Sitting idle in our boat while everyone else is down the stream.

Los Angeles, 1991

Ugh. Just ugh. Every day getting up is very difficult. I have just been sick. I was hoping, last week, when I only felt it in my throat, that it was allergies. But this is a cold, plain and simple. And it makes me cough and my head is heavy and some mornings I take a pill which clears my head, a little, and makes me hyper and I don't know which is worse.

Monday I actually put on my kit, stepped out and started running up the street. After about fifty yards, I thought, this isn't good. By one hundred yards I had stopped. I hadn't felt like that yet. Maybe a little ill, but not weary, not like that. I thought, three miles? Surely I can run three miles. But no. Why? If I felt like I hadn't felt before, that should be enough to tell me not to do something. I turned around and got through the day. Yesterday I didn't even consider running.

However, Monday afternoon I went to the doctor, for previously scheduled appointment, basically the end to a year-long intervention. In March 2015 I had my "annual" physical exam, about five years too late. I was about twenty pounds overweight, and had dangerously high blood sugar.

I lost the weight, I changed the diet. I was told to have a colonoscopy, which I put off for almost a year. I made the appointment before dad died, but as the time came so soon after his death, my wife suggested I postpone. It was for the exact same reason I kept it.

And I am clean. My colon is healthy, blood work taken last month indicates that my prostate is clear, I am at low risk of cancer. As long as I keep my weight where it is, I do not have to be concerned about diabetes. If I gain weight, well then, I will have to be concerned. Odds are good in that case. So, my path is pretty obvious.

Distance: 3 miles
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 46°
Climate: cool and bright
Weight: 163 lbs. (+2.0)
Mood: searching

Twenty-five years ago I was enduring my brief residence in Los Angeles. So, why not an appropriate playlist? Something to inspire me, at long last.

But dude, if your time in Los Angeles was so regrettable, why will this playlist be "inspiring"? Good question. Because the station was awesome, and listening to KROQ in the car were the times I was my happiest, traveling from one place to another. The anticipation of doing something, accomplishing something, getting there, that was a positive feeling. Actually being anywhere in Los Angeles was inevitably a let-down.

KROQ91 Playlist
Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey) - De La Soul
Round and Round - Tevin Campbell & Prince
Head Like a Hole - Nine Inch Nails
The Other Side of Summer - Elvis Costello
Valerie Loves Me - Material Issue
Unbelieveable - EMF

Warmdown
88 Lines About 44 Women - The Nails