I cannot say it anywhere else. But...I get to pick the IMPAC Dublin nomination for the liberry. I am such a dork but...excited excited. I think I even have the book I want to lobby for. (The Monsters of Templeton)

Also...I just dug a nice, if jacked-up copy of M.C. Escher's Visions of Symmetry out of the recycle bin. It is in bad condition, as a book, but many nice images I can reuse for other things. Like snowflakes...or even mushrooms.

If you end up with an Escher Christmas card, ignore the fact this book came from the recycle bin.

"Who has not sat nervously before his own heart's curtain?
Up it goes: the scene is set for saying farewell."

--Rainer Maria Rilke
from The Dueno Elegies, the fourth

pretty. Not that hard to make...just time consuming. I just wish I had better buttons.

well...it's not really that bad *but* I hate disappointing people.

I did NOT qualify to be seeded in the River Run. I needed to finish in 57 minutes and I finished in 67 mintues, give or take. The official results are not posted.

So...I got up this morning and realized the rains had no blown over. A year ago + half ago, I would have gone back to bed. I simply hate running in the rain. But...got up, put my number on, got my shuffle and off we went. To Mandarin, which is a far away and mystical place to me, someplace we only go to get the vegetarian food we require.

We get to the shuttle, thinking we are going to be late. Yes, we had to shuttle. Not so bad. Except, right as we are walking to the shuttle line, the bus runs over a car. Not exactly over, but cruches up the side and bust out the windows. Horrible noise. (It was a brand new Acura SUV) The woman it belongs to just jumps off the bus, grabs her bags out of the car, and moves to the line for the next shuttle.

Then it started drizzling. Not so bad. We get on the shuttle and the skies open up. So much rain. I really didn't want to get off at the starting line. Got off. Freezing. (my baba thinks this is from not eating dead animals.) Wet. Miserable. Wanting to run, just to get warm.

We finally start and it really was a great run. It rained about 3 miles. Hard, pounding rain. My shuffle got drowned a bit, but kept working. (Thank Godz for both Coldplay and Wolfsheim. Also...that Rhytmn is a Dancer song) Once again, I was able to run most of the way. Ran the first 2 miles, then did some intervals, but nothing counted. Just walk 10 seconds here and there.

Around mile 4, it really cleared up, but thankfully no sun.

At mile 5, I realized, as 52 minutes had elapsed, that I was not going to get my time. I wanted to cry, because I was so cold and wet and running so hard...but...the thing is. I WAS out there running hard, not being a big, giant lump doing nothing. And it was beautiful. And I was listening to music (by this time, little shuffle was no so drowned).

I ran hard the last half-mile. Not as many people standing around as normal. It was, of course, raining again. Waited for my baba to come in.

And now the shocking part...I hate my WHOLE ENTIRE BANANA and only bitched about it for a few mintues. It was pretty cold, almost frozen, so it was more managable. I just read lima beans have as much potassium as those nasty yellow bastards, so I might just start bring my own limas.

And now I am home, hydrating. About to shower.

Congratulations!
You've earned a Presidential Champions Bronze award!

baby stingrays

(paraphrased from Luke 12:48)

"Of those to whom much is given, much is expected."

I came across this reading a book on Japanese philosophy (the concept, not the exact phrase), and then again (the same day) in The Lace Reader. I've seen "expected" often replaced with "required". To me, that changes the meaning. I guess the idea remains the same. When we have gifts, we SHOULD share them with the world. We should make it a better place. It is something to think about.

30:56...

I ran my first mile in 9:24.

about power suits and sweater sets and khaki pants. Nothing.