No resolutions this year. Just one question: What do I (you) own?
(Art History print by Vuk Vidor)
Can you guess what I did tonight?
Almost two months after getting hit by a car I’m finally back to (my attempt at) running. The knee isn’t quite a hundred percent, but good enough to stop using it as an excuse. I’ll now be rotating between running and my alternative workout routine.
(running via sister reba)
the ‘new’ me
Yesterday, between working a full day, spending four hours at the computer cartography lab, and making healthy mac and cheese: take two*, I did something I don’t think I’ve ever done. I went for a run. A what now?, you may ask. Reba, you’ve never run a day in your life. Okay, well maybe for that week you were on the field hockey team in junior high school**, but aside from that, nothing. Recently I’ve even had occasion to mention that I could bike 100 miles (probably more) but ask me to run a mile and I’ll inevitably fail.
Well, the new me decided that she wanted to try this running thing. I got bundled up and headed out around 9:30 last night for the very first run of my life. Two miles and about 25 minutes later I decided that maybe I could get into this. I totally didn’t run the whole time. I’d say it was about 60/40, run/walk, which I think isn’t too bad for a first go at it. We’ll see how this running thing progresses. I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to get out tonight due to the frumpy snow storm sitting on top of Chicago right now, but last night will definitely not be my first and last time running.
Any tips or music suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
* This time I halved the amount of pasta, didn’t use squash, and added cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potato (my new fav), jalapeno pepper, and shredded cabbage. I paired it with a lovely 2010 Tecate.
**I took me an entire week to realize that my academic competitiveness did not translate to sports at all. And I didn’t enjoy being hit in the shin with wooden sticks either. Field hockey girls can be nasty little things.
resolve
Every time modern technology presents us with a new possibility, we quickly learn to see it as a necessity, and it becomes a default. The process is becoming shorter and shorter. Consumption has become something that we see as only right and proper.
…
The problem is that when new technology becomes a default in our lives, it can no longer bring us happiness or a sense of fulfillment. On the contrary, an absence of these defaults can make us unhappy. This kind of lifestyle leads to higher and higher default levels, and an ever-greater desire to consume.When the resources that support this consumption have all but disappeared, and the environment can no longer take the strain, it will be too late to cancel these default settings. It is much easier to go from simplicity to extravagance, than to go from extravagance to simplicity. It has always been this way.
from the article Default settings and modern lifestyles by Yu Aiqun
I have been thinking a bit about new year’s resolutions recently. I’d like to believe that we can all make the the changes we want to and have a fresh start on January first, but I am weary of compiling a list of resolutions. After reading this article, I think it best to stick with what I’ve already been working on - simplicity. The uncomplicated, drama-free life is the one for me.
