A Wonderful Visit

Once a year in the summer my mom visits.

Over the years we've visited almost every historic site in the area, so we decided to do something different this time.  This time we:

• Went to Busch Gardens, to the Food and Wine festival
• Went to the Roller Derby

We had a good time!

The only dark mark on the trip was a reminder of my mother's age.  She just turned 70 this year.  We talked about who will be the executor of her will, what to do with all of my crap in the basement, who makes decisions on her advanced directive, where the current bills are....

I didn't want to hear that.  Grandpa was 98 when he died.  My mom is going to live forever!

But don't we all think that?

My mom is safely in the Airport, with a magazine.  By 1 she'll be in the air and on her way home.  And it struck me...  I might never see her again.  

And that through hurts.  So very much.

But I'm going to dry my eyes and go on with my day.

Besides... she's going to try to make it for Christmas!

Delirium

I have now listened to the audio book and watched the unaired pilot... so I feel qualified to talk about:

Delirium, By Lauren Oliver:

The premise is rather out there (from wikipedia):

"The story is set in Portland, Maine, in an alternate present. Civilization is concentrated in those cities which escaped the severe bombings of decades past. Travel between cities is highly restricted. Electric fences separate the city from the Wilds—unregulated territory which was presumably mostly destroyed by bombs.
The totalitarian government teaches that love is a disease, named amor deliria nervosa, commonly referred to as "the deliria". A surgical cure for the deliria has been developed and is mandatory for citizens 18 years old and over. Lena has looked forward to the procedure for years, convinced as she is by the government that love is a horrible disease that must be destroyed from mankind's system."

 What people don't bother to point out that the "cured" adults are cut off from strong emotions.  There's not a lot of compassion.  There's not a lot of caring.  there is a rigid adherence to social order, rules and protocol.

Honestly, it sounds like this "cure" is basically a lobotomy.  Yeah.  I went there.  When the narrator talked about taking scalpel to brain, it convinced me that this must be some sort of super precise lobotomy.

My thoughts on the book:

1. The prose in the book is AMAZING!  I listened to the book, so it was even better!
2. The premise is out there... on the surface.  Yes, they want to wipe out the disease of love... but it's more than that.  You can tell that the government is trying to control the population by cutting off passionate emotions, leaving them docile and easy to control.  Looking at it that way makes it more thought provoking.
3. The book left me with a lot of questions!!!!
4. I thought the book took place in Portland, OR, not Portland, ME... for like most of the book.  OOPPS!

Then I saw the unaired pilot

 My thoughts:

1. They did the ENTIRE first book in a 45 minute pilot.  Where do they go from there?
2. The adults weren't... cut off enough.  Lena described the "cured" as people who were wrapped up, and cut off...  (or something like that).  These adults were... normal....
3. There were characters from later books in there...  (which didn't disturb me.)
4. The whole thing was too fast.  You missed the subtly of the government control.  You missed the subtle propaganda.  It came off as one dimensional.  I could have rather seen it built up over the course of a few episodes...  Where you see the breaks in the "perfect" lives that everyone is living.  Like in the book.

But seriously, if you've read the book, go to Hulu and check out the show.  Let me know what you think!

Spring Cleaning.... in the summer....

It happens ever year.  We reach a point where things MUST be cleaned.

Usually that happens when company comes.

This time around it wasn't that bad.  We had to de-pet-smell the upstairs, clean the counters, put away laundry.  I still need to clean the stove and clean out my car... but I have like 24 hours still..

This time around we've noticed that our house is lacking some things.  There's not enough lighting in the dining room when the Spousal Equivalent has people over for gaming.  We have an extra TV that should go into the guest room (or Goodwill), but we need a table to put it on.  And we needed a new desk chair.

Why??

The picture isn't crooked... the chair is.  5 years of wear and tear killed it.

I now have a list of the items that we need (shelving, lamp, TV stand) in my purse, and we'll begin shopping sales.

All in all, I finally feel moved in, unpacked and settled.  I like this feeling!

Well that race kicked my ass....

I don't know what happened, but I have spent the last weekend in a stupor.  After a late race, and being soaked apparently something in my gave up.  I slept until 9 on Saturday.

I never sleep that late!

We saw How to Train Your Dragon 2.  It was great, go see it now!

