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Showing posts with label chocolate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chocolate. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Meditations and Working Out

Send More Chocolate!  Alas, the last of the la Maison du Chocolat, sent as fiftieth birthday tribute, has been consumed. Man, that went fast.  I think next time I'll have to document the consumption so I slow it down.

Writing.  277 words in about an hour this morning... which will be interesting shoe-horning into tonight's story.   Luckily, the format lends itself to chopping and narrative summary.

Working Out:  Surprisingly, given how much eating I did this weekend, my weight went down a notch.  Got to the gym a little late, so I had a truncated workout.   Did the rowing machine uh, 170 calories in 15 minutes.  The machine is a little boring. I can't really watch the TV's in  the gym;I have to pay attention to how many calories per hour I'm burning or else my burn rate goes down.

So I decided I'd try Rowing Machine meditation and visualize Wiccan ritual symbols in my head while going back and forth.  At the very least, I think it improved my posture on the machine (and afterward).   Given the repetitive nature of rowing, it seems like a good way to let meditative images flow through my head.  Although chanting "Rhyton. Priest. Snake," under my breath might have garnered a few odd looks.  At least it's tamer and  less explicit than some of the unspoken chants I've thought....

After I ran downstairs for some triceps curls, lateral pulls, some curl-ups, and a very short free-weight session.   I did some free weights at home later in the evening.

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Walking and Imagination

Yesterday our Matrix was in the car shop getting maintenance. Somehow in the thick of things, we added a few more things for the garage to do, and so I was without a car for a little longer than I thought.

The result was walking. About twenty-five blocks. Luckily, there wasn't too much rain. What usually takes about eight minutes to drive takes fifty walking. Since I wasn't being pampered by automotive technology, I had to purchase sustaining chocolate donuts to nibble on every three blocks.

Walking that distance reminded me of my Grandma Agnes. She was a farmstead girl in 1920, and she walked to school along an lumberjack trail and through a pasture holding a bull. I wonder what sort of thoughts went through her head as she walked--I imagine she had conversations with her dog, Sport, or any animals she might have encountered.

When I was walking the city blocks of southern Eugene, I was thinking about the various yard plantings and garden features (OK, and the next donut). It's easy to imagine stories attached to the differing houses. Why do those folks have a fancy gate across their driveway, and do the stars and moons mean anything? Is that a haunted house and what happened to the owners? In contrast, when I'm driving, I'm listening to the radio and imagining what on earth could be motivating the driver in front of me to be driving they way that they are.

Well... speedily arriving somewhere or exercising one's imagination. To quote the Baker's Wife from "Into the Woods," why can't it be both? With chocolate.