Reading on the Eights: 5/23

Over the past eight weeks, it looks as if I didn't read with the same intensity as in previous periods. Why this was so, I don't know. I did reread J.K. Rawling's fitting conclusion to the Harry Potter saga: The Deathly Hallows (my daughter had recently read it and I was embarrassed to have already forgotten many of its details). I continued reading some old science fiction, although not at the pace I had envisioned. I read two short stories from 1931: P. Schuyler Miller's Tetrahedra Of Space and Clifford Simak's World of the Red Sun. Miller's story contained the unintended paradox of humans attempting to bridge the chasm of differences between species of entirely different forms while holding on tenaciously to commonly-held (in 1931) prejudices about people "of color". Simak's story was the better by far, with a time travel angle and a classic, unexpected ending. I remember this excellent sci-fi writer from childhood when I read his story The Big Front Yard, evoking imagery that has stayed with me to this day.

And, of course, I continued my Stephen King readings, concentrating on his Dark Tower series. I read through the fourth book, titled The Wizard and Glass, and must say that it was the best of the series so far. But the fifth book, Wolves of the Calla, of which I am in the middle of reading, is also quite engrossing.

I guess that I've let myself be distracted by some other things recently, often putting my reading on the "back burner". And to be brutally frank, the very old science fiction short stories (from the early 1930s) weren't anywhere near as good as the ones that began to come out just ten years later. I think I'll switch out my short story books and read something more recent. And as I get deeper into Stephen King's Dark Tower series, I'm predicting the pace of reading to quicken! Although, being in the midst of trying to figure out what is going on with this series, I have hesitated to try to analyze it, it looks as if King may have unconsciously borrowed one of Rawling's devices: the pensieve, which enabled the observer to "travel" back in time to experience events from the point of view of the person who "left" the memory behind. King doesn't use a bowl, and there are some differences, but the effect seems (to me) to be similar. Of course, she may have taken it from him or they both took the idea from another source. Or maybe it's all just a big coincidence!

Mathematics as a Diversion

In the old Sherlock Holmes movie Terror By Night, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, Holmes and Watson are deep in the midst of solving a mystery aboard a train. Searching compartments for suspicious characters, the two run across a rather stuffy, rude, middle-aged traveler who they discover is engaged in the totally-fun hobby of mathematics! That scene always struck me, because the way math was taught when I went to school made learning it nothing less than traumatic (in spite of the fact that I had exceptional SAT math scores of 780 and 800 in high school). I've written earlier, in the deep recesses of this blog, about the horrible way that I believe math is taught in schools (almost as a test of the student's character). Instead of encouraging high anxiety among math students, teachers of this very interesting field could very easily transform the learning experience into one of fun entertainment, because just about anything concerning mathematics can be converted into a game! I discovered, for example, that during classes like calculus and differential equations, it became quite fun to solve integrals and "diffy q's". As a matter of fact, there is a good series of "math puzzle" books, the authors of which would probably by horrified by hearing anyone referring to their works as such: the Schaums series. Schaums books cover an enormous range of highly technical topics while being structured in a very student-friendly manner. Anyone wanting to immerse themselves in an area of math may be pleasantly surprised at the way each chapter presents new concepts, has problems fully worked out, and contains a whole slew of supplementary problems to boot. It's just a slight mental adjustment for one to look at each of these "problems" as a game to play!

Can you guess where I'm going with this? Yes, I'm adding another "eights" to my self-improvement series (where I update my personal progress in an area every eight weeks on this blog): Schaums Math on the Eights. I'm sure that there are many other very fine publications that teach math well, but for my purposes, I want to have some fun in the process! I also have another motive for doing this: my daughter is going to be entering secondary school and I want to be fully equipped to help her master the new concepts she will be facing with as little trauma as possible. Since I already possess several Schaums math books, I can start up right off the bat!

