some Olympiad or other

My old roommate moved out last month to move in with her boyfriend (kind of; her stuff is all still here), and I had to transfer all the utilities to my name. This took me a while, due to the heartache previously mentioned and the ensuing lack of energy for anything except dragging myself to work, but the eventual result was that my new roommate and I now have some cable channels.

I actually turned the tv on tonight. That hasn't happened in years. Even in Gone West, when I had a tv and paid for basic cable, I somehow managed to flub up the tv/cable situation, and my cable stopped working at least a year before I moved away. (Things like this are why, despite being fairly technologically capable and fairly engineeringly capable - I actually can often fix things - while lacking any education whatsoever in either one, I really should be kept away from anything that can be flubbed.) I never did bother to figure out how to fix it, because I just don't really care if I have a functional tv.

Nonetheless, I turned the tv on tonight. 

I didn't even know that it was opening night for the Olympics, but once I saw that it was, I had to watch the parade of nations to catch the important countries: Honduras, Liberia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan (not present), Tanzania, Uganda, and the United States. That's the same important countries list everyone has, right?

The Olympics are reason enough to pay for cable.

I was feeling quiet and introspective tonight, and I spent most of the evening reading and writing and running. For the first time in this round of running, it felt good to run. It felt easy. It almost felt like the running nirvana I used to feel immediately post-Rwanda, when I was running 45 minutes at a go.

It was, admittedly, only two miles. I used to view running as useless if I did not have the time to run a full three miles.* The experts suggest THIRTY MINUTES A DAY, you know.

But now I work out independently of running. Running is only to augment my workout regimen. It is not the thing on which I am depending for my exercise. Also I read an article that basically said you will live longer if you run between one and, um, some other number of miles per week. 10? 20? 10 miles a week is only two miles five times per week. Bring it. I am trying to re-wire my brain to believe that a mile or two is enough, if three is impossible. 

Running is also very good for thinking. I suspect that might be why I have suddenly found the willpower to do it a couple of times a week, willpower that was heretofore missing in the years between departure from Rwanda in 2004 and just this last month.

* I did not have the time today because, well, I was reading a good book out on my deck and did not realize how quickly sunset was approaching.