American Boy

I am obsessed with this song. Just saw the video yesterday on VH1's Jump Start:

Et Tu, Superman?

I was reading the newest issue of People Magazine this morning (yes, trash journalism is one of my vices, what can I say), and I learned that there's a new biography out on the lives and relationship of Christopher and Dana Reeve. Now, I don't know about you, but I loved these people as much as anyone can actually love a celebrity, a total stranger they have never met. His perseverance through the challenges of paralysis, her standing by him through thick or thin, their undying optimism and strength, their untimely deaths... All these things inspired me, made me believe that true love, the "in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, 'til death do us part" kind of love, really did exist.

So, imagine my shock when I found out that this new biography talks about how Christopher Reeve was so scared of marriage when he was dating Dana that he went to see a psychiatrist! (Note: I am a 150% advocate of seeking mental health care, so this is not about that at all.) And, it seems that the thing that finally pushed Superman toward wedded bliss was Dana getting knocked up with their first son, not some burning desire to spend the ever-after together. Fascinating, no?!

So a few thoughts:

• A part of me was a little crestfallen after finding this out. Christopher Reeve was a stereotypical cold-feet kinda guy? Really?


• Fate. I think there's something to that concept. Imagine if he had given in to his fears and not married this woman he seemed to, ultimately, be so in love with. Imagine if the anti-commitment kryptonite had gotten to him? How much love he would have missed in his life... Amazing.


• There is no Superman. There are no super men. Or super women for that matter. We are all fallible. We are all scared. We carry our own kryptonite around with us until that right person comes along and helps us unload the burden of fear, anxiety and doubt. We all want a good dose of certainty of the happily-ever-after, and a solid measure of uncertainty to keep the relationship exciting. We all want it all, and don't know how to get it. But ultimately--and thanfully--as long we know we want love, I believe we'll all figure it out.

Running Day #15: Walk All Over Me

No, I did not skip a number... Running Day #14 happened on a road just outside of Bangor, ME, this past Wednesday morning. It was my second attempt at the 3-5-3-5 min interval running, and I have to say, it kinda sucked. I got a pain in my side again, but alas, not until the middle of the last interval. Also, since I was running out in "nature", a pesky huge-ass fly circled around me for most of the jog -- as my little two-year-old niece would say, "That's not good."

But today... today was a different story. First of all, I debated whether I should even go running. Yes, I had one of those moments. That extra hour of sleep seemed so appealing when the alarm clock went off at 6 am this morning. But, my better judgement prevailed, and I dragged my ass out of bed. I knew that, if I let today slip, I would soon be sliding down the slippery slope back to the couch-ass, and that was NOT acceptable.

So today, I pretty much kicked ass. The 3 minute intervals seemed easy, and the 5-minute intervals were not that bad either. Perhaps I should have paid more attention to my body, but today, I let my mind wonder... I started developing the characters and plot for a book I am thinking of writing, and brainstormed ideas for an "innovative ideas" collaborative blog I am thinking of starting (notice, these are only ideas so far... we shall see about the actual execution). Running brings such clarity to mind. At least for me. It's like, I can actually focus while I'm running. I can sit at my desk and not be able to focus at all, but give my body something to do and all of a sudden my brain can actually function. Honestly, this rather confirms my long-held suspicion that I might be slightly AD/HD, and that the only way I really got through 18 years of formal education was through the discipline taught me by my parents and the Croatian educational system. If I had been born in the US, I would have been one of those under-stimulated gifted children who would never sit still and get in trouble in school all the time. Speaking of that, check out this cool TED talk about Ken Robinson about creativity in school:




Fascinating, no?

Oh, and for a thing I noticed on the run today:

• On the west side of 16th St., north of Irving, there's a graffiti on the sidewalk that says, "Walk all over me." And I do. And every time I step on that piece of graffiti, I feel a weird sense of satisfaction. Isn't that weird? I am odd, I admit.

News Flash: Men Have Biological Clock Too

There are days when I wish all my friends and jabberbloggy readers could read Croatian. Like today, for example. This article on the Vecernji List website would be very interesting for my friends to read, but it's all in Croatian.

So, let me translate the main points:

• French scientists found that men have a biological clock, too.
• In the case of men, this clock starts ticking in the mid-30's.
• Chance of pregnancy goes down sharply after a man turns 35, and falls even further at the 40-year-old mark.
  
• This is due to the deterioration of the sperm's DNA.

Some thoughts...

First of all, this is a Croatian newspaper, so the comments section is filled with vulgar and sexually-insinuating messages. At last glance, there were three comments to this article, all left by men, all proclaiming (or at least hinting at) men's undying virility. Hilarious.

Second, I am not surprised. It makes sense to me that Mother Nature would give both sexes a little biological push to take care of kids while they can actually physically take care of them. I mean, think about it, a 70-year-old dude could NOT take care of a kid as well as a 35-year-old dad, right? Right.

