The Usual Day

I wake at 6am nearly every day. When I'm caught up on sleep I'm an awesome morning person and get mountains of work/exercise/life done in the wee dark hours when the newspaper persons beat the streets. When I'm not caught up on sleep I kinda sit in the dark and think about being awake. Usually I'll be alive enough to brew a pot of tea/cup of coffee and make some oatmeal. Class starts at either 8:30am (MW) or 10am (TRF) and it takes between 20 and 60 minutes to get to school via school shuttles. While I have a car I hate it (well not it, just the idea of it and using it. it's a pretty cute beastie all told and has seen us all over the USA: Yosemite, Glacier, Chicago, Death Valley, NY...) and never use it unless what we're getting is too heavy or impossible to get to via public transportation... or cycle.

Anyway, I wander off to school glorying in the noises of the city or in the pulsing, throbbing life-that-is-trance in my Skullcandy. Coffee in hand. I've realized that the coffee is very important. I don't need the caffeine; I've tested that theory and have proved that I'm good and awake without it. I need it because it tastes sooo good. It's like my insta-break mid-conversation, drift-off catcher in class, and connection to living things that grow and aren't cement/frozen/gray. I imagine the hills where the coffee is from, the certainly-poor-but-not-really-worse-off-because-they-live-in-green-hills coffee farmers, the journey of the bean, the roastmaster who realizes the potential lying within the bean, and my careful selection and preparation of the end product. Ah. Richness. Bliss. Coffee.

It's good to ride public transportation because you get to talk with other people and make friends... you know, be a social being. Much better than flipping off the honker you just cut off, Dirty Harry raging in your head (You think you're lucky? Well do ya, punk?"). It's fun to take an open mug and ride the wave too. Reminds me of the ocean. I need that.

Anyway, arriving at school the grind of the day begins. The only way I get anything done is by catching it with a net as it passes through my consciousness and writing it down, physically, pen & paper style. No list, nothing gets done, primarily because I believe there is nothing to do. If it wasn't on my list/calendar it doesn't exist. (This is kind of true in a very real sense too. but I won't bore you with that.) So I look at my schedule, the various bitty notes along the side, the homework assignments, the meetings, the classes, the errands: and I jump on the treadmill.

Honestly, I love it. Ideas, applications, intellectual challenge, the vast conversation of understanding going on between me, the professor, my texts, my classmates, and history never ceases to amaze me. I've felt the world change, seen the visual overlay shift just from understanding. Learn, learn, learn all you can. Never stop. Don't learn for your job, for your career, for the letters after your name, because you can't think of anything else to do... learn because it shapes your world, who you are, and what you become in supremely profound ways. Down to the reality you experience.

Around 3:30 (MTW) or 12:30 (RF) classes and meetings are usually done and it's time for homework. Loads of it. It never ends. If I don't have any then I need another list.

Sometimes I'll head the library, other times I'll head home. Both are great places to study but have varying levels of distraction. I think wifeys and good friends are inherently distracting. But that is a good thing.

Three things I've noticed that would really make me feel better about life in general (which is hard to do because life is pretty freaking amazing):

1) Sleep such that I can run/yoga/exercise in the am. I can do it. I have done it. It would be good for me and everyone around me would cease hearing me bitch, therefore it would be good for them.

2) During that late afternoon/evening study time I should head to a cafe once a week, to spice things up, see different places, and read in transit. Mmm need to remember that. Reading in transit is important.

3) Make solid space in the evening for relaxing w/my Love. Often just leaving it "open" makes it seem disposable and therefore overlooked... homework runs into the evening, we'll veg when we don't really need to and could be doing something more interactive... hm. That one warrants more thought.

How do your days run? What ideas do you have that could enrich the flow?

namaste

Renewal

I've a really good feeling about this year:

1) marriage is awesome, continually challenging us (me in particular... the Wife seems to get it all before I do) to reach new heights of self-appropriation, friendship, and self-giving. A sort of microcosm of the universe in that sense. We had several solid opportunities over break to think/talk about how we hope this year to turn out and fit into the overall goals of our lives... and it's exciting! Yay for love!

2) i'm slowly acclimatizing to school, realizing that it is indeed something that I want to do and care passionately about. I think I'll always be a philosopher at heart and always bring theory into practice, but it's nice to practice too. So many of the underpinnings of our societal ills are legal... anyway, that is for another post.

3) one of my favorite persons in the world moved in with us, which makes every day a party! So good to have a mini-community right in our place... community just becomes more and more important w/every passing week.

4) as some of you who read the Wife's blog may have heard, we're planning on adopting and pursuing that glorious possibility.

So, here's to the new year and it's infinite possibility! Since bucket lists are fun to read, here's a few (some carry overs as well) things that I hope to accomplish this year:

• A blog post a week for three reasons: non-academic writing... so I don't lose it all; non-academic thought... so I don't lose that either; and developing the awesome online community I've slowing been realizing the potential of.
• Half Marathon sub 1:15. My last half was precisely 1:40, so it's ambitious, but I didn't train for that last half either, so I'm hopeful.
• Depending on the one above: Full Marathon sub 3 hours. Qualifying for the Boston before I leave would be awesome.
• A summer Century. I found cycling balanced out my running perfectly, and when I move back to the West Coast I don't want to be too out of shape for the mountains. Also, rumors of doing the Laramie Enduro this summer...
• Keep a journal. I often feel I let things slip by in the stream of consciousness that would save me a lot of trouble/time/heartache were I to pay more attention to them. Journaling is a first step.
• Read non-school books. Sort of along the same lines as blogging, I don't want to "drown in the sweet honey-head of Plato". See?
• Running/Cycling are fabulous, but I need pilates/yoga to be a really integrated person. Making more of an effort in that arena. Hopefully before my ten-class card at Back Bay Yoga expires. Yes it is good for a year. ;)

Namaste!