The need for intervention & random gym thoughts on Thanksgiving morning...

So, it's Thanksgiving morning, and where did I go?  The gym!  Normal people are sleeping in and still in their jammies, drinking something warm and getting ready to watch the Macy's parade.   Not me, I'm going to the gym... this workout stuff has become an ingrained part of my life.  Maybe borderline obsessive;  I might need an intervention!  No one will believe that though, because they all respond "nothing wrong with that", or "good for you!"  :)

I guess it's a healthy addiction, eh?  I can live with that.  Literally.  Much longer.  And in addition to just being so darned good for you, the gym is fascinating place to people watch and observe random stuff.  (Standard disclaimer:  I am not talking about simply about girl-ogling when I say "people watch")

Random stuff from the gym over the past few months:

• At one of my gyms that I frequent, there is a bevy of signs around the pool & hot tub area.  These things are ripe for funny observations:   A big sign that says "no animals in the pool area".   Um... the only animals allowed in the entire gym are guide dogs for the blind.  So, let's say a blind person does come to the gym, and makes their way back to the pool area.  How are they going to know that Rover can't come in?


• Another one of the signs says to not use the hot tub if it is over 104 degrees.  One of these days, I'm going to wait until a staff member happens to be in there, and go over and stick my finger in the water, shake my head, and mutter "Feels like 104.1 degrees, guess I can't sit in it today!"  I don't know about you, but a pool thermometer is not one of the things I normally carry in my gym bag....


• I was standing on the catwalk of my favorite gym the other day... there is a spot there that is hit by 2 large fans, so you can cool off a tad, and it has a great view through the huge pyramid of glass that decorates the front of the building.  So, I saw a guy pull up in spotless black BMW, get out and walk inside.  He looked the spitting image of the corporate executive type, down to the mustard-colored ball cap from a local country club.  Except for one thing- the faded tshirt he had on, a t-shirt adorned with the visage of Bob Marley.  Not what I expected!


• I'm going to quit talking to trainers.  Every time I do, they suggest a change, and then my workouts are a bear again.  Stupid trainers :\


• When you see the same folks over and over at a gym, and then someone disappears, you wonder what happened to them.  I have no clue who these people are, what their names might be, nor where they are in their lives.  But I wonder if something happened or is wrong when a regular stops showing....


• One final note... (and this does apply to girl ogling)... Ladies, you do realize it is OK to not be a blonde, right?  Some of the sexiest women in the world have dark hair.   I'm just a-sayin'...

Here's hoping that you and yours have a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving holiday (for my US friends)!

No No NaNoWriMo

Well, I've called No Joy on my first attempt at NaNoWriMo.    I wrote almost 20,000 words on my first try at this, but I learned a valuable lesson:  this is something that I need to plan for, and be mentally ready for...  I can't up and decide on October 29th that "Oh, I think I'll take a whack a it."   Next year, I'll make a better effort.

In the meantime, I'm going to concentrate on posting here in my blog more often, and over the Christmas break, I will be working on my poetry in a big way....

NaNoWriMo is NoMo, but my writing goes on!

I like "American Pie"!!!

The other day, I was listening my favorite local news radio station while driving to work.  The news guys mentioned that it was Don MClean's birthday, and they began to disparage his magnum opus American Pie. Their main complaint was not the content of the song per se, but rather just the length of it.  I believe the phrase was "that song is a beating", and it was just "too long, way too long".

I couldn't help but chuckle about this-- oh how far we have come from the days of minstrels and balladeers.  When one thinks that a work like The Rime of the Ancient Mariner could be performed by a bard or gleeman in High Chant, and just how long that would take... and people used to sit and listen to such, enraptured.

The closest thing we have left to such performances now is classical music, and that is definitely on the wane as well.  (But, to be intellectually honest, it wanes not just from the length of a given sonata or symphony, but from a general divergence of the public from that sort of music altogether...)  And so we live in a world of entertainment now, where the song cannot be too long... "I do not like a long, long song.  It's much too long"

I wonder what would have happened had the minstrel of the Fields of Cormallen stepped forward and begged leave to sing of "Frodo the Nine-Fingered and the Ring of Doom", only to be shouted down with requests for Beyonce.   Thom Merrillin, the brilliant gleeman character from the Wheel of Time series, complains that the folks in the common room only wanted to hear "The Hunt for the Horn" in Common, rather than even Plain Chant or High Chant:  were Thom to be transported via Portal Stone to our world, they would not want to hear it at all, for it would take too long.

