Crossfit and Running

This may come as a surprise...but I hate working out.

No, let me rephrase that: I enjoy working out, but hate taking the time to do so. Does that make sense? It's like I have to psych myself up and think 'okay, you're not allowed to do anything else until this is done'. Once I get started, though, I enjoy it...so I guess it's just a discipline issue.

Considering that whole mental hurdle, I think I've done rather well over the past month or two. I'm able to go to the gym every day (or stake out in my room for when it's too cold to go outside to said gym), and while I've said in the past that I hate to run, I'm actually starting to enjoy that too. Having a program to follow helps a LOT. 

In regards to running: on Wednesday, I ran a total of 16 minutes! (This was sprinkled throughout intervals of walking, but still) There's been no shin-splints, no undue soreness (aside from the hip flexors being a bit tight), and I actually feel good after running instead of feeling like I'm going to die. It must be those happy endorphins kicking in.

I haven't lost any weight, though...time to clean up ye olde diet again. Sigh. On the other hand I can do more various exercises more often. So I guess it's a worthy tradeoff. 

In other news, I just finished this book:

(I can't say enough good things about it--I knew little to nothing about the leaders of the Reformation, and it's given me a desire to learn more about these guys)

And I've started re-reading Les Miserables. There was a quote I came across today that reminded me of some stuff a friend of mine has been going through:

"Some people are malicious from the mere necessity of talking. Their conversation, chatter in the drawing room, gossip in the antechamber, is like those fireplaces that rapidly burn up wood; they need a great deal of fuel; the fuel is their neighbor." 

This is in regards to Fantine and her position being exploited by busybodies and her co-workers and neighbors. But in this present situation, the more I consider the people involved and the methods by which they seem to determined to tear each other down, it seems to have some interesting parallels. Do we tear each other down so that we might appear more knowledgeable, holy, righteous, or any other various 'reasons'? Is it for satisfaction? Appearing 'right' about something? Revenge? Who knows? It varies from person to person. But I'm finding that the common denominator is an exercising of the self over others--or, in other words, love of self instead of love for others. 

It's an interesting thought. I may take this idea farther at a later date, but for now I'll just stew over it. 

A Punch in the Gut

Something of a serious post this time, folks, so bear with me.

Tonight I was poking around on the No Greater Joy website for their book Preparing to be a Help Meet (long story short I'm doing a study on the book starting next month and have been looking for inspiration etc). In the process I came across a blog run by a young man named Josh Eddy.

I was reading through some of the posts, thinking to myself 'wow, it's such a breath of fresh air to come across the thoughts of someone who is so sold out on Jesus and living for Him'. It's just not that common to find anymore.

The most recent post was put up on May 12th, 2012, and as I was reading I came across the bit that explained that the one posting it was Josh's captain during basic training, because Josh died on May 5th. The post was one he had been working on before he died.

I guess...to say I was shocked is to put it mildly. I don't even know this guy aside from a few minutes of reading his blog, but I had to cry a bit because it was so unexpected to read. He was only 19 years old.

It may sound like a cliche, but we don't know how long we have to live. It could be a day, a year, 50 years...who knows? The time ultimately doesn't matter; it's what one does with that time. Are you spending the time you do have on the things that matter? I'm as guilty as anyone when it comes to this--there's a lot of wasted time in my log. There's a lot of things that I 'ought' to do but don't for a variety of reasons (most of which are silly and selfish in retrospect).

I don't mean to get all existential and freaked out. But it does give a person something to think about...

Bah.

Long day...long weekend. It's just been a long month, y'know? So I'm going to whine for a bit before I recount the good stuff that's been happening.

I have this art commission that I've been working on for a couple of weeks. Most of the time lapse is because I'm only working on it at night, for an hour or so at a time, and it's freakishly detailed. I decided that the best way to do it (it's of four clone commandos from a Star Wars fanfic, by the by) is to draw each figure individually, do the lineart/coloring in Photoshop, and then stack them together so that it looks like they were all drawn in the same picture. But I did the lineart for two of the pictures and it looks clunky and I can't draw hands anymore and guns are stupid and I haven't been using the Wacom at ALL lately and BAH. I'm quitting that for now and am going to listen to Matt Chandler and eat chips for the rest of the night.

