Yesterday I found myself with a headache of unknown origin. Ruling out things like alien probes and exotic diseases, I was left to ponder more mundane sources and it occurred to me that one thing had changed over the last few days: I had not had any cola to drink. I only drink sugar-free soda, but I do imbibe on a pretty much daily basis. Our supply was low, so I’d switched to flavoured water or (gasp) just plain water.
And then the headache. Because while the soda is sugar-free, it is not caffeine-free. My body was probably reacting to minor caffeine withdrawal in one of the most common ways–a headache.
I’ve had soda since and no more headaches. This is good and bad. Good, because headaches suck. Bad, because I obviously have a caffeine problem. I will take corrective action soon™.
View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run. A soggy start to Fall!
I ended up only doing one run last week because my Friday run got replaced by spontaneous birding. That was a good call for the last day of summer, because so far fall weather has sucked corn dogs.
With high winds a possibility, I set out this morning, only to find it unusually calm. It wasn’t even raining. After about 20 minutes of walking, the rain did arrive and it rained from that point forward, so the run was rather soggy. The wind didn’t start to pick up until I was almost back from the run, so that was nice.
I wore my long-sleeved t-shirt and at first it felt a bit warm, but overall it wasn’t bad. It got thoroughly drenched, however.
Despite the rain, conditions on the trail were actually decent, and it was busier than expected, with people determined to go for a walk regardless of the weather. Several had those absurd giant beach umbrellas. I’m not sure the massive size really makes much difference.
I started with a good pace and thought of just cruising along, but ended up pushing a bit–I think the clamminess of the rain made it feel like I was putting in a little more effort, and ended with a decent 5:46/km pace and a slightly higher BPM of 158. Maybe next time I’ll try to stick to 150 and see what results I get.
The left knee twinged once late in the run, but that was it, and the left hip flared bright right around the 2K mark before going mostly quiet again. The hip is probably the most annoying part of the runs right now.
Overall, a pretty good start to the week, considering I had five days off. Here’s hoping Wednesday is a little drier (forecast suggests it may be!)
Still Creek, pretty and pretty wet.
Run 810
Average pace: 5:46/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:29 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:59
Weather: Showers
Temp: 15ºC
Humidity: 88%
Wind: light
BPM: 158
Weight: 166.6
Total distance to date: 5930 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (65/134/199 km)
Today is the second day of Fall 2023. Tomorrow, as logic dictates, is the third.
We have a “special weather statement” for the third day:
I’m supposed to be running tomorrow. On the plus side, I won’t need to worry about getting a sunburn. On the negative side, getting clubbed by a laden tree branch would probably hurt a fair bit. I guess I’ll see how things look in the morning!
Unlike the start of last fall, which turned out to really be the beginning of a one-month extension of a hot and humid summer, Fall 2023 has started out gray, with threats of showers in the afternoon, and a high temperature in the teens (17C).
Which is to say: Boo. I was prepared for a few more weeks of sun. I am not prepared for The Rains. Admittedly, lousy weather may help me be more productive at my various creative pursuits, though, because I won’t want to go outside.
I read a newsletter from self-publishing guru David Gaughran the other day, in which he waxed rhapsodic over a Remarkable 2 with a type folio (keyboard attachment). The Remarkable 2 is an e-ink tablet that allows you to use an (optional) stylus to write notes, which can later be translated into text, or you can attach the keyboard and type away in case your handwritten scrawls defy translation.
The thing Gaughran emphasized repeatedly was how the Remarkable only does this one thing–it lets you enter text, by hand or by keyboard, and that’s pretty much it (you can also doodle, if you’re so inclined). There are no other apps, no social media, not even a clock to show the time. Just you and the words you’re producing.
There’s another (expensive) device that works on a similar principle: the Freewrite1The price certainly ain’t free. Hope you have something other than your writing dreams to pay for one of these, because they are freaking expensive. It basically fuses a computer keyboard to an e-ink screen and does the same thing: allows you to write, and nothing else. Their website offers this unattributed quote: “Studies show it takes 25 minutes to refocus on a task after an interruption.”
Humans have generally been shown to be terrible at multitasking and yet I see people distracting themselves in more ways now than ever before. They don’t just surf the web, they listen to a podcast while doing so, but also scroll through TikTok while also maybe preparing food in the kitchen, superficially absorbing everything, but with most of this being ephemeral, little dopamine hits to keep their minds occupied until the next distraction, all in service of what, exactly?
For a writer, it’s in service of not writing. Distractions kill the writing process. When I started writing as a wee one, my parents got me a nifty birthday present–a portable Smith Corona typewriter. I still remember walking downtown to The Letterbox, the local stationery store, to buy fresh ribbons for it. I loved typing, though I was terrible at it (and remain so to this day. If I could go back in time, I’d force myself to learn how to touch type). But the thing with that typewriter is it just did that: typing. It was just me and the words. And the only way to revise on the go was to xxxx over your mistakes and act like they never happened. It was great.
