Today in writing club, Chase brought a prompt that was ridiculously difficult, but incredibly thought provoking. He simply said, “Write the opposite of you.” This prompt blew my mind. There are so many opposites of me that I dislike or have a difficult job engaging with. How am I supposed to write them down in a story I care about? How can I explain what it feels like to have a penis? (That was the big stumper.) I mean, what does it do? Just hang there uselessly all day long? I imagined myself as a red-head. For those of you who know I have ginger-vitis, this comes as no surprise to you. So in the story, there I am, standing in front of a mirror looking at my heavily bearded, titian-headed, penis-sporting self. I made a good looking man. In fact, this venture into the other sex, and trying to think like a man has made me aware of exactly how little I know about the things that men think about.
But the challenge is more elaborate than worrying about gender, sexual orientation, or sex, we had to think about politics, religion, lifestyle, vocation, and everything else that comes with being human. What exactly is the opposite of all that? What is the opposite of me? In order to figure out the opposite, I have to be able to clearly define myself. This writing prompt was pretty much a mind fuck, but a welcome one. I haven’t thought so hard about writing in a while.
I am sure the fruit pie I ate this morning is not congruent with my desire to eat “healthy” whole foods. But it was so delicious.
Nanowrimo was a complete failure.
I think I am going to wait until next fall to marathon. I was hoping for a spring one, but training for the Indy Mini is about all I can handle while teaching. I have decided to wait until fall and I think I am going to shoot for one near Akron, OH. It’s called the Tow-Path Marathon, and it’s run on a tightly packed limestone gravel trail. Flat. “Fast.” And beautiful. Maybe Grandma’s is in my future the next spring. After this injury, I just need more base-training in place before I go 26.2 miles. And, maybe this will give me a chance to lose some weight.
It’s difficult for me to keep up with this blog since no one can actually see it anymore. I know now how my students feel when they write essays that are simply for my eyes, so I know that my teaching will be entirely different next year from what it is this year. It’s really hard to come here time and again to write, just like it is really hard for them to muster up any level of caring about their writing when they view it as simply an assignment. Next year, I am hoping to help them do assignment that will have a bit more exposure, more influence in their culture. But for now, I will occasionally write for you, my faithful and devoted reader(s), and they will write for me and each other. It’s an exercise in non-profit diligence.
I wish I didn’t teach until 9AM. If so, I could run in the morning without having to get up at 5AM. I am not so much fun when I get up at 5AM. In fact, I am quite grumpy when I get up at 5AM. You wouldn’t want to be around me when I get up at 5AM. Seriously, 5AM is bad. For me. However, what running I can eek out is going well. I am back to pre-injury speed, which in the running world, is more like a slow walk compared to where I should be for my age. I blame it on my girth. I’d like to strap a one-hundred backpack on some of these scrawny little runners and see how fast they go then! They’d then be thrilled they could move their 200-plus-pound frame across flat land at 12:30 a mile. That’s pretty fast for a rounder! 🙂
The diet has changed. I am trying to only eat whole foods. The 1200-1500 calorie thing worked for about two weeks until I felt as if I was starving to death. Along with not liking to wake up at 5AM, I really don’t like to wake up hungry. When my stomach’s growling is more effective than my alarm clock, I realize I am no longer dieting. I am then starving myself. I am trying to transition to eating things like sweet potatoes, broccoli, barley, oats, nuts. You know, whole foods. I feel better, but last night I caved to a craving and ate pizza. Without cheese of course. And tonight I am having some beer and probably some other unhealthy food, like fries or whatnot.
On a very different note, I’d love (still) to go into business with Merideth to open the “Hoot and Whatnot,” the coffeehouse/bar/bookstore/general store conglomeration that we fantasized about so long ago. I can’t wait until Christmastime when she and her sister are going to be here. I only wish the time would be longer, and the days less packed with family events. Everything changes, but everything’s changed. We’re old. We’re married. She pregnant. We can’t just lie around all day eating peanut M&Ms and watching bad movies. We have to behave like adults. Sigh.
Adults. How do they behave? Badly, usually. I am trying with all of my might to help my workplace not be such a den of negativity. It’s like the beginning to Richard 3, “Now is the winter of our discontent,” only without it “made glorious summer by this son of York.” It’s just a pit of despair.
I am hoping to make it into sunshines and rainbows!
Breakfast: banana, 8 oz. orange juice, 8 oz. soy milk, two flaxseed oil, one cinnamon
Lunch: apple, peanut butter sandwich
Snack: little Halloween box of Nerds, little Halloween pack of Skittles, decaf tall soy latte
(Apparently I needed some sugar today. I wish I would have resisted.)
Dinner: Ramen noodles with broccoli
My run felt so good tonight. My legs were all limber and ready. My feet shuffle-crunched through the fall leaves. And the temperature was perfect for running. Wearing my long-sleeve technical shirt, shorts and my new, bright-yellow Carhart beanie, I was the perfect warmth for the two-ish miles. I wish I could run everyday. I wish my body would like that as much as my mind would like it. I need that release each day to be a person who anyone wants to be around. We’ll see. Maybe when I lose a bit of weight I will be able to run with more frequency.
I have decided to make the most of this challenge set forth by my students. Instead of writing a novel, I am going to take the challenge, but work on my memoir instead. So, hopefully, by this time in December, I will have approximately 175 pages of a memoir instead of a novel. Likely it will be as craptastic as my novel would have been, but at least it will be useful to my own academic, professional, and personal pursuits.
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Today is day two of 1200 to 1500 calories:
Breakfast: banana, 8 oz. orange juice, 8 oz. soy milk, two flax seed capsules, one cinnamon capsule
The ideas you find here are solely mine, but I have made every attempt to give credit to any sources I may have used. You should not associate the opinions or ideas written in this blog with my employer, colleagues, or peers. Nothing that you read here is meant in any way to represent anyone else's opinions or ideas, nor is it meant to cause injury to anyone else.
Reason Breeds Insanity 