Foreign Languages on the Eights: 5/13

For the past eight weeks, studying foreign languages has taken a back seat to other things in my life. But I still had plenty of opportunities to take a few minutes aside daily to study some. Oh well, that's the past and it's behind me: the question is what am I going to do now. As I mentioned a while back on this blog, I decided to narrow my concentrated study of foreign languages to those that I had the best chance of approaching effective mastery of: Spanish, German, Russian, French, and Chinese. It is very easy nowadays, by means of the Internet, to both read material in each of these languages as well as hear daily webcasts in them. I also have study material at home to study with. So I just have to lay a little time aside, as well as set up a study plan. The main push should be for me to rapidly build up my passive (reading and listening) vocabulary in each of these languages to the point where I can follow the gist of anything I read or hear in them. But that aside, I also need to practice being in "the flow" of each tongue as well. So in the next few days I will work out more details. And hopefully, this time around I'll actually begin to accomplish something more substantial in this area of self-improvement!

Piano on the Eights: 5/10

For the past eight (plus) weeks, my piano practices have been progressing a bit more sluggishly than I would have liked. And one of the problems that I see is that I haven't defined my short-term and long-term goals well enough regarding what I want to accomplish with piano. Ultimately, I want to be able to play any music that I have a memory of, and that comprises thousands of songs. Also, I would like to be able to play music readily and accurately from sheet music, though not necessarily the extremely demanding pieces. In conjunction with these two goals, I would like to deepen my training in music theory, understanding better how chords are constructed as well as why music is sometimes written the way it is. In the short-term, I need to more assiduously practice my lesson pieces while going ahead on my own learning to play in other keys. And I need also to begin practicing plunking out tunes from memory as well. Also, if I am going to ever be able to play competently, then I need to be better with my timing and rhythm.

Weight Loss and Maintenance on the Eights: 5/7

I have been keeping my weight pretty much at the same level (low to mid-160s) for the past eight weeks. Unfortunately, I've been slipping a bit into binge eating from time to time, although at the same time I've picked up my exercising intensity (mostly by running). I would like to get my weight down to around to 145-150 lbs, which I believe is the optimum level for me to be effective with my running. And then stay there, not dipping below 140. But I'm going to have to watch my caloric intake to accomplish this. One thing that has helped me is that I have begun to drink more water, which helps to take the edge off my "compulsion" to raid the icebox! Also, I need to resume regular weighings, but in general, my weight has stabilized between 163-165 lbs.

Running on the Eights: 4/29

Actually, this is more like "running on the tens", because I inadvertently slipped up and let ten weeks go by instead of the planned eight before writing another installment about my running activities. My running has picked up quite a bit, although I am still concentrating my running on the treadmill. Anyway, here is my running record. It all took place on the treadmill unless indicated otherwise.

DATE...MILES..TIME
2-17...... 0.75......5:27
2-22...... 1.75....14:04
2-23...... 1.00..... 7:18
2-25 ......2.25....16:59
2-27.......1.50....10:57
2-28.......0.50.....3:28
2-29.......1.75....12:34
3-1.........0.50......3:25
3-3.........1.75.....12:32
3-4.........0.75.......5:12
3-5.........2.50.....18:17
3-6.........0.75.......5:29
3-7.........1.00.......7:09
3-8.........1.75......12:53
3-9.........1.00.......6:52
3-12.......2.00.....14:13
3-13.......2.00.....13:55
3-14.......2.75......19:06
3-16.......1.50.....10:22
3-17.......1.00.......7:28
3-18.......1.50.....10:22
3-19.......2.00.....13:36
3-21.......2.00.....13:28
3-23.......1.00.......7:35 (asphalt track)
3-24.......2.00.....13:39
3-26.......2.00.....13:58
3-27.......1.00.......6:48
3-28.......2.00.....13:35
3-30.......3.50.....25.40
4-01.......1.50.....10:27
4-02.......2.00.....13:40
4-03.......2.00.....14:19
4-04.......1.00.......6:47
4-05.......1.00.......6:41
4-07.......3.00.....20:54
4-09.......1.50........9:55
4-11........2.50.....17:55
4-13........1.50.....10:05
4-14........1.00.......6:52
4-15........1.50.....10:05
4-17........2.50.....17:39
4-18........1.00.......6:54
4-21........3.50.....25:37
4-22........1.50.....10:09
4-23........4.00.....32:37
4-24........1.50........9:52
4-25........2.00.....14:18
4-26........1.00.......6:54
4-28........0.50.......3:43