As the great Billy Joel said:

Ah, it took me years to write it,
They were the best years of my life.
It was a beautiful song.
But it ran too long.
If you're gonna have a hit,
You gotta make it fit--
So they cut it down to 3:05
I hearby authorize all artists and musicians to write your songs as your muse guides you... regardless of the length.  Make the lays compelling, and hopefully we'll follow along.  Maybe, just maybe, we can put off the day "the <long> music died......."

Why I like "The Killdares"

I've taken a lot of good-natured ribbing from some of my Facebook friends about how I go on and on about my favorite band, The Killdares, so I've decided to take a second and share the reasons that I love this band so much, so that I can silence all my nay-sayers! :p  Given the length of the following, they probably won't read it anyway, but I had fun writing it!

1. Their style is unique, and particularly appealing to me: I have always loved Irish/Celtic music, but I also love rock and roll.  With this band, I can enjoy those two tastes merged together in a way that no other musicians are currently able to accomplish.  In fact, I often feel like a kindred spirit with the band's founder, Tim Smith, because I've read/heard him say several times that he is a child of the 80's and that the founding inspiration of The Killdares was his desire to meld the rock and roll he grew up with in that era with his love of Celtic music.   I've had people tell me that their music "is NOT Celtic", and my response to that is... 'you're correct'.  Their music is hard-edged rock and roll, with Celtic themes interwoven into the music.  It's a combination that the Killdares specialize in, and one that is singularly tasty to my ears!


2. They are very good musicians, and getting better all the time: I have read some reviews of The Killdares from their early period, and some of them remarked on the fact that the band had some room to grow as musicians-- that the rock and roll was a bit simplistic.  That has certainly changed in the last 7 years of the band's history, however... and can probably be marked from the time when Roberta Rast joined the band, and again when Matt Willis brought his pipes to play.  The Killdares are who they are because of the voice of the fiddle and the wail of the Highland bagpipes, and these two musicians infused the band with a steroid shot of musical capability, talent, and creativeness.  Roberta is an elite fiddle mistress, having claimed the 2005 National Grandmaster title, which places her in pretty exclusive company.  Matt brings a lifetime of love with the bagpipes, along with a great understanding of how to meld this finicky instrument, which is achromatic and pretty much limited to one key, into the band's music in an aesthetically appealing way.  There is a marked and distinct difference in the quality of the last two albums that the band has cut, which are the only two that feature most of its current members.  The recent addition of Troy Gallaher as bass guitarist has also been a rousing success-- Tim remarked in a recent post of the "Dare Diary" that he has been able to flex his creative muscles more as a drummer during the music, due to Troy's skill in driving the beat with his guitar.  Together, these three musicans provide an sublime complement to the excellent lead guitar of Brek Lancaster and the driving drums/vocals of Tim.


3. Their music is infectious, especially live: to introduce oneself to The Killdares via CD only is to do oneself a disservice!  These guys are the ultimate showmen, and that translates to a raucous time when they bid "Farewell to Decorum" and take the stage.  There are many great musicians in the world who play wonderful, elite music...but do not have great stage presence.  I have never been to a Killdares gig that did not fail to engage the audience--rather, they reach out and grab the audience by the throat and haul them into the experience.  I have seen octogenarians and toddlers alike being swept up by the force of a Killdares' performance-- dancing, clapping, toe-tapping, and--yes-- pumping a fist in the air to sing "Hey, Ho, let's go" during the band's signature song, a cover of "Blitzkrieg Bop" by The Ramones.  Matt "The Mad Piper" Willis stalks the stage like some crazed Macbeth musician while Roberta fiddles and charms every single male within the same ZIP code;  Brek thrills with his utter and highly visible joy of playing the guitar, often pairing up with Troy in some good old-fashioned rock-and-roll log banging.   And Tim?  Tim provides the quirky chic of a lead vocalist who's also a drummer, complete with the Celtic soccer kit or Star Wars t-shirts and Animal, the Muppet drummer, perched on the support of one of his new Pearl drums.  (He has eschewed the wearing of kilts due to the seated nature of his instrument..and we thank him!)   Together, they pour their heart out on the stage in honor of their fans and in service to the music.. and the fans know it- they know it in their ears, their feet, their hands, their voices, and their hearts.  I often find myself to be exhausted at the end of one of their concerts, and a quick glance around at the crowd proves instantly that I am not alone in that feeling.