School has been somewhat on the back burner lately--it's all my fault, I know, because I work on art and after getting too frustrated to continue I've been internetting for a bit, and before I know it two hours have passed and I'm lucky if I get around to doing school twice a week. It's sad. I mean, it's getting done...but the process is SLOW. It's like my art commission, but worse.

I guess that's the only 'blargh'ish thing that have been going on lately...let's pick up on some good stuff!

The horse's leg is looking massively better. All the swelling has gone down, all the icky oozy disgusting stuff has dried up for the most part, and she's not nearly as ouchy as she was a week ago. I just haven't taken pictures yet. (I meant to today, and went for a ride instead thusly forgetting).

Work is going well. I got to decorate some cakes today (by which I mean 'pipe some icing on the edges'), and have a couple of short shifts each week instead of constantly working entire afternoon shifts.

While riding the horse today (I ran home, changed immediately, and went for a ride before my body could catch up and remind my brain that it was tired) I ran into a variety of reactions. See, most people wave and say 'hi' and occasionally some people want to pet the horse. We were walking past a woman and her three little girls--all probably under the age of 6--when one of the little girls asked if she could pet the horse. I said sure and started walking Colletta towards them when the younger girls started screaming in terror--full-blown, tearful, wailing terror--and hiding behind their mother. 

Now granted, the horse is basically a large pony in size. But when one is 4 or 5 she looks awfully big. So I stopped, tried to reassure them with their mom doing the same, and they kept on wailing. When their mom said, 'look, I'll pet her first' they just screamed louder. I was at least 10 feet away at this point, and the horse was completely unperturbed by the ruckus. So instead of completely traumatizing the kids for life I took her on down the street, with the older girl following the horse a little ways yelling 'bye' and the younger girls continuing to sob in terror. I could still hear them half a block away. XD

Then a couple of blocks later a flock of about 10 kids under the age of twelve came over to pet the horse and feed her apples. So you never know how kids are going to react.

On a side note, part of my reason for riding today was to race people. Last week I was passed by a black car with a growly engine that was just begging to be raced, but I was riding bareback at the time and chickened out. I know I'd be creamed in a literal actual race, but it's pretty funny to pace people and look over to see their expression. Today I didn't follow through because the horse seemed a bit tender-footed--when she's walking on grass she takes big, easy steps, and on pavement her stride gets shorter and choppier; while there's no stumbling, I'm not sure how great pavement is for her legs. Meh. 

Next week I have a friend coming over to stay for a few days...I can't wait. It's going to be nice to have a couple of days off to just talk and not be obligated to do anything other than feed the animals and ourselves. 

There's not a whole lot else going on. It's still been a long day...a long week...a long month...a long several months...and there's still never enough time to do everything that needs to be done.

"Beware the barrenness of a busy life."

I'm feeling pretty barren these days. Things NEED to be done, and the things I WANT to do are an afterthought.

Reflections Upon The Chronicles of Narnia

(Spoilers and quotes abound within--if you haven't read the Narnian books and don't wish to have them spoiled for you, go no further.)

I was one of those kids who sort of grew up with the Narnia books (my older brothers loved them and we have a well-worn boxed set to prove it), but never actually read them until I was a pre-teen. Then I made the mistake of reading The Last Battle first (because it had the picture of a unicorn on the cover), and read the rest of the series out of order before coming to my senses and reading them from the beginning.

Since then--well over 10 years ago--I've read them several times from beginning to end. Each time I see something else or remember parts that I've forgotten about, and start wanting to use words like 'delicious' and 'beastly' and 'thrilling' more often and call people 'a brick'. (That's a good thing, apparently, to be a brick.) Recently I got an omnibus version of the series that's about the size of my omnibus of Lord of the Rings, and have been remembering why I love these books so much.