Mundane Matters on the Eights: 4/12

Back when I was a kid in the late sixties, I stopped playing out in my backyard for a few months (this was in 1968). And for the various reasons that can crop up in families, the maintenance of our backyard went by the wayside as well. One day, I decided that I would just step out there and throw the ball around, or maybe just see how many chin-ups I could do on the clothes-line pole out by the back fence. When I stepped out, the yard looked unfamiliar, with heavily grown-up grass and weeds coming up around my waist level. I felt like going back inside and putting on my father’s (a letter carrier) “jungle” hat to fully convey the sense of the environment. But out I bravely went, and actually enjoyed myself for a few minutes. Until I looked back at the house, that is. On the outside wall, about halfway between the back door and the dining room window, was a moth. Almost a foot long! Suddenly, I realized that I was in a very strange, primitive, wild place and began to carefully tiptoe back to the back door, so as not to disturb Mothra. I didn’t go back out again until a few weeks later, when my parents suddenly decided to tackle the back yard situation with a vengeance. The whole family worked together mowing, cutting, and carrying stuff to the front of the house. There had been a growing pile of brush by the back fence that had been accumulating for years. When we picked it up, we discovered it was full of cockroaches, which fled to tree branches above us as we worked! How creepy can you get, right? Well, when we reached the bottom of the pile, the roaches there were albinos! We did get the back yard looking really nice and used it a lot in the following years. I don’t think it ever got much out of hand after that, and I never saw Mothra again, either in my back yard or anywhere else.

I say all this, thinking that I have allowed too much junk to accumulate within my house (especially the garage). It’s really beginning to stifle my lifestyle, as well as that of my family. I feel the urge to embark on a great project reminiscent of the late-sixties yard clearing that my parents did. And while we’re at it, a few home improvements like repairs and new flooring seem to be in order as well!

This “mundane matters” project of mine, where I make a concerted effort to take care of ordinary things concerning me, just hasn’t taken off yet, sad to say. But I’m not giving up. My emphasis needs to be on habit transformation. But first things first. The house needs some extensive work.

Reading on the Eights: 3/26

I split up my reading three ways during the last eight weeks: science fiction, Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and trying out some other authors.

I finished reading Isaac Asimov's The Robots of Dawn and then followed that up with his final robot novel, Robots and Empire. These books were a part of Asimov's general future narrative of robots, interstellar travel and settlement, empire, and finally, the Foundation. I have heard that even novels of his that are ostensibly independent of this narrative are still linked by some references within them. But Isaac Asimov is only one writer of many who do this, Stephen King being another one.

I have just completed The Wastelands, Stephen King's third of seven novels in his Dark Tower series. A few weeks earlier, I had read through book #2: The Drawing of the Three. In a nutshell, the premise of the Dark Tower series is that a "gunslinger" named Roland, in a future and deteriorating world, is searching for the Dark Tower, which reputedly holds the universe together through "beams". But something has gone dreadfully wrong in the Dark Tower, something of an evil nature, and Roland is on a mission to remedy matters. Along the way, he has several improbable contacts with our contemporary world and its people. A combination of science fiction and fantasy, King admits that he was inspired for this series by Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. The writing is great! I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to Roland. And like Asimov's stories, King has allowed elements of his Dark Tower saga to seep into a few of his other works.

Rounding out my reading, I tried out a couple of popular mystery/suspense writers: Mary Higgins Clark and Dean Koontz. I finished Clark's Nighttime is My Time, a stereotypical whodunnit murder mystery, with the author casting suspicion on half the characters in the novel before the villain is "unmasked" at the end. The writing was pleasant to follow and the reading went quickly. But I didn't particularly enjoy the story. For Koontz, I read his Shattered, which is another stereotypical story, this one about a cross-country road trip where the protagonists are pursued by a murderous predator. I liked Koontz's writing more than Clark's, but the endings of both novels were both predictable and flat (to me). I've also just begun reading Sue Grafton's novel "B" Is For Burglar. I've already read her "A" and "L" entries in this alphabetically entitled series, and I can attest that she is a great mystery writer!

I've also, during the past eight weeks, resumed reading science fiction short stories, beginning with works from the early 1930s, such as The Evolved Man (by Edmond Hamilton), The Jameson Satellite (by Neil R. Jones), Submicroscopic, and Awlo of Ulm (the last two by Capt. S.P. Meek). I plan to continue this as a sideline to my reading of novels until I've read all the short stories in my pretty-large collection.

