Weekend has arrived. So much busy. Saw All the Way yesterday, there are two plays we are going to see in the next two days. Last night we celebrated a friend's birthday at Lola, the streets of Cleveland were packed for the playoffs.
The November 4th reading has been cast. The outreach tour has been cast.
Today I turned in the first pages of a new work. A new work. Caught people off guard, I don't usually do that. At the same time, I have been messaging all day with a few of the folks who traveled to Spain with me thirty-two years ago. The few of us reconnected almost seven years ago, but now we are obsessed with finding everyone else.
My life stretches out before and behind me.
Distance: 3.6 miles
Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 75°
Climate: glorious evening
Weight: 172 lbs. Goal: 165 lbs.
Mood: much, much better
Fast pace, wish I'd timed that. It's enough to be able to maintain a brisk pace without feeling winded. Rounding a blind turn, the tall grass hiding a mama deer with three fawns on the Great Meadow, I had to look around to make sure there wasn't a stag heading straight for my back. There wasn't, I was good.
And speaking of stags ...
Trump recorded having extremely lewd conversation about women in 2005
By David A. Fahrenthold The Washington Post, 10/7/2016 at 6:04 PM
Well. This one's for Donald. Smooth Operator Playlist Fast Love - George Michael On Broadway - George Benson The Right Thing - Simply Red Sussudio - Phil Collins I Didn't Mean To Turn You On - Robert Palmer Smooth Operator - Sade
It was in Lugo, 1984. Someone got a copy of a music magazine, and the guys, Adam and Arden, were gawking at this picture of German pop singer Nena. She had hairy armpits. They thought that was really gross.
I looked at the picture, at her exposed underarm. I was intrigued. You might say aroused.
And I knew something about myself I hadn't known before. Isn't it nice to know a lot?
Living In A Spanish Disco Playlist 99 Luftballons - Nena Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper Relax - Frankie Goes to Hollywood Locomotion - OMD No Way Out - Jefferson Starship Let's Hear It For the Boy (12" Version) - Deniece Williams State of Shock - Michael Jackson & Mick Jagger Street Dance - Break Machine
Woke late - went to bed late, the last one up, doing housework, and more housework, until 11. Already I was feeling headachy and dehydrated. A small boy woke me at 6.30, I was not feeling well then, then the girl came in ... I got up to take aspirin, but my lack of sleep and the stuffiness of the room was doing its damage. Sleeping in is also bad, still dehydrated, now no caffeine or food. By 9 AM I was not refreshed, but had sinus pain and was well on my way to a full-blown migraine.
By ten (I forced myself to drink and have a banana, but I felt so bloated and ill my system was rebelling) I realized I could either a) lie in bed miserable all day or b) try taking a run. It would feel like I was in Hell - but I wouldn't have to stay long.
I ran a good part of two miles. The running cleared my head, but walking let me know I was seriously taxing myself. My head throbbed, and I was shivering and sweating. I then lay down on my back, propped up for an hour ... and the world began to come back into focus. By one o'clock, I was ready to take the kids out for a movie. I think I made the right decision.
Returning from New York City, I picked up the bug the girl had during the weekend, which made her vomit all night long. Tuesday night, I got to vomit all evening long, and shiver in bed all Wednesday. My wife had picked it up by Friday night. I did not sleep all night Friday, nor Saturday morning. Now you understand why going to bed last night at eleven was not a wise choice, and how I have suffered for it.
Meanwhile, while I admit I have gained a few pounds recently, Tuesday night's bug-fest has left my belly distended. I lost weight as a result of that night's toilet-oriented festivities, and yet I still feel and look like I have a melon in my stomach.
This has been a challenging summer.
Why? Funny, you might think that taking time off from work would give me more time for running. And yet look at the stats - 8 runs in the entire month of July, most of them Fridays. Guess I really am putting that grant money to good use.
But every morning has been like swimming to the surface, and every night ... well, there's either something to clean or something to read. And oh yeah, write. There's that. It has been a long summer. And rich, and full, and wearying and fantastic and special. There's that, too.
Oh, and I took a proper run tonight. Like emerging from dull torpor into graceful lucidity.
Distance: 3.25 miles Temperature: 72º Weather: hot, but oh so cool. Weight: 162 lbs.
Living In A Spanish Disco Playlist Street Dance - Break Machine You Take Me Up - The Thompson Twins Breakin' ...There's No Stopping Us (Club Mix) - Ollie & Jerry I'm Free (Heaven Help The Man) (160 bpm) - Kenny Loggins High Energy - Evelyn Thomas Dance Halls Days (12" Version) - Wang Chung
As God is my witness, I have been trying to find this song for 26 years. Seriously. That whistling refrain has been stuck in my head and I needed to get it out. Yes, that whistle has been going around in my head for a quarter century.
In 1984 I visited Lugo, Spain as part of an exchange program. We spent a lot of time in the disco, and I have a nostalgic fondness for the songs they played there, even (especially) the really awful ones. But I completely lost track of this one-hit ditty by the end of the year.
Man, there really were a lot of quickie R&B-Lite pop songs about breakdancing that summer. We even caught a free "drive-in" movie (actually projected onto the broadside of Westgate Mall) of that Lorenzo Lamas classic Body Rock. Awesome.
