Labor Day: Grieving this summer, informal 5k tomorrow, bookend to next Sunday.

[oak]

Friends, three thoughts:

1. I am grieving this summer.

It wasn’t a complete failure: (1) I got introduced to pickleball, (2) I discovered a new reason to live, and (3) I switched, nearly completely (perhaps 90%), to a Mediterranean diet, which I am loving.

Otherwise my summer was a dismal failure, and I can’t keep living like this: (1) I had no summer romance, (2) my sleep apnea came back, (3) I am paycheck to paycheck with no obvious solutions ready, and (4) I daily put myself at enormous risk due to my commute.

I have reason for hope, to be sure. But I’m going to take what remains of my four-day holiday weekend, Sunday evening and all of Monday, to really feel the grief.

2. In a little lighter news, tomorrow morning I plan to do an informal 5k on the town square, while playing Pokémon Go. That would be 8 circuits of the 684-meter town square perimeter; I’ll consider 5 circuits a success.

3. I am sad and blue on a Sunday evening, I’m just trying to hold on until the NFL returns Thursday. (I have grave concerns about American football, especially the long term effects on players’ health. But any port in a storm.)

I’ll post Monday (5k), Thursday (football), and Sunday (when I hope to be happier).

Lastly, after grieving for the next 36 hours, I hope to start picking myself up again, and taking specific action so my autumn is better than my summer.

Thank you for listening!

[Mental Fairy]

Oh my friend, I’m thinking of you. I would swap our spring summer for your autumn winter any day. I am much the same about summer. Weird ain’t we!

[oak]

Oh my friend, I’m thinking of you. I would swap our spring summer for your autumn winter any day. I am much the same about summer. Weird ain’t we!

Well said, Mental Fairy.

Autumn and especially winter are my favorite seasons, as so well explained by Andrew WK:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/ppvkj8/andrew-wk-on-autumn

Bookend 2 of 4: Monday's "5K"

Friends!

I was feeling a bit more myself this morning (Monday), and completed 1500 meters of my ostensible goal of 5K.

Everything was fine: sunny and nice out. But hungry and peckish, I had some baklava in my car that I wanted to take home and enjoy.

Truth be told, I've neither accomplished much grieving or action-taking today: I think I am going to take my holiday to listen to podcast and play my video game.

I'll hold on through the meat of the workwork, aiming to make it until watching the NFL game on Thursday.

For today, for now, I'll just be.