Third... Ugh. My mom pointed this article out to me, and my first gut reaction was annoyance and frustration. Yes, fine, fine, I know that my eggs are dying and my uterus is slowly shriveling up while the future father of my children is not getting any younger, either!!! (well, unless I go a-cradle-robbin' for a sperm donor) But I am not yet ready for a kid! So, as fascinated as I am by these articles, I kind of experience this little spell of anxiety and pressure whenever I see an article extolling the virtues of late twenties/early thirties parenthood.

I know I'll be ready at some point. When the time is right. And hopefully, my eggs and my beloved's sperm will still be "viable" at that point. But until then, please, everyone -- society, media, friends, family -- please lay off. Ok? Ok.

Why We Do What We Do

Slacker

I have waivered. I have slacked. I didn't go running on Friday in Maine, nor did I go running today in DC. GAAAAAH! Ok, tomorrow, I go.

My excuses are good, as in, I was on vacation on Friday and it was SO nice to sleep in and NOT run. This morning, I was so tired from the trip back to DC that I simply could not will myself up at 6am.

But tomorrow, back to the regimen. I am at Week 4, and I shall continue kicking ass.

More on all that -- as well as some pictures from beautiful Maine -- soon.

Running Day #13: Sleep and Happiness

As soon as I stepped out of the apartment this morning, I knew it was going to be a good day to run. The morning air was cool and fresh, yes, but also -- I felt good, I felt light, and I felt awake. A good chunk of credit goes to a very relaxing weekend with Bling -- and our three-hour nap yesterday afternoon. Going into Monday morning, I was relaxed and well-rested, and that made all the difference. It's really amazing how just getting enough sleep can make a person a happy camper.

(And speaking of sleep, I'm getting up at 4am tomorrow morning to catch a flight to Maine for a mini-family reunion. Yeah, guess who'll be passing out tomorrow morning in the cabin by the lake.:)

Anyway, so, I kicked ass today with the Week 4 of the running program. After a 5-minute walking warm-up, I ran for 3 minutes, walked for 90 seconds, ran for 5 minutes, walked for 2.5 minutes, and then repeated the 3 and 5 min intervals. Yup... I ran for entire 5 minutes!!! Twice!!!

Very proud of myself.

Then I came home, and did the "push ups test" for the One Hundred Push Ups challenge I'm doing with a few folks. Ok, I am WEAK! I barely did 5 push-ups!! OMG, I had no idea I was that bad with my upper body strength!! Seriously. Must work on that.

Ok, and now, for the things noticed on the run:

• The mirror that had been propped up against a tree on the side of 16th Street (mentioned in previous post) is now completely shattered. Something about seeing the pieces of the mirror shattered, reflecting pieces of the morning sky, filled me with melancholy. Was the mirror too honest in offering passers-by a reflection of themselves? Was it too unusual, too beautiful, to survive a weekend on a busy DC street? Just made me wonder...
• Running slowly is okay. That's all I'm going to say about the 5-minute stretches. :)

Novel Idea for Co-Habitation

Last night, Lunchbox and I had an extensive conversation about couples' co-habitation, and the optimal arrangement of their shared living space. We agreed that a 3-bedroom apartment would be ideal (shared bedroom, and then one "study" for each person), and that a one-bedroom is a bare minimum. And then I offered my revoluationary idea about how to optimize a 2-bedroom place for a couple. Tell me what you think about this:

Find a place with 2 bedrooms and a large-ish living room. Put the bed in the living room (along with other living room stuff). Give each person one of the two "bedrooms" to have their own space. Think about it, do you really need a whole room just to sleep? No. And if one person wants to go to sleep, and the other person wants to stay up -- why then, the awake person just hangs out in their room until it's time for bed. AND, since most of us (at least here in DC) have at some point lived in a studio or have friends who live in studios, seeing a bed in the living room doesn't really strike anyone as odd.

Genius!! I am a genius!! And Lunchbox liked the idea, too! Now, we shall see if either one of us (or any of my dear readers out there) actually implement this new idea for co-habitation, and then report back to us on how it goes.

One Hundred Push Ups

Call me crazy. Because I am :)

Now that my lower bod is gettin' into shape with the running program, it might be a time to kick-start the flab-melting upper body workout. Guess what I found online today:

http://www.hundredpushups.com/

Ha! Ok, who wants to do it with me? Frogger Girl? Bling? Bratty? Martian? Moxie? The challenge is on, people!

Running Day #12: I'm Back!

Thank the running gods, folks! I made it through the running podcast today! Granted, I stayed with Week 3... after the last two go's, I wasn't confident about moving on to the longer intervals yet. And I think I made a good decision.

There were still a couple of times today when my right side started cramping up, and I realized just how consciously I had to focus on relaxing my breathing -- relaxing my torso and the entire body -- in order to get through it. It seems that, if my body is even a little bit tense, this right-side pain creeps in. Which really forces me to be aware of how my body is doing, and do my best to relax. I felt myself going back to the relaxation methods learned at the meditation classes Bling and I went to late last year. Call me Zen Master P :)

Things I noticed on the walk today:

• There was a big broken mirror leaning on a tree by the side of the road. It' so weird to see a household mirror outside... I can't explain it. I passed it, catching a quick glimpse of myself as I ran by. Felt very surreal. Like an "Alice through the looking glass"moment... I let my imagination take flight, and spent the next few minutes fantasizing about stepping through the mirror into the parallel world.
  