Foreign Languages on the Eights: 3/18

Almost all of us have things that we want to accomplish or improve upon in our lives. And effecting the changes that enable us to realize our goals usually involve both investing time and changing entrenched habits. All of which can make for a very interesting life, if one has the tenacity and courage to take on his or her dreams, that is. But I’ve found that trying to change several areas of my life at the same time can be awfully difficult, even counterproductive.
Sometimes I think that I tend to spread my goals out too much and try to fulfill to much at one time. Perhaps it would be better to prioritize what I’m trying to do and concentrate on only the most important goals in my efforts. After all, not only are there only twenty-four hours in a day, but, as you already know, that time is diminished by the demands of living to the point where it can be a struggle to find time to work on personal endeavors. Often I find that, even when I have some available time to work on something, I am too mentally or emotionally exhausted to focus on what I need to do.

In the sections of this blog that I refer to as “The Eights” (based on the Weather Channel’s use of that term to give local weather forecasts every eight minutes), I report, at eight-week intervals, on various self-improvement projects that I have been working on. But often I come to the time that I need to report on a particular area and find that I had been neglecting it. So, I wonder whether or not I’m spreading myself out too thin by trying to do too many different things. One major example is foreign language study.

Since my late teens, I’ve been interested in foreign languages, having studied several over the past few decades. But I’m never going to reach a reasonable level of proficiency in any of them if I keep hopping around from one language to another. For the past few months, I had been studying Vietnamese. But my progress has bogged down a bit, not because of a lack of interest or ability. It’s just that I’ve let other things encroach on my study time, as well as the creeping feeling that my foreign language study would be better served by concentrating instead on a language that I am much further down the road on toward proficiency. So, with this in mind, I am trimming my goals a bit to studying in an intensive manner just Spanish, French, German, Russian, and Chinese. I recognize that, even in doing this I am still spreading myself out quite a bit. But, unlike with other languages (like Vietnamese), I already understand quite a lot in these five languages and feel that I am close to crossing learning thresholds in all of them. So, from here on, I will be concentrating on them in my foreign language study and will report “on the eights” about my progress in this regard. Without abandoning my already-attained knowledge of Vietnamese.

Piano on the Eights: 3/12

These past eight weeks in my piano-learning odyssey were highlighted by a recital on February 10 that I played at. I was one of twenty-five students, about a quarter of us adults and all of us students of the same teacher. I played an excerpt titled Melody in F by Rubinstein. I prepared a lot for it in the days preceding the recital, and when it was time for me to go up and play in front of the audience, it seemed as if someone else was playing the piece, with me in the background! So, the recital went off pretty well for me. My son, who is a much better pianist than me, also played at the recital.

I continued practicing as usual, and am still feeling as if I am not putting in the needed time and effort to reach my full potential. I practiced on excerpts from Borodin's Polovetzian Dances, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, and Joplin's The Entertainer, among others. I have begun to focus more on the "back" part of the keyboard where the black keys are. I believe that treating this section as the "starting point" for my keying, instead of as an area that I go to only when specially demanded by the printed music, will greatly facilitate my learning of the musical theory and my skill at playing.

Weight Loss and Maintenance on the Eights: 3/8

Although I didn't keep up well with my weigh-ins in late January/early February, the last eight weeks saw me finally getting serious about my weight. All I did was exercise more (I began to run daily) and be more careful about excessive eating (although I did hit the doughnuts from time to time). But I made a good amount of progress! It shouldn't be too much longer before I reach my own personal goal of getting down to the 150's (lbs). Here's my weigh-in record for the past eight-week period:

DATE WEIGHT (lbs)
1/12........182.0
1/19........180.0
2/09.......174.6
2/23........171.8
3/01........167.2
3/08........165.6