Sunday, I decided that I was going to get up and run before church.  My plan was to hit the trail at the park.

6am-  I hit the snooze.  I'd run the neighborhood
6:30am- I hit the snooze again.  I'd take the dog on a long walk.
7am- the dog would get a snort walk
7:30-  I didn't even get breakfast.

I did get to church and sing, but man... I was still exhausted!  I still am a little foggy!

I didn't get out to run this morning either.  Tonight I need to lay out my running clothes so I can get out early enough.

Feeling all sorts of defeated, I went to work.  There was yet another ceiling leak over the weekend, so I went in to survey the damage.

Then an email came.  My July 4th race is cancelled.  Reading between the lines... I'm worried about the other races with that company.

Cake.... Cake might make today better.

Rev 3 Glow Run Williamsburg

Or the race that almost wasn't..

Friday afternoon is rained.  Poured.  Like a monsoon!  Then it stopped!

When we left for the race it was sunny.

While we waited for my co-worker's kids it started to cloud up.  We could see the storm rolling in.

The race was set for sunset, about 8:30.  At 7:30 the sky opened up.  Thunder!  Lightening!  Downpour.

great....

And all of a sudden, it stopped.  At 8:45 we were given the go ahead.

There was a chaotic air around the whole race, which given the weather, I understand.  But seriously.... no porta poties at a race??  We also had an announcer that like Miss Othmar, from the peanuts.  The race map had no mention of a water stop....

Anyways.. we all lined up in the chute... and then were told that we were running out from the back end of the chute...  Ok....

The race began, and we ran.  In the dark...  It's a glow run so that was expected.  After a quarter mile my glasses were so water spotted that I shoved them in my bra and ran blind.

The best part?  Some guy at mile 2 (and 2.75) put his speakers on his porch and blasted music!

I don't know my time.  I don't really care...  the race was chaotic, and I don't think I'll do it again.

But I did it!!

Next race:  The Independence Day Classic 8K

I seriously must be crazy

Tuesday my stomach staged a revolt that kept me home from work.  I took naps, ate saltines, and cuddled with my dog,  (Misty was rather excited about having mommy home.)

Somehow I got it in my head that I wanted to run a half marathon.

One of the races that I signed up for had a half marathon component.

So I decided to switch my registration to the half...

but I committed to doing the 5K with my friend.

So what did I do?  I signed up for the Shell Yeah challenge.  Yeah.... I'm running both races.

Totally crazy.

The question was posed:  am I training for the half marathon?  Yes and no....  I'm doing plenty of races between now and then.  I'm going to try and get out for longer runs on the weekend.  My problem is week days.  Unless I want to get up at 4:30, I have to run at night.  And I don't like running with everyone and their mother's cousin hanging out outside.

In the end, I'll do what I can do.  If I end up walking most of the half marathon, it's ok.

The important part is starting and finishing.

It's Monday again...

This weekend was rather low key and quiet.  I didn't feel particularly well, and can't remember what I did...

but I have a LONG list of crap that I should have done.  *cringe*

On Saturday, the Spousal Equivalent went out to Dunkin Donuts, and I sent in my order for iced coffee.  I completely forgot to ask for artificial sweetener... and drank a large sugary drink.  I felt off all afternoon!

I had grand plans about hanging curtains upstairs (It might help stem the whole "it's ungodly hot up there" problem).  I had plans that involved mopping floors and cleaning my bathroom.  I did manage to wash clothes.  I even put them away.

Sunday seemed like it was a large build up to the Tony Awards.  Groceries were bought.  I made a crockpot full of margarita Chicken.

I also thought a lot about.. well.. everything.

Months ago I decided that I wanted to get back into the theater.  I was going to audition for a musical.  Sunday I decided to give that some thought.  I've been running more and more races.  Heck, I am still seriously considering adding a half marathon to my schedule for October.  Do I have the time?

The answer came to me hard.  No.  Not this summer.

Instead of grand plans, I'm going to take things a week at a time.

This week's to do list:

1. I've placed all my critical chores on my post it.  Do ALL of them
2. Work out every day.
3. Be mindful of evening snacking.  I'm not hungry, I'm bored.
4. this weekend go on a longer run
5. Hang those damn curtains.
6. get up into the storage room to clean up a bit.

The most important one?  Number 1.