I #Read26Indy! (Books 24-26)

I know you were on the edge of your seat wondering - would I be able to finish all 26 books this year. It was down to the wire, and I still had a book to go. But I dug down deep, and read for hours and at the last minute, aka midnight last night, managed to finish my last book. Victory is mine. (Note: After writing this post and going to write out my full list of books, I noticed that I am terrible at math and actually read 27. Still, I thought I was about to hit that magical 26 number up until 5 minutes ago.)

It really seemed like a modest goal to read 26 books in a year. I'm a book person. I'll be honest, I've probably bought over 26 books this year, which is why I can't go into Half Price Books without a chaperone. And I've toned down my book-buying since I moved earlier this year and remembered just how heavy books are when you put a bunch of them in boxes. But life is busy - we're all so busy all the time and often I look back and can't remember just why I was so busy. It's easy to forget to read. Reading has always been important to me, ever since I was a little kid. It's a great way to exercise your imagination, and to put new information directly into your brain. It's like The Matrix, only, well, not.

So without further ado, here are the last three books I read for #Read26Indy:

24. The Immortal Class by Travis Hugh Culley

The longer you work out here, the sooner you begin to see yourself as somehow different, somehow exempt from the so-called universal laws of life and death. You become part of a class that, in order to continue, must believe itself unstoppable. This heightened feeling gives the messenger a confidence, a speed, and an agility of almost metaphysical proportions. 

This is one of those books that I bought a long time ago and always intended to read, but never cracked open. I bought it because I have all these ideas for stories and characters in my head, and one of them is a bike messenger, so I thought hey, I should read about bike messengers.

The Immortal Class is a memoir of Culley's journey from being a struggling worker in the art world, to being injured riding his bike, to becoming a bike messenger and sometime cycling activist, and eventually giving up messengering but keeping his passion for cycling. He observes the people he passes on the street and the city of Chicago as its own entity:

The city that once seemed so chaotic and wild to me now seems like a perfectly choreographed ballroom dance. I have learned to see in the city a distinct sense of order, a special geometry, a realm of necessity behind each unplanned lunge and skid. 

I alternately enjoyed and rolled my eyes at Culley's writing style. He is certainly the hero of his own story, and sometimes it was hard for me to see past his ego. He is always right. He painstakingly explains why it is totally fine for bike messengers to break all traffic laws, because their jobs would not be profitable if they had to stop like everyone else. He then gets furious with drivers for any perceived slight (though of course, any cyclist knows that some drivers are crazy so I will give him that). He explains that he was the top grossing bike messenger at his company, even with a bad knee, and tells the story of a messenger bike race that he won even against cyclists that are competitive the world over. It took me out of his storytelling sometimes and I wanted to tell him that yes, yes, you're the best, but that's not the interesting part of your story. That said, you must need a healthy dose of ego to make it as a bike messenger in a city like Chicago. I'm sure it would eat me alive.

25. Time's Arrow by Martin Amis

I have noticed in the past, of course, that most conversations would make much better sense if you ran them backward. But with this man-woman stuff, you could run them any way you liked--and still get no further ahead. 

I totally hated this book. I'll just start with that. It was chosen for my book group, and the only reason I even made it halfway through was because I love the discussions we have, even when I dislike the book we've read. Sadly, the meeting date got changed at the last minute and I couldn't go to the new one. But I'd made it more than halfway through, and it was close to the end of the year with my 26 book goal bearing down on me, so I was determined to finish it. It's not a long book, but it felt like it.

This book is built around the concept of observing a man's life in reverse. The narrator is somehow transported into a man's mind (we never know how or why, its not important), a man he has never met, and he watches as the man lives his life backward. He starts as an old man, and slowly gets younger as the book progresses. Instead of clipping his fingernails, he retrieves clippings from the trash and magically reattaches them to his fingernails with the clippers. You don't want to know how he eats. Conversations are had in reverse, which made the reading drag. The words of a sentence are spelled out in proper order, but the sequence of sentences is backward, so to understand what's being said, the reader has to read the conversation twice, once forward, and once backward. It gets frustrating because once in a while the narrator seems to be aware that he's observing this life going backward, but most of the time, even after observing this man for many years, the narrator still notes offhand the strange way that people return food to the store and receive payment from the cashier, as though he still doesn't get it. It's obnoxious - if your reader gets it, most of the time your narrator who is seeing the exact same thing should be able to get it too. I wanted to get up and yell - yes, we get it, get on with the story already!

The unfortunate thing is that the book is incredibly boring. Minor spoiler here: the man is eventually revealed to be an Nazi doctor. This should be a big reveal, but there was no big moment of revelation. It was more of an, oh. We watch holocaust victims come backward out of the gas showers and it should be horrific, or invoke some emotion, but it just feels flat and at a far distance. The author wrote, in the afterward, that it had been his goal to write a novel about a man's life in reverse, that he only later decided to apply this idea to a story around the Holocaust, and that showed in the novel. He didn't really care about the man's story, only about the plot device. I'm fine with a writer using some unusual approach to write a novel, but the novel also has to be interesting. This one, well, it was not. It didn't offer any insights, we don't feel anything really for or against the man we're watching, other than mild dislike. I needed more.

26. World of Trouble by Ben Winters

I can't solve the crime unless I know everything and the world can't end with the crime unsolved, that's all there is to it, so I tighten my grip on her shoulders and demand that she remember. 

Here it is: number 26. It's appropriate that it's the third in the Last Policeman trilogy written by Ben Winters, since his class was the first writing class I took in years, back just last winter. I started #Read26Indy by reading the first in this trilogy, and I think they really get better as they go along.

It's impossible to write about the third in a trilogy without giving some things away, so if you're planning on reading this trilogy and you want to be completely surprised, you should probably close your web page now, even though I won't give away the ending of this particular novel.

We're back with our protagonist and hero, Hank Palace, who was a young policeman promoted up to detective after it was announced that an asteroid is going to hit the earth and probably will kill everyone on it. That's what makes the book unique - it's a micro-level tale. It's not about stopping the asteroid and saving the planet, though the book hints about that just enough to make you think that maybe it's going to change course and become some action hero Armageddon story. It's about Palace, who has been let go from his job along with many others, dealing with the impending catastrophe by trying to impose some sort of order, in some small way. Palace's little sister Nico is part of an underground group that believes they are privy to secret information about a way to stop the asteroid. Palace thinks the idea is idiotic, but he loves his sister. This third installment in the trilogy has Palace trying to find his sister, with less than a week until impact. He has two sidekicks - a little dog and a thief named Cortez.

