Storywheel

Today I'm taking part in an experiment of a friend of mine, Noah Simes. Enamored with storytelling and a child of NPR, Noah is setting out to design a sort of performance based game or maybe game based performance that tasks five storytellers to tell fictional tales based on a wheel of prompts. The prompts aren't seen by the performers until the night of, and once the prompts are revealed, they have 40 minutes to come up with basic stories around each prompt. After the 40 minutes are up, the wheel is spun and the tellers have ten minutes to tell their story based on the prompt the wheel lands on. Terrifying right? We'll see how it goes...maybe I'll put in a recap of it for Monday.

UPDATE: I decided to update it here. It was excellent! I was about to throw up all the way up to the storytelling part, but it was worth it. I love that Noah thought up the whole thing and then was able to make it a reality so quickly! Few people have that sort of follow-through. I'm excited to see him put it up in a more public setting. Lots of great support and excitement was generated. We also got hella drunk after which was pretty fun but bad for Monday. 

Haiku of the Day:

Water bird perching

at the reservoir's center

wings stretched out to dry

Today's Drawing (inspired by the non-sense word "Yix")

Today's "365" Project (I just did this whole storytelling thing...is that not enough creative for one day!? I'm counting it as taking a boring thing and making it exciting...not that the event was boring, far from it. Here are my notes!)

Today's Runners

JOE COOK

"beat the rain, just sprinkles"

ERIN O'CONNER 3.26 miles - All smiles!

TOTAL DAY'S MILES: 8.70

Summer Fog

Muggy. Sick with the heat. Mind swims viscous on lengthy summer days. A sort of Novocain haze permeates through the tissues. A prayer goes out for rain.

Haiku of the Day:

The smell of pastries

Wafts blissfully above those

Fat grunting bodies

Today's drawing and "365" Project (Make something inspired by space. I scribbled my namesake, a concentrated mass at the center of a supermassive black hole.)

Today's runners

TYMOTEUSZ KAJSTURA 3.16 miles 7:45 min/mi #milesformichael

ELLEN AMBROSE 3 miles "slower than Tym"

TOTAL DAY'S MILES: 6.16

Halt/Beat

-Writing should hurt. It should feel like a hive of ornery bees in the skull.

-Free time is worthless without pressure. I had a whole half day to work and nothing was done. Where does the difficulty lie? What clogs and clouds the mind so thickly? What ideological panacea cuts through it?

-I wrote about being a veteran of my own personal mind fights, of intimately slaughtering the boys and men i used to be in dark corners to insure my survival. We all do it to some extent, this cleaving of the self. I mourn for the necessity of it. 

-the apartment is death. The screen is death. There is only life in movement, in novelty. To stagnate, to stop is to coagulate, to rot and swell with gas from ravenous bacteria. You halt and your own stomach eats you from the inside. Oh the ambition of the gut, hungry even after the mind fizzles out.

Haiku of the Day:

Defibrillator

located at the front desk

use at your own risk

Today's Drawing (inspired by a crucial loophole)

Today's "365" Project (Make something that shows the passage of time. What better clothes in a dryer?)

Today's Runners

MOLLY KIMMERLING 4.21 ... "Today at the gym there was a basket full of tiny tiny tiny individually wrapped bottles of Dove men's aftershave sensitive skin lotion.  I took 5 each when I walked in and 5 more when I walked out and looked directly in the eyes of the two desk employees interrupting their flirtation as if saying "TODAY, I'M TAKING IT FROM THE MAN" and I was completely at peace and empowered walking out.  To clarify, I didn't exactly say those words but I'm sure it was PRETTY clearly communicated through my eyes. I intend to do the same thing tomorrow no matter what's in the magical treasure basket of fun"

JOE COOK "Nice morning for a short easy run"

TOTAL DAY'S MILES: 7.32

Mad (the angry kind)

So I had another one of those moments where I wrote something and then the program autoupdated another file and deleted everything I wrote. Understandably I'm furious. I have enough stuff to worry about with this thing to have one of my posts get incorrectly overwritten. I thought I had it all ready and everything.

