Reason Breeds Insanity

100° Heat Index

Posted on 25 June 2009 | 3 comments

Today the temperature is well above 90° and the heat index is over 100°. The poor dogs haven’t quite grasped the concept of their wading pool, so they drink from it instead of getting into it and sitting in the cool water. They mostly lie around in the dirt under the lilac bush, trying to bite the flies that swarm our neighborhood.

I want to go swimming in the worst way, so badly, in fact, that I am considering riding my bike to the HC to do a little swimming on the down-low in Dave and Alane’s pool. With my luck, I would get there and they will have decided not to fill it this year. I am sure they wouldn’t mind me swimming in it if they have filled it, so maybe next week I will lug one of my anthologies there and study after I swim.

I have attempted to start running again, hoping that I can continue this time. When I got so sick this winter, my lungs got a little angry with me, and they have only recently begun to feel strong enough to try to start up again. This first week has gone really well, and I think it helped that I have been walking so much. My goal is to combine walking and running to equal 3 to 5 miles every day. So far, I seem to have no problem doing that.

Tomorrow, I will get up at six to jog before the sun is really up. Hopefully, I will beat the humidity, too. It would be nice to be only mildly gross when I get home from exercising. This morning when I got finished mowing the lawn, my headband was moist, but when I got back from my bike ride, it was soaked. I could literally ring it out into the sink. Gross.

I am studying the Renaissance today. Maybe I can get friendly with Shakespeare.

3 Comments

Posted in Fat, Gym, Running, Winter Weather

What I Should Be Doing vs. What I Do

Posted on 23 June 2009 | 1 comment

I should be studying for my exams.

I should be writing for my workshop group.

I should be doing what I know I need to be doing.

Instead I am fretting over all of it and making no kind of headway on actually getting it done.

Every time I go to the bathroom, Ordinary Genius looks at me from the tub-rim. I leaf through it and put it down.

When I come into the bed room, stacks of Norton anthologies stare me down from their place on the bookshelf. I spend less time with them than I should. They don’t let me forget.

I go for walks. I peel paint. I pull up carpet. I wish I had time to go through everything once and for all.

I wish I could donate my life to the Goodwill. Maybe some one else could figure out how to use it more effectively. They would recycle it. They would be glad to have all this stuff, all this pressure, all these worldly things.

I just want a Volkswagon Van or a big old truck with a cap, Bec, my dogs, my bathing suit, some overflowing dumpsters with lots of good food, and the beach. That is all I tell myself I need.

Really, I am pretty happy right now. I just hit these little bumps in the road where I think I need to be doing something different than what I am doing. Talking with Sarah this morning helped me keep my career choice in perspective, because I am doing what I love: reading and writing. And, I am doing it with other people who also love it, and I am teaching it. Hopefully, I even influence some of my students to love it, too. What could be more fulfilling than that? I just need to figure out how to escape to the beach once a year to restore my soul…

1 Comment

Posted in Gleaning, Grace, Relationships, Religion, Writing

Myrtle Beach Photos and Mom’s Birthday

Posted on 10 June 2009 | Leave a comment

Today is my mother’s birthday, and she doesn’t know it yet, but we are taking her out dinner tonight. I am on my way to the store to buy her a cake (under the auspices of buying bananas for breakfast and vinegar for my brother’s lobster back). He and William are both very sunburnt, so I assume they will be in a great deal of pain tonight. They both blamed it on the sunscreen: it made them burn. Yeah, right.

Anyway, here are some pictures courtesy of Adam’s hard drive:

: William

: Myrtle Beach

: Breakers North Tower

: Me

: Adam

Myrtle Beach. Detroit.

Posted on 9 June 2009 | 3 comments

We have an ocean view from our hotel balcony. Fabulous really. I could live in this little suite if I needed to. We even have a washer and a dryer that doesn’t dry very well—my towels have been drying for about two hours now. We can hear the waves against the shore and smell the salty water from the bedroom when the balcony door is open.

Last night Adam, William, and I took an evening stroll along the beach. The waves rolled in as the tide got higher, and we watched everyone looking for the little crabs that poked their heads up out of the sand. The moon was full, glowing a bright line across the waves. Therapy.

William has never been to the ocean, it has been fun to watch him get so excited about it. As we pulled up to the hotel, he said he felt like he was going to throw up from the excitement. I felt the same way. The ocean makes me quiver a little. I can better recognize that God is God and I am human, because I feel so small and insignificant against the powerful water.

One of my friends keeps politely harassing me about my interest in the welfare of people overseas. His rationale is that we need to help our own before we help others. I agree with part of this: we need to help our own, but I think we can do it simultaneously. Some organizations do this really well, but just for him, I am posting this: jitcrunch Because I know that so many people in the US need assistance worse than they have since the Great Depression. Americans have come together to support each other before; surely, we can do it again. No?