Not Really News
I have had so much going through my mind over the past few days, so much that I wanted to convey into words. In this respect, I find my blog quite analog- like a grandfather clock that needs to be wound up every so often before it will run. Like the invention of tele-portation, I wish that I could invent a way to 'think' my blog posts- like a podcast. I wish I could plug in, download and then clear the waste paper bin of excess thought. Alas, my mind works in more of an Amish way- in desperate need of digital revitalization.
Nevertheless, my fingers seem to be tapping away at the key-board now so I'll jot down some wayward things.
There has been a lot of death surrounding me lately. An old (in terms of time, not in age) family friend passed away a month ago in a freak accident, friends have lost family and I have been reminded of Tyler's death by quietly celebrating his birthday over the past weekend. All of this never fails to make me introverted and withdraw into the quiet spaces of my mind. I am reminded, every day, how precious not only this life is but all those that make it worthwhile living. In that respect, great things have come from death- growth in my respect for life and love. Every day's a school day. Every day I learn.
The Argus arrived on an idyllic morning two weeks ago. Nerves consumed me while I stood in the shoot waiting to be 'WHOOPLA'd off, but I tightened the safety blanket that was my strict training programme around me, clipped in and headed off. I have so much more to say in order to do my ride justice and will not trivialize it by writing only a paragraph. Watch this space- there's more to come on this years satisfying Argus.
Japan. Lots has happened there. While I watched in horror at the Tsunami ravaging the country and gawked at the damage that had been done I can't help but feel my heart harden ever so slightly. From a bird's-eye-view, the loss of life and damage to infrastructure is absolutely horrifying. The strength of the elements and power that comes from the ocean is humbling. The amount of work that now needs to be done to restore normal life in Japan seems endless. In that respect, I feel deeply for all affected.
However, my feelings towards the country on a smaller scale need a massive disclaimer- one that states that this is my opinion and a reflection of my own beliefs and values. While idly flipping through the TV channels over the long weekend, I stopped on a movie most know of called The Cove. While I do not believe in blanketing the entire Japanese population with blame for the disgusting practice of slaughter exposed in this movie, I do believe that Mother Nature is that black and white. In essence, a Tsunami should have engulfed all those who have anything to do with mass slaughter- either directly enabling it or indirectly supporting it in exchange for financial backing- and left the innocent to get on with their lives. Take whatever message you wish from the goings on in Japan and the blind rage with which the universe has scolded us lately. What I take away from it is that we need to put more pressure on our peers to do things right and to give a shit about the smaller things. Confronting the people around us may be uncomfortable - sure - but we need to think past ourselves, our immediate surroundings and what we thing is best for only us and cast the net much wider. It might not stop a mother- fucker wave from raging into town (I think too much damage has already been done to stop that) but it could help the good stuff to gain some traction.
Closer to home, I have been thinking about a little family that has been struggling to find peace and happiness for a while. Grown-up worries have tainted the love and laughter of this pod of peas. A big decision has been made and, while arguably one of the hardest thing to follow through with, I believe that the thunder clouds have broken and some light is shining through. From this new discovery I take away this fact: Whatever / whoever you believe in, whoever you think is guiding you through this life, have faith in the fact that gold shines through the crap most times. Everything your parents said was true: "It's always darkest before the dawn", "Every cloud has a silver lining", "Everything happens for a reason" and most of all "Love will find a way". While grossly cheesy, the fact is that nothing every gets handed to us on a silver platter (sorry, I can't stop myself) and just about every good thing that will ever happen to us will be born out of hardship and heartache in some way or another. It's terribly easy to declare while it's someone else who is going through the trauma, but embrace the hurt and bask in the knowledge that things will come right eventually. G, E and J- sending much love and light to your little family.
Even closer to home (possibly the closest to home I could get), the Ironman has already forgotten the fact that we both did a marathon ride just under two weeks ago and has already drawn up a mammoth training programme for me, stretching to August 2012. To put this into perspective, he thinks that to complete a proper amount of racing, one needs to complete an Ironman Triathlon- not something I plan to do for a very, very long time. Nevertheless, I am already hobbling around the office with stiff muscles from literally busting my ass at gym over the long weekend. That's right people, not only did I say 'gym' and 'long weekend' in one sentence, but I also mentioned that an exercise that could only have come from Satan's personal trainer called a Good Morning broke my ass muscles. Note to all who train with the Ironman- if he gets a sneaky grin on his face and hands you a weight while showing you how to do this exercise, pick up your sweat towel and leave. Walking trumps a broken ass muscle. Trust me.
That said, and after all the bitching and moaning, I find myself drooling over the thought of completing my first XTERRA off-road duathlon later this year, and entering my first triathlon after that. I never, ever would have thought that I would be someone who would be into multi-sports. However, I find myself driving home from work and analysing the direction that each blade of grass is blowing in order to gauge the wind speed and direction for cycling training. I'm ignoring the glossy fashion magazines and re-focusing on the likes of Ironman's triathlon magazines and the Multi sport magazines and swapping Gossip Girl for Mi-way mountain bike shows and Super Cycling. Life definitely is a-changing kids- watch this space for more exercise Revelations.
It seems like a vow of silence has been broken this evening. While it's news, but not really newsworthy, at least I have inked the pages of my blog and cleared away some cobwebs. It seems a lot of my thoughts of late have been dark in nature, but I feel a lighter period coming on. I'll keep working on a way to download straight from the present instead of storing all of my thoughts and opinions in an old leather filo-fax.