This is the book where I realized that Palace is just as lost as everyone else. Before it seemed like he was being noble, trying to solve crimes when no one else cared. But in this book it becomes clear that everything is falling apart around him and the only thing keeping him sane is to follow the clues to find his sister. He has no real plans about what he'll do once he finds her. It's the journey that keeps him going.

I won't talk about the ending, but it felt right. I worried that at the last minute Winters would throw in some big hollywood ending, but he stayed true to his character. This was the first one of the three books that had me reading late into the night when I should have been asleep, and thus it was a fitting finish to my year of reading. I recommend reading this trilogy, and I think the kindle version of the first novel is on sale at Amazon right now though I don't know for how long - or support local and go get the books from Indy Reads Books instead.

That's it for my year of reading, but I feel happy about hitting that arbitrary 26 book goal. Finishing a goal right before the deadline, that's the stuff. Happy New Year everyone.

Forward (#ThinkKit Day 30)

#ThinkKit Day 30:

I stole this photo from Google.

A Single Word

What one word sums up the past year? Now: unpack, unfold, and uncover it. What does it represent? What events float to the top when you think about your word? And, okay, if you can't limit yourself to a single word...use a (select) few.

The word of my year was forward. Since the beginning of the year I've been moving forward in so many aspects of life - new job, new place, new habits, new hobbies. There's all this momentum, and I feel like I'm in the middle of heading somewhere great, though I don't necessarily know where or what that is. It's awesome and scary and exciting, and all I know is I'll keep going forward, until I get there, and then I'll go forward some more, or maybe sideways, or some other direction.

Eating Without Meat (#Read26Indy Books 22 and 23)

I'm borrowing this joke from a friend's Facebook page:

An atheist, a vegan, and a Crossfitter walk into a bar. I only know because they told everyone within two minutes. 

I always tried to not talk about being a vegetarian. I just wanted to be left alone to eat what I wanted, without having a discussion about why, or having people assume I was giving them the side-eye because of their dinner.

When Jonathan Safran Foer's book Eating Animals came out, I didn't want to read it. Mainly because I read an article where the actress Natalie Portman's promoted it and compared eating animal products to rape:

I say that Foer's ethical charge against animal eating is brave because not only is it unpopular, it has also been characterized as unmanly, inconsiderate, and juvenile. But he reminds us that being a man, and a human, takes more thought than just "This is tasty, and that's why I do it." He posits that consideration, as promoted by Michael Pollan in The Omnivore's Dilemma, which has more to do with being polite to your tablemates than sticking to your own ideals, would be absurd if applied to any other belief (e.g., I don't believe in rape, but if it's what it takes to please my dinner hosts, then so be it).

I went vegan a couple months back, and I've been vegetarian since high school. I'm probably one of the more sympathetic people to discussions of what we eat. But compare something to rape, and my entire consideration of your point is gone. I've turned off my brain. I think you're a jerk. If you have to compare something to rape, to slavery, or to the Holocaust, you've already lost the argument. Something can be awful, truly awful, but only rape is rape. Find a new metaphor to make your point, because you're not winning any converts with this one.

That aside, when I decided to eat vegan, I wanted to read some books. That's always my first reaction to something new - I go to the library's online card catalog and see what topics there are on the subject. I chose these two books - Eating Animals and Main Street Vegan. Eating Animals to learn about why we as humans eat like we do, and Main Street Vegan as more of a how-to book. I'll start with the latter one.

Main Street Vegan was obnoxious. It's the kind of book that, if read by a non-vegan, would only serve to enforce the idea of vegans as self-righteous. It compared dairy to "white slavery" (p. 93). It claims that eating vegan makes you hotter ("Eating whole plant-based foods makes people attractive" p.232) and will fix almost every health woe (heart disease, impotency, prostate cancer, and that's just on p. 232-233). Some of it could be seen as tongue-in-cheek, but ultimately it didn't seem like she was just having fun with her readers. Let's cut the crap: eating healthy is good for your health, yes. But I'm not going to claim that eating vegan is a magical cure-all. You can eat like crap as a vegan, be unhealthy as a vegan, suffer from disease as a vegan. Eating healthy does not necessarily equal eating vegan.

I didn't choose to eat vegan for my health, though I know many people do. I'll admit it, I'm a lazy vegan. I should eat more fresh veggies and fruits, but that takes time, so sometimes it's pasta or a microwaved veggie patty. Today I ate a veggie loaf TV dinner for lunch because I was in a rush. I don't think that makes me any more healthful than anyone else.

That's not to say that the book doesn't have its valuable parts. Some of the recipes look pretty good, though I haven't tried them yet. And I appreciated the chapter on vitamins and supplements - the gist is that vegans can get most all vitamins and minerals in their food just fine, except for B12. So on my next trip to Whole Foods I bought some B12 supplements. But overall, this probably isn't the book I would recommend to someone curious about veganism, or to most new vegans. And people who have been vegan for years likely know this stuff already.

Much more interesting was Foer's Eating Animals. Like I said before, I was skeptical, but the book was quite good. I wish I could get my meat-eating friends and family to read it, just to get their thoughts. I would love to have a genuine conversation, without finger-pointing or anyone telling anyone else what they "should" be dong.

One thing I noticed right off is that Foer never says he's a vegan. He's a vegetarian. The book rarely discusses dairy, and only touches on egg production a little. And he admits to struggling to give up meat. He links food back to tradition, like the traditional turkey at Thanksgiving, or the meals your grandparents made, and wholly admits to wondering if the he can fully revere those traditions without preparing the meals that go along with them.

Foer frames the book as an exploration of why we eat meat, where our meat comes from, and the process it takes to turn animals into meat, borne from a desire to be able to explain it to his newborn son someday. He visits farms that are focusing on raising animals for meat in ways that cause as little pain and stress as possible. He tries to visit larger, factory-style farms, but no one will let him in, so he goes on a midnight trip with an animal rights activist. And his conclusion is that the people trying to raise meat the "right" way are doing good work, but he still can't bring himself to eat it. But its still better than the status quo. He does make the good point that the people who eat more sustainably-raised meats typically also eat factory-farmed meat as well, so their good intentions still put money in the bank accounts of those they claim to not agree with.

