The Visible Woman...February 18, 2004

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

A Journal from Austin, Texas.
A Project of LBFFP Stealth Publishing.

can't seem to get enough

When I retired, I thought one day I'd 'catch up' on a lot of things. Like sleep and exercise and time to contemplate.

I can't seem to sleep at the right times and then I want to stay in bed. I'm like a kid catching up on sleep on the weekend after getting up early and staying up late all week with homework and activities.

I thought retirement would bring enough time so that I would catch up 'once and for all' on exercise, reading, sleeping, thinking, organizing. But it hasn't happened. Some things (like sleep and exercise) you just keep on needing. Some things like thinking and organizing aren't just affected by working but by the pace of modern life. A tax year rolls around, retired or not.

And reading? Well, I'll never read everything that sounds interesting. And thousands of new books come out every year. The New Yorker gets published every week. A pile of newspapers arrive each day while a groaning stack two feet high still waits by my chair.

You never catch up. One day, behind as you are, it doesn't matter.

Light streams into the bathroom, as seen from the closet. It doesn't look too bad from a distance, does it? It will probably never look this good again, in a way, with no towels and accessories strung around. Of course, the cardboard is temporary.

JUST TYPING

Behind, behind.
Never catching the world.
Going hundreds times faster than you.

Food Diary.

breakfast
nothing

lunch

Mahi mahi salad from ZuZu with some guac, dressing and red onions and chopped jalapenos.

snacks

a Clementine (probably one of the last of the season)
a hanful of sugary candy hearts
several crackers
some cheese
a few pieces of melon and some strawberries
some white wine
some more crackers, green onions, cheddar cheese
a Manhattan
a handful of Fritos

dinner

spinach salad with cheese, tomato, carrots, green onions, dressing
four slices turkey bacon

Today I
- once again didn't eat much until later in the day and then stuffed down quite a lot.

Time flies....

It was a day of interruption and unplanned things, in a way. I went to water aerobics, getting there a little late because the painter came and a friend called. Then instead of working out afterwards, since FFP was holding down the fort on the remodel, I did a friend a favor and went all the way out to her place (past Mansfield dam) to wait for UPS while she made an appointment. She was getting a computer. I goofed around her house, drank coffee, read her magazines and my book, watche Antiques Roadshow a little, used her computer (old one) to connect to mine and do some stuff. Then the computer came and I took it inside. Then I decided to fool around with getting it together. She came and brought us some lunch and we ate that outside (nice day) and I finished helping her set up a little and went home. Then it was almost time to get ready for our meeting. After the meeting, we came home and ate and I read a bit. Then I was sleepless again and, after trying bed once, I got up and slept in my chair, fitfully, between reading papers.

Reading.

Newspapers.

The Conquerers by Michael Beschloss.

Voices of D-Day. ed. Ronald Drez.

A DVD course on WWII. (Didn't watch today.)

nothing

Exercise

recumbent bike
treadmill
ergonomic rower
water aerobics	1 hour
chest, shoulder, triceps
leg, back, bicep
lower back
ab exercises	100 crunch
stretches
walking
tennis

I would have exercised more today if I could have just found the time.

My mood was actually a little better and, physically, I'm really fine.

It's a Tangled
Web we weave...these
days of our lives.

One year ago
"Our taxes are somewhat complicated. It was simpler when we were poor, that's for sure. But I don't get too excited about it all. I learned long ago that you do the best you can to report honestly and fairly, pay the government was seems to me to be lots of money and worry about it if they squawk."

Two years ago
"I have a pretty good day working. Until I have to review something that makes me just stop in my tracks. How can communication break down so sometimes? Or maybe a better question is: how can it ever work? Corporations are funny creatures."

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