4. They are incredibly family-friendly: There are not many rock-and-roll band shows (other than those of  Christian music bands) that I could allow my young boys to attend, and feel comfortable about the experience.  The Killdares pride themselves on being a band that appeals to all ages, and I have never (let me repeat that.. never) heard them utter an indecent word during one of their concerts.    The Killdares are living proof that modern, popular music does not have to be vulgar or indecent in order to be fantastic.  I wish more musicians would take note of this!


5. They are community-friendly: Tim Smith grew up in Dallas, and his love for his native city and state shows in everything the band does.  Many of their concerts are free to the public, often put on by a city or community as part of a festival or arts weekend or some such.  I do understand that many local bands do these kind of gigs, because that is what is available to them, but it does not take much to notice that The Killdares not only do them for subsistence, but they also relish them.  And nothing shows that more than their annual run at the State Fair of Texas.   5 shows a day for 24 days.... a grueling stretch of musical endurance once dubbed the "Dropped in the Grease Tour" by Roberta Rast.  I personally think the band has risen to the point where they would not need to do the State Fair--the gigs are coming throughout the year now, requests coming from all over the country.  But, in 2009, they returned again, and entries in the Dare Diary show that Tim and his companions are loving the experience once again.  I will be shocked if they ever voluntarily don't do the SF run, and the fact that they do is one of their most endearing qualities.  Back through time immemorial, musicians would come to "fairs" or "gatherings", and perform for the crowds, for the enjoyment of the common folk taking a break from the hard work of life.  The Killdares are carrying forward that tradition in grand style, every year, right across from the Tornado Twisters and the Dog shows!


6. They are part of the "sea change" spreading through the music industry: A couple of years ago, I read a news magazine article about how more and more musicians were eschewing the traditional (modern) path to music "success", but rather plying their art in a far more traditional (ancient) way, taking music back from the industries and returning it to folk roots.  Some of the characteristics of musicians doing this are:  not striving to sign with a major label, but using readily available modern technology to cut and distribute music on their own;  playing numerous gigs in smaller venues allowing them to build relationships with their fans; and using modern technology to enhance those relationships.  The Killdares do all of these things.  In one YouTube documentary that was made about the group, Tim mentions that it's been a real pleasure for the band to be able to do things their own way, and still be successful at it.  To him, that was 'living the dream'.  Speaking as one of their fans, I can attest to how these things make them accessible and human, and not like some remote star on the stage that rakes in the money and cares not a whit for the people in the audience.  I hope that they continue to "do their own thing", remain creatively free, and continue to love playing for the regular people, tweeting with them and sharing their thoughts on the website.

It's no secret to anyone that knows me that I love this band.  Getting to know and like the Killdares' music, as well as The Killdares themselves,  has been a unique experience for me..  I am not by nature a person prone to being a "groupie" of anything, but my wife loves to tease me with a twinkle in her eye as she calls me exactly that!   I just smile and point to the fact that she sings "Hey Ho, let's go!" in the car with the windows down just as loudly as I do, and the boys in the back as well.  Being a Killdares fan is contagious.. and fun.

The Curmudgeon around the corner

A coworker of mine has a phrase that I have adopted as one of my favorites... "Semper Gumby".  Latin (kind of) for "Always flexible".  I've always thought of myself as adaptive, not being set in my ways-- at least not set enough so that the disruption of those ways causes undue consternation.

I have always been good at adapting to any situation in order to get something done, and I've not noticed any change there.  I have, however, noticed a recent tendency to get flustered if one of my daily routines goes caddywonky on me.  This seems to be especially true about my morning routine, especially my morning workout.