Not going to attempt to recover what I wrote. Just move forward and be weary not to keep multiple drafts open at one time.

Haiku of the Day:

Occasional breeze
from an oscillating fan:
a meager reprieve

Today's Drawing (inspired by a lump in the throat)

Today's "365" Project (Make a container for something delicate. I put the concept of "Ikigai" in the old TV we gutted.)

Today's Runners

JOE COOK See Below

"Did twice up Austin Street and back. Mile 3 had a break to pet Bartlett, an 11 month old Burmese Mountain Dog."

MOLLY KIMMERLING 2.69 (She had a date with Shakespeare and didn't want to be late)

TOTAL DAYS MILES: 6.02

Progressed

Four weeks remain.

Week 48

Stats:
Running Mileage: 682.20/1,000
Running Mileage (With Friends): 766.74/1,000
Push-ups: 9,225/10,000
Sit-ups: 9,225/10,000
Pages Read: 9,097/10,000
Books Read: COMPLETED 26/25
Words Written: 90,889/100,000

Fasts (Days without)
Internet: 98/100
TV: COMPLETE 134/100
Gaming: COMPLETE 241/100
Meat: COMPLETE 102/100
Junk: 99/100
Booze: 89/100

My meat fast has been completed. Wavering at the edge of finishing the rest. The mileage from friends and family continues to pour in. I'm loving the stories they tell. I will probably reach the goal in a couple weeks at this rate! Thank you to all of you who are contributing. I feel honored.

So last week I was going over a few themes to cover for next year's potential project and i think I'll expand a bit on those this week a well:

Collaboration: Already I'm thinking about doing some projects with close friends and family members, but I'm also thinking about utilizing contributions from a group and stitching them together into a larger mosaic - whether it be drawings, writings or another form.

Rest: This one is here to remind me that there need to be more days off. At least once a week where the post is nothing but ONE very simple thing. Also I should continue to pursue my meditation practices and keeping a cap on my sleeping patterns.

Longevity: Thinking "endgame" should be on my radar: Do I want to put together a book? What can I do to make the work I create last and keep me invested? Perhaps working on something that i can revisit or build upon.

Focus: I'm thinking about starting to retouch/enhance my favorite drawings and post one a week...maybe round it down to an even 50 pictures total for the year. I'm not sure exactly the best way to do it, but I figure it can't be too incredibly difficult to figure out using tutorial videos and photoshop.

I'm thinking about a once a week reposting of polished versions of my poems/writings. Take a crack at some editing and making something cohesive and presentable.

Most of the focus is going to be about simplification...I'm in a very loud room of requirements at the moment that leaves me spread thin on all counts.

Haiku of the Day:

A layer of sweat

Permanently coats the skin

Summer has arrived

Today's Drawing (inspired by a thorn in the side)

Today's "365" Project (Make something using only things in your pocket.)
"Identity Sunburst"

Today's Runners

LIBBY SCHAP ran a composite 12 miles for the week!

TYMOTEUSZ KAJSTURA 5.86 miles @ 6:34 min/mi #milesformichael

ELLEN AMBROSE 3 miles with the delightful #milesformichael

JOE COOK See below

TOTAL DAY'S MILES: 24.7

Snipets

-Deep in the chamber, I'm holding flickering lit matches up against the wall to guide my way. My legs barely carry me forward in the dark.

-Was there a time when I was at rest? Will there ever be a time when there is nothing to be done?

-Slight fever, slight ache, slight pain in the back of throat. Health's ragged edge.

Haiku of the Day:
Hugging the air out
from frozen veggie bag
burns cold on the chest

Today's Drawing (inspired by a bed bug's banal blood borne botulism)

Today's "365" Project (Censor something that isn't usually censored)
"Scantaloupe!"

Today's Runners: A big day for it!

JOE COOK See below!

TYMOTEUSZ KAJSTURA 8.65 mi at 7:01 min/mi. for what Tym is calling #milesformichael. It was a whooping 430 ft elevation gain.