• I pass a playground on my run every day. Latino day-laborers waiting to be picked up for a hard day's work hang out there in the morning; I've never seen children there. On one side of the plastic jungle-gym, there is a sign with letters of the alphabet, so that parents can, presumably, review the ABC's with their kids. And that made me think about my neighborhood and how realistic that expectation was. This playground in particular, I think, serves the low-income, immigrant population of my neighborhood. I don't know how much time--or know-how--parents who hardly speak English and work a couple of jobs have to teach their pre-schoolers the ABCs. And it made me sad.
  

Like the Old Days

OMG, tonight was fun. Lunchbox, P-Candy and Oppo-K (Lunchbox and I will work on her blog name some more) met up after work at Toledo Lounge for some Yuengling, veggie quesadillas and greasy French fries. I don't know how else to explain our little gatherings (usually we are joined by HeWhoSmokesBitches), but to describe them as group therapy sessions involving beer and lots of laughter. Ah, food for the soul. I love these people. Lunchbox no longer blogs and doesn't even check postings of his blog family, both to mine and Bratty's dismay, but maybe we can change that.

Anyway, good times, fun. And now, water and sleep, and a run tomorrow morning.

G'night!

ENFP at Work

OK, so I took the Myers-Briggs Type test on Facebook, and got an extended description of how an Extravert (44%), iNtuitive (44%), Feeling (34%), Perceiver (2%) functions -- in life, in learning, in work, etc.

Here's the work description:

ENFPs often follow a nonlinear career track and nontraditional routes to obtaining knowledge, qualifications, and skills. When they are committed to what they do, they are enthusiastic to the point of preaching to the entire world about it. For an ENFP, work must be fun and must contribute to something larger than merely collecting a paycheck.

The preferred work setting for ENFPs contains imaginative people focused on human possibilities. ENFPs want a work environment that is both physically and mentally colorful. They prefer a participative and collegial atmosphere in which employees are included in the decision making. ENFPs are less productive where there is disharmony because they pay more attention to the relationships between people at work than they do to the tasks. Their ideal job would offer variety, novelty, challenge, and freedom from tight supervision; it would be idea oriented and imaginative, and would have lively, energetic people enjoying themselves and their tasks.

Most ENFPs will say they are organized, but others might not see them that way. Their desire to be open to the moment tends to outweigh their need to be organized. Usually ENFP work space is arranged haphazardly, with work materials and personal momentos scattered about. In terms of the management of time, ENFPs find it particularly difficult to estimate accurately how long an activity will take. Because people\'s needs are more important than schedules, ENFPs are often late and characteristically full of apologies for their tardiness.

ENFPs prefer occupations that reflect their ideals and that promote harmonious relationships with others. They tend to be attracted to occupations with a service orientation. ENFPs usually find a place in their work life for creativity. They particularly enjoy people-oriented work in which they are able to combine things in new and different ways to benefit humanity. Flexibility and autonomy are important to ENFPs, who may bolt from organizations in which this is not attainable.

Common occupations picked by ENFPs include artist, clergy, consultant, counselor, entertainer, journalist, public relations worker, social scientist, social worker, teacher, and other occupations that allow ENFPs to use their creativity and insight.

For those of you who know me well, you will attest: this is SO FREAKIN' RIGHT ON!

Little Favours

by KT Tunstall



I slip softly through
Your slim fingers
Feeling traces
I embrace this
Feeling that lingers

So take me far away
And hold me close to your heart
And do me just this little favour
For I do
Yes I do love you

This silence sits easy
So peacefully
Like the skin
Like the skin upon your body

So take me far away now
And hold me close to your heart
And do me just this little favour
For I do
Yes I do love you

This little universe between backs
So beautiful and colourful
I lean on that

Running Day #11: Total Mess

Today was a shit-day for running. I transitioned to Week 4 of the program which included my first 5 min run. But that wasn't even the problem. Toward the end of the first 3-minute interval run, my side started hurting. And I couldn't shake it off during the 90 second walking interval. And it still didn't go away when the 5-min run commenced. I tried to pause the workout, but today was the first day I took my nano out with the Nike+iPod sensor... so trying to just pause the podcast proved impossible: I accidentally fast forwarded, and couldn't go back... GAH!

So, pain in my side, my podcast totally messed up, I gave up. Yup. I gave up. I just turned everything off, and walked the rest of the way.

Ugh.

p.s. I think I'm going to go back to using the shuffle until I finish the "couch to 5K" podcasts, and then switch to the iPod+Nike with the nano. With the interval running, it's too difficult to keep track of too many things on the nano, but the more elaborate set up will be SUPER useful when I start mapping my own running routes. Yay!