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Hurrah for Autumn!

Brighton RockI went running this morning and it was cool enough that I had to wear a long-sleeved shirt, no more than 55 degrees at the most. And when I finished, all I could think was, “It’s autumn! Finally!” Saturday had been warm and humid, the antithesis of autumn in my head. But the temperature dropped a bit on Sunday, and for the past two days we’ve been back to me wearing a jacket in the morning on the way to work, although a stroll to the post office in the afternoon is just warm enough to go without.

Have I mentioned before how much I love autumn? To me it’s a cup of green tea when I get to work, or some apple cider in the afternoon and early evening. It’s the return of squash to the farmer’s market and grocery store, of taking a warm shower after a morning run instead of a cold one, of digging back out my long-sleeved shirts from where they’ve sat in my closet for five months.

When I got back from my run this morning, I opened up all the windows in my home (I’d already turned off the air yesterday), which was a delight to do so. I do wish that I could leave open the windows on the east side of the apartment, but unfortunately that would invite people to climb in and take my things, so no thanks. I can leave the west side windows open, but the breeze doesn’t really come through those so much. Still, as soon as I get home I’ll open them back up.

It’s funny, yesterday I was feeling frustrated by the lack of getting things really done at home. Today, I don’t know why, but it feels like a corner’s been turned in my head. Maybe I just needed the seasons to actually start progressing so I could do the same?

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Home Again, Home Again

Is it possible to feel like you’ve been travelling without ever leaving the area? I feel like I haven’t been home for the past week, even though I was. There’s a trail of debris all over the place to prove it, in fact. But with 953 different things on my plate at once, I don’t think I ever stopped moving for more than a few minutes to appreciate being home.

But, that’s all over for now. The craziness of September seems to be firmly behind me, having culminated in the Small Press Expo (SPX), which I’ve helped run since 1998. It’s a labor of love, certainly; it eats up chunks of time (although not as much as before since I’ve reduced my role to primarily just the Ignatz Awards) but at the end of the day I get to see so many lovely and wonderful friends that it’s worth it. Of course, I don’t ever get to spend enough time with any of them, which sucks a little bit. But even a few minutes chat is better than nothing at all.

I’ve also vowed to start scanning in my wine sketches once more. I know, I’ve said this before. But I mean it this time. Really. It was invigorating being around so many talented artists all weekend long. I also took some photos at the show that—especially the ones on Sunday using a prime lens—I’m pretty happy with.

Tired and UnfocusedAside from two meetings for work later this week, it is nice to look ahead and see on my schedule… nothing. (Well, almost nothing. I’ve got two runs in the morning for the weekend, and some stuff starts showing up next weekend. But it’s not like last week for instance where every day had a to-do list the length of my arm.) I’m hoping to spend Thursday night in front of the television because I don’t have other things that must be accomplished first.

I think this is what I’d really like to accomplish in the next two weeks:

  • Read some books
  • Write some reviews
  • Clean the living room
  • Cook some new recipes
  • Watch some television
  • Take some naps
  • Go for a swim or two

Will I accomplish them all? I hope so. I also challenge everyone else to follow this list for the next two weeks. I think it’s going to be fun.

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Aaaarrrggghhh

I managed to somehow delete an entire post about the arrival of autumn (it’s not in my drafts or anything) that was going to go here. And to top it off, I realized about an hour ago that I managed to leave my bathing suit hanging on one of the dryers at the gym. Will call them tomorrow and hopefully it wasn’t thrown out. (Probably not, but you never know.)

Just one of those “aaaarrrrggghhhh” nights. Ah well, at least I didn’t accidentally blow up the universe. (Yet.)

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Cleaning, Sorting, Re-arranging

I literally just spent the last three hours cleaning my bedroom. It’s amazing how much I’ll let some stuff pile up; it was almost all at one spot in particular where books and comics (both read and unread) were slowly accumulating. So instead of getting writing done (which also needed to be tackled today) I rolled up the proverbial sleeves and dug in like there was no tomorrow.

On the bright side, what a difference. All sorts of stuff earmarked for library donation, thrown away, or kept but now in a place where I’ll actually see it again. Always a nice feeling to get that sort of stuff done, even if it was long overdue. Next weekend’s goal is to wipe out the now five(!) bags of books that need to be sorted into library, Amazon re-selling, or eBay. Oof.

Of course, the stuff in the bedroom isn’t the only thing that’s being re-arranged. After a good 20-miler last Saturday, my right calf was feeling pretty sore on Sunday and part of Monday. It felt ok on Tuesday, but after just two miles of running it started hurting again. I went to a Foot & Ankle Sports Medicine doctor who diagnosed it as a strain, and also gave me an insert for my right running shoe to hopefully help prevent this in the future. But it does mean a couple of weeks off of running.