This morning, I had already had a really bad day before 0600.  I woke up too early, even for me, and could not go back to sleep.  I found out that I had left a pen in the wash, ruining 2 good work shirts and 2 out of my three favorite soccer tshirts.  I fell behind in my schedule and had to rush to the gym.  And then, when I got to the gym I realized that I had forgotten to bring my mp3 player, my heart monitor watch/receiver's battery was dead, and I also forgotten the index card which has that day's workout info.  

For some reason, these last three things threw me for a loop.  I **did not** want to do my weight workout without my music, and it affected me so that I struggled with the workout much more than I should have.  I should not have been discombobulated so much by these relatively unimportant happenstances, but I was.

And so, I have to examine myself and wonder why-- am I getting more set in my ways as I age?  Have I become so schedule-oriented and organized that I cannot handle such minor glitches in my daily life?  Is the Curmudgeon in me just around the corner of life?

I am going to enroll in a Krav Maga course soon, and one of the things that one must do in combat or martial arts is to maintain a calm, capable demeanor, ready to scan, decide and adjust to whatever threat comes along. 

I guess I better start working on doing just exactly that in my personal life and its routines....

Metrical poetry and the joy of half-price books

“When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.”
Desiderius Erasmus

I love to buy books.  When my house finally sinks into the North Texas clay, it will be from the weight of books.  Were I win the lottery, a large portion of it would go toward building a library room and filling it...  Even when I finally get a Kindle, I will never completely divest myself of good old paper books.

In the original Star Trek series, I would be the curmudgeonly lawyer who defends James Kirk in "Court Martial".  The one who lovingly keeps books around even though the entire literary compilation of humankind is contained on one of those cheesy plastic "clipboards" the buxom blonde ensigns are always carrying :)

But what I don't like is to pay full price for a book.  Books have gotten outrageously expensive, unless they are basic trade paperbacks.  And if you need any kind of specialty book, you are going to pay out the nose....

Which means that one of my absolute favorite places in the entire universe is Half-Price Books.  I can spend hours there.   I especially like the clearance sections, where I might pick up 5 or 6 good books for 5 bucks.  The problem with Half-Price, though, is that you never know what you might find when you go there.  It is not a store conducive to the search for a particular book.

And, therefore, when it happens that way, it really is a joy for a bibliophile!

I recently posted that I have begun to have a renewed interest in writing poetry, but that I wanted to write old-fashioned metrical forms rather than the free verse that I learned growing up.  I have struggled, however, to gain some traction in this endeavor.  There is a great book that I wanted that would help me with the various forms, but it is more money than I wanted to spend.

And then I found, at Half-Price, not that book, but an even better book that provides very detailed instructions and guidance on writing poetic forms, helping with the complicated matter of meter, which is what I struggle with the most.  And so I ended up getting an even better book for about 1/4 of the price of the book I was originally seeking!

For someone who loves to find book bargains, it doesn't get much better than that!

Reflections on knees, icepacks, and early morning gym time

Sometimes I wonder why I started so late to really get serious about fitness.   Wouldn't it have been better to become this dedicated to it at a time of my life when I would only need to ice my knees if there was actually an injury?  Now, at age 41, I ice them as a precaution!  :)

I am glad that we work in a world where our desks are contained within our cubicles and not open to the world.  That way, no one can see the legs of my jeans pulled up over my knee and the Ziplock bag of ice ace-bandaged to said knee.  Thus, I can suffer the ravages of middle-age in quiet privacy...

Today, I did roughly 1/3 of the distances I need to do to for a sprint triathlon, although I did it backwards LOL.   At my gym, it makes more logistical sense to do the treadmill and bicycle first, and then the swimming just prior to getting ready for work.  Still, I power-walked for a mile, biked for 4.5 miles, and then swam 300 meters.  Sometimes I catch myself thinking that it doesn't feel like I'm doing that much, but then I realized this morning that it was 1/3 of my triathlon, and I realized I am making progress.

Of course, I'd really rather run the mile on the treadmill, but I'm approaching that with caution to take care of those knees.. :(

I'm looking forward to advancing to the next stage of my fitness regimens.  It's time to kick it up a notch and really shed these pounds that have been holding me back!

