Someone Else’s Story, For a Change

Dearest Rachel –

I don’t know what it is about me, but I seem to be the opposite of the human stereotype, when it comes to time and energy. I used to consider myself a morning person only out of necessity (or by default, as it was fairly obvious that I was never a night person like yourself), but these days – despite having no one to answer to in regard to being somewhere first thing in the morning – I’m up at those same ridiculous hours I once felt I needed to be in order to prepare for the day ahead. I don’t even need coffee to do it, although would it surprise you to find out that I’ve gotten myself a coffeemaker for those Sunday mornings when I need to be wide awake and can’t otherwise guarantee it?

Similarly, you might think of the typical person as being all draggy and lethargic on Monday mornings in particular, and bright and perky by Friday. And with my attempts to starve myself on Sunday, you would expect that to be amplified that much more. And yet it’s Friday morning – this morning – that sees me looking at my clock, reading that the gym opened only a few minutes before my eyes did, and thinking, “no, I really don’t want to do this.” Compare that to Monday, which saw me putting myself through my full paces in order to get myself just that much further down before weighing myself. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, on a surface level.

Then again, I had been walking with Lars yesterday afternoon. While not nearly as strenuous as my gym workouts (and in fact, Lars let me hear it about my sit-up attempt last week; five repetitions of twenty was far too ambitious – shocker! – and he recommended starting out with no more than three reps of only ten. Yeah, maybe I can handle that), I woke up with a few slight pains; the on-and-off nagging in my back (probably from sliding into a flat position – gravity will do that, no matter what my back prefers), which a hot shower can eliminate, and a twinge in my left heel or ankle. It’s nothing serious – maybe a 1½ on the pain chart, if that – but it’s noticeable enough that I automatically find myself favoring that leg. And the shower does nothing to relieve it, either; in fact, since I’m standing up in there, it reminds me of its presence most of the time I’m in there.

So, between a slightly late start, a few nagging aches and pains, and a certain je ne sais quoi, I don’t feel like going to the gym today (well, okay… more so than I planned to be feeling), and I decide to skip it, hoping that it won’t set me back too much to do so.

So what do I do with myself in that hour and a half I’d otherwise budgeted for working out, apart from an earlier shower than originally intended? Well, I do have some paperwork to scan for my various visa applications regarding my upcoming trip (I’ll have more on that next week, when I check back in with my agent – she was actually wondering if I’d be telling you about my first visit the other day, but since we couldn’t get everything sorted out, I figure I might as well wait on that. Besides, Wednesday turned out to be a fairly long and slightly dull appointment). And, of course, I always have the need to fill you in on what’s going on, and my thoughts thereupon. But there didn’t seem to be much rattling around in my head to relate to you at that early hour.

Well, what about someone else’s story, for a change?

It probably wouldn’t surprise you to hear it, but for all that I do on my own (or maybe because of it) I really don’t spend a lot of time reading other people’s blogs. Admittedly, it sounds insensitive and self-centered to say so, but given the time it takes to write down the events of the day (to say nothing of the time spent experiencing those events in the first place), it’s difficult to take the effort to go through other people’s stories. It really has to be a subject I’m deeply interested in (and if the last thousand days has been any indication, there aren’t a lot of things that hold my constant attention – I’m clearly a bird when it comes to my interests, always flitting from one subject to another) or someone I really know and, uh… care about.

Whew… that was close; almost said too much, there.

In this case, it has to do with Erin’s trip to Italy, and the fact that she wrote a few little blurbs about it – along with submitting dozens of pictures – to a specialized social media app having to do with running and exercise. But in order to read and review them, I had to download the app and join the community, much to Lars’ amusement when I told him about it. In my defense to him, I think there’s a way to keep track of my own workout regimen, but as of this morning, I can only see stuff pertaining to running – maybe I’ll have to ask her about that, next time I see her. And I admit, I’m neither part of the community, nor do I wish to be, despite the fact that I think they’re happy to include me. That’s not meant as a dig at the running community in particular; I don’t consider myself part of any such social network. Exercise, anime, AI… I may dip my toes into the portals and channels, but to become a regular part of the community is just way more of a commitment to a single subject than I really want to make.

But there are the inducements, like seeing where she’d been this past couple of weeks, and what her thoughts on what she saw or did, and it makes it worth getting tangled up in the network.

It’s interesting to see how many pictures there were of nature and wildlife (although I guess you could argue about how ‘wild’ domesticated animals like cats and dogs and horses are, but the point still stands) as opposed to cityscapes and architecture. Maybe that has to do with spending most of her time around Lake Como (as opposed to Rome, which she did stay for a day on either end of her trip), whereas the way you and I traveled, we would be in the middle of the city the whole time we were on land. But it does seem that she would look at – and point her camera at – different things than I would even notice. It makes for a very different perspective, and an absorbing photo essay. Sure, I could ask for a little more in terms of textual description, I suppose, but maybe that’s just because I’m too used to my own style, after all.

There’s something to be said for seeing something through another person’s eye from time to time. You see things you wouldn’t otherwise focus on – or that you might miss entirely. The only thing more to ask for would be to be able to do so in real time, where each of you are pointing one thing or another out to the other. But for now, this needs be sufficient.

Until later, honey, keep an eye on me, and wish me luck. I’m going to need it