President Obama

Holy freakin' heck.

I'm not sure what more there is to say. Congratulations President Obama and Vice-president Biden.

Finally. Finally, it's OVER. And finally it's begun.

Space cadet

I'm not sure if it's the time change or the election or just life in general, but today was a VERY strange day. I kept losing focus, catching myself literally staring off into space. People would talk to me, and I'd have to make a real, concerted effort to tune into what they were saying. For someone who prides herself on good communication and listening skills, it was just... weird.

The Time Between the Lightning and the Thunder

Cruising around my usual online haunts, I see the near-total obsession everyone has with the election... Facebook and IM statii make mention, conversations that normally don't pertain to politics in any way (baseball, parenting, finances) have gone off-topic to all-election all the time.

In just over 48 hours we're going to have a pretty good idea if this all works out or once again goes to shit in the final moments. We're heading into the time between the lightning and the thunder.

I love that image, as it comes from an (I think still) unreleased song by David Wilcox. The song tells a sad story, that captures perfectly that moment after something major shifts - something that can never go back to what it was before - and the time it takes for it to sink in and become part of a new reality. Hoo boy.

The time between the lightning and the thunder,
The time to wait before her fate arrives.
She looks out at the sky and starts to wonder
If a miracle might let it pass her by.

The time it takes the pain of it to reach her,
The moment that her world is blown apart.
The wisdom in the silence there to teach her,
His time had been this precious from the start.

The bullet changes everything and nothing.
Gunshots will echo down the block.
This life, this could have been something...
The door that he was running for was locked.

Chorus:
She's in the time between the lightning and the thunder,
Before the shock can hit that this is real.
The disbelieving spell she's falling under,
And the time it takes before her heart can feel.

She says:
Oh my love...
It's all right...
I'm right here...
You're just asleep now.
Oh my love...
Here's my coat...
You're so cold...
Beside the street now.

The time it takes to die in some old western
Is time enough to tell where gold is hid.
Time enough to answer one last question,
Pass the map and compass to the kid.

But this time there is nothing like that virtue.
Just stillness in the heart that used to beat.
The darkness that she is falling into
Is spreading on the pavement at her feet.

Chorus:
She's in the time between the lightning and the thunder,
Before the shock can hit that this is real.
The disbelieving spell she's falling under,
And the time it takes before her heart can feel.

She says:
Oh my love...
Here's my coat...
You're so cold...
Beside the street here.
Oh my love...
It's all right...
I'm right here...
You're just asleep here.

The time between the lightning and the thunder.
The time between the lightning and the thunder.

Here we go again

It's November 1, and because I'm too freakin' lazy to try to write a novel this month with the real writers, I'm vampiring off their group mojo to kick my bloggin' ass back into gear. KBloWriMo 3 begins!

For all 3 of you paying attention, yes it should be KBloWriMo4, if you consider that KBlowWiMo1 was back in 1995 (ouch, that was a lot of numbers - I hope I didn't lose anybody). But truth is that I forgot last year until a few days into the month and - completist that I am - I figured it was best to skip entirely. The missed days would always eat at me, I know they would. I obsess like that.

Happily, this year I'm presented with tons of potential November content to write about so it shouldn't be too painful (for any of us). Most obviously, Tuesday is the election. I'm... hopeful, though that hope is understandably mixed with a large dollop of terrified. I don't think I'm alone in this mix of feelings. We've been hopeful before and it didn't work out that well - I'm not sure I can survive another day after like last time .

But there's also plenty going on at work, stuff with friends, family, kids... there's tons navelgazing gold to mine, no doubt. Aren't we all so very lucky?

Tri tri again...