Early morning reflections on an EPT

The other morning I stopped by Walmart on my way to work.  As I was waiting in the express checkout lane, I noticed a young lady in front of me, with only one item in her hand.  I had seen her behind me as I entered the store, and it was obvious that she, like myself, had come this morning to purchase a specific item she needed.

But whereas my item was a container of milk for the refrigerator at work, her's was a pregnancy test.

I looked at her left hand, and saw no ring.  Thus, even with the changing of some conventions in our culture, one must assume that she was not married.  She was young, but not unduly so- certainly of age, an attractive adult woman.

As all these thoughts and images flashed through my mind, I attempted to gauge her emotional state, but was unable to ascertain any 'tells' that might give me a clue.  She was, at least on the outside, quite calm and composed.  And yet, I couldn't help but feel that her composure was in itself a 'tell'.  In my experience, when a woman thinks she might be pregnant, it is not a feeling that lends itself to a state of equilibrium.  There is usually either a sense of profound excitement at the possibilities, a profound sense of dread at the consequences, or a gut-wrenching stomachache at the reality of another test in a long, hitherto fruitless attempt to conceive.

None of these are terribly conducive to composure, so I assumed that she was hiding her feelings well.   If I was asked to make a guess, I would have said that I felt her morning mission was one of dread, wondering if her recent adventures were about to reveal some life-changing results.

I looked down at my own ring, on my left hand, and reflected on how my own 3 children with Allison came to be.  We married and, as previously agreed, waited three years before removing the barriers and trying to conceive our first child.   Those were three years of delightful love and lust, enjoying each other as only a blessed married couple can.  And then, after one heartbreaking miscarriage, God blessed us with three incredible boys.  With each one, I can recall the emotions that accompanied the pregnancy test purchase, and it wasn't one of dread!

Without assuming a mantle of piousness, I think this reflects that there is wisdom in God's plan for human relationships.  He bequeathed us with sex not only as a source of pleasure and an expression of love, but as a means to create new humans for Him to love and for us to love.  We alone, among all of God's creatures both earthbound and heavenly, have the means to cause a new soul to enter in existence.  It is an incredible responsibility and privilege, and not one to be taken lightly.   And certainly not one to be dreaded!  And God, in his infinite wisdom, designed a framework and structure for this that helps us to avoid that dread, shielded from the lies of Satan at these most momentous and intimate moments.

I find myself praying for that young woman.  I hope that I was wrong about her emotions, and pray that our Father will touch her with His love and make her His own.

The rejuvenated Poet goes Old School

Lately, I have gotten a serious bug to get back into writing poetry.  I was a fairly serious poet in high school (Thank you, Mr. Joseph Wilson, Creative Writing/Humanities teacher my senior year), and even served as the editor of the Senior poetry publication for my school. 

In the intervening years between those heady days and the encroachment of middle-age, however, the poems have been rather sparsely scattered.  The last poem of any real work and revision came at the time of my engagement to my beautiful wife-- I wrote a rather long ballad poem that for the proposal, and it ended up being set to music by her brother and sung at the reception.

With that exception and the occasional haiku jotted in the journal, one can pretty much sum up my life poetic as pathetic.

Time to change that.

As the Muse sticks her cattle prod into my hindquarters, though, there has been one rather interesting twist:  I matriculated into poetry in a world of free verse and blank verse... it is rather the dominant form over the last century.  It is certainly what I know the most, and is by far the most popular in the current day.

So, of course, what do I do?  I want to go back to some traditional forms.  Maybe it's the Tolkien lover in me... all of his 'rhyming' poetry embedded in his works.  Maybe it's the budding musician in me, desiring to write poetry within the constraints of rhyme, rhythm and meter, or maybe it's just me wanting to be different.   Any of the reasons works as far as I'm concerned.

There is one small problem, though... I'm not terribly versed on the canon of traditional forms other than the haiku, which we Westerners really only attempt facsimiles of anyway, since English is not Japanese.

So, as I endeavor to embark on this trek through Thumb-my-nose-at-the-rest-of-the-world-Land, I have hit the library and gathered a pile of books to learn about traditional forms.  I'm very excited about this process.  It's going to be fun.

But don't expect to see much of the efforts on this blog... I don't expect to make the results available to many besides myself.  At this stage in my life, doing this is for my soul and spirit, not for reading at poetry slams or cafes or attempts at publishing.