RACHEL LEIBOWITZ Total of 11.38 miles over three days. She handed me a post-it at work with her details. Thank you Rachel!

KIKI SAMKO (wrote a wonderful story of her run today!)

 6.5 miles, today, in 50 minutes time. I don't take my phone on runs with me, since I fear I will break it, so there is no picture. Instead I'll tell you a story about it. 

After a relaxing rest day Sunday, I went out for my typical daily jaunt, not quite sure of the route I was going to take. I had an idea that I wanted to run Jamaica Pond, so lovely during the day and peaceful and full of families and individuals and friends enjoying the green. I set off up Centre Street in Jamaica Plain but then I realized to log the mileage I wanted, I'd need to take the back half of my run by my work. I don't like going by my work on day's when I don't have to be there, so I thought I'd adjust things a bit. 

I had more time today for my run than I usually do. Typically, I squeeze in 45 minutes between work and rehearsal or on my lunch break or between activities, but today I had a bit more flexibility, so I decided to take a microadventure by trying a new route. Where Centre Street splits to South Street, I typically follow South, but today, I followed Centre, with the vague idea that I could reach some entrance of the Arboretum. I followed Centre out to the Arborway and crossed the big rotary in 4 pieces. It was breezy and cloudy and I ran uphill until I finally found the entrance I suspected I would. 

I entered the Arboretum and finally got a downhill stretch. So I enjoyed that for a while, ignoring a few side paths that were steep and gravelly. I found myself at the Bussey street entrance and rather than exiting and running through the meadow, I turned around and went back uphill a bit to the Beech Path, which was a steep incline on a dirt path. The path was heavily shaded by beech trees and families were walking and gazing out off the steepest lookout point over the greenery. 

The shade broke as the hill did and I leaned back on the sharp incline down, gravel spewing from both sides of my sneakers. I ran by a woman and her dog on her way down and a couple with their dog on their way up and emerged to the place where the ponds are. Children were playing with their families on the grass. I followed the path towards the main entrance where people were streaming in. This is what I love about the green spaces in JP-- there is such a diversity of people enjoying them. I saw young families, teenage friends, old couples, elderly friends, children pushing parents in wheelchairs, parents pushing children in strollers all soaking in the spring and the joy of being outdoors in the green and sunlight. I looped around into the wooded area that circles the pond which was solitary. Moments like that are my main favorites of running-- the alone-ness of it, the solitude. Where others seek out church, I seek out gravity, find solace in the music and the rhythm of my feet hitting the ground. It clears my mind and soothes my heart. 

Finally, I emerged from the woods and exited the Arboretum at the Forrest Hills exit and followed the street to the Southwest Corridor. I love all the Green Spaces in Jamaica Plain and running through them reminds me that even though I live in a pretty urban area (and I revel in that, as a City Mouse) it's never too far from nature and it's important to commune with that part of the world. 

While I ran through the Southwest path, a dog snapped at my leg as I passed by and caught my pant leg. His owner pulled him and he was easily shook, and I felt sad that my running made him upset. Then I passed a barrel-like French bulldog who lumbered along with a smile on his face. 

And then I came to the end of the path, sweaty and panting, the old knee throbbing a bit but my body pulsing with the energy of connection with the earth and myself. 

TOTAL DAY'S MILES: 30.38

Hey Baldy! (Also ONE MONTH LEFT!)

So I shaved my head yesterday. Or Emily did. I don't think it's been this short since I was in the third or fourth grade and my dad gave me buzz cuts in the backyard. I'm having trouble justifying the haircut to myself, as I have trouble justifying a lot of my behavior. The answer is always: "I felt like it," but I don't think this is an adequate response for most people especially when the decision seems big to them (some example decisions: moving to Montana with Emily, going on medication, doing theater, quitting theater, going off all therapy and medication, cutting myself, starting this insane project) I follow my gut a great deal because I trust it. But when explaining it to other people, I get scared with the answer: "I felt like it" so naturally, I lie. I lie a lot when it comes to intention. Because a) intention is the EASIEST thing to lie about and b) intention is everything when it comes to painting a narrative for someone, and if my intention is truly as basic as shooting from the hip, I think it messes with other people's narrative of me. THEY don't trust/understand my feelings/reasoning and assume there's some deeper reason. So sometimes I indulge them with a lie.