Yesterday was the Seattle 2008 Danskin triathlon. I look back in my archives and can't actually believe that I didn't blog about the 2007 Danskin... the gateway drug to what has become something that I... well.. DO. It wouldn't have seemed that way at the time... in 2007, the day dawned rainy and low 60's. I panicked on the swim (my best event) and took far longer than I should have. The bike course was wet and scary and I went very slowly. The run was my only triumph, and only a triumph because my goal had been to run the entire thing and I actually did, though slowly (running is not something I'm either very good at or enjoy). My triathlete friends and I ended the day very cold and very very wet and wishing that we could have enjoyed our moment in the sun, savouring our accomplishment; instead I came home, bathed until I finally warmed up, and slept.

But even given the disappointment of the weather, I was hooked... my friends Shar, Lillian and I signed up that very week for our next triathlon in September. And we've done 2 more since, plus various 5's, 10's, and even a 12K.

This year, the Danskin was actually my 2nd event of the tri season, the first was the Federal Escape a few weeks ago. The Danskin though, is in a class all by itself with 4000ish women gathering together, at hugely varying levels of fitness and ability, being all sporty and supportive of one another.

The weather ended up being perfect this year; somewhat overcast early on, sun breaking through right towards the end of my run, so it was cool but pleasant. And I have to say - I rocked it. My swim was wonderful, my biking was wonderful (even though my chain came off and a very nice fellow triathlete stopped to help me get it back on), my run was... well. It was slightly better than last year. So let's just call it wonderful as well.

I reached my goal - I did better in all the events (even the run!) than I did last year. My overall time was 13 minutes faster; 12 of that came on the bike, BUT, I swam in about the same time as I did last year... and the course was 200 meters longer. I felt great after it was over, and my friends and I got our moment in the sun. It was a most excellent experience.

Two more tris to go this season; Black Diamond and Kirkland.

Dudes. I'm a triathlete! :)

The Summer Day

Perfectly true, on this summer day.


The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

"The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver, from The Truro Bear and Other Adventures: Poems and Essays. © Beacon Press, 2008.

...

I notice, looking over last several posts, that I'm a fan of the ellipse.

Not Complaining... Much

The weather, which had brought us the coldest spring in many years (colder than Siberia, we were told), has turned. Yesterday it got into the high 80's, today we'll hit 90.

I shouldn't complain. Summer, right? It's supposed to be warm.

Unfortunately, I am a wilting flower who only blooms in the 70's.

The GOOD thing about the heat, is that it will start getting the lake heated to a tolerable temperature. This afternoon the plan is to take my first swim in preparation for the July 26th tri I've committed to. I will be wetsuited, but 64 degrees is still pretty cold.

Surfacing... again.

I'm here! I'm alive! Where the hell did 4 months go?

This is where I've been for the last few months. I PM'ed a major redesign of the site and worked harder than I have in my ENTIRE life. Harder, actually, than I want to work EVER again. But it's done, and I have my evenings and weekends back again. And it's good.

And yes, the irony of working for that particular client is not lost on me. If any of my co-workers (whom I love dearly) find their way here and discover my secret, I can only hope that my dedication prompts them to forgive my inability to forego that which I dearly love. The heart wants what it wants.

Be Very Afraid...

That's what we're hearing from the Hillary camp. As this terrific video points out - we've heard it all before...



(snagged from Betsey at My Whim Is Law.

Oh what a world it seems we live in...

I was wasting some time walking down memory lane tonight, listening to old tv themes one of which was from ABC's Wide World of Sports. Anyone my age remembers the opening montage... "The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat." And we remember the image that played along with the agony, a spectacular ski jumping crash, the guy spinning wildly out of control. It's etched, forever, in the mind's eye.

So I wondered - whatever happened to the agony of defeat guy? Was he seriously injured? Did he go on to jump again? Is he still alive? Now - and this is where the amazing part comes in - it took me less than 10 seconds to find the answers to ALL of those questions, thanks to google and wikipedia. It's a great story - go read it.

But then it struck me how absolutely amazing of a time we live in. When I was a kid, if that question had popped into my head, the answer would have been... "Yeah, hm. I wonder." Short of going to the library and checking the microfiche (do they still have that now?), there would have been no way to find the answer. My kids will never know a time when such a wealth of information is more than a few keystrokes away.

Absolutely amazing.