Running from women

Twice a week I run. Usually I start at about 7 am at a local high school track, and do laps around their quarter mile loop. Today I ran 10 laps, equalling 2.5 miles. My goal is to add a half-lap everytime I go, so that I eventually can run 8 miles. That's my goal, as well as running in the Peachtree Road Race before age 40, and completing it in under 1 hour. Not too lofty a target, but significant and satisfying for me.

This morning as I rounded into the end of lap 8, I noticed a group of high school girls about a half-lap behind me. Panic gripped me as I considered the possibility of being passed by girls. I immediately kicked into another gear and kept them at a safe distance behind me. I couldn't help but notice that some of them had started to walk after less than one lap. I slowed down and finished lap 10. Success! From there I started my final cooldown lap (walking) before going back to my car. The ladies had begun another lap and I could hear their coach chiding them for not being able to keep up with a 31 year old woman who had given birth 4 weeks ago. That made me smile. And made me feel a little prouder for keeping myself in shape as I close in on my fourth completed decade. Youth is wasted on the young indeed.

Living in the Land of the Lost, part 2

It occurred to me to write this post because I recently saw the Land of the Lost movie with Will Ferrell. It was amusing, and not great, but enjoyable nonetheless. I didn't feel insulted because they weren't true to the original. In fact, I thought the movie a little disturbing at one point, because Rick and Holly (not father and daughter in the movie as they were in the TV show) fall in love and "make out" towards the end of the movie! But I did like the faithful reproduction of the Sleestak, slow-moving but creepier with multi-tiered rows of teeth. It was fun, but changed nothing in regards to my love for the original.

My brother-in-law recently asked me what I thought was so great about the original TV show. He said he could only watch 5 minutes before turning it off. All I could say was, that love I had for the show as a kid is still vivid to this day, and revisiting the show on DVD has been fun in that it looks different than I remember, but the fascination is still there. So often I tend to remember the bad stuff that happened when I was a kid: being scared, or getting picked on. But to remember something that brought me a lot of joy, be it a TV show or a favorite food, or my grandparents house, well, that is something special. Will, Holly and Rick Marshall will always remind me of the joy of being a kid.

Living in the Land of the Lost, part 1

When I was a kid, there were two TV shows that I did not miss. One was Batman (with Adam West) and the other was Land of the Lost. In the late 70's the show was already in re-runs, so I usually watched it after school. The Sid & Marty Krofft hour would come on from 3-4pm. There were always two shows that aired back to back, but it was never the same show on consecutive days. Monday might be Sigmund and the Sea Monsters followed by the Bugaloos. Tuesday might be Dr. Shrinker followed by Far Out Space Nuts. I would sit on the edge of my couch waiting for those banjos, hoping to God that Land of the Lost would be on that day. I did enjoy the other shows, but Land of the Lost had it all. Weird sci-fi storylines, dinosaurs, Sleestak and pylons all planted the seeds in me of a lifelong love of sci-fi.

A few years ago I purchased Season 1 on DVD. Watching it again was a lot of fun, but also hilarious. The acting was so bad, whether it be Holly's incessant whining, or Will's hyper emotional outbursts. And Will always had his shirt unbuttoned halfway down, I'm sure sending 9 year old girls into squeals of delight. The special effects got used over and over again in different ways, but you can tell they probably filmed all of the dinosaur stuff ahead and just fit the story in around it. But when I was a kid, none of that mattered; it was awesome. I mean like "the ice cream man is coming and I'm going to the pool today" awesome.

A chorus of millions...

So here I am. Not to impress anyone with my blogging greatness. Not that anyone would or should care what I think, but to kick start my dormant writing gene. I want to be a writer pretty badly, so I have decided to undertake this challenge in an attempt to hone my skills. I will from time to time write about things I find interesting, more as an exercise in discipline than anything else. I also am curious as to what will happen if I simply say what's on my mind, for any stranger to stumble upon. So if you are reading this for the first time, welcome. You may find my thoughts interesting; if not, that's cool. I don't believe my musings deserve any more attention than anyone else.

I'm just here to simply be.