The other day I was using iA Writer, a minimalist writing app, and I switched it to typewriter mode, where it keeps everything centred on the page. As you type, the rest of the interface fades away, so it’s just you and the words. It almost feels the same–except I still see the system clock, the dock, chat programs, all kinds of other stuff on screen and around me. I am pretty good at shutting out distractions most of the time, but I get it. They pull you away from your writing. They destroy your writing flow.
Where: Piper Spit (Burnaby) and Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam)
Weather: Sunny, 21-23C
The Outing
Today was an unplanned outing, but the weather was nice, it’s the last official day of summer and the 10-day forecast starting tomorrow looks like poo in the form of clouds and showers pretty much every day.
And so off we went for an abbreviated tour of Piper Spit and Tlahutum’s community gardens.
Piper Spit featured an increase in the coot count, as the croaking critters are cavorting in copious quantities now. The mallards are catching up to the wood ducks with their breeding plumage, and shorebirds are still present in decent numbers.
The highlights were a pair of killdeer that were bobbing and bathing and hopping and looking forlorn, as they do, plus a rare sighting–a merlin, just like the bird app, but instead an actual bird. These are small raptors and this one would perch atop nearby trees, then dive across the spit, spooking the shorebirds, before finding another spot to perch, sometimes high, and sometimes right down on a log in the water. At one point it took a bath, because you should wash your, uh, appendages, before eating.
Interestingly, the shorebirds (mainly yellowlegs, from what I saw) were indifferent to the merlin when it was grounded. In fact, a large gang/flock of them all seemed to saunter en masse quite close to it, as if they were trying to show they weren’t afraid of no raptor. Until it took to the air again.
After Piper Spit, we took a quick tour around the community gardens at Tlahutum. Initially there was a lot of birb activity, but in the end we didn’t actually shoot too many, mainly some white-crowned sparrows, an Anna’s hummingbird (too fast for me) and a goldfinch. Also, much like at Piper Spit, squirrels were everywhere, like they had all been instructed to start gathering food for the winter RIGHT THIS MINUTE.
It was a gorgeous last day of summer, and I am sad that I now have to wait eight months for summer to come around again. But for now, we have the coots.
I’m in a large, open food court or cafeteria. Although it’s a big place, it isn’t busy. I am going to order something to eat. As I walk by a glass display case holding food items, I notice an array of cookies that are the size of dinner plates. I am tempted, but will not order these, as I’m trying to lose weight, even in my dreams.
I get to the counter to order. A few moments later, another guy moves up behind me, then several others also join in. A girl approaches to take my order–except she ignores me and starts talking to the guy behind me. I stand there with a pretty convincing, “Whaaa?” look on my face before shrugging and moving on to another part of this giant cafeteria food place.
Here things get fuzzy, alas. All I can recall now is that I went to another food outlet of some type, and also failed to get food there for some reason, so I left the place, empty-handed and empty-stomached.
Another dream occurred sometime later: I am talking to two young women who are holding up some kind of line against a background of mountains in the distance. They want to know if the line is straight. Thinking about this now, it makes no sense at all, but in the dream it did, and I assured them the line was pretty straight. They seemed satisfied. I remember the mountains looked nice, and it must have been summer, because the sky was blue, and the peaks had no snow on them.
It felt like I was travelling.
I moved on, to a kind of outdoor shop that was filled with maps and outdoor gear and such. It was being remodelled, and the fragrant smell of fresh-cut cedar hung heavy in the air. It looked like about half the place had been remodelled using this raw, rough-hewn wood. I didn’t care, because in this dream, I just had to use the bathroom.
I got to the bathroom and again, everything was made from this rough-cut, fresh cedar. It was the best-smelling bathroom ever. The sink functioned in a fashion, but all the places where you could relieve yourself were covered in plastic and out of service. I had to leave because I couldn’t go. /zen
I later had a dream in which I was back working temporarily at my last job, something I would never do in a million billion years unless you, like, quadrupled my pay.
This comment is presented without context, because it could apply to a lot of people. If you absolutely must know who it references, click the spoiler below.
The quote:
When are we going to stop making stupid people famous for being both stupid and loud?
It’s not a great quote, by any means–some will bristle at using the word “stupid” to describe a person, for example, but I think what it conveys is an essential (and unfortunate) part of internet and social media culture, which is:
If you act stupid (substitute word of your choice here), you will generally be ignored
But if you act stupid and loud, people will pay attention to you, earning you “fame” of a variety
The internet allows anyone to be both stupid and loud
???
Profit! The world becomes worse, by increments (at least to start)
In the end, this is basically about trolls knowing how to be effective, and the age-old advice for handling the trolls remains the same: Ignore them. When they are loud, it makes it harder to do so (think of a dog barking outside your window) but it can be done, and when the trolls don’t get any response, they eventually move on. Probably to a new troll, but eventually they may fall into the obscurity they deserve. Giving them attention, even when it’s calling them out for being “stupid” gives them the oxygen they need to continue.
None of this is new or revelatory. But just today I wanted to put it down in writing again. Life is about the choices you make, even when the choices are thrust upon you. We can all choose not to engage with the stupid and loud. And we should!
