Feeling Out of Sorts

Maybe it is because the summer is actually over, that it is a rainy Tuesday, or maybe it is because I am coming to terms with time and decadent behavior catching up with me and my increasingly decrepit body, but I am feeling out of sorts. (Hence the post title...see, it does make sense. I am not senile. Get off my lawn.)

I finished two of the four books that I am reading this morning. The Leftovers (Great, and possibly the best book I have read in the last year but the ending seemed too...expected. However, finishing did allow me to finally get around to read Stephen King's review in the Times. Interesting perspective that Mr. King has. I have read someplace that in addition to being a critic, he is also an author. I could see that.) and The Know-It-All and have started The First Days (which isn't as bad as the back cover suggests (watch below) and I have needed to get my zombie on).

One of the reasons I am feeling out of sorts (for the definition, I find this useful.) was because today is the day that I started getting serious (or as serious as I get about anything) about my training and it was hard. Running at quarter to six in the rain was not the optimal time to be doing anything, let alone running on a body that ate well and drank well for the past week (it was my birthday and HJ77 was here for the whole time) but I did it.

While running, a song came on and I found myself singing along with it. This, in and of itself, is not odd as I sing all the time. Not well but I make up for my lack of skill with enthusiasm. First, I was able to run in the rain because HJ77 picked up the iPod shuffle that I had been wanting to pick up for myself but had difficulty ever getting around to purchasing and running with the iPhone instead, which was sub-optimal (Thank you!) and the song that I was singing outloud had been a trigger for a while, creating a cascade of memories and I only realized this as I was getting to the part of the sing-a-long that had always made me laugh. So...this is a goodness, no?

Apart from the searing pain in my chest and my knees aching like they were trying to give birth to their own little knees, the run in the rain went well, and even better, I was able to laugh and sing-a-long to a song that I had not been able to in a while.

Life could be a lot worse, and even then, it would still be okay, if all I have to complain about is my aching knees and the various banalities of everyday existence. One of my friends accused me of being less fun because I was happy. He did not apologize for that (nor did I expect him to. He has a reputation to maintain.) when we had dinner last night, but he said he was glad for me.