Until then, I must rest my freshly needled (and incredibly aching) arm [I'm off to Mozambique on business in just over a week and got assaulted by the travel clinic yesterday]. I'm sure you have much better things to do with your time than wade through my ramblings, too.
Argus post next, but until then, Love and Gratitude.
xx
Nevertheless, my fingers seem to be tapping away at the key-board now so I'll jot down some wayward things.
There has been a lot of death surrounding me lately. An old (in terms of time, not in age) family friend passed away a month ago in a freak accident, friends have lost family and I have been reminded of Tyler's death by quietly celebrating his birthday over the past weekend. All of this never fails to make me introverted and withdraw into the quiet spaces of my mind. I am reminded, every day, how precious not only this life is but all those that make it worthwhile living. In that respect, great things have come from death- growth in my respect for life and love. Every day's a school day. Every day I learn.
The Argus arrived on an idyllic morning two weeks ago. Nerves consumed me while I stood in the shoot waiting to be 'WHOOPLA'd off, but I tightened the safety blanket that was my strict training programme around me, clipped in and headed off. I have so much more to say in order to do my ride justice and will not trivialize it by writing only a paragraph. Watch this space- there's more to come on this years satisfying Argus.
Japan. Lots has happened there. While I watched in horror at the Tsunami ravaging the country and gawked at the damage that had been done I can't help but feel my heart harden ever so slightly. From a bird's-eye-view, the loss of life and damage to infrastructure is absolutely horrifying. The strength of the elements and power that comes from the ocean is humbling. The amount of work that now needs to be done to restore normal life in Japan seems endless. In that respect, I feel deeply for all affected.
However, my feelings towards the country on a smaller scale need a massive disclaimer- one that states that this is my opinion and a reflection of my own beliefs and values. While idly flipping through the TV channels over the long weekend, I stopped on a movie most know of called The Cove. While I do not believe in blanketing the entire Japanese population with blame for the disgusting practice of slaughter exposed in this movie, I do believe that Mother Nature is that black and white. In essence, a Tsunami should have engulfed all those who have anything to do with mass slaughter- either directly enabling it or indirectly supporting it in exchange for financial backing- and left the innocent to get on with their lives. Take whatever message you wish from the goings on in Japan and the blind rage with which the universe has scolded us lately. What I take away from it is that we need to put more pressure on our peers to do things right and to give a shit about the smaller things. Confronting the people around us may be uncomfortable - sure - but we need to think past ourselves, our immediate surroundings and what we thing is best for only us and cast the net much wider. It might not stop a mother- fucker wave from raging into town (I think too much damage has already been done to stop that) but it could help the good stuff to gain some traction.
Closer to home, I have been thinking about a little family that has been struggling to find peace and happiness for a while. Grown-up worries have tainted the love and laughter of this pod of peas. A big decision has been made and, while arguably one of the hardest thing to follow through with, I believe that the thunder clouds have broken and some light is shining through. From this new discovery I take away this fact: Whatever / whoever you believe in, whoever you think is guiding you through this life, have faith in the fact that gold shines through the crap most times. Everything your parents said was true: "It's always darkest before the dawn", "Every cloud has a silver lining", "Everything happens for a reason" and most of all "Love will find a way". While grossly cheesy, the fact is that nothing every gets handed to us on a silver platter (sorry, I can't stop myself) and just about every good thing that will ever happen to us will be born out of hardship and heartache in some way or another. It's terribly easy to declare while it's someone else who is going through the trauma, but embrace the hurt and bask in the knowledge that things will come right eventually. G, E and J- sending much love and light to your little family.
Even closer to home (possibly the closest to home I could get), the Ironman has already forgotten the fact that we both did a marathon ride just under two weeks ago and has already drawn up a mammoth training programme for me, stretching to August 2012. To put this into perspective, he thinks that to complete a proper amount of racing, one needs to complete an Ironman Triathlon- not something I plan to do for a very, very long time. Nevertheless, I am already hobbling around the office with stiff muscles from literally busting my ass at gym over the long weekend. That's right people, not only did I say 'gym' and 'long weekend' in one sentence, but I also mentioned that an exercise that could only have come from Satan's personal trainer called a Good Morning broke my ass muscles. Note to all who train with the Ironman- if he gets a sneaky grin on his face and hands you a weight while showing you how to do this exercise, pick up your sweat towel and leave. Walking trumps a broken ass muscle. Trust me.
That said, and after all the bitching and moaning, I find myself drooling over the thought of completing my first XTERRA off-road duathlon later this year, and entering my first triathlon after that. I never, ever would have thought that I would be someone who would be into multi-sports. However, I find myself driving home from work and analysing the direction that each blade of grass is blowing in order to gauge the wind speed and direction for cycling training. I'm ignoring the glossy fashion magazines and re-focusing on the likes of Ironman's triathlon magazines and the Multi sport magazines and swapping Gossip Girl for Mi-way mountain bike shows and Super Cycling. Life definitely is a-changing kids- watch this space for more exercise Revelations.
It seems like a vow of silence has been broken this evening. While it's news, but not really newsworthy, at least I have inked the pages of my blog and cleared away some cobwebs. It seems a lot of my thoughts of late have been dark in nature, but I feel a lighter period coming on. I'll keep working on a way to download straight from the present instead of storing all of my thoughts and opinions in an old leather filo-fax.
Until then, I must rest my freshly needled (and incredibly aching) arm [I'm off to Mozambique on business in just over a week and got assaulted by the travel clinic yesterday]. I'm sure you have much better things to do with your time than wade through my ramblings, too.
Argus post next, but until then, Love and Gratitude.
xx
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