Some of Foer's descriptions made me feel queasy, and I suspect he was holding back. Learning how chickens are butchered and prepared for sale grossed me out, and made me glad I hadn't eaten it for years because I would not be able to put it in my mouth after that. Reading about how many cows aren't actually knocked out by the machine that is supposed to stun them was horrific. I'm not going to go into detail about all of that, because I feel like it's a stereotype of vegans that they are constantly trying to shock people by showing them videos and photos of the horrible conditions in factory farms. The truth is that people don't want to see that. Show them the images and they will shut off completely. I don't know how to open the conversation, because the way we treat living things is important. We don't have to see a chicken as equal to a human, but as humans I think we are expected to have some compassion for them, to at least respect them as living creatures, even if we eat them. You could laugh at the idea of being nice to your food. But when your food had a heartbeat, is that such a crazy idea?

I've struggled with the idea of even writing a blog post about being a vegan, because people tend to roll their eyes when they even hear the word. But then I realized, it's my blog, and no one has to read it if they don't want to. I'm not attacking anyone. I want to have a dialogue about it. I don't want to have an argument, throwing words at the other side like weapons. No one wins that kind of battle. But food seems to be one of those topics that we just can't talk about, like religion and politics. It's too heated, too divisive. How did it get to be that way?

Eating meat is normal, common, expected. Humans have been doing it forever. So it's easy to say that we always will. Sometimes I think that I'm not actually making any sort of difference by sticking to my plant-based food. But even if it made no difference at all, I still couldn't eat  meat. It doesn't feel right. It doesn't look like food. I don't want it in my body. But maybe it will make some tiny, imperceptible impact. And as Foer eloquently puts it:

It might sound fantastic, but when we bother to look, it's hard to deny that our day-to-day choices shape the world. When America's early settlers decided to throw a tea party in Boston, forces powerful enough to create a nation were released. Deciding what to eat (and what to toss overboard) is the founding act of production and consumption that shapes all others.

#putyourphonedown (#ThinkKit Day 29)

#ThinkKit Day 29 asks:

Shout At The World

If you could make a # (hashtag) take off...what would it be? What conversation do you want to have with the world? Who are the five people you'd want to hear from first...or last? Is your trending topic personal? Political? Lyrical? Or just random? 

I'm as much at fault as anyone else at pulling out my phone to poke at any time I feel slightly bored. It's very rarely something important, but it's so easy to do. Yet I get incredibly annoyed when I'm sitting across the table staring at someone while they type away with their index finger. It keeps us from being there in the moment with the people we're next to. We're always worried about whoever is not there, about whatever is going on in the world outside our immediate vision.

I want to talk to people, find out what makes them tick, tell stupid stories, anything but be type type typing all the time. So what do you say, next time we're all together, #putyourphonedown, and I'll #putmyphonedown, and we'll be ok, I swear. The rest of the world will wait and we can tweet about it later.

#ThinkKit Megapost (#ThinkKit Days 23-28 all in one)

#ThinkKit Days 23-28:

I got a way behind on blogging around Xmas. I just couldn't find the motivation to write, and the next thing I knew I was nearly a week behind. I wanted to blog every day, so while that clearly didn't happen, I'm going catch up now with a megapost, blogging in succinct (for me) style on all the topics from the past six days. Carry on.

Day 23:

Apple Of Your Eye

You've ranted. You've raved. You've freestyled, soapboxed, and even waved a magic wand or two. Today, let's keep it positive. Who (or what) is doing something good? Share a story of your positive action, whether it's a favorite charity, foundation, or nonprofit – or just an individual whose penchant for do-goodery makes you feel all warm and fuzzy.

Over the years, I've been on the hunt for a really good nonprofit organization. My experience with a lot of nonprofits has been that they have great ideas, but once I get to know them, I get discouraged by the way they handle their finances, or the way they manage their programs. But a few years back, I had the pleasure of working on a food recovery program with Second Helpings and I fell in love.

Second Helpings recovers food from grocery stores, events, restaurants, and other places that would otherwise be thrown in the dumpster. This is perfectly good food - it's not the leftovers sitting out on the buffet line. It's the stuff that was prepped back in the kitchen but was never needed. It's the stuff that would expire soon in the grocery store, but is still perfectly fresh. And they take this food and turn it into healthy meals, which they then distribute to schools, day cares, and all other kinds of places in the greater Indianapolis area that feed hungry people. The staff is both pragmatic and caring, and they keep their eye on their mission. I encourage anyone looking for a year-end nonprofit to support to look their way.

Day 24:

A Dash Of Thanks

What are you thankful for? Maybe it's from this year – or maybe it's something in your past that resonated with you recently. And – we hold people, places, and things in equal regard: a sense of gratefulness can take many forms. 

Goal for next year: get out of the backpack

I am thankful for so much that's it's impossible to choose just one. I have amazing people in my life, and I live comfortably working a job I like. That's something not everyone has, and I know I'm a lucky duck. I've also been thinking lately about how lucky I am to be healthy, and have a functional body. I ran a marathon this year. And recently, thanks to a friend who is amazing at it, I've discovered a new love of aerial silks. I'm lucky that my body can try these new things, that it can move and bend and get stronger. I've taken, and will keep taking as long as I can, these opportunities to test my physical limits, and I appreciate that every day. I don't get to see my friends as often as I'd like, but I love this tradition, and I love spending time with them. 

Day 25:

What's Your Tradition?

Hanging out with Millie the goat. We are tight.

Today we'll keep it short and sweet. Share a photo from your year that highlights giving, thankfulness, traditions or finding peace. What does the photo represent to you?

My tradition for the past three holiday seasons is that a couple weeks prior to Christmas, I go out to visit my friends Erin and Nick, who live a good hour away from Indy, to help them package and make boxes for their awesome wooden toys. They have a business called Imagination Kids Toys, where they make all kinds of animals and stackables, and I love going out there to be their "elf" for the day to help in my small way with getting the orders out. We talk nonstop all day and evening, visit with their chickens, pony, and goat, hang out with their kids, and get dinner from the truck stop Indian restaurant. 

