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Aug. 13th, 2005 01:46 amI'm not sure I'm totally following what's going on in the fandom, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pay Spuffy fans to traumatize me.
Aug. 13th, 2005
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Aug. 13th, 2005 05:42 pm( Yesterday's hike ) I haven't told very many people on LJ, as I wasn't sure it was going to take, and then I feared the spate of well-meaning well-wishing which should surely follow any announcement, but I haven't smoked a cigarette since October. I feel oh so much better: I have no means of dealing with stress, my gums bleed whenever I floss, and I've gained twenty pounds. With my upcoming trip to Machu Picchu, I've had various reasons to worry about my fitness. Thus, I've started doing a little hiking/speedwalking. I'm sure it's not quite enough to effect any weight loss, but my main goal right now is to lower my heart rate and raise my stamina to a point where I could be more comfortable with real exercise. So I'm nowhere up to the "5-5.5 mph" that constitutes real race-walking, and don't expect I'll ever be, and it's going to be a long time before anyone judges my commitment to be worth a bottle of champagne.
Tuesday, I hiked through North Chagrin Reservation from the Strawberry Pond trailhead to the Buttermilk falls trailhead, three and a half miles round-trip in one hour. Wednesday, I walked two and a half miles around the neighborhood in forty-five minutes. Thursday was 3.8 miles in an hour and five minutes. Then, yesterday, I was worried about whether or not I was getting anything for my heart, so I parked at the Squire's Castle trailhead at North Chagrin, and went to Buttermilk Falls and back, five miles total in an hour and thirty-two minutes. The first half-mile of this route climbs steeply out of the Chagrin River valley, and I felt the screaming in my right calf after only three minutes. After the first mile I'd gone through half a water bottle; perhaps a ninety-three degree day was not the best choice. By that point I was on what I thought was familiar ground, but while the strawberry-buttermilk segment didn't actually take more than two minutes longer than it did on Tuesday, sticking the haul up from Squire's Castle to the front of the hike changes one's perception of the trail. It changes the spots at which I'm used to dealing with fatigue, and the path seems to telescope out and in as the long steady eight-percent grade uphills seem longer while what had seemed like steep uphills were hardly comparably noticeable. The strain in my calf gave away to some cramping in my left foot, and then to no pain at all.
I saw a doe and her fawn in the fading light; I've seen the same in my front yard at noon this past week. My local walks take me through one of the community parks, one situated around an artificial lake, and Thursday I saw three blue herons and two white ones in the middle of suburban Cleveland.
I think that while I may be getting the stamina for hiking, my stamina for posting has not improved at all, so I think I will close if not conclude the entry here.
Tuesday, I hiked through North Chagrin Reservation from the Strawberry Pond trailhead to the Buttermilk falls trailhead, three and a half miles round-trip in one hour. Wednesday, I walked two and a half miles around the neighborhood in forty-five minutes. Thursday was 3.8 miles in an hour and five minutes. Then, yesterday, I was worried about whether or not I was getting anything for my heart, so I parked at the Squire's Castle trailhead at North Chagrin, and went to Buttermilk Falls and back, five miles total in an hour and thirty-two minutes. The first half-mile of this route climbs steeply out of the Chagrin River valley, and I felt the screaming in my right calf after only three minutes. After the first mile I'd gone through half a water bottle; perhaps a ninety-three degree day was not the best choice. By that point I was on what I thought was familiar ground, but while the strawberry-buttermilk segment didn't actually take more than two minutes longer than it did on Tuesday, sticking the haul up from Squire's Castle to the front of the hike changes one's perception of the trail. It changes the spots at which I'm used to dealing with fatigue, and the path seems to telescope out and in as the long steady eight-percent grade uphills seem longer while what had seemed like steep uphills were hardly comparably noticeable. The strain in my calf gave away to some cramping in my left foot, and then to no pain at all.
I saw a doe and her fawn in the fading light; I've seen the same in my front yard at noon this past week. My local walks take me through one of the community parks, one situated around an artificial lake, and Thursday I saw three blue herons and two white ones in the middle of suburban Cleveland.
I think that while I may be getting the stamina for hiking, my stamina for posting has not improved at all, so I think I will close if not conclude the entry here.
Yesterday's library trip
Aug. 13th, 2005 08:53 pmAs well as my fitness kick, I've been on a real graphic novel tear, because nothing says fitness and athleticism like a great big stack of comic books. I've been following my own advice and visiting my local libraries. Yesterday, I finally managed to restrain myself and return more books than I took out.
Returned:
Newly checked out:
Previously checked out:
I suspect that I even if I continue on this uncharacteristic comics jag, I'm nearing the end of running from library to library. It's tough to find specific volumes, and I've about exhausted the local stock of pretentious Vertigo publications: I've finished off Swamp Thing and have just The Wake left on Sandman. And now that I've discovered that there are comics available via torrent, I've got about three gigs on my hard drive as yet unread.
Returned:
- Complete Atomic City tales,vol.1:Go power!, by Jay Stephens
- JLA : one million, by Grant Morrison
- Kingdom come, by Mark Waid
- The Dark Knight strikes again, by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley
- Truth: Red, White & Black, by Robert Morales
- Swamp Thing: Reunion, by Alan Moore
- Whiteout, by Greg Rucka
- Doom Patrol vol. 2: The Painting That Ate Paris, by Grant Morrison
- Jimmy Olsen, vol. 1, by Jack Kirby
- Swamp Thing. book 7: Regenesis, by Rick Veitch
- New X-men: Riot at Xavier's, vol 4, by Grant Morrison
Newly checked out:
- Batman : year one, by Frank Miller
- Hellboy: Right Hand of Doom, by Mike Mignola
- Hellboy: Conqueror Worm, by Mike Mignola
- Green Arrow: Straight Shooter, by Judd Winick
- The Sandman: The Kindly Ones, by Neil Gaiman
- The Sandman: The Wake, by Neil Gaiman
Previously checked out:
- Astro City Family Album, Kurt Busiek
- Embroideries, Marjane Satrapi
- Hellboy: The Chained Coffin and Others, Mike Mignola
- The Sandman. Brief lives, Neil Gaiman
- Transmetropolitan: the new scum, Warren Ellis
- Marvel Essentials: Dr. Strange
- Supreme : the story of the year, Alan Moore
- The sandman: Worlds' End, Neil Gaiman
- Tales of the Vampires, Joss Whedon
I suspect that I even if I continue on this uncharacteristic comics jag, I'm nearing the end of running from library to library. It's tough to find specific volumes, and I've about exhausted the local stock of pretentious Vertigo publications: I've finished off Swamp Thing and have just The Wake left on Sandman. And now that I've discovered that there are comics available via torrent, I've got about three gigs on my hard drive as yet unread.