Writing Stories on the Eights: 2/29

At the beginning of this year, I proposed to begin writing fiction. But this goal hasn't panned out for me during the past eight weeks. The main reason for this, I believe, is that I haven't yet established a specific time and place in my daily "walk" through life in which I can fully devote myself to this endeavor. I did write a rough outline for a novel (or novella), but have only written about six pages worth of story material. This must change! I have to get over the feelings of inadequacy that inevitably crop up whenever I critically examine what I've just written. Also, I need to let the story take over my writing and for me to not worry about how "perfect" it has to be. Most of all, I have to get myself into the "writing zone"! I'm currently reading The Wastelands, Stephen King's third volume in his Dark Tower series. In it, one of the characters, an eleven-year old boy, is horrified to discover that for his final essay that he is about to turn in at school, he has written a crazy-sounding stream-of-consciousness piece that he is sure will land him in a mental hospital if his teacher were to read it. As events turn out, his teacher did read it and rewarded him with an A+ and great praise. And that is how I must write, too: on the "edge", where the words can sometimes express and bring up dangerous emotions and thoughts. The fear of myself being exposed in my writing has to be faced and overcome. Because in the end, it is exactly that which I want to do!

Running on the Eights: 2/17

For most of the past eight weeks (up until about two and a half weeks ago), my running continued at a sporadic pace. I never ran on consecutive days, and often there were gaps of several days between runs. One of the reasons for this was that I was sick for a while last month. But I began to step things up, starting at January's end and continuing up to the present day. Although my distance per run is about the same as before, I now often run three or four days in a row between "breaks". And I plan to continue, if not step up, this pace of training. I'd like for my running mileage to get back up to between 2.5 and 3.5 miles. I'd also like to run some outdoors. I was considering actually entering a 5 kilometer race on February 23, but I've really only trained on the treadmill. But there will be more races offered (through the Florida Track Club) in Gainesville throughout the year, and I should get myself more accustomed to road running before I take off in that direction. Although participation in a future race is a possibility, I still plan to continue emphasizing the noncompetitive aspects of running in my training. Anyway, here is my running record for the past eight weeks (all runs done on a treadmill):

DATE DIST.(miles) TIME
12-23...... 1.5............ 10:48
12-31.......0.5.............. 3:42
1-4.......... 1.5............. 11:33
1-7.......... 1.6............. 12:09
1-11........ 1.5..............11:21
1-15........ 1.0.............. 7:21
1-17........ 1.2.............. 8:55
1-19........ 1.0.............. 7:47
1-27........ 2.0............ 15:31
1-29........ 1.75.......... 13:22
1-30....... 1.25............ 9:30
1-31........ 2.25.......... 17:11
2-1.......... 1.75.......... 13:08
2-6.......... 2.5............ 19:10
2-7.......... 1.5............ 11:08
2-8......... 2.0............ 15:05
2-10....... 1.5............. 11:16
2-11........ 2.25.......... 16:59
2-12....... 1.25............. 9:33
2-14....... 0.75............. 5:28
2-15....... 1.50........... 11:04

Mundane Matters on the Eights: 2/12

There is a new area in my "self-improvement" zone that I'm trying to figure out a way to appropriately express on this blog. For want of a better term, I call it "mundane matters". Keeping up with the mundane things in my life is probably one of my greatest shortcomings as a human being on this world. Keeping up with important deadlines, keeping my home and vehicles maintained and clean, being more careful with finances, and a few other other areas could stand a good dose of attention and habit-changing! But, with regard to this blog, being transmitted world-wide to anyone who clicks on it, I'm not all that keen on revealing things like this, at least in any great detail. So instead, I'm going to encode it a bit, even though it seems as if this may defeat the whole purpose of publicly holding myself accountable for my progress (or lack thereof). Still, I think it's worth a try. I will therefore initiate a new "on the eights" blog entry (every eight weeks) titled "Mundane Matters on the Eights" which may or may not completely make sense to the reader. But I do plan to write some stuff that is comprehensible (although it may seem terribly boring) in my "mundane matters" entries. So, I guess this is "Day Zero", and who knows what you'll find eight weeks from now! But at least this puts me, in at least a small way, on the spot in regard to behaviors that I need to change about ordinary, but important areas of my life. So, if you happen to run across one of these entries in the future, you have my sympathies! It will be only once every eight weeks, anyway.