Day 26:

Goin' Places

What place stood out for you this year? Outdoors or indoors; a huge gathering or a tête-à-tête? Where were you? Who were you with? What feeling did you have when leaving? Were you inspired? Refreshed? Or...confused and glad to be gone? Whether it was exciting...or awkward: give us a hall pass out of our own room for a few minutes.

A winter wonderland in July

Like so many of these posts that say choose just one example, it was hard to choose just one place that really stood out this year, but when I looked back through my photos, this one stood out. It's from the Awards Night party during the Indy Film Fest at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in July. Our fearless leader and president, Craig, worked with the resourceful events people at the IMA to have these giant snowflakes hung from the ceiling on the stage behind the screen in the Toby Theater, to go with the winter theme of that night's featured film, Kumiko the Treasure Hunter. When the film ended, Craig said a few words and gestured his arms dramatically as the screen rolled up to the ceiling to reveal this swanky party. It truly looked and felt magical, and it was a highlight of the time I spent on the film fest's board, which I formally stepped down from just last week. I look forward to going again next year as a volunteer and spectator to see what new things they will have in store for us.

Day 27:

Show & Tell

Time to show off your handiwork: what did you make this year? Share something personal, like a song or art. What inspired you? Was the finished work what you initially imagined? Or a work project – what was the process? The end result? Share your vision...and your work!

My main crafty hobbies these days are quilting and knitting, though this year I have let them fall by the wayside somewhat. I made this quilt for my mom's birthday in February, and I was really proud at how it turned out. Quilts take hours upon hours of work, and I love being able to give someone something that tells them that's how much I care. I hope next year to make some more quilts, but looking back on this year, I'm proud of this one. 

Day 28:

One Small Step

Set your sights on the next year: what's one step you can take to support a goal you have for 2015? Whether it requires a written plan, a list of supplies or ingredients, or even a flowchart: getting your plan down in words should help spur you into action.

A couple weeks ago I signed up to ride my bike in the Tour de Cure next summer, and I posted a link for anyone who wanted to donate to my fundraising goal of $200. Frankly, I felt a little uncomfortable asking for money, and I didn't really expect anyone to donate. But they did! One friend donated immediately, and I was overcome by her generosity. Then a Facebook friend who I've never actually met but know through online running discussions pitched in, and then a friend who cycles more in a month than I will in the rest of my life. I was so impressed with their willingness to pitch in. I see requests to donate to this cause or that so often that I feel guilty that my modest income doesn't allow me to donate what I'd like. So in the past, I've rarely donated. But my friends made me realize that it's ok to donate what you can - every little bit helps. So as we go into next year, it's my personal goal to donate every time I'm asked, even if it's only $10 or $15 that I can part with at that moment. It all matters, and feeling supported is worth more than the cash itself. Thank you everyone for your support! I promise to pay it forward and then some.

I've Got Friends (#ThinkKit Day 22)

#ThinkKit Day 22 says:

Chef's Choice

Today, we're keeping it wide open – we want you to write. Write the thought ringing in your head this morning. Write what you can't forget. Write what you want to remember about _____. Write the everyday and the extraordinary. Let Frank O'Hara be your guide.

I woke up this morning thinking about friendship. I had an awesome weekend spent with friends, and it made realize how truly fortunate I am. The photo above was taken on Sunday by my friend Greg. We met the first year of the roller derby, back when I was playing and he was photographing the bouts. And he's been one of my best buds ever since. Even when we don't see each other for a few months, it's still the same when we hang out. We take photos, goof off, do random things, have fun.

I spent my Friday with my gardening friends having a super fun dance party. It was glorious. We played everything from disco to Beyonce and rocked out. Saturday I had lunch with a newer friend who surprised me by giving me great running shoes. It was wholly surprising and unnecessarily generous, but also amazing. I've been on a pretty strict budget this year and new shoes weren't on the horizon, so the sweet gift really made me smile. Then Saturday night I went to a Christmas party with one of my roller derby teammates from back in the day and sang live band karaoke. I got to pretend to be a rock star for the span of one song, and had a total blast.

I've had several conversations this year about how hard it is to make friends as you get older. And I still believe that's true, but I've been fortunate to make some great new friends this year, and to keep the amazing friends I've met through the years as well. Everyone feels alone sometimes, but next time I feel that way, maybe I'll just read this post and remind myself that I have great people in my life, and they have my back, and we have a blast together.

Surprise Jams (#ThinkKit Day 21)

#ThinkKit Day 21 asks:

Ooh! Aah!

What surprised you this year? Was it a jump-out-of-your-seat shocking moment? Learning something new that really flipped your wig? A moment in time that left you speechless? A friend or stranger's actions that really blew your mind? Leave us slack-jawed and standing silent...or at least thoughtfully quiet for a few seconds!

Here's something that shocked the hell out of me this year: I learned that I actually like Taylor Swift's music. I like to think I have decent taste (don't we all?), but I wholly admit that I love some terrible songs, in addition to the "good" stuff. I had considered Swifty to be a little beyond what I liked to jam to, but all right, it's catchy. We played this song at a dance party over the weekend, and it was super fun. So I give up, and give Taylor Swift one more number in her quest for world domination. But seriously, play the song and try not to dance in your seat.

A Perfect Day (#ThinkKit Day 20)

#ThinkKit's Day 20 prompt asked us to write about something we're on the fence about, but nothing came to mind. Am I fenceless? I'm sure there's plenty of uncertainty in my life, but since nothing compelling jumped out at me, I'm grabbing another lifeline topic today, an easy one:

Perfecto

What's your perfect day look like? Make it full of fantasy, or just laid-back and ideal. Can you work toward making it your reality? Have you had a day that was almost perfect? 

In this post, anything is possible, so let's go with that. In my perfect day, I visit my friends in India, like I'm hoping to do at some point in the next couple years. I get up with the sun and go running, then set up shop in a picturesque cafe to write for several hours. I meet my friends for lunch and have amazing Indian food. In the afternoon we go shopping in the market and buy beautiful fabrics, go off exploring, then at night we eat more Indian food and go dancing until the wee hours of the morning. That sounds pretty perfect to me.

Maybe I can make it a reality, maybe not. An international plane ticket is no inexpensive thing. But it's a nice dream.