 So I've come up with all the lies I will tell people when they ask me why I shaved my head and posting them here, so when you see me and ask, you know I'm full of shit unless I say: "I felt like it."

Try to see of you can pinpoint how I want you to be perceived with each lie! (Some of these lies range from lies to close friends and family to complete strangers...which would explain how ridiculous some of them are.)

"I wanted to see the top of my head"

"It's my new summer haircut"

"I was trying to simplify, you know?"

"I'm doing it for a show"
"I wanted to feel closer to God"

"Emily got a new cut so I figured it was my turn"
"I'm joining the military"
"I just got sick of all the maintenance"

"I'm preparing for the last month of this project I'm working on"
"I need it for all my new wigs...because I'm a drag queen"

"We were three Bloody Mary's in and Emily had the razor out"

Haiku of the Day:

Our conversations

are deteriorating

into base drivel

Today's Drawing (inspired by the term "No Scratches" from a stone-cold sober conviction)

Today's "365" Project (Make a trophy. I made a ribbon with a secret. And that secret is...)
"It's Magnetic!"

Today's Runners

WILLIAM SCHULLER 1.9 miles. His first run in two years.

MOLLY KIMMERLING 3.42 miles (wowza!)

JOE COOK 3.24 miles "Slow pace, 83 and humid. Not my best running weather anymore." I feel you Joe...it's not mine either!

Wheels n' Hair

The writing contributions have been sparse this weekend because Emily and I are trying to finish our thank yous from the wedding and my writing muscles are all worn out and aching. So much love and support exchanging hands.

It also didn't help we had brunch and got a touch day drunk. I also super shaved my head. The final result is a cross between Moby and Shane from the Walking Dead.

Still not sure how I feel about it yet. It's pretty neat to be able to see what it looks like under all the hair.

Haiku of the Day:

Locks in a trash bag
My brown tresses free at last
escaping white scalp

Today's Drawing and "365" Project (Make a wheel chart. I went ahead and made a template for a wheel chart as my drawing for today. Efficiency!)
"Mortality 101"

Today's Runners

JOE COOK "Probaby 2 1/2 of the first 3 miles were uphill. From mile 3 on mostly downhill. Pushed the last 1/2 mile" Go Joe!!

TYMOTEUSZ KAJSTURA 5.44 miles at 6:49 min/mile. Look at that pace! So so fast.

TOTAL DAY'S MILES: 9.95

Antiques in Eaves

Rooting about and working all day. Happy as a pig in shit with progress. Planning a haircut and brunch for tomorrow.

Haiku of the Day:
Filth beneath my nails
a full day of tinkering
and gutting old things

Today's Drawing (inspired by the word "Cretin" from a hovering dust mote.)

Today's "365" Project (Do something backward. I stretched this one a bit. We went through our eaves and found a couple of old treasures we've starting retrofit into new things. An old TV we're making into a kitchen island and a singer sewing machine desk we're hoping to make into a planter.)

When you can't see

-Half day Friday. A clambering and hectic morning followed by a sweet calm afternoon at home.

-Doing the project below while blindfolded was weirdly fun. I felt out the edges of the page and tried to make expressive shapes and then got lost in the music I was listening to. Tried out different ways of holding the pen. The result is the jumbled soup below.

Haiku of the Day:
Wilbur couldn't breathe
so he thought about springtime
and it all slowed down

Today's Drawing and "365" Project (Make something while blindfolded. Yup!)

Today's Runners

MOLLY KIMMERLING ran in 3.11 miles in these beautiful blues. You could get lost gazing into them for days...

The unstoppable JOE COOK (who actually ran 3.3 miles today but the app did something weird...as evidenced by the straight line.)

TOTAL DAY'S MILES: 6.43

Folks made of things

-Hungry, the cool blue girl weeps by the window. Her cerulean hand hangs limply off her thigh as she draws erratic breaths. Her troubles keep catching in her throat.