Reading On the Eights: 1/30

I divided my reading for the past eight weeks between science-fiction and Stephen King works. And began my first Mary Higgins Clark novel. As for the sci-fi, I finished reading the second of Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, titled The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. The mini-series I saw a few years back ended where this book ended. But there are at least three more Hitchhiker books to go, so I should have more fun in the future reading on in this series (not already knowing what is going to happen). I read the next of Isaac Asimov's Robot Novels, titled The Robots of Dawn. It was longer than the others and had some pretty tedious sections, but the knockout ending was worth the reading. And I've just started reading his fourth (and last) of this series: Robots and Empire.

I continued reading Stephen King novels by getting through two of his lengthy works: Needful Things and Bag of Bones. Needful Things was basically a retelling of Ray Bradbury's great Something Wicked This Way Comes in a Maine setting, using some old characters from King stories like Cujo, The Dark Half, and Insomnia. To me, this novel was a great indictment against human nature and how people can become hooked on things to a degree that can lead to delusions and tragedy. Bag of Bones was another "Maine" novel that shifted its emphasis from one theme to a completely different one as the story progressed. Definitely worth the time I put in reading it! I've also begun Stephen King's Dark Tower series, having read The Gunslinger (Volume 1) and being now about two thirds of the way through his second volume (The Drawing of the Three). The Dark Tower started out slow (vaguely resembling Clint Eastwood's old spaghetti westerns), but it has now picked up a lot of steam! My interest in The Dark Tower was stimulated by references to it in two other Stephen King novels (Insomnia and Hearts in Atlantis) and a short story (The Little Sisters of Eluria from his collection Everything's Eventual ). Also, I began reading his early short novel (written as Richard Bachman) The Long Walk. It seems to have a science-fiction flavor to it so far.

And finally, I tried a completely different author with Mary Higgins Clark and her novel Nighttime is My Time. I still haven't reached the halfway point in it, but it's quite clear that Clark has a very different style to her presentation than Stephen King!

Piano on the Eights: 1/15

My piano progress has slowed down a bit over the past eight weeks, and I have only myself to blame for it. I began lessons with the objective of playing piano as a lifelong endeavor. I know deep, down inside me that I have the innate talent to become quite a good player, and I have a great memory of many songs that I would love to be able to play, both for myself and others. But, like with other things, the demands of daily living and me feeling "pooped out" at the end of the day, have taken their toll on my practice. So, I am going to begin recording the time I actually spend each day in practice, in order to impart to myself a sense of accountability. I've still been going to my weekly lessons (with a short Christmas break) and have practiced my assignments. But not enough! But that's about to change drastically!

Weight Loss and Maintenance on the Eights: 1/12

My weight loss project suffered some neglect over the holiday season, but at least I didn't blow it altogether. And I've resumed my weekly weigh-ins after a four-week hiatus. I'm only slightly overweight, and to some I may not appear to need to lose any pounds. But I do want to get to where I am more comfortable running, and having about 25 fewer pounds coming down on my ankles and feet each time I hit the road will no doubt help to prevent some "wear-and-tear" type injuries. I'm also 51 years old and would like to establish some sensible eating and exercising habits to keep me more active and healthy as I age. Hopefully, I am now "back on track" and will finally make some weight-loss progress in the ensuing weeks. Here's my somewhat abbreviated record for the past eight weeks:

DATE WEIGHT(LBS)
11-17...... 178.8
11-24...... 177.4
12-01..... 180.2
1-05........181.2
1-12.........182.0

Writing Stories: Day Zero

It has now been about nine months since I began writing this blog. And it's been a great ride so far! I plan to continue putting out entries for it at this same general pace indefinitely. But now, I believe that it's time for me to wade into some different waters as well. Yes, it's time for me to begin writing stories! And, of course, I plan to use this blog to help me get into the discipline of the daily production that is necessary to ultimately succeed in this genre. So I am adding another "eights" to this blog (entries eight weeks apart from each other). It will deal with the amount of stories I am writing as well as the number of pages I am producing. I don't intend to actually reveal my stories here, since my intention will ultimately be to submit them for paid publication! But I'm sure that I will have a few things to say (every eight weeks) about how I'm doing experiencing this new, challenging endeavor! I already have several core story ideas in mind, so I shouldn't have a problem with writer's block, at least for a while. My initial push will be to get my feet nice and wet, and just concentrate on "producing a product". And to take Stephen King's advice as well, which is for me to write primarily for myself!