Runner Fuel (#ThinkKit Day 19)

#ThinkKit's 19th Day:

Insert Theme Music Here

Strike up the band – what was the soundtrack to your year? Was it the music you listened to the most? A certain song that kept reappearing, or worse...that you couldn't get away from? Or maybe it wasn't music at all – maybe a podcast, voice, performance, or significant sound played over-and-over. Whatever you heard: we're all ears!

This year, I've been obsessed with putting together a great running playlist. It really helps to motivate me when I'm running miles and miles all on my own. Here are my highlights. They're a mix of music I've always loved, throwbacks to the 90's, and songs I would never listen to if it weren't for running. It has a little bit of amped up pop, some riot grrrl stuff, and some metal. I stream everything through Spotify so I can mix it up and try new songs all the time.

Let me know in the comments what I should add! What gets your blood flowing and your feet moving?

Running music playlist 2015:

Revolusion by Elliphant
Black Widow (Vice Remix) by Iggy Azalea
Declare Independence by Bjork
Feedback by Janet Jackson
Infinity Guitars by Sleigh Bells
Paper Tigers by Thrice
A.K.A. by Jennifer Lopez
Break the Rules by Charli XCX
Adrenalize by In This Moment
Game On by Disciple
No Son Of Mine by Every Time I Die
Girl On Fire (Inferno Version) by Alicia Keys
Raspberry Swirl by Tori Amos
The Last Time by All That Remains
Fireball by DEV
Becoming The Bull by Atreyu
99 Problems by Jay-Z
Me Quiere by Ivy Queen
Lookin' at Me by Pearl Future/Nicki Minaj
Die Another Day by Madonna
Big Hoops by Nelly Furtado
Dare (La La La) by Shakira
Burn by Ellie Goulding
Dig Me Out by Sleater-Kinney
I Won't Let You Down by OK Go
I Am Your Leader by Nicki Minaj
Survival by Eminem (I can't stand Eminem, but I make an exception for this song)
Don't Give Up by Noisettes
Gutless by Hole
Alive by Krewella
Volcano Girls by Veruca Salt
5 Minutes by Hum.V
Every Heartbeat (Radio Edit Remix) by Amy Grant (yeah, I said it)
Heart On My Sleeve by Mary Lambert
Hello Kitty by Avril Lavigne (it's nonsensical but it's a great running song)
Work Hard, Play Hard by Wiz Khalifa
Fatty Boom Boom by Die Antwoord
Problem by Natalia Kills
Catch You by Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Run the World by Beyonce
I'm a Firecracker by Princess Superstar
Fireball by Willow
Brackish by Kittie
Bleeding Mascara by Atreya

Work Work (#ThinkKit Day 18)

On #ThinkKit Day 18, I decided to choose a lifeline:

Work It

What did your workspace look like this year? Did you use a desk, chalkboard, table, floor, or all of the above? What was essential (or completely non-essential) to your workflow?

This was the year I took a new job, one without an office. I'd never worked from home before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. What I quickly learned was that working at home is not for me. I missed the noise and activity of having other people around. My cat couldn't quite fill in.

A friend mentioned the Speak Easy, a shared workspace she had recently joined. I tried it out, and I loved the concept. I bring in my laptop and plunk down in any number of comfy chairs or tables and get to work. There are small meeting rooms I can sign out with the stoke of a dry erase marker, and a larger one I can use for my quarterly board meeting.

It's the best of both worlds - I can get my work done but there are plenty of people around also working, so I'm a little less likely to spend too much time on Facebook or Jezebel. And no one bats an eye if you break out a beer when the workday is done.

X Bee X (#ThinkKit Day 17)

I've been doing my end of the year organizing, and one of the things I've been starting to go through is my box of photographs and sentimental items I've saved over the year. So today's #ThinkKit was timely:

Let's Get Physical

Time to go through your (actual) desktop, junk drawer, or coat pockets and share an artifact from your past. A half-torn ticket stub, once-washed receipt, coffee-stained map, anything in a frame: it's all fair game. What springs to mind from your artifact? The smells, sights, and sounds? A specific feeling? Hold it in your hand, close your eyes, and go back in time to a moment.

I dug into my box of sentimental things and found this bandanna, and memories came rushing at me like a wave. It was given to me by a fellow Peace Corps volunteer back in 2004. I joined the Peace Corps immediately after college. I'd wanted to sign up for the environmental program going to Eastern Europe, but it filled up before my paperwork was finished processing. They offered me the chance to go to the Philippines instead. I'd never even thought about the Philippines before. I guess I was aware it was out there, but I had no sense of what it was like as a country. So of course I said yes.

I wanted an adventure, and a purpose, and something that would force me out of my introverted shell. The info sessions at my school were led by women who were taught beekeeping, and then went out to other countries to pass the skill along, or who worked on preservation in African national parks. I was excited to learn something new, and to make an impact. It didn't quite work out that way, but this bandanna reminds me of the good stuff.

I met my cohort in San Francisco, and we traveled to Manila together. There were 40 of us who would all train together for the next couple of months before being dispersed throughout the country to work on various projects. I've always been an introvert, and I've always wished I wasn't. Luckily everyone was incredibly friendly, and I made friends fairly quickly

The person that gave me this bandanna was my best friend in the Peace Corps, and the person who helped me get through the rough first weeks once I reached the town where I was assigned. He was kind, and extroverted, and he let me know that even someone like him didn't find it easy. It made me feel infinitely better, and less alone.

This bandanna came from an environmentally themed weekend camp for kids that the Peace Corps volunteers put together as a group while we were still in training. It may have been the only productive thing I did as a Peace Corps volunteer. The bandannas were from an activity about bees, and the volunteers all had their bandannas embroidered with different plays on the word "bee". Mine said "May Bee". This one was given to me by my straight edge friend, based on the X's he used to sport on his hands back in the day. It made complete sense if you knew him. He gave it to me before I was sent off solo to my assignment: a little town up in the mountains, many hours away from another volunteer. And I still have it 10 years later because it reminds me of the camp we put together and the activities explaining how water is absorbed in vegetated areas but runs off pavement, among other things, and because it reminds me of someone who made a real impact on me when I needed a friend.

On Cosby and Role Models Doing Terrible Things (#ThinkKit Day 16)

ThinkKit Day 16 asks:

Extra! Extra!

