Time Change Blues

So I seriously hate the time change. I go to work when it's dark, I watch the world get bright through the glass walls surrounding me, and I go home when it's dark. It's not fun being reduced to two day of riding per week max. I already didn't ride enough...thanks a lot, sunshine.

Oops

There I go again...meaning to write but skipping the process for several months. Sorry.

"My very soul is on the World Wide Web!"

The title to this post is a direct quote from a college friend who used to spend three hours on a two paragraph e-mail. After some good natured ribbing from myself and a few other friends, he's down to about 20 minutes for those e-mails now. But he explained why it took him so long to write e-mails. He was so concerned about the fact that, in theory, what he wrote would be a permanent piece of writing that would forever be accessible online. He did not want even the most cursory word to diverge from his exact intention. Most of us treat e-mails as we might a Post-It note: good for quick thoughts and designed to disappear after their usefulness is gone. But something about the internet has turned us into "transparent" people. I use quotes around transparent because I feel like transparency is something that can only happen when there is some sort of emotional interaction that happens between people who have some idea of each others actual identity.

A Followup to the Acclaimed....

Why is it that some movies just work and when the director tries to repeat that success there seems to be something missing? My two favorite examples are Zach Braff's Garden State/The Last Kiss and Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous/Elizabethtown. I think part of it relates to the fact that both sets of movies appeal to certain age groups. The first movie of the two pairs was the hit movie. The second movie of the pairs tries to recreate the same feelings for an older demographic. Would the second movies have been as big a hit if they'd been released first? I don't know if anyone who's seen The Last Kiss before Garden State, but I do know a few who saw Elizabethtown before Almost Famous. My guess is that the first movies were hits because they focus on the creation of an identity for the main character. The leads grow throughout the movies into self-awareness about their upbringings and their desires. The second set of movies also tries to have that same self-aware realization, but when brought to an older generation seems odd, since as one grows older, identity becomes based on outside influences and relationships. Family and work become as equally important as self. My reaction to the leads in the first set was sympathy. In the second, disappointment that the leads were forsaking their other commitments for the pursuit of self-realization that should have happened years previous. I don't know, I've been trying to finish this post or about a month now and might be rambling towards the end. Tell me your thoughts.

I'm Getting Old

My absolute, all-time favorite song is being covered by a band in a "90s album." At least the first song they've released sounds promising.

Practice Makes "Perfect"

So the old aphorism isn't always right. I have heard a variation "perfect practice makes perfect" which certainly makes more sense, but doesn't sound nearly as good. When I read a lot, I've found my reading get faster. When I swim more, my lap times get shorter. When I'm consistently on a bike, I get stronger. After college, I've found that the same is true of my writing. I feel like I struggle to come up with words (not creating new ones, just picking the most appropriate/applicable one...ha, case in point - this thought process) that I feel should be no problem with my B.A. in English. Hopefully reading more will help, even if it is just Science Fiction and Fantasy novels during my diner break.

Blogging

Is a blog a journal? Or more like self-published short stories? I want to write more but often feel like there's not much to say. I think the reason I keep this up is because of people like Masiguy, 198, and Fat Cyclist. Or Zeroboy and Madcapper. But I think if I'm going to keep this up, I need to be a little more purposeful about it.

Time for a New Job

I need a new job. I've found an industry that I can be passionate about and that has a ton of diversity within itself. But I have a feeling that my time on the retail side of things is getting shorter every day. Especially in the area I work, there is a an expectation on the part of our customers that our store will roll over and play dead any time they come in for a confrontation or that we ought to stock 100% of the items that they could ever possibly dream of. Not to mention some of the expectations internally are getting ridiculous. I feel like there's a big difference between working relaxed yet industriously and working as though my job security depends on out-performing the previous years sales numbers every single night.

Wow!

Watch...be amazed. I've worked in the cycling industry for a year now and what people can two with two wheels and two legs amazes me every day.

A Little Part of Me Died Today

I discovered a Steak'n'Shake near my house that is not open 24-hours. It made me cry a little on the inside. After I shook my fist in rage, of course.

Old Friends, New Lives

How odd is it when you go back to where you've lived for nearly eight years and you're being introduced to your old friend's new friends? I've know these people for so much longer, but I have to feel like the outsider because I'm not around them as much any more. Or hosting old friends. I would imagine it's like leaving a space at the table for someone who's overseas. You know they're not going to show up, but not leaving a space for them is like cutting them off from your life. But when they do show up, you've not cooked enough food for the extra person, so they're still left out. That, or everyone has to make do with less than they anticipated.

I love visiting Chattanooga, but it is so obvious now that I'm no longer a part of that world. The friends I have there have their own lives and I'm not a part of it any more. Some of them aren't even friends with each other any more, though maybe some never really were to begin with.

Things That Make Me Cry

Movies - Occasionally
Onions - Sometimes


Ironman Coverage - Always

So My Resolution...

Is to write more often. (I know I waited a whole month and then some to post this.) Actually I think that it's not really a resolution. I think it's more of a theme: More. I always complain that I don't have enough time to do things, but I know it's because I have horrible time management skills. I don't like resolutions because they're too easily broken and that causes discouragement. So I'm sticking with my theme.

More writing.
More reading.
More exercise.
More chores.

More. Goes well with STRIVE, don't you think?