my Polar F11 heart monitor. The website I bought mine from years ago only offers a women's model now. The Polar website doesn't even list that. So while people are still buying them from store stock for $160, Polar doesn't make them any more. It makes sense that they would have some sitting around so they can give free replacements to people like me (fingers crossed), especially if the sticky button was a known issue and not just something I tolerated.
I know it sounds like a silly gadget to be excited over, but I can set up weekly programs, and if I hit my totals, on Monday morning it puts a trophy on the watch face for a week. It keeps details of my last 12 sessions, and totals for the last 12 weeks, so if I've exercised for that long, it's a reminder of my fitness level. It does other cool stuff too. I hope I get a new one.
I hacked off an 8 or so day beard in the wee hours Saturday morning, the first step in getting ready for a Monday meeting, plus a sign of hope on my part that things will get better. This morning in the wee hours, I microwaved a dish of water and shaved again, with a cheap disposable razor. It's the first time in years that I shaved two days in a row, partly because of depression, definitely because I had no job to go to, and especially because decent blades are crazy expensive. I imagine I'll keep the streak alive before the meeting, then who knows?
I'm doing bits of organization as things pop into mind. I'm letting myself think of warmer weather, and how nice it would be to fit into a variety of smaller clothes again. Hopefully I'll get good news Monday, and things can keep rolling.
Tennis is starting. I need to try to watch the Clijsters match before I fall asleep.
1:09 p.m. - Sunday, Mar. 13, 2011
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