Blogs, Podcasts, Books and The Fall (but not in that order)

Saturday August 13, 2011

Yesterday morning I went running with Tricia and fell and ripped my pants. It didn’t hurt and I only got a little scrape and a bruise (thank goodness – all my bruises from mt. biking have faded). The painful part was that there was this guy there and the intersection where I ate it and he saw the whole thing. We ran down to the intersection, I wiped out, got up, turned around and we ran away again, me with a big hole ripped in the knee of my pants.

I tell this to Ji last night and we laugh a little. We really laugh when I confess tha they are not actually pants that I wear to run in, but long underwear. And then we keep laughing when I explain how the elastic waist is so shot I have to bunch it up and pint it with a safety pin so the pants don’t fall down, especially when I’m running downhill. Thank goodness I’ve got my bright purple, super-fly, 50% off Pumas to salvage my imagine a little. I’m not a total disaster.

When Ji finally settles down he asks, “Would you go running dressed like that in NYC?” This question never would have occurred to me. Of course I would run in that outfit in NYC! Because:

1. It can get cold in NY and long underwear, even ripped long underwear, will help me stay warm.

2. I’ve never understood why people spend a lot of money for fancy new workout clothes. I always wear my older, most beat up clothing to work out in. The clothes are going to ust get seaty and muddy (and ripped) anyway. Expensive workout clothes = poor financial planning.

3. No matter how hard I try or how much money I make I will never be NYC fashinable. I just can’t pull it off and I’ve given up trying. Hm – I reazlie not that I never have actually given a damn.

So, for Ji-Soo and the rest of you who might ask, yes I would go running in the fashion capital of the world in baggy, ripped long underwear. And I wouldn’t think twice about it.
******************************************************************************
I just finished reading Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden. It was published in 1982 and was supposedly the first gay/lesbian teen novel, which is pretty cool, but I liked it for a different reason. I liked it because it really captured how falling in love in NYC can turn the dirty, gritty, monotonous city into a beautiful, endless playground. I was so down on NYC and then one day (really, it happened that quickly) everything changed.

I left anyway.
******************************************************************************

I just listed to and episode of The Changing World podcast: “The Kill Factor”. Pretty powerful. My thoughts:

1. So upfront, so shocking, so necessary.

2. Kudos to those who can talk to openly and honestly about their experience. I can’t imagine the courage that takes.

3. I wish they’d included women. Do women go to the front line? Do they kill?

4. Being here in Monteverde has made me realize that I’m not a pacifist, but I still don’t like war.

5. Powerful idea #1: The safety switch to keep soldiers from killing gets turned off so they can kill but how can we put it back before we send them home?

6. Powerful idea #2: We ask soldiers to do so much but then don’t support them when the come home.

7. Powerful idea #3: Hearing one of the soldiers talking about going from war zone to war zone. What are we doing in this world?

8. The word WAR – seems perfect for what it is.
******************************************************************************

I’ve been reading some new blogs lately (I never thought I’d say that):

• Neil and wife Andrea, who just moved to Hilo, Hawaii: http://haoleherald.tumblr.com/

• Ji’s sister Eunnie and The Husband, who just moved to Shenzen, China: consumateconsumer.com

• Amanda and her husband, who live in Cambodia and just had a baby. We were friends in middle school and have not spoken since, but its an interesting blog: http://amandaniel.blogspot.com/