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by doug | December 6th, 2009 @ 7:20 pm
weight: 142.8
exercise:
200 pushups
75 sit-ups
books read: 2666 by Roberto Bolaño (stunning… beautiful… highly recommended!)
blogs written: 0
photographs edited & posted: 0
christmas presents purchased: 0
pig slaughters I can feel directly responsible for: 1
…
Hambone, hambone. Have you heard? The Crimson Tide is heading to Pasadena, CA to play for its 13th national championship. Here are three early observations: 1) while it was satisfying to watch Tim Tebow get knocked down to earth, it wasn’t really necessary to keep showing him crying on the sidelines. He’s been humbled. Let’s move on. 2) there will be hype… do not buy in to it. The Longhorn team we saw against Nebraska last night will most certainly NOT be the Longhorn team we play at the Rose Bowl. This is a tough team with tremendous athletes on both sides of the ball – especially at quarterback and receiver. 3) that being said, I wouldn’t wait until the last minute to start tidying up Coach Saban’s spot on Bryant-Denny’s walk of champions. Roll Tide Roll!!!
 Speaking of hambones, this week I discovered that a small Honeybaked Ham will feed two people for a week – without getting boring! I bought it on my Monday lunch break. We rotated different vegetable side dishes for the first three nights: turnip greens, corn, field peas, etcetera. On Thursday we made ham sandwiches with french fries on the side. Friday I cut off the rest of the meat and made an always-awesome ham bone soup. That was more than enough meal for Friday night and Saturday’s lunch and dinner. Hooray for ham.
I also didn’t eat as many obviously bad-for-me things this week. As you can see, that plus the pathetic amount of exercising I have done was enough to stop the ballooning but not enough to reduce any of my extra winter bulk. It looks like I will need to go to the gym for that. Good thing we pay for that membership every month!
by doug | November 22nd, 2009 @ 9:32 pm
weight: 138.8
exercise:
300 pushups
30 sit-ups
140 side bends
2 ‘other’ cardio activities
books read: 2666 by Roberto Bolaño (page 591; continuing)
blogs written: 0
photographs edited & posted: 1
cups of coffee: gave up counting when I started having lattes for lunch
christmas trees erected: 1
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The theme of this week’s report card is: admitting defeat.
I have hit the NaNoWriMo wall and cannot bust through. Yes, I know I am supposed to just rattle off words and not edit myself or worry about how good it is and so forth… but there is just no solving the problems I am having. I have no story. There really is no way to get my protagonist, Benny the Troll, from point A (a medieval setting where Benny makes his living as a traveling musician) to point B (Benny gets gunned down in a back alley of a modern city by a jive-talkin’ pimp named Cinnamon Brown). The plot is really just a running joke that got started between my wife and I — when I threw together two characters from altogether different story ideas. It works as a joke. Not so much as a novel. I cannot sustain the humor for that long. In fact, I cannot sustain the narrative for that long. And what is worse: it’s not that I’m blocked (even though I am), it’s that I am bored. Bored to death with the whole story. It is simply not interesting to me anymore. At the same time I am reading a truly fascinating piece of literature that, while time-consuming, is by far the most intellectually stimulating book I have read this year. So when faced with committing what little time I have in the evenings to either writing a gibberish ‘novel’ that will never see the light of day or reading a newly-discovered modern literary masterpiece, my heart longs to read the masterpiece while my mind urges me not to give up on the writing contest. This week, a friend finally gave me permission to stop worrying about Benny. Life’s too short, he said (I’m paraphrasing), to spend it doing things you don’t enjoy… especially if you’re doing it just to say you’ve done it. So, unless I hit some tremendous second wind during the coming week, I think I may be done with NaNo until next year.
by doug | November 16th, 2009 @ 12:42 am
weight: 138.8
exercise: 100 pushups (honest)
books read: 2666 by Roberto Bolaño (page 353; continuing)
blogs written: 0
photographs edited & posted: 1
road trips: 1
NaNo word count: pitiful (see sidebar)
spaghetti making skills: outstanding!