Running on the Eights: 12/23

For the past eight weeks, I've continued to confine my running to the treadmill at my local YMCA. Unfortunately, I haven't been running as often as I would have liked (which would have been every other day). And for the past week, I simply did not have the time (maybe I did, but I didn't feel like I did) to get down there for a run. To be perfectly honest, I don't really fancy running on the treadmill. For one, they usually play stinking-lousy music over the speakers in the YMCA workout room. For another, I often find myself sharing the air with people who train there while sporting very healthy colds, generously spreading their germs around in the holiday spirit! I'm also quite bored with the same old view. I prefer to be outside, covering actual distance and sucking in the wonderful outside air. But a few months ago, running on the ground contributed to a small ankle injury. So I first need to cushion my running shoes and then I will start, sticking with grass or dirt surfaces. Still, the treadmill at the Y is a convenient stop-over (very close to my home) and I'll probably continue to use it from time to time even after I resume running on the ground.

Philosophically, I want to get back into the old routine of running about a 2.5-3 mile outdoors course (not all on asphalt) and want to avoid becoming obsessed with my running times and competitiveness. That's another thing about the treadmill: I tend to get really hyped up about my times there! Well, at least it keeps me honest with my workouts, and I'll still time myself when I'm outside running as well. Here is my workout summary for the past eight weeks (all done on a treadmill surface):

DATE..DISTANCE(Miles).........TIME
11/01.........1.8........................13:53
11/06.........1.0.........................9:27
11/10.........2.0........................16:21
11/12.........2.0........................15:41
11/16.........2.0........................15:08
11/19.........2.5.........................20:41
11/24.........2.5.........................19:43
11/28.........2.7.........................20:48
11/30.........3.11.......................24:13
12/08.........1.5.........................11:28
12/12.........2.0.........................15:19
12/14.........1.0...........................7:20
12/16.........1.5..........................10:59

Reading on the Eights: 12/7

I've continued my reading pace at about the same rate for the past eight weeks. I read another Isaac Asimov robot novel, The Naked Sun, which was passable but not my favorite. But it does tie in to his later Empire and Foundation series. And I have a trilogy of his Empire novels that I will be starting soon! To round out the science fiction reading, I'll say that I'm currently working on Douglas Adams's second Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book, titled The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. This reading has not been particularly enjoyable to me (although it's very funny) because I already know pretty much what happens, having seen the miniseries on TV a couple of decades ago.

Of course, I am continuing with my dogged pursuit of reading everything that Stephen King has published in book form. To this end, I read The Eyes of the Dragon, The Dead Zone, Insomnia, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and his short story/novella collection Skeleton Crew. Eyes of the Dragon was a short, pleasant fantasy departure, while The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was a depiction of a child's scary, trying adventure lost in the wilderness, interlaced with pro-Boston Red Sox propaganda (I guess that tells you I'm not exactly a fan of theirs). The Dead Zone and Insomnia both were great, gripping novels dealing with psychic abilities descending uninvited on the protagonists. Insomnia is, maybe, the best of King's novels I've read so far. He has a heart for the elderly, and dealing with life in its latter stages takes up a great deal of the book. His Skeleton Crew collection (published in the 1980s) spans a wide range of story types. The Mist is a novella that just came out as a movie (and this spurred my interest in reading this book). I wonder if the movie will stay true to the written word, or will it diverge a lot (like Children of the Corn did). There was sci-fi (Beachworld, The Jaunt), crime/mystery (The Wedding Gig), deranged poetry (Paranoid: a Chant, For Owen), New England-oriented stories (Mrs. Todd's Shortcut, The Reach) and, of course, horror (many stories). There were four stories that stood out the most to me: The Mist, Mrs. Todds's Shortcut, Nona, and The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet. The story Work Processor of the Gods seemed too similar to an old Twilight Zone episode titled A World of His Own. As a whole, Skeleton Crew was excellent. I can't wait for Stephen King's next short story collection to come out!

I also began to read Ralph Keyes's writers guide The Courage to Write (How Writers Transcend Fear). It definitely has a lot of food for thought in it!