Astranoir

It seems like I’ve taken a lengthy break from a few things.  I haven’t been writing much (here or for fun), haven’t been reading much, and haven’t been running.  Hopefully I’ll get back in the groove starting today.  I woke up at 5:30 this morning without an alarm and figured that was a sign I should go running.  I haven’t been running in a couple weeks, so I didn’t want to push myself too hard, but I was able to run about 1.5 miles without stopping to supplement with walking!  Now, I just want to make sure I do that at least 3 times per week.

Thanks to the Colony of Readers book club, I have started reading again in the past couple days.  We’re reading The Windup Girl, which is a relatively new science fiction novel.  I’ll post my thoughts when I’ve gotten a little further in the book.  I’ve gotten 5 or 6 chapters in so far.  I will say I disagree with the people who say it’s hard to get into.  I find all the food-related stuff to be pretty interesting.

I meant to post a mini-review of the movie Salt last Tuesday after Kes and I watched it, but I forgot.  I thought the actors did a good job, but here’s my distilled thoughts on the movie:  the tone of the movie did not match the content of the movie, to me.  That dichotomy made it too difficult for me to suspend my disbelief, and kept me from getting immersed in the story.  I think I would have enjoyed it more and been able to suspend my disbelief if it was spun as science fiction as opposed to super-realism.

Thursday I got to spend a large chunk of the day with Kes.  We walk/jogged about a mile and went out to Taste of Thai.  I then took advantage of the Dr. Who audioplays he got my for my birthday on the drive to my parents’ house (I listened to 3 out of the 4 discs).

The audioplays are a couple of the ones read by David Tennant, placed during the time period when he played the Doctor.  One of the two is from when Donna Noble was his companion. Tennant is a fantastic reader.  He reads in his natural Scottish accent, modifying accents when he speaks for people.  He does a pretty good job for Donna, and of course the Doctor sounds perfect.

I doubt visiting my parents will ever be particularly restful physically speaking.  I’m definitely trying to be more active (hence the walk/jogging twice this week already), but my progress is pretty slow.  Yesterday, my mom and I walked (with a short burst of jogging in the middle) four miles.  Whew.  That’s a lot more than I’m used to dealing with.  We also did some boxing-esque free weight exercises, as well as ab exercises.  I was pretty exhausted afterward since I’m so out of shape.

During my Thursday and Friday walks, I wore my new Pokewalker that Tim got me for my birthday.  I plan on playing around with it, as well as with Pokemon HeartGold a bit more, then posting my overall impressions.  First impressions are pretty good.  I didn’t get to play Pokemon growing up (except a tiny bit of Red, I think on a school field trip), so I’ve only played Pearl previous to this one.  It’s cool seeing a bunch of Pokemon I remember my friends talking about when I was younger.

We then went to a baseball game, and I dozed off.  Bad idea:  my mom and I had not heeded my dad’s suggestion to wear sunblock because we forgot a bottle at the house and didn’t want to head back to get it.  I now have a bizarre sunburn that is only on part of my arms, neck, and chest.  I was wearing jeans, so my legs are still pearly-white.  Blech.

Hopefully, we’re going to pick up some plants at the nursery today to plant for Mother’s Day.  I think we’re going to have our Mother’s Day picnic today rather than tomorrow because there’s a pretty high chance of rain tomorrow.  I’m still not sure what food we’re planning to have on the picnic.  We discussed shish kabobs a little bit, but don’t want to take a grill with us, and don’t think they’d travel well if we made them beforehand.  I’m not a huge fan of sandwiches, but we’ll see what we end up doing.  I think the main food we’ve definitely decided on is spinach dip; delicious!

Happy Star Wars Day!

Kes and I went walking (plus a tiny amount of jogging) around Wilson Park today.  It was fun, but I find that my leg muscles seem much stronger than my heart/lungs (or that’s what it feels like).  Looks like I need to do a lot more cardio!

Plant update:

These pictures are a bit blurry.  I had problems getting the camera to focus on the plants.  (Click to enlarge the pictures.)

It looks like the red bell pepper plant might be budding

The roma tomato plant isn't budding, and appears to be defying gravity

The hanging plants have grown a little bit, I think