I took this as an opportunity to finally buy a 25-punch visitor pass for the pool near work on Friday (as well as heading over and swimming 32 laps), since it and spinning were both deemed acceptable. If I just keep active between these two, it should hopefully help minimize the amount of rebuilding I have to do before November 1st. I’m hoping the slight break will also help me get a little more jazzed about it when it rolls around; a solid year of marathon training is getting a little mentally wearing as time goes on. As psyched as I am for the Disneyworld races in January, I’ll be glad when they’re done.

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Wishing I Was There

My friend Graeme introduced me to the phrase of Jungian Radio, where for a lack of a better description, is when you have that song that is forever attached to some sort of moment or memory in your life. While trying to find YouTube videos to drive Charlie insane (it’s my job), I saw a link for a Natalie Imbruglia video, and suddenly I was back in Rome at the end of 2006.

I wish I could remember the name of the club/bar, but it’s lost to me now. I do remember that Tod, Doug, and I went there on a whim; we wanted something simple and easy, and it looked good. The place was going to turn into a dance club in an hour or so, but until then they were still serving food. While we were sitting down and waiting for our food, the music playing sounded awfully familiar. It wasn’t until I’d mouthed half of the words to “Wishing I Was There” and “Don’t You Think?” that I finally figured out it Natalie Imbruglia’s Left of the Middle CD playing on random.  I don’t think I’d listened to any of that CD in about six years or so by that point, and all of the sudden it made me desperately want to hear it again.

Sunset on Rome

All of this, more than anything else, makes me want to go back to Italy. Or really, somewhere new in Europe, there are so many other countries waiting to be explored. When I’m on holiday, you’re given the excuse to walk around in a city or town for hours and just stop at a random cafe and eat something. When I’m home, there’s always something else that needs to be done, or a favorite place that I end up eating at instead of just taking a random stab and seeing what I end up with. (Or most likely, not eating out and just making lunch or dinner.)

Charlie and I spent part of Saturday looking at some different neighborhoods, ones to just try and get a better grasp of what’s out there and what our future options are. One of the most exciting things about doing that? The idea of having the slate cleared on all of those patterns and habits that we fall into. Start over, reset and reboot, ctrl-alt-del. Get forced to find something new. I like that.

Funny what a single YouTube link will dredge up.

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Slightly Burnt Out

I’m not sure how I can be burnt out from doing too much while not really accomplishing anything, but I’ve come to the grim conclusion that it seems to be my life these days. It has been nice to check some items off of the list, though, and move closer to getting other things completed. (Although even things that take up time can still be sad to see go away.)

I did have the last of my “lap swimming class” through Arlington last night, which I’d signed up for primarily because the rec center near my office was overrun with kids camp all summer long. It was strange (to me), though, in that we started with nine people and by the end would have anywhere from two to four people show up. Last night was just me and one other guy. I admit it, I missed two classes (one due to work, one due to sickness) but it was more than just that in terms of absences. The instructor had even said early on that adult swim classes had a steep attrition rate but this was a little out of control. On the bright side, we each had an entire lane to ourselves, how nice is that? The final two weeks we were told to “just go and swim as much as you can without stopping” and I was pleased with the end results: 34 laps in 35 minutes last week, and 39 laps in 40 minutes this week. Nice steady pace with no burning desire to stop. It’ll be nice to have Monday nights back, but I will miss having my own lap lane ready and waiting for me.

Over for SPX, the Ignatz Ballot is out in the wild, and the jury this year did a fantastic job. I’ve been very slowly lining up presenters, so hopefully I can get that done in the next week or two with lots of time to spare. It’s hard to believe the show is just a month away (yikes) but I’m whittling away at my remaining parts, which feels good.

On the downside, though, my home has lately been looking like a disaster area in various stages of disrepair. I’d hoped to really roll up my sleeves and get rid of stuff a couple of weekends ago but it just didn’t happen. I think I’m going to have to just draw up a schedule for myself even if it’s as simple as, “Tackle these two shelves this weekend” so it doesn’t look quite so daunting. (Once I get rid of some things, I will then have room for the other things scattered around my home.) Doubly so for if/when Charlie and I get a place together, this is a process that needs to be taken care of.

Alternately, gods of the lottery system, the Virginia Lottery is at something hugely ridiculous right now like $252 million. I know that supposedly more money brings more problems, but I am willing to give that a shot and see what happens. Then I can spend my days doing research on important things. Like if squirrels can really talk out of their butts or not.

I thought Mark Trail was all about animal facts?

While I’m at it, I need to figure out something else to do with the never-ending supply of peaches from my CSA. I love peaches but I am starting to burn out on them. I cannot eat them fast enough. (Well, I suppose I could but it would be fairly disastrous.) Maybe I should make some sort of smallish peach cobbler? I suppose there are worse fates in life.

Oh, and if the heat could drop about 10 degrees I’d be appreciative. I’d like the option to run after work instead of having to get up super-early to avoid melting.