Sunday, April 23, 2006
Waning Moon
Jupiter Retrograde
Raining heavily and cool

We had a good group of cleaner-uppers yesterday and were done in less than two hours. Boy, did we “discover” a great many hubcaps and flip top cans and even a mattress! Everything was hauled down, sorted, and set nicely aside so it can be picked up by the DPW.

At one point, there was an egret standing on the rocks of the brook. He let me get pretty close to him to photograph, before flying off.

And yes, he’s the same color as the “snowy egret” trim I’m using in the apartment – the color is true to the bird! Absolutely lovely.

Took a bit of a break, and then the Tenants’ Organization had its picnic at the local recreation center. Plenty of food, lots of good times. The Rangers – Devils playoff game was on in one room, and I kept sneaking off to watch bits. The Devils pounded the Rangers 6-1. I’m sorry, but not surprised. The Rangers fought back from the last few seasons of hell quite well this year, and I’d hoped they’d have a good shot at least through the second round. But they’re tired. Too much has been placed on the now-injured body of Jagr and the recently injured Lundqvist.

Lots of good conversation – real conversation, not just party chatter. Two of the city councilors stopped by. I offered to help one with some proposal ideas on a project that’s close to his heart. He helped the tenants a lot in the past few months, and it’s my way of saying thank you.

On a sad note, I heard about a little ten year old boy struck down and killed by a van while riding his bicycle the other day. It turns out that the boy was a son of a classmate of mine in elementary school and high school. He’d never, in a million years, remember me, but I want to send my condolences anyway. It was a truly tragic accident.

Girl Sleuth arrived from Strand, and I’m enjoying it very much.

A migraine woke me up early this morning. I tried some of the yoga poses designed to relieve headache in the latest Yoga Journal. They’ve definitely helped, but it’s not completely gone yet.

Recently, I spoke to an acquaintance of mine who is a professional athlete. I told him how I wanted to go back to my daily yoga practice once the moon turns back to new (starting something during waning moon usually means you won’t finish it) and also, I think my arm is healed enough so I can start working out again. We had an interesting discussion about working out.

His belief is that most people are only interested in “Minimum Daily Requirement of Fitness”. They’re only working out because the doctor told them and/or because it’s trendy. He is insistent that one can’t seriously make progress if you’re working out while watching TV or reading a magazine. The point of working out is to be completely aware of your body during the entire process – only then will you become aware of how your individual rhythms work. Only then can you make the daily adjustments that are necessary to a truly successful, life-changing fitness program. His belief is that if someone is bored working out, there are several reasons: a) it’s the wrong work out for the individual, which he believes is the case at least 90% of the time; b) the person is simply a boring individual and believes it is the world’s job to entertain him because he’s incapable of the creativity and awareness of living an interesting life; c) the person is not serious about fitness and is only doing a workout due to pressure from someone else. That’s when one can’t stick to a fitness regimen. When you’re doing it because someone else – whether it’s a doctor or a lover – is trying to “make” you do it. It has to matter to the person working out, on much more than just a surface level.

I hadn’t thought it through to that extant, but I do agree. One reason I no longer go to health clubs is because I hate the televisions blaring on all the time. If I want to watch television, I sit down and watch television. I can’t stand having it on just as background noise to my life. When I work out, I’m concentrating on the work out. I don’t think it’s boring. That’s why I’m working out. I have a goal in mind – strengthening certain parts of my body, developing stamina, etc. I’m not like one of my neighbors in the building, who trains and competes in triathlons all over the country. I admire him, but just talking to him wears me out – he trained for eight hours yesterday in the rain! I want good health, and I don’t think you can attain it if the workout is an afterthought because you’re “multi-tasking” in your training.

I joke about it, calling it “mindful workout”, but hadn’t realized that yes, most professional athletes do believe in focusing on your body while you’re working out. It also minimizes injury, both in and out of the workout, because you’re in tune with your body. And, for a pro, the only way he or she can succeed is to be completely in sync, both mentally and physically.

The television show will wrap in a few weeks, and I have to figure out what to do next. Do I want to do television or film over the summer – good money, but being outside in all weathers, probably for a long, hot, humid summer? Do I want to go back to eight shows/week, getting home after 1 a.m., only one day off a week, but it’s air conditioned? Can I get the websites up and running (I’ve been working on them, and, with the painting done, I can spend more time on them) and use them to get enough freelance work? How do I finance a sabbatical – short or long – which I so desperately need?

All these questions must be answered between now and June.

I got a rejection a few days from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, which was a disappointment. However, one of the editors wrote me a lovely note on the letter, saying that, although they couldn’t use that story, did I have anything else to send them?

I’m so out of sync with my submissions that I don’t know. So, this week, I go back through everything and figure it out. Do I have any other mystery short stories that are unpublished? I honestly don’t know.

And, if I don’t, I better sit down and write one. KM Farnesworth, a character with whom I’ve wanted to do something for years, now wonders if maybe it’s her turn to come forward.

And this story goes into another envelope and goes out again on Monday.

I’m looking forward to the writing exercises I’m posting on the SDR blog over the next few weeks. I’ve been diligently clipping the articles, and wondering what the final products will be. Even though I know the exercises, and I’m doing them along with whomever wishes to participate, the point of them is to try new creative things, and I just never know what’s going to come up.

House-and-home stuff on the agenda today. It’s rainy and I don’t want to wander too far. There’s still a lot of stuff moved around for the painting that doesn’t have a place to be right now, and I have to figure out what gets packed away and where.

And then, writing. I want to work on Celestial Summer and maybe get back to Clear the Slot.

Boy, is it raining out there! The brook was almost at its banks yesterday. I hope it doesn’t overflow today.

Devon