 

Take a moment to dip into the deep well of the past year's 24-hour news cycle.What world event moved you this year? What story, series, or moment fascinated you? Made you scratch your head? Brought you to the edge of tears...or past the edge of your seat? Did an outside perspective change the way you felt, or make you take action? Share the headline(s) that resonated with you.

This year's news was full of the disturbing and the tragic, much of which affected me in different ways. But a stand-out was, of course, the revelation of the private life of Bill Cosby.

I loved Bill Cosby as a child, along with everyone else. I remember vividly the final episode of the Cosby Show, and Boys II Men, at the top of their game at the time, changing the words to their song to say "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye... to the Cosby Show". It truly felt like an end of the era when that show ended. All the adult men in my life wore those ridiculous Cosby sweaters, and Bill Cosby was a true icon. I'll even admit to watching the film Ghost Dad repeatedly.

Cosby has been in the news pretty much every day the last couple of months, with allegations against him popping up all over the place. At first people seemed skeptical, but as the mountain of allegations grew, and higher profile women shared their stories, those defending Cosby got quieter. A while back I read Janice Dickinson's autobiography (don't judge, we all need some semi-trashy reading material once in a while, and I used to love America's Next Top Model when Janice was a judge). In her book she talked about an incident with Cosby where she turned him down and he slammed a door in her face, and she wrote that years ago before the allegations were widely known and reported, so it didn't seem completely out of the realm of possibility to me when the allegations started coming out after Hannibal Buress's comedy routine caught fire. But I never would have imagined the sheer scope of what he likely did, and there are likely many more victims out there that will never come forward.

In the end, it's incredibly sad that yet another role model has fallen. Also this year, the actor that played the dad on 7th Heaven admitted to molesting children in the past. It didn't get the same level of media exposure, but it's just as disturbing. Both his and Cosby's accused crimes are past the statute of limitations, so while their reputations and careers will suffer, they don't have to fear prison.

I don't know why the people we put on pedestals so often turn out to have done horrible things. Does the limelight warp them, or do warped people pursue fame?

People we admire can do terrible things. Other people will try and defend them, or avert their eyes and pretend nothing is wrong here, because they are powerful, or because we just don't want to believe someone we adore could have an incredibly twisted side to them. Look at the support of Roman Polanski, for god's sake. He pled guilty to sleeping with a 13 year old girl (who he drugged and raped), then fled the country, and now he can't travel to the U.S. or any country that might extradite him because he would be sent to prison. Anjelica Huston's memoir that came out this year even includes her talking about seeing him with the 13 year old at a party and thinking nothing of it. Yet A-list actors still flock to work with him because he is a gifted director. Yes, The Pianist was a gorgeous film. But I can't bring myself to watch any more of his films now that I'm aware of his past. I feel the same way about Woody Allen. I wonder if, once he passes on, if we can watch the Cosby Show again without guilt, or if it will always be marred by the thing he did off-screen. Can we ever truly separate someone's work from who they are?

Lucky Numbers (#ThinkKit Day 15)

#ThinkKit Day 15 prompt:

Lucky Numbers

Time to get mathematical – and yes, you may use a calculator. Was there a significant number in your year? A birthday? A first? A personal record? A date now carved in the annals of time? A number that represents a streak, whether winning or losing, good or bad? A bellwether or a lagging indicator or just...three.

My significant number this year was, of course:

The big crazy goal, and I met it at the Monumental Marathon. So I've set a new goal for next year: 100. That's 100 miles. I signed up for the Tour de Cure, so in June I'll be cycling 100 miles to raise money for diabetes research. Guess I better get on the bike!

#Read26Indy Book Roundup - Books 19-21

This is not a #ThinkKit blog. This is a #Read26Indy blog. Apparently this is the year of the hashtag.

I've knocked out three more books - 5 more to go but I'm in the middle of a couple so I may hit 26 just under the wire. We'll see. But first, here are the three I finished in the last month or so:

Book #19: Slow River by Nicola Griffith

"Don't you see? Everything works in layers: jungles, cities, people. Each layer has its predator and prey, its network of ally and foe, safe place and trap. Its own ecosystem. You have to get to know the land."

Lore is the daughter of an extremely wealth and high profile family, but our story begins as she is dropped off in a city, naked and wounded, after having been kept captive for ransom. Afraid to go home, she is rescued by a con artist that becomes her teacher and lover. Lore struggles to find out who she is on her own, and what happened to her.

Earlier this year I bought a big batch of books that were nominated or won Lambda Literary awards, because finding good LGBT literature seems much harder than it should be. This book was sitting on my shelf looking at me for months before I finally picked it up, and I enjoyed it. Unfortunately I saw the big twist coming a mile off, and it just rang false when it was finally revealed. But I enjoyed turning the pages, and reading a story where the character's sexuality wasn't what the story revolved around but instead was just one aspect of her personality. The other thing I found particularly interesting was the incredibly detailed description of how a futuristic wastewater treatment facility might work. The author clearly did her research. I'm not an engineer but I've done work related to wastewater treatment in the past, and from what I know her descriptions were pretty darn close to how things actually work. A large portion of the book takes place in a wastewater treatment plant - something you don't see too often in novels. I always appreciate works that look at where our waste materials go and how it's disposed of. We often don't think about that at all, since it's out of sight out of mind.

I'll definitely pick up some of her other books in the future.

Book #20 Yes Please by Amy Poehler

"Authors pretend their stories were always shiny and perfect and just waiting to be written. The truth is, writing is this: hard and boring and occasionally great but usually not. Even I have lied about writing. I have told people that writing this book has been like brushing away dirt from a fossil. What a load of shit. It has been like hacking away at a freezer with a screwdriver."

I was on the waitlist to get this book from the library for a long time, so when they finally notified me that the e-book was ready for me, I dropped everything else I was reading and started reading this instead.

My favorite part of the entire book is the first chapter, because it's a chapter about writing. That's what I quoted from above. I loved this chapter so much, as an aspiring writer, because it gives me permission to write crappy stuff sometimes, and concurs that writing is not this beautiful arty thing that just flows (I'm talking to you, Finding Forrester).