-The garbage boy belches in the alley and wipes his face. Grease on grease. He is furious at nothing and seethes like mildew and potash and wet, rotting cabbage. His entrails coil out his purple belly  and grumble.

-The beechwood lady touches the parchment of sandwich wrapper to the crown of her lips: a gesture to feel younger, to feel the crayon and baking flour of her early summers. She is top heavy on splinters and stilts and never appears steady. This is her own keen deception, to be a moving target. She feels married to the sea and thinks she was a longshoreman in another life.

-The aluminum man bends his hair-thin frame and crinkles in the light. He is all lines, all terrible wrinkles in a craggy sheen. His age is written in the lines; they are permanent fixtures that etch the veiny fractals of his tenure. He is trying to pick up his newspaper but the headline stays his hand. Simple verbs shout stark black and gray at his feet. A welder soldered his tear ducts so he sparks when he cries. This moment, he pauses and his sockets explode in fat droplets of plasma, of cosmic light.

Haiku of the Day:

I shared my train seat

with a writhing black house fly

in the throes of death

Today's Drawing (inspired by an undead support group)

Today's "365" Project (Do something with fingerpaints. I made quick homemade stuff and played around a bit... )
"Cool Blue Girl"

Today's Runner

JOE COOK (Proxy for Susan Cook)

TOTAL DAY'S MILES: 4.64

Nearer

Five weeks left.

Week 47

Stats:
Running Mileage: 670.35/1,000
Running Mileage (With Friends): 692.45/1,000
Push-ups: 9,020/10,000
Sit-ups: 8,940/10,000
Pages Read: 8,927/10,000
Books Read: COMPLETED 26/25
Words Written: 87,907/100,000

Fasts (Days without)
Internet: 96/100
TV: COMPLETE 132/100
Gaming: COMPLETE 234/100
Meat: 97/100
Junk: 96/100
Booze: 86/100

Amazing progress this week. A book finished. 20 miles already docked with an additional 20 from the graciousness of my friends and family. I may knock out every fast except for Booze this upcoming week. My eyes are on the prize...though I'm not really sure what the prize is. As long as I have a couple more weeks like this one I'll have this sucker wrangled and ready to take on Monster #2...The Next One.

In past Wednesdays, I've mused about what to do for the part two and I've changed my mind many times. I'm still not quite sure I want to keep it up, considering the sort of creative toll it puts on me...but then again, I quickly adapted to doing this sort of thing nearly everyday and I would not be as confident and capable had I not done this...so imagine what a second year could accomplish!

So I've broken it down and I think these are going to be the main categories I focus on come June 25th and for my 28th year:

Collaboration - Doing stuff with other people is awesome. This project has been mostly about me doing shit by myself. I'm still bugging out over how excellent the guest blogging went during the honeymoon and I love the thought of working with a team to get something big accomplished. I may be starting a children's book with a good friend. I would also like to make something with my brother's, however small that may be. I've tried projects in the past that have fallen through, but I think I've got a solid base this time around to organize and motivate myself and others to get shit done.

Rest - This is huge. I need at least a day a week where I have to do virtually nothing for this space. Perhaps I loan it out to someone else to make a weekly comment on something. Maybe it's a simple thing where I take just one picture that day (like Sunday's or something) and that's all that I'm allowed to do. Or even an allotted number of "Vacation Days" that I give myself over the year. No matter what it is, I need a required rest so I don't burn out as I have in the past year. Not only is rest important in this space but in my life as a whole. I've already begun meditating for five minutes everyday to calm and de-clutter my thoughts. I'd like to create some requirement/tracking for my sleep as well and to form lasting habits that have already worked their way into my life as it did with my eating habits. I must polish the "do nothing" yin to my productive yang. 

