A fine running weekend
If we discount the ridiculous winds yesterday. Something about Saturday afternoons is not working for me. But then I went out today, winds were about half the force as they were yesterday. So 10 mph (16 kmh). I could have finished off my “usual” mileage for the weekend, but I wanted to get back in time to make it to the store, and I didn’t carry water on me. So I did a half marathon, no water, no fuel. It was the right choice, as I was pretty warm at the end, and definitely needed water. So good thing I cut it short, it doesn’t seem like it, but an extra two miles could have been troublesome.
So with my more advanced students, we usually end up talking about things like movies and whatnot. I do my best to watch things that my students ask me to. One of my classes, asked me to watch “The Hateful Eight”. We started talking about Tarantino, and I never make any secrets about not liking his movies. But, I’m a good teacher, so I watch the movie. It was basically what I thought. Generally, Tarantino only has a couple movies, and he just keeps remaking them. Well, he takes the same scenes, and sometimes the same basic dialogue and repeats them with different characters in “different” situations. The thing is, I get the point he tries to make in movies, I understood the message in the movie, I don’t disagree with what he’s trying to say most of the time. I enjoyed how the horrible, racist, dickbag, soon-to-be sheriff, who starts off as a complete idiot, gets educated and in the process drops his bullshit racism. But it was 2 hours and 40 minutes of Tarantino using his same old tropes and scenes. Also, I always enjoy watching Bruce Dern get shot.
I get it, people have short memories and Hollywood studios aren’t just there to entertain, they’re there to make money whilst entertaining. It’s the same reason they remake movies over and over. Also why we get Michael Bay-splosions. Also why we get Matt Damon cast in movies about the Great Wall of China and Scarlett Johannesburg as Major Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell. They want your money. But I will keep watching what is suggested, with higher level students, it’s important that they be able to discuss things they enjoy.
I really need to work on my story writing, because I have two fairly good ideas. One is more developed than the other, but I need to do some reading and studying. One is based on a true story, the other is just some stuff I have bouncing around up in my head. The discipline to stay focused on what I’m writing every day is the problem. I let myself get distracted too easily, that’s always been my trouble. It’s my problem with work, it’s my problem with marathons, it’s my problem with writing. My best efforts are this blog, I’ve been pretty good. But as constant as I am, and as good as I try to make the content of these posts, the fact is, it’s max 1000-1500 words at a time. It’s fairly easy, and while sometimes one thing may flow into the next, usually it’s just disjointed thoughts that come up while I run. Seriously, just like it says on the tin.
Yet I persist, and I keep trying and this time I want to really do my best. I need to get off my ass and get things going the way I want them to go. I need to stop just living in a way that allows others to exert pressure on me to serve their purposes, this part isn’t about business, I mean my job right now, there aren’t many demands on me at all. I’m talking about family. Fact is, I run, I work, I cook, I clean up, but then I don’t do anything. That idleness allows other people to try and drive me around. Is that a sloppy metaphor? Yeah, pretty much. Thing is, I don’t have the drive to be rich, or famous, or whatever. I just want to be me, I want to be comfortable, I want to go where I want, when I want and I want to help. I don’t want to worry about all this bullshit the powers-that-be make us worry about. I know it’s wrong, and I need to break free. I need to break free, because I need to help others break free too. You can’t tear down the house while you’re living in it, is what I’m getting at here. I’m working my way out the door, but I can’t quite get there yet. That’s what I need to do, I need to stay focused and get my stuff done, and let the chips fall where they may from here, but I need to at least try, instead of just moving the location of where I’m grinding it out.
And that’s the thing, that’s why there’s so much malaise, so much ennui, so much strife in this world. They’ve got us just working a grind, every day. We have to pay for things we all need, instead of just getting the things we all need, and then all the other stuff being extra. That’s a big part of it right there. We all buy into a truly silly system, but more than silly, it can be downright cruel. I had to explain the severity of the word “cruelty” in a class the other day. I also had to explain appalling, which was more fun to explain. Odd that cruel and appalling are good ways to describe the system we live under though.
In fact, I watched and shared a video today about Daesh blowing up the historic monuments and buildings in Nimrud. Like it or not, groups like Daesh are the inevitable result of this system we live under. Their destruction of Nimrud is a tragedy, with the root cause in this system. If we are meant to dominate our hold on resources and goods and services, etc. If the goal is “wealth” overall, then things like this will always happen, because instead of collaborating for the greater good, some will always look to take control. A system which requires control will always see a fight for control. It doesn’t matter what idea, philosophy, religion, the “leaders” use to motivate their followers, there will always be battles, there will always be wars. It doesn’t matter the tactics used, or anything. It is the same. People trying to control, or sit at the controlling table, in the global market. That’s all this is.
Let’s hope we come out of our collective state sooner rather than later, because I honestly do not believe the Earth will tolerate much more of this, and there is a very good chance our landlord will evict us. It’s funny (and sad) how that works. We will see what happens I guess. All the warnings are there, the environment is telling us to knock it off. To knock it off we have to change, fundamentally, the way in which we operate. I’m going to keep trying, I hope you are too.
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
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