But this isn't a book about writing. It's one of a number of memoirs that have come out in the past few years by comedians, like Tina Fey and Mindy Kaling, all of which seem to follow the same basic formula. They are incredibly funny in parts, and trace their beginnings from childhood through beginning improv, and their eventual success. They have great moments of humor and many more moments of banality. Probably much like a comedian's life. They all also seem to spend some time bemoaning having to read the book they are writing, something that was a little funny back in Ellen Degeneres's first book, but has gotten a little old, especially when we all know they get paid large sums to write these books that are about everything and nothing at once. It's obvious that the publishers go to them and ask for a book, any book, about whatever, because they know the name behind it will sell it.

That's not to say this isn't a good book. It's got some great, funny parts, and it shows that to be successful it takes incredible drive and commitment, not just some nascent talent. For that alone, I think it's a good lesson in a world where we think success comes overnight from some natural ability that doesn't need to be refined. She talks a lot about success, and she also talks about Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigolo being her first big movie part. So it's all relative, really.

Book #21 Countdown City by Ben H. Winters

“Respectfully, sir, the asteroid did not make you leave her. The asteroid is not making anyone do anything. It's just a big piece of rock floating through space. Anything anyone does remains their own decision.”

This is book two of a trilogy, which makes it a little hard to review until I finish the third one, which is ready and waiting at home for me to crack it open. Mild spoilers below if you haven't read the first book.

...

When we left our hero, Detective Hank Palace, he had been let go from the police force. Now he has a new mystery to solve. His childhood babysitter has enlisted him to find her missing husband, who from all evidence has left of his own accord, something that has become very common as the asteroid coming destroy the earth gets closer. So while society is falling apart, Hank will follow clues to track down this man and try to convince him to come back to his wife.

Hank has to turn to his sister Nico for assistance. Nico, who believes she is part of an underground network dedicated to combating a secret government conspiracy, carrying out a plan she believes could stop the asteroid. Hank has no time to worry about conspiracies, or ridiculously implausible plans to divert the end of the world. The asteroid is coming. It's unavoidable. But he has to find the missing man anyway. Even Hank knows it's pointless, but he can't help himself, he needs that small amount of order in a world that is falling apart around him.

I'll let you know if the ending of this trilogy is satisfying. It's hard to say where it's all going, but I look forward to finding out.

I have half a month to finish 5 more books (well, 4, because there's one I finished that I didn't include here). So I better get to it. See you soon.

Sugar (#ThinkKit Day 14)

Day 14 Prompt:

Look Outward, Look Inward

By telescope or microscope, or no scope at all – what did you discover? A new aspect of yourself? A favorite artist, musician, or variety of cheese? Did you discover something about a loved one? A familiar or new-to-you place? Be broad, be narrow, or be surprising.

Let's talk sugar here for a minute. That's what I call books or TV shows that are pure enjoyment, little nutrition. We all need some sugar along with our fine literature or Oscar-worthy entertainment.

This year I fell in love with the TV show Nashville. It's a country music soap opera, a description that normally would make me turn the channel immediately. But I'm totally hooked - I burned through the first two seasons earlier this year on Hulu, and now it's the one show I watch every single week. It's worth it for the times that Scarlett and Gunnar sing together, and for everything Juliette Barnes, amazingly played by Hayden Panettiere. I'm a total fangirl over this show.

Written (#ThinkKit Day 13)

Day 13 Prompt:

Put Down Your Blog...

And pick up a pen! Or pencil. Heck – we'd settle for a crayon.

You don't have to stay in-between ruled lines, but we do want you to write something by hand. Sure, a letter comes to mind. But so does a recipe you discovered this year. A poem. A series of tweets that is a poem. A contract with yourself – or someone else. Whatever you get on paper – write it, then photograph & blog it. Cursive or manuscript, we promise not to grade on penmanship.

Do-Over (#ThinkKit Day 12)

Day 12 is another guest blog by a fictional character:

Mulligan

 

We've put another quarter in the slot – free play! Hit the reset button on a moment this year: what would you do over? Whether or not you analyze your actions – how would you act differently? Would the outcomes shift, or stay the same? From a single sentence to a whole day (and everything in-between), feel free to explain your choice, from how you felt immediately after the moment passed, to any thoughts that ran through your mind beforehand. Take a mulligan! 

If I could do one thing over, I would never have got on this spaceship.

It seemed like the only option at the time. I had no job prospects, and I needed to get off that stupid rock. The ship needed a botanist, and I'd worked enough in the vertical farms back home to fit the bill.

I signed the travel contract, of course. You have to before they'll let you on board. But no one really expects to have to follow through on the fine print.

I didn't really care where the ship was going, but it was headed to a new colony, one that had only been settled a decade or so before. Pretty new in terms of worlds.

When we got close, I could tell something was wrong. They shuttered all the windows on the ship, blaming some kind of solar flare, but I knew they didn't want us to see. Then something hit the ship, hard, and the warning sirens blared.

The announcement came on: "Everyone please proceed to gather up arms. We are now at war."

I never wanted to fight anyone. But here I am, holding a gun in my hands and waiting for whoever the enemy is to come down the ship's hall to where I am.

I wish I'd never got on this ship.

#ThinkKit Day 11 Is Total Fiction

I'll be honest, the last couple of days I've been struggling to write a #ThinkKit post. I wondered: was I running out of steam? Had I run out of things to say? And then it hit me - I was totally tired of writing about myself. Not that my life isn't fascinating (I could write 500 words right now about the scarf I just knit) but in the end, I'm just not all that interested in writing about me.

So today, I decided to bring in a pinch hitter, and have my post guest written. By a fictional character. That's a sane person thing to do, right? Either way, here we go.

#ThinkKit Day 11 Prompt:

Hi, I'm ______

Nametags and punchbowls aren't necessary (but we're okay with that!) – who did you meet this year? Was it awkward? Enlightening? Was your first impression correct? Was it accidental & meant to be, pre-arranged, or somewhere in-between? Whether you found a soulmate, held a new baby, or finally trusted someone to style your hair just so, write about a new person (or people) in your life.

So I met this guy yesterday. I was on my way to visit my grandma, and it takes forever to get there because I have to walk the whole way. I want to point out up front that I don't usually talk to strange guys, unless they're really cute. But I was so bored. I mean, you can only look at trees and birds and stuff for so long before your brain goes numb.

I was already annoyed because my mom was making me visit Grams and take her a batch of crappy food when I'd wanted to go out to a party with my friends. So, yeah, I was probably not quite in my right mind when this older, almost attractive, yet really hairy, guy started talking to me on the trail.