Some rebel, huh?  Go against the grain but never let anyone see the results!   LOL

Riddles and signs at the gym...

Some random thoughts from the gym this morning:

• I get tickled at myself when I solve one of life's little riddles, especially if it's one that should not have been such a poser to my silly self.  At my gym, there is a steam room in the pool area.  There are glass windows, but you can't see through them into the room (wouldn't be much of steam room if you could).  Well, I have wondered many times why some people, prior to entering the steam room, go and get 2-3 of the foam kickboards from the pool area.  It's been something I've idly wondered many times, but never put much thought into-- and then the answer hit me this morning.. they are lying down on the boards in there and using the foam kickboards as a pillow.  DUH
• One of the great things about being someone who really doesn't care too terribly much about what everyone else thinks is that you can do things that might mortify more intrepid souls...and things that may have *never* been done before at a particular place!   This morning, I forgot to grab one of my magazines that I read while I work out on the treadmill and bicycle, so once I arrived, I grabbed my ASL textbook from the book bag.  I wonder if anyone has ever been seen before, at that particular gym in that particular city, signing to himself as he walked off the pounds  :)
• I had forgotten what fantastic exercise rowing is... I used to own a Concept 2 rowing machine, but sold it at one point because I needed the money back.  My gym has two of them though, and I've incorporated it back into my cardio routines.  It is an absolute beating.. 10 minutes of it, and I'm wiped out....
• Unlike some guys, I'm a big fan of the shower "skooshie" when using the liquid soap they provide.  Much better suds that way.  Which makes it irritating when said skooshie goes AWOL from the gym bag.  It's even more irritating when I discover later that I put the skooshie in the wrong pocket of the bag and it was there all along!
• I think I'm finally starting to turn the corner on the exercise thing again.  It's becoming habit.  I hope it stays that way... I like the way I feel in terms of energy and self-confidence when I workout on a regular basis!

Why is everyone so dour?

This morning, as I was leaving my gym, I passed a lady who was on her way in, and was struck at how less-than-happy she looked.  She wasn't angry, or sad, or obviously rushed... she just wasn't smiling.  At that exact moment of time, she couldn't have been aware that I was observing her, so her look could not have been one of feminine defense against advancement.  She just looked... dour.

As I reflected on this, I thought back on all the people I had seen that morning, and even accounting for the effects that having to exercise might have had on one's countenance, I remembered frowns, and strained faces, and very little laughter and smiles.  As I broadened the sweep of my musings, I began to think about all the people that I encounter on a daily basis, and I wondered when I last met someone out in the daily world who walked in joy.

I could recall some at church, but even some people there seem to be infected... and I wonder at where we are-- as a people, as a country, and human brothers and sisters.

As a Christian, I know the source of true joy, and yet I often find myself struggling to laugh and enjoy this beautiful world around us.  I have been recently struggling with a very serious case of the down-in-the-dumps myself.

One would be tempted to place the blame squarely on the sagging shoulders of the economy, but I believe it goes deeper than that.  I certainly recall having noticed these same strains among people further back than the collapse of the US home market.  Regardless of the current fiscal state of the union, I have begun to think that we just simply don't take the time to relax, to share good time with people we love, and to fill our souls with the things that speak to our hearts and enrich us.

The other day, I had lunch at an out-of-the-way German restaurant, a wonderful little place that turned out to be a local foci for peoples of German origin here in the DFW area.  On their menu, they had a delightful little statement about their what they desired to bring out in their patron's lives.  It said, in effect, that if one was looking for a fast restaurant to get in and out of rapidly as possible, then they were not the place... but if you wanted to learn to slow down, and dine and converse with companions, then the true German spirit would be conveyed along with the meal.

It was a statement to take to heart, and I wish I had written it down.  (It would not be unusual for me to pull out my moleskine and do exactly that!)  As I rush from housework to yardwork to studying to violin practice to work to church to soccer... I, too, need to remember to slow down, and sit around the table of life with good friends, and some "Jäger Schnitzel mit Spätzle und gemischtem Salat", and stimulating conversation...  and allow these wonderful things to bring some balance back in my life.   May my fellow race-runners find such a respite too!