Longevity - Most everything I've created so far has been fleeting - something I can draw/write/do in a matter of hours or minutes. And aside from the actual Project itself, nothing made ever ended up forming into one big thing. Part of this is due to the design of the Project but a great deal stems from my adolescent sense of direction and piss-poor attention span. There was an attempt in the middle to create a sort of daily theme for the writing, but that only lasted a couple months before it spiraled out. All that being said, I'm looking to start setting down some roots: expanding on things from this past year and revising and compiling it all into a more solid thing. Doing edits and rewrites and edits of rewrites and rewrites of the edits of rewrites. Present something that has a polished form, from sentence structure to spelling and make something I can be proud of. Not to say I'm not proud of the things I've made so far...I've made A TON of things. But there's no denying they're all rough and ugly and unkempt. Which leads to the next thing.... 

Focus - I need to hone it all in. Currently, I'm all over the place and still just playing. With focus I can start making something that has legs...maybe even get to a place down the line where I make a thing so unique and finely crafted I get paid for it. Not the end goal for this at all, but it would be nice have it contribute to my day to day. I've wanted to be a full-time "artist" for as long as I can remember, (after wanting to be a mad scientist) and this is my path to it. It's overgrown with weeds and full of terrible monsters but I still think it's better than the alternative. 

So that's what I'm mulling around with. Next week I'll start a list with potential ideas to fill in the skeleton.  

Haiku of the Day:

Our nuptial knives

So sharp and unfamiliar

My fingers get cut

Today's Drawing (inspired by the word "Duo" from the fourth papercut this week)

Today's "365" Project (Do something with old music media items.)
"Lady Player"

Today's Runner

LIBBY SCHAP - In her words, "Two and half miles"

TOTAL DAY'S MILES: 2.5

Body Anomalies

-Last month, I found a small incision on the side of my ankle. It did not bleed, but instead opened up to a pastoral meadow in the countryside. Alas, I cannot fit through the small opening in myself that leads to the idyllic landscape, but I have flicked a few paperclips at passing sheep and rabbits. Once it rained and my foot was wet throughout the day. It is often bizarre to cope with the time change in my ankle, for my evenings are filled with the songs of morning birds and I often gaze into the night sky after lunch. I've tried looking into the hole in my ankle more thoroughly to get a sense of where it opens up on the meadow side, but in attempting to do so I ripped the hole a few centimeters larger. Now I do not touch it and keep it covered, for fear of being completely ripped open myself and transforming into a background. But if it does happen, if someday I trip and fall on the street and rip myself out of existence, I hope it occurs on a particularly ugly street so when people walk by, they'll get a touch of peaceful green among the grit and filth.

-The blister on my thumb deflates and crinkles like a plastic bag in the breeze. I think on fluid build-up under thin membranes and shudder. In the red heat of emergency, this yellow parachute billowed out of me. I blame oil and the conductive excitement of stainless steel.

Haiku of the Day:

I lap with coarse tongue

at the bone dry bowl of sleep.

Parched, I amble on

Today's Drawing and "365" Project (Do something with barcodes. At this point - wherever I can - I'm combining the drawing and the project unless something strikes me.)

Today's Runners

JOE COOK (Proxy for Susan Cook) See below!

TOTAL DAY'S MILES: 3.51

New Digs

-First day of summer hours at the office. This means we put in four 9-hour days so we can get off at noon on Fridays. It's fun, but tough at the beginning. It is nice having more seats available on the train in the mornings.

-Also dealing with minor office changes. I'm in a whole different room now, complete with a roommate and my computer is some ten years younger than my last one. Getting used to the new operating system. I was on Windows XP for nearly a year, believe it or not. I've not worked on a modern PC since XP WAS modern, so I'm victim to the learning curve. Hopefully it proves a better fit from the ancient one I was working with.

-I'm having these existential fits whenever I'm alone on the train and they're kinda freaking me out. Like I'm not sure who or what I am anymore and it all gets hazy...

-Butter glistens in between my fingertips and I think about water resistance and the slick fats and  oils that vex me when I do the dishes. 

Haiku of the Day:

Street encouragement

echoes written in faint chalk

coaxing "You Go Girl!"

Today's Drawing (inspired by the phrase "Waking Terror" from dark eaves and orange light)

Today's "365" Project (Make a flower or plant out of everyday objects. Let's go back to middle school!)