He seemed nice enough at first (don't they always?). He said he was traveling a couple towns over from where I was going, and he offered to walk with me to make sure I was safe. He said he had a daughter a few years younger than me so he was always a little concerned about ladies traveling on their own. Maybe I'm naive, but I believed him.

He told me stories about the places he'd traveled, and said he thought I was pretty, that I'd be gorgeous when I hit 20. He even complemented my red cape - you know, the one with the hood - which I love even though mom says it makes me look like a harlot. Mainly though, he just asked me about myself and it was so nice to have someone paying attention to me for a change. He asked me about school, about my friends, my family, about how my grandma was doing, and if she had anyone with her to help take care of her.

I did notice that he seemed a little skittish, jumping any time we heard noises. A couple times we heard gunshots way off in the distance, and he seemed ready to bolt every time one would ring out. But it's hunting season, so as long as we didn't get too far off the path, we would be ok.

A couple times he suggested that we take shortcuts - he said he'd traveled this way so many times that we could shave a whole hour off the trip if we took one. Now look, I may be cute, but I'm not totally dumb, and I'm not following some guy I just  met into the woods unless he's Channing Tatum.

Anyway, when we got about an hour away from Gram's house, he said he had to go another way and I'd have to walk the rest on my own. I thought it was strange, since the path would have taken him pretty close to where he said he was going, but he swore he had a shortcut and that he was running late. He gave me a hug before he left, which I really wasn't all about - he was super hairy, and it was itchy when he hugged me. As he walked away, I noticed something bulky in the back of his pants. Weird, but I didn't give it a whole lot of thought.

By the time I finally got to Gram's it was getting dark, and she didn't have any lights on inside. Great, I thought, all this was and she's already asleep. What an awesome Friday night.

When I opened the door I could see a little candle burning next to the bed. I rolled my eyes - not that she could see me - she could totally burn down her little house falling asleep with that thing burning. But she was cheap - I mean thrifty - and she hated having to spend money on firewood from the woodsman when she could climb under all her blankets to keep warm instead. She must have put on all the blankets at once because she lay in an enormous fabric lump.

I started unloading all the parcels mom had sent me with: bread, cheese, sauerkraut (ew), when I heard her stir behind me.

"Sorry, Gramma, I didn't mean to wake you up."
"It's ok sweetie," she said, but her voice sounded like gravel.
"Whoa, Gram, you sound like you need a lozenge."
"Yes, I'm feeling a little under the weather. Could you make me some herbal tea?"

Great, I thought, she's going to make me sick. But I'm a good granddaughter, so I made her some tea. As I took it over to her, I noticed she had the covers pulled all the way up past her nose. In the flickering candlelight, I couldn't see much, but something looked... off... about her eyes.

"Gramma, what big eyes..." I started to say, when she flung off the covers. "Oh crap!" I yelled. It was the guy from the woods, laying there in Gram's bed, wearing her nightgown and the cap she wears to keep her roller set hair in place at night. I had just a moment to notice his distended belly before he lunged out at me and... everything went black.

When I came to, everything was pitch black, warm, and wet. I started to panic and thrash around until I heard a familiar voice say, "Calm down, child."
"Grandma?" I asked. "Where are we?"
"Best I can tell, we're in the belly of a wolf."
"Oh." I paused. "What happened?"
"Well, you know I don't usually let strangers in my house after dark, but this fella here said he was a friend of yours. He knew a lot about you."
I hissed in my breath. "Oh. Oh no."
"I think you need some better friends," she said flatly. I'd long ago learned it was better not to argue with Grams, or to try and explain. Instead I simply said "Yes, ma'am".

We sat there silently for awhile. I tried to squirm around but there wasn't much room. I could hear the wolf snoring. It's a weird thing to hear snores from inside someone.

"What are we going to do?"
"I've been trying to figure that out, dear. I can't say I've ever been in a situation like this one before. Not even during the war." The last thing I wanted to do was to get her started on one of her war stories.
"Wait, Shh! Do you hear that?" We'd been pretty still, so I knew our captor must be asleep. And I thought... yes, I could hear someone's voice in the distance!
"Who is that, grams?" I whispered, careful now not to wake up the wolf.
"Oh, yes! I nearly forgot. The woodsman was supposed to drop off another cord of wood on his way home tonight."
"Well if we can get his attention, maybe we have a chance!"

We came up with a plan, or as much of a plan as you can pull together in 30 seconds in the belly of a wolf. We had to move fast before the woodsman left. I could feel a burning sensation on my skin, which I suspected was me beginning to be digested. I could hear some sounds that I assumed were him unloading the lumber. Grams said that he would probably stop in for payment afterward, and that would be our chance.

"Did you lock the door behind you?" she asked me.
"Um... no, I forgot." I could almost hear her frown.
"Well, at least it works for us this time."

A few moments later, I heard a knock on the door. Unfortunately, so did the wolf. He sat straight up in the bed, sending me and grams colliding together. If I could have seen anything, I probably would have seen stars. As the door creaked open (and thank god for the rusty hinges) the wolf leapt to his feet. I don't know exactly what happened then, other than there was a terrible fight that gave me such motion sickness I nearly puked. And this was our time - in a moment of relative quiet, Grams whispered "Go" and we both screamed, as loud and as long as we could, and started kicking at the wolf, trying to keep him distracted and off balance. Then we were thrown backward, hard, hitting the floor of the house.

This was it - we would survive, or get an axe through us. I squeezed my eyes shut, terrified. And then... I heard a ripping sound and felt air against my face. I looked up, covered in guts and gore, and saw the face of the woodsman, a knife in one hand, holding back the wolf's sliced belly in the other.

And you know what? He was totally cute.

Road Tripping (#ThinkKit Day 10)

#ThinkKit Day 10 - I'm calling in a lifeline for the first time and going with this one:

Road Stories

Getting places. Tell a story about transportation, about getting from Point A to Point B – whether it's a road trip, a long bus ride, or bicycling nowhere in particular.

I had meant to blog about my trip over the summer but got busy, and then thought maybe it was too late for it to be interesting. But no - it was just waiting for today!

A friend of mine invited me to come up to Minneapolis in August for the Square Lake Film & Music Festival. I decided that I didn't want to drive, so I took the MegaBus up. I frikkin' love the MegaBus. It's affordable, clean