Where nightmares disappear in dreams.

Adventures In Slumberland
"If you have kids, you need to check this out."
- Sarah Valek, CoolCleveland

Slumberland Playlist
Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
Only In Dreams * - Weezer
Dreamland - The B-52s
Dreaming * - Blondie
Not Sleeping Around - Ned's Atomic Dustbin
Dream Police - Cheap Trick

Fifty-seven degrees out? Are you kidding me? I am out of here!

Temperature: 57°
Climate: What month is this?
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 176 lbs.*

The past two night I have gone to bed with a headache, and woken up with even worse headaches. Right now there is a pain lurking behind my right eye. I don't know what to do about this. More water, more sleep ... though last night we had about eight hours of sleep. Only they weren't very good.

There is something ominous about running after dark, in the winter, when the weather is nice, and the wind is up. There is this feeling, which I can only think is psychological, that during the twenty-five minutes I am out, the temperature is going to suddenly dip fifteen degrees.

This did not happen. We are going to have another day of this before returning to winter on Friday.

There is a completely outrageous Christmas lights display on Compton. I mean, it's usually there, I just don't get to enjoy it as often as I have this year. Or week. As often as I have this week.

*Latkes.

God knows this heart of mine could use a rest.

Adventures In Slumberland
"It's quite a treat."
- Christine Howey, Rave & Pan

Slumberland Playlist

Dreamworld - Midnight Oil

Daydream Believer - The Monkees

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) - Eurythmics

Wake Up - XTC

Last Night (I Didn't Get To Sleep At All) - The Fifth Dimension

A Japanese Dream - The Cure

The District Sleep Alone Tonight - The Postal Service

Behind The Wall of Sleep - The Smithereens

Sleepyhead - Passion Pit

My eyes are on fire, my head is throbbing. Physically, it has been a challenging day. I woke with a slight headache which has carried on, slow and low, throughout the day. Nice evening with the kids, putting Christmas decorations on the mantle (tree, tomorrow, I promised) but I did not want to go to bed feeling like this, I wanted to run now. Blood will circulate, breathing will be deep.

However, not wanting a repeat of yesterday, I wore a lighter hat. A bandana would be too think, I opted for a butter beanie instead. I have not used one for a while. Now I remember why. They push my glasses deep into my face, it is just too tight.

Otherwise, however ... nice run. Cool and crisp, surprising amount of energy, considering. I am hoping that this end-of-day run gives me a good night's sleep, and pleasant dreams.

Temperature: 36°

Climate: cool, man.

Distance: 3.25 miles

Weight: 173.5 lbs.

Man. The last four years I ran a mere four times during the month of November ... well, except for 2010. Then I ran five.

You're the perfect lullaby.

Sometimes, pride and happiness are tinged with spite. Numerous times, I have attended plays and thought, I wish I had written that, or I have written something mostly like that, or I could have written that but why would I bother.

The fact remains, there it is, and there I sit in the audience really enjoying it.

Then there are the times I have seen productions and thought, I wish I was on that stage in that show right now, or God they look like they are having fun, or damn am I ever going to do anything that looks as enjoyable as that show ever again?

I watch and laugh and smile and die inside.

And then there are the times a play is about my favorite subject ever, maybe based on some historical character, or adapted from a great novel I love, or takes place during my favorite time period ever, and I think, I blew it I should have written that one first, or f*** I am in the middle of writing that and it's not as good, or one of these days I will finally write about that and it will kill this piece of crap.

Last night I got to feel all of those things about a play I actually wrote. My adaptation of the comic strips of Winsor McCay, a new play called Adventures In Slumberland opened yesterday at Talespinner Children's Theatre downtown, and it's all just perfect.

That thing going on right now? I made that.

Slumberland Playlist
Wide Awake * - Katy Perry
Sleeping Satellite -Tasmin Archer
Dreaming I Am - Bob Mould
American Dream - Jakatta
You Make My Dreams Come True * - Hall & Oates
Sweet Dreams - Beyoncé
Sleeping Bag - ZZ Top
Dreams - The Cranberries

Chose not to bring my running kit to St. Paul over the holiday but really wish I had. My brother lives in a great neighborhood, right next to the campus of Macalester, it would have been nice to take a run around. I really enjoy running in different cities.

I had figured the weather would not cooperate, but it did ... and anyway, it means I had an extra hour each day to spend with family, and that was very nice.

Temperature: 37°
Climate: not as cold as I imagined.
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 174 lbs. (holding steady)


And no. It is not necessary to wear all of your cold weather gear when it is 37 degrees out.

Sweat turns to cold.

I run, and I am able to think, to process. The first half-mile is almost chaos, my body reacting to the sudden change in energy. Hard to concentrate on anything except the action at hand. Then the breathing normalizes, my balance stabilizes, and my brain begins to loosen, to wander. Problems that I do not feel I have time to spend thinking about come to the fore and I can ... ponder.