Today's Runners:

JOE COOK (Proxy for Susan) See below!

TOTAL DAY'S MILES: 3.11

Flying/Running

Bright and early we leave North Carolina and fly for most of the day. Emily and I have a layover at the LaGuardia Airport and have a meal at a high tech restaurant with iPads for menus. We talked about the future and how quickly we were turning into the sort of people that speak about the good ol' days. It's a natural progression of aging, to frown upon the new and see it as an intrusion, a negative. It's always good to be aware of that as time goes on, otherwise the curmudgeon will come right out in all of us.

Got a first string of running submissions! So happy to have received so much support already. Some people will be submitting more than one run and I've decided that is okay. How else will we make it the 250 miles required?

Haiku of the Day:
North Carolina
sunrise over the airport
peaceful pink and blue

Today's Drawing (inspired by the word "Terrestrial" from MW's word of the day.)

Today's "365" Project (Do something with a snack or dessert before you eat it.)
"Christmas Kiss Repurpose"

Today's Runners!

-ERIN O'CONNOR - 2 miles!

-RACHEL LEIBOWITZ - a whooping 5.10 miles @ 9:26 pace! plus an additional 3.43 mile run @ 10:00. Here's what she had to say about it:

The one thing I did notice was that because I run through the BC campus there was a lot of parents and picture taking all very sweet and reminded me of college and friends so overall a good run!

-JOE COOK (Proxy for Susan) See below!

TOTAL DAY'S MILES: 14.73

Engaged Friends!

Today Emily and I got up before dawn to fly to North Carolina to surprise our good friends and officiants from our wedding, Tym and Ellen, for their engagement! Ellen was not aware so we had to be sneaky about it. Ended up using some tracking technology and some choice code words to pull a surprise pop out from behind their car after they proposed hiking by a river. It was a wonderful trip and we got to do some quality hanging out.

Tym and I raced up Ellen's folks' driveway. It's 3/4 of a mile and mostly uphill. The race was brutal and Tym beat me handsomely. I see no better way to begin the mileage contributions for the running challenge! I think I'll put them at the end of the writing bit before the Haiku. Here in fact!

TYMOTEUSZ KAJSTURA - 0.75 miles at under 5 minutes (not sure on the final count but I was at 5:34 and he was a good 30 seconds ahead of me)

Haiku of the Day:

Crouched behind a car

we wait to surprise friends with

champagne and pompoms

Today's Drawing and "365" Project (Make a new alphabet)

Can Do

-Sent out an e-mail today to friends and family imploring to help with my running challenge. My own running has been productive and injury free. Excited for the final ascent.

Haiku of the Day:

In the morning black

I rustle like pine, my needles

scrape each other fierce

Today's Drawing (inspired by the phrase "Dragon Blight" from the a fearsome threat made with harsh whispers.)

Today's "365" Project (Do something with tissues or toilet paper.)
"Lavatory Inquiry"

Internal Scratching

-I had a nightmare early this morning that I was being sued for something I don't remember for a massive sum of money. Every time I tried to explain myself they kept using what I said to add more charges to their case. It was horrifying and then I awoke in a sweat and couldn't shake the funk. Guilt is one heavy monstrous leech and he is thick on my back, sucking down self-worth and spewing out shame.

 -And here we sit in this abandoned lighthouse, taking turns at the helm of the spinning light, cranking with with our thin brittle legs, passing a metal canister of gin over mechanisms in a brotherhood of sweat and duty.

-First run in almost two months. Felt the glorious adrenaline surge. Managed 4 miles at a 7:30 minute mile pace. Proud.

-Moving offices today due to one person's promotion. Getting relocated to the office space I dread. Not sure how I feel about it. I certain will miss my privacy in the cube in the back. I was here for over a year. Such is life.

Haiku of the Day:

Haircuts and birthdays

with glee and trepidation

we bound into space

Today's Drawing and "365" Project (Create a visual diagram for something that typically doesn't need it. A throwback to comic panels!)
"How to have an existential crisis"