Dichroic Reflections

challenges

Ten thousand meters down, and I have no idea what I'm going to do for the rest of
the day (though I do know there are a shower and a cup of tea in my immediate
future). I feel funny doing errands on weekends when Rudder is home, since I have
the rest of the week for those. I've decided to make a lariat necklace that I will
probably use as a present -- I get the best ideas for beading projects from art
museum store Christmas catalogs, who usually charge $90 for something I can
duplicate easily. It's very gratifying -- I don't believe I'll ever spend money
for beaded jewelry again, unless it's something really special and hard to
make.

Another odd problem with my current situation is that I feel
guilty about reading any of my own books. Since I've been delving so deeply into
the library's bounty, I always have a sackful of books that will have to be
returned in a week or two, so I feel silly reading any of the ones that will still
be here. At the moment I'm defying that feeling to reread the fourth Harry Potter
book, having reread the first three not long ago. After that I really do want to
dive into a couple of Patricia Wredes sitting there in my library bag, then it may
be time to revisit what I think of as Jane Austen's lesser works -- Northanger
Abbey and Mansfield Park. I suppose one solution would be to take out fewer
library books, but how likely is that?

One way in which the library
has really helped me is with this 200000 meter erg challenge. I've been listening
to Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage, about the journey of Lewis and Clark, as I
puff along on the erg. It's far more absorbing than the TV shows that are on first
thing in the morning. It's also a bit comforting to hear about people who were
working even harder than I am, while I'm working out. When I first read the book,
the distances those men walked in a day left me with glazed eyes, a dropped jaw,
and sympathy pains in my feet. Unfortunately, the audiobook is an abridged
version, and since I have read the book, I can tell the difference. I'm almost
finished this one, and getting more books to erg to should be much easier than
picking audiobooks for a car trip, where they have to please both me and Rudder.

I realized last night that I have one other major problem with this
erg challenge; I'll miss at least four days when I go to Philadelphia for my
mother's and brother's birthdays in a few weeks. More, if I don't row the days I
leave and come back. Eek. That four days translates to 24240 meters I would have
to make up. That's a lot. I did some extra today to start building up a cushion,
just in case, and I'm going to call around and see if there's a gym near them with
a rowing machine I can use. That will also give me an excuse to escape, for which
I may be extremely grateful. Half my family is mad at the other half, at the
moment. No one is mad at me, that I know of, but they all complain about each
other to me. I think the 'rents still don't understand why they weren't invited to
my brother's birthday party, and it sounds like there are some hard feelings over
who went where, when, for Thanksgiving. An excuse to run to the gym (I use the
word "run" figuratively) may be just what I need.

Today I am
thankful for: the distance that allows me to deal sanely with my family.

Concept II Holiday Challenge: 170251 meters left