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It is embarrassing how little I have written. All I want to do is read and write, and I find myself scrambling at the end of every evening to engage in either or (dare I imagine?) both. I do not know where the time goes. Sure, there is housework to be done: chores and cooking and preparing for tomorrow. But, even so, I know people who have many more commitments that I have and still have time to read more than a few p
…
A funny thing happened on the way to the blog tonight. I was ready to whine about how I never have time for the pursuits I value. Then, suddenly, I was gloriously reminded that a) there are some distractions that are very, very welcome and b) stripping life down to a scorecard whereupon high marks are given for accomplishing strict, preconceived goals is not the ultimate answer to everything. As it turns out, simplification has its limits. And, while it might be valuable to remain aware of what is most important and eschew activities that are counterproductive, the final verdict as to whether a day or year or lifetime was as happy as it could have been for myself and the people I care about depends on so much more than tickmarks on a to-do list.
Tonight I am happy. I have written nary a word for NaNoWriMo this weekend. I am still slowly slogging through the pages of what is actually an extremely compelling and brilliantly written novel. The 100 pushups I did today (yes, all today) were most likely negated by the two pounds of leftover spaghetti and gigantic slice of key lime pie I ate tonight. Nonetheless, I am going to bed happy with my happy little family after a weekend full of warmth, relaxation and laughter.
Will I reach every goal? That is probably unrealistic. Will I be content at the end of the journey? That seems plausible. That seems like a goal worth striving for, even if it means letting go of the lesser goals along the way.
by doug | September 15th, 2009 @ 5:43 pm
 I hope everybody has been enjoying the increased photo frequency over the past couple of weeks. It is a trend I hope will both continue and also even out over the days to come. My intention is to give writing and photography as equal time as possible – where, in theory, when I find one well of creativity dry the other will take up the slack. Everything here will still conform to my six major philosophical focal points, but a larger emphasis will be placed on ‘expression.’ That is, after all, the whole point here. Hopefully, even in the photographs, statements are (as is intended) being made re: the state of society, relationships, the self and so on.
Anyhow, I just wanted to address that. If I am letting my lens speak more than my pen these days, I hope some message is still being transmitted. And if it is also received? All the better.
More to come, everyone.
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(and come out to Sidewalk on the 25th-27th)
by doug | September 8th, 2009 @ 6:06 pm
 Why do you have to kill so many people
who never did a single thing to you?
You were the little friend
who got me out of doing chores;
you kept me home from work
but not sprawled out on bathroom floors.
You made my wife cook soup for me
and sterilize my drawers,
so why do you have to kill people
who never did anything to you,
Mister Swine Flu?
You let me think you were so sweet and harmless –
a simple sickness I’d quickly subdue.
And, yes, I did outlast you –
that I cannot deny.
Perhaps I am just stronger than
your average college guy.
Still – I get a week’s vacation
while you make his family cry?
Why? Oh, Why? You lie, you lie!
You let me think you were so sweet and harmless,
but you’re a sick old bastard, it is true,
Mister Swine Flu.
Well, now that you are gone I’m back in business:
fluless, flawless, frail but fighting through –
chained to my desk and toiling.
Oh, I miss you – I confess.
I would select your ague
over one more .xls.
Sure, you kill and debilitate,
but I got lots of rest!
Goodbye, god speed, go gently then,
I hack my toodle-oo
to you
Mister Swine Flu.
by doug | August 31st, 2009 @ 6:12 pm
Monday. How am I? I have the swine flu, so this is going to be short.
Ran/walked the 5K in 49:48 last Wednesday. Burned 533 calories on the elliptical machine at the Y on Friday. Feeling bad has hampered my exercising, but I feel like that is a better excuse than some I’ve given in the past. All in all, my efforts to live healthier are going well. Except for the swine flu thing.
Still reading Infinite Jest. I ought to get some good page-turning in now that I am barred from going to work for a few days.
Finally, as far as relaxation goes, we are heading down to Orange Beach, AL for a sun/surf/sand labor day weekend. Should be nice… you know, if conditions permit.
That is all. I’m going back to bed now.
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