Click ... click ... click-click, click-click, clickclickclickclickclick --

I run. I get ideas.

Temperature: 61°
Climate: bright and beautiful
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 174 lbs.

Here's a tip ... logging my run as soon as I walk in the door is helpful for a number of reasons, the most important of which is I get to cool down before getting into the shower. Doesn't matter how cold the water is, right after a run I am burning up and only time will bring it down.

Punkrocker Playlist
Cuts You Up - Peter Murphy
The Killing Moon - Echo & The Bunnymen
Can't Hardly Wait - The Replacements
Still In Love Song - The Stills
Geraldine - Glasvegas
Out of Control - She Wants Revenge
Standing Outside a Borken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand - Primitive Radio Gods

My. How dark for such a bright day.

Go for it!!!

Brief breath of spring, back into it on Monday. Very nice run today, the city seems like its still digging out from the early snow two weeks ago. Not the snow -- the leaves and branches.

Been using the wii every other morning ... should be every morning, but this week was challenging, there were a number of before-hours emergencies which kept me from writing or exercising. But still, there is something like a regimen happening, which is reassuring. These things must be carefully maintained.

At the very least, fifteen minutes of writing in longhand. Fifteen minutes of reading. Fifteen minutes of exercise. Every weekday morning. Doesn't sound like a lot, and yet. The writing gets done. The reading gets done. The exercise gets done. This idea that if I do not have an hour or two to concentrate ... I mean, I can't concentrate when I have bags of time. These brief moments, every day, encourage me to focus.

Temperature: 61°
Climate: cool.
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 174.5 lbs.


This is my friend Danny, his brother and I went to school together. Danny is a high-spirited engine of positive energy. He is also a public school teacher, so he is double-plus awesome. When I was in my mid-20s and he was teaching at Aviation High, he asked me to adjudicate his school's Shakespeare monologue recitation competition, which was the first time I was asked to do that.

He is currently working in Waldorf, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C. Please enjoy this inspiring motivational video!

Punkrocker Playlist
Punkrocker - Teddybears ft. Iggy Pop
Take Me To The Riots - Stars
Tear You Apart - She Wants Revenge
Yeah Yeah Yeah - New Politics
I Don't Want To Fall In Love * - She Wants Revenge
Kiss Them For Me - Siouxsie & The Banshees
In The Morning - Junior Boys

The ground beneath my feet.

Okay, running once a week now. Sigh.

Things I find more exciting than running at present:

1. My job.
2. Moving/throwing out furniture in my house.
3. Yardwork.
4. Writing.
5. Getting books that have been sitting in piles for years onto actual bookshelves.
6. Hanging out with the kids.
7. Attending rehearsals for a play I wrote.

The past few days have been delightfully mild, not so much today. But I am relaxed and ready.

Temperature: 46°
Climate: cool and even bright
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 175.5 lbs.

Well. My back. My back has been hurting these past two runs. My back was hurting in my sleep this morning. These are, to me, clear signs that I need to get back up to speed here.

Now to an interesting bit of trivia ... my beard. The wind. The wind actually whistles in my beard. So there's that.

Mute Playlist
Breathe In - Frou Frou
Drunk Girls - LCD Soundsystem
Mansard Roof - Vampire Weekend
Jeepster - T. Rex
Halo - Depeche Mode
Totally Fucked - Spring Awakening Soundtrack
Hurdy Gurdy Man - Donovan
(Keep Feeling) Fascination - Human League

Madman on the run.

Today is the New York City Marathon. It had occurred to me to apply, last year the race was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy, so I imagined this year would be a very special celebration.

However, when Double Heart was accepted into the New York Fringe Festival, that kind of settled that. Do you know how much it costs to enter the New York Marathon? It's a lot, not including transportation and housing, etc. One trip to New York a year is about all I can swing these days.

47 degrees in New York City right now, with a projected high of 50° Not bad, a little cool. Sorry I can't be with you, but welcome home.

Temperature: 45°
Climate: excellent, cool and bright
Distance: 3.25 miles
Weight: 175.5 lbs.

Last year at this time I was suffering from several successive days of sinus pain and headaches. Remarkable, I have been enduring the same symptoms the past several days, today only feeling minor discomfort. Not remarkable, I guess, just a passing of the season, but it is the exact same weekend.

Bit winded today. Maybe it was the pulse-pumping playlist, maybe I should have worn sunglasses.

Antic round.

Mute Playlist
Mute (Jokers of the Scene Remix) - The Brash
Against All Odds - The Postal Service
Everlasting Light - The Black Keys
Comfortably Numb - Scissor Sisters
Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Oh Yeah - Yello