Stride

The vent for the downstairs unit's bathroom was recently moved to exit onto our back stairs; whenever someone there showers, all I can smell on the porch is Pert and heavy cologne.

The sun is sudeenly too harsh during the day for me to tolerate running before dark, and I have to relearn that it's totally okay to slip across dark sidewalks and under trees and past bushes and spook starved rabbits that are only just discovering that there's grass to eat. The day's worth of sweat has already dried on my skin, and the sweat that pushes out of my pores while I run has nowhere to go.

I have to relearn that it's okay to be slow when I'm training because soon I'll be faster.

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08 May 2014 22:49

Vortex

As I turn the corner, there's a cloud of dust and debris spilling out into the street from behind the parked truck. I heard it before I saw it, the backpack-mounted leaf blower that the landscaper was using to clean off the lawn. I approached slowly, not wanting to ride through it, and waited for him to notice me so I'd have a clear passage, but his back was to me and he was wearing ear protection.

He checked back over his shoulder before stepping into the street, saw me, and cut off the engine. I gave him a small salute and breezed on by.

I wonder why people don't just use brooms.

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06 May 2014 11:58

Filler

I've developed a stock response to people because I know there are questions they want to be asked so that they are given an opportunity to talk about something they need to say out loud, yet I have no interest in hearing. I promised myself a long time ago that I'd never be one of these people. I haven't yet decided if it's better not to do it or if it's better to ignore people.

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05 May 2014 21:18

Internal Monologues

Instead of bringing both your feet up together, let one of them dangle. You'll not want to just push up with that one leg, but your quads are stronger than you think; your dangling leg will straighten deep under the roof and counterbalance the action of reaching up with your off-hand, slowly, creeping along the wall, until it wraps around the jutting feature and locks on. Get used to only holding on with one hand and one toe; you're short. Deal with it.

Open your hips wider so you can keep your core closer to the wall. Think of movement in terms of directing your center of mass, not pointing your nose or your eyes in the way you wish to move.

It's okay to throw for something, miss, and slip off the wall, because you are safe here.

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04 May 2014 17:32

To Ground

Seven pockets of three seeds each. It's early May, but the weather feels indistinguishable from early March. These Brussel's sprouts have a lot to work for; maybe they can do it, because they like the cold. But they still need some warmth to germinate. I'm leaving the country in two weeks and I do not know how they will handle life without me.

Nonsense, plants don't care. Plants don't have feelings. Plants don't notice when you ignore them; they work on a time scale so slow that nothing we do could possibly affect them.

But it does.

I want them to grow and do their best, even if I can't eat them afterwards.

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03 May 2014 15:03