Letters to Holly

Wednesday, October 11

Not Much

"Lost" was cool last night with a last scene that made me smile like a good little geek. I read while Your Sis watched "The Nine," and we both watched "Six Feet Under." She made a chili she wasn't happy with, but I wolfed down two bowls. Still need a costume idea for the race. Your brother called to plan the Thanksgiving get-together, but I don't have the details yet.

Picture of the Day
The magic shoes. Saucony Stabil Mc5s.



In The News
The Shuler/Taylor N.C. Senate race not only takes up about 40 percent of local primetime TV advertising, but it's devolved into pure mudflinging. Taylor's accusing Shuler of owing back taxes, while he himself owed the state for property taxes in this area. The elections can't get here soon enough for me. I'm tired of the signs and the ads. I'm saturated by it all.

+ + +

Andre 3000 is producing a show for Cartoon Network. He's providing a lot of material for it.


Tuesday, October 10

I Just Ran 5k

The race is two weeks away, and I had yet to run the distance on pavement. On a treadmill, yes. That was easy. But in wind and up the hilly hills and on asphalt and concrete, no. And I was scared that I couldn't do it. My last attempts ended short of the mark, and I was in pain. Yesterday, I even tried to talk myself out of trying it. My stomach was not well, and I was tired. But I got home, dressed up, stretched a bit, and walked out the door. Forty-five minutes later, I was finished.

It hurt from the get-go. My lungs needed to warm up for the race pace, and that took about a mile. I had to shorten my gait and slow my breathing to tackle the uphill slope that runs virtually the entire length of the two-mile stretch I plotted. I modeled my run after the boot-camp jog and shifted my weight from toes to ankles on steep climbs. I talked to myself the whole way too, debating and bargaining and chastising. It wasn't an easy run. I did have to stop for road traffic a few times but for no more than 20 seconds. I got to my two-mile landmark, tied my shoe, turned around, and went back. The rib pain came about three-fourths of the way through, but I used short breaths and clenching to make it fade. When I reached the 5k distance, I walked the rest of the way back home and felt great. Well, proud and tired and a bis surprised, but releived that I finally made it. I ran 5k. On pavement.

I'll not run again until the weekend, and I'll try that distance three more times before the race. Until then I'll work with weights and stretching.

The NFL
Her Teams
New England (4-1), NY Jets (2-3), Oakland (0-4)
Philly (4-1), Detroit (0-5)

My Teams
Miami (1-4), Pittsburgh (1-3)
Philly (4-1), Carolina (3-2)

Moving Picture of the Day
A trailer for the Tarantino/Rodriquez trash film, Grindhouse.






In the News
When we can confirm that North Korea detonated a nuke, then we should worry about what to do about it. So far, we're guessing and panicking. And spinning. The administration and the talking heads are blaming a president who hasn't been in office for six years. They don't like to mention the tidbit that Rumsfeld was on the board of a company that sold that country reactors.

Three-Day Weekend

Let me see if I can remember Friday. Oh yeah, Your Sis hosted a baby shower, so I ducked out and hit the gym. Saturday, we went to the college campus for Homecoming and saw no one I knew. Students, that is. We saw some art teachers, including one who asked me for comparisons between Illustrator on PC vs. Mac. I got to help an art teacher and thus an angel gets its wings. We watched a little of the women's volleyball game before strolling the bookstore and heading uptown. I had to buy new running shoes, and they fit like a foot corset. It's perversely comfortable. I then gave blood, and this time the nurse didn't splatter me with my own oil. We waited for the loveseat to arrive and watched a TiFaux recording of The Importance of Being Ernest, this was the recent film with Reese Witherspoon and Rupert Everett. It was good. Light and witty and fast, like a Wilde production should be done. The chair arrived just about when the film ended. That night we sa The Departed, a brilliant Scorsese picture that rattled Your Sis hard. But she loved the film. It's a tense experience. Also takes place in Boston, so you might be curious about the scenery.

Sunday, she worked on a float for the school homecoming, and I fiddled around the house. Bravo is showing "Six Feet Under," and I inadvertently got Your Sister hooked on it. I saw most of the show when I lived in South Carolina and got free HBO. That night we wtach the TiFauxed "The Day After," the seminal 1980s nuclear-war movie. It doesn't hold up so well, but at the time, it was a cultural phenom. It stars Jason Robards, and I'll happily watch anything he's in. I was off Monday and bought groceries and tried out the new shoes on the sidewalk. This was my first time running downtown and that centrally located hill is gonna kill me in the race. I caught up on some "Venture Brothers" and started inking Your Sis's drawing. The library had a book sale, and I snagged some cheap play scripts and checked out Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. An Asheville company's presenting it, and audtions are in November. I'm considering it, but it depends on whether I like the play.

I hit a milestone with Your Sister last night: I reached her threshold of X-Men geekiness. I showed her the newst comics, and she flipped through. I filled her in on the plot from previous issues, and she rolled her eyes a bit. Then I mentioned how the character interactions stretch back to when we were in middle school and threw out some details from the comic back then. Like Dazzler, the disco mutant. She couldn't take it. She got up from the table to pack her lunch for today. I've known her almost ten years, and this is the only time she had to shut off the nerd spigot.

Picture of the Day
The new loveseat. The cameraphone does it no justice. It's actually green. The cat behind it and to the right? Actually the size of a Buick.