Popping

This is going to be little gross. But first, some context:

I’m incredibly near-sighted. INCREDIBLY near-sighted. I’ve been in glasses since preschool. My numbers are -9 and -9.25 for those in the know, my fellow four-eyed comrades. I start losing clear focus about 4 inches from my face. What I can see within those four inches is magnified…or at least it feels that way in comparison. So when I need to see something in a state of blindness like, perhaps, my face just before or after showertime, I get really close to it. VERY close. So I see it all.

I think you know where this is going.

Despite being over thirty, I have patches of acne, mostly on my beaky nose.  And despite the warnings, despite all my past experiences and disasters…I pop. I pop a lot. I love popping. It’s impossible to resist when I’m that close to my face each time I look in the mirror. And I’m not alone. Because as many of you know, you brave shameless souls that have the strength to admit it, popping is OUTSTANDINGLY pleasurable when you do it right. There is a reason zit popping videos are so disgustingly popular. You feel COMPLETE when that release happens, when the semi-translucant white and yellow tendril spins out into open air. And, through time and experience, you learn to seek out the good ones, the ones with true potential. Whiteheads, you say? Pfft. Amateur hour. Few and far between and the aftermath is grisly. Bleak. Obscene. What you’re looking for are those raised blackheads and clear bumps. Those are the ones that get you to the, for lack of a better term, Money Shot.

You see, it’s all about the aftermath. Because for every thirty swollen, terrible, nail-digging crime scenes, you get that ONE. Clean and beautiful, where the pore is visible and vacant. You have to turn your head to the side to see it clearly but when you know, it feels like you’ve opened a portal into your body. And all at once, you become full of hope. Suddenly you believe, from this point forward, things will begin to change. That now, after such a glorious triumph, you can achieve anything you put your mind to. The world opens up, much like that beautiful empty pore, and all is fulgent, majestic and pure.

It’s not just me, right? Right?

Perhaps I shouldn’t have shared this…

Screw it. I’m posting.

Oh and while we’re here, I also pluck the hairs around my nipples. I love that too.

CHODOS OUT!

*Drops mic and walks out*

Today's Haiku

Scavengers scurry

I’m disrupting their breakfast

KFC splinters

Today's Workout
Running: 1 mile (traveling later in the day)
DAREBEE: Day 38 of The Hero's Journey

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Lambaste from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)

BONUS PICTURE (6/17/17)

Light Day

I took the day to recover and enjoy a successful week!

Today's Haiku

Light morning birdcalls
Their warbles encourage me
I welcome the boost

Today's Workout
Running: 3.1 miles (5k)
DAREBEE: Day 39 of The Hero's Journey (accidently jumped a day ahead. Whoops)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Tome from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)

BONUS DRAWING (6/30/27)

3:30

**DISCLAIMER: Today's entry is a little dark and could be a trigger for some. It was an exercise akin to bleed-letting. But unlike most people who've undergone blood-letting, I'm much healthier for it. Really, I'm doing well.**

---

---

3:30

---

I wake with a gasp, a shock

---

Oh God

it’s happening again

---

My mind is ablaze

A wildfire I can’t control

There’s no hope when it gets like this

It feels like burning alive

It makes you want to do anything to stop the spread

Anything

---

It gets desperate

Nothing stops it

Nothing but time

You have to let it run its course

Without knowing when it will end

And when you can’t control the wildfire

You have no choice

You have to take matters into your own hands

---

If only your hands were steady

If only you could stop trembling

There is just not enough water

to douse the growing flames

The fire is just too big

---

And so you wait

---

I fear you misunderstand me.

---

It’s not a “bus stop” wait

Not a “When will he be home?” wait

It’s a “holding your breath underwater” wait

A “just one more push honey” wait

A wait encumbered with weight

A weight unbalanced and constantly moving

---

This reminds me:

     They do this terrible experiment

  to deprive mice of sleep.

       You see, the mouse is in a small tank of water

    and there’s a only a tiny platform for it to rest

 without having to keep swimming.

     Except to scientists don’t want the mouse to rest

       as that would ruin the experiment

 So they rigged it

      so when the mouse finally manages 

        To find the little platform

  To get a brief moment

       For its little paws to touch something solid

   The scientists move the platform from under it

So it has to start swimming again

---

     and without sleep

        it goes insane

          and dies

---

I don’t think there’s much else to say

THAT is what it is like

---

Burning up

---

Waiting

---

Treading water

---

until

---

---

Today's Haiku
Weeping in the dark
Tears cascade down well-worn tracks
Magma to lava

Today's Workout
Running: 2.7 miles
DAREBEE: Day 37 of The Hero's Journey

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Ostensible from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)

While we're on body horror sketches...
BONUS DRAWING! (7/24/17)

Pipe's Dream

In the dead blog I started last year I also wrote haikus and drew pictures. So every so often I'll add bonus pictures. I thought it could be some good filer while I continue to write "off-site".

Today's Haiku

Fading lines of red
painted to trace a pipe's dream
When will it come true?

Today's Workout
Running: 2.5 miles
DAREBEE: Day 36 of The Hero's Journey

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Bedizen from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)

BONUS DRAWING (6/27/17)!

Sundered

Had a big running and writing day today! Lots of irons in the fire but nothing quite ready to forge into presentable implements just yet. Enjoy the poor Kaput below, sundered by his ambitions!

Today's Haiku

Weaving through the throng
plump folks only here to look
They yelp in our wake

Today's Workout
Running: 5.17 miles
DAREBEE: Day 35 of The Hero's Journey

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Kaput from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)

The Hero's Journey

I mentioned in the previous post that I would talk about DAREBEE so...here we are. It's a free service that provides all kinds of fitness resources. It works great for my purposes since I have no equipment and the gym terrifies me. Also I'm cheap. Perfect!

The site is divided into a whole bunch of different sections but my personal favorite is the programs section. This is where I found my current workout program, The Hero's Journey. It falls under a category of "RPG fitness" that I am not ashamed to say speaks directly to my nerdy little heart. The difficulty scales for most workouts and it's tailored to train different muscle groups with strategic rest times built in to prevent overworking yourself. And if you have any questions as to how to do a workout (the little man pictures aren't super informative sometimes), they have a video catalogue of all the different exercises. And so you know, I'm not a sponsor for the site, I just really like it and think more people should know about it - especially if they're some combination of shy, cheap and/or slow to motivate. Like me!

An added bonus: I've been making a Homer's Odyssey type story based off the prompts at the beginning of each workout. It's about an orphan named S'ayik, surviving the desert after escaping slavers. I plan out what to write during the workouts and though I only write a few sentences each time, it makes the whole experience far more compelling. And if I want good things to happen in S'ayik's world, I have to do well at the workout!

Today's Haiku

Bloodthirsty black crows
grapple fiercely mid-flight
a skirmish for scraps

Today's Workout
Running: 3.1 miles (5K)
DAREBEE: Day 34 of The Hero's Journey

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Amortize from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)

...Turns out it was an ellipsis

I'm back again! This time bigger and better than ever!

...actually it's going to look pretty similar to the past.

So I'm starting off this blog again on my birthday as I turn 31. Don't ask what happened to 30. 30 was a year lost to time. I mean, I did do things but I didn't post about them here. To catch you up...

Last year:
-I started daily journaling. Something I've done on and off but never on the computer. Now I can edit my work much easier. I use a site called 750word.com. I highly recommend it if you need a place to journal and unwind each day. It's like joining a gym for your miiiiiind.
-I read 30 books, as I always try to read at least my age's worth. They are listed at the bottom of this entry.
-I did some tracking through the year. Most of what I wanted to do was derailed by a hellish appendicitis experience and epididymitis in the winter. Feel free to google the second one. I'll wait.

...

Yeah, it wasn't great.

BUT this year will be! I can taste it in the wind. Here are the two basic categories I'll be covering:

CREATIVE
(These will be the bulk of the entries)

Haikus
I miss them. I did a thousand consecutively and I'm getting back into it again. This time I will sprinkle in some different forms and try to adhere to the essence of haiku that juxtaposes two images with the center line "cutting" between them. I did not consider this in previous haikus, though I often wrote them that way unintentionally.

Drawings
I'll sketch something each day on a piece of printer paper and in pen. It's an exercise in throwing away the plan and working with what you have. It certainly raises the stakes. I will use words and/or music for inspiration.

Prompts
I'm trying out a writing prompt each day. I won't be sharing each entry as they will be very rough and long but I intend to share polished works sporadically through the year. My hope is one complete essay or short story a month with a stretch goal of one a week.

Misc
In the first year, I followed daily project prompts from a book. This year...I don't know what could happen. I've been playing around with doing readings of short stories, woodworking/craft projects or maybe even a video showing off physical theater work.

WELLNESS
(Happening in the background. Updated on Sundays)

Fasting
Each year I "fast" from certain activities (like TV watching) and consumables (like alcohol). I set a number for year end (my base for age 30 was 150) and I try to match that number in "days of fasting." My items are listed below. An added caveat to the alcohol category is a drink count. I did this last year and it was ironically sobering how much I drank. But on the plus side, I can answer accurately when the doctor asks "how many drinks do you typically have in a week?" (for my 30th year, I'm a little ashamed to admit it was 8.212)

Calling it Quits
I do this thing where I quit something each year and for the rest of my foreseeable future (presumably). The only exception to the rule: I can have it if it's homemade. Here's what I've done so far:

Cigarettes at 25 (no judgement plz)
Energy Drinks at 26 (because they are poison)
Ground Beef at 27 (pink slime. This quickly became obsolete when I became vegetarian months later)
Potato Chips at 28 (because of the book Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss. It's good. Read it.)
Soda at 29 (also poison)
Candy at 30 (colorful poison for children)

For this year I'm giving up "Shots", which means any straight liquor above 20 ABV not cut with something. Liquors on ice, like scotch, are fine.

Running
Back in 2014 I set out to run 1,000 miles for the year. Unfortunately due to weather and a knee injury I just managed to get 750. To make up the difference, generous friends and family members ran the remaining 250 in my place! You can see some of their contributions in the first six months of 2015. I'm taking another crack at it this year with the base goal of beating 750 and the stretch goal of 1,000.

Breaking a Sweat
I hope to "break a sweat" everyday. I will use DAREBEE as my resource for most of my non-running workouts. It's free, has hundreds of unique workouts and requires little to no equipment. There are also videos for each exercise to avoid injury from poor form. I'll post a link for each workout.

Vegan Days
I'm looking to spend 100 days going full vegan. For those that don't know, vegan is refraining from any foods/products that come from animals in any form (meat, fish, dairy, eggs, honey). I'll post a few pictures and recipes that I find delicious!

Travel and sick days
This project is ambitious and I'm gonna need breaks. So I'll have days where I don't post much due to illness or travel restrictions (I've got a trip to Iceland/Berlin in mid-July...that will be a test run). SICK DAY or TRAVEL DAY will be screamed in the title so you know not to expect much.

Updates
Finally, on Sundays I'll share my progress so far in all of these categories. It's an accountability strategy that has worked very well in the past.

That's it for now! Thank you for reading this far and enjoy the first haiku and drawing of my year!

Today's Haiku

Batches of lanyards

expertly draped on hangers

tinkle like wind chimes

Today's Workout
Running: 3.1 miles (5K)
DAREBEE: Day 33 of The Hero's Journey (I'll explain tomorrow)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Effigy from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)

Books for 30th year (30 total in chronological order - italicized books were read aloud to my wife before bed and those in bold are favorites)

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
Sex Criminals (Graphic Novel) by Chip Zdarsky and Matt Fraction
Rat Queens (Graphic Novel) by Kurtis J. Wiebe
No God but God by Reza Aslan
Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
Learn Better by Ulrich Boser
Against a Dark Background by Iain Banks
Harry Potter and The Order of the Pheonix by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling
The Future of the Mind by Michio Kaku
Wolf in the White Van by John Darnielle
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
Hagseed by Margaret Atwood
Microscope by Ben Robbins
Surface Detail by Iain Banks
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Spook by Mary Roach
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
Turtles all the Way Down by John Green
Mort by Terry Pratchet
On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee
The Power by Naomi Alderman
Vacationland by John Hodgeman
Dead Wake by Erik Larson
Ghettoside by Jill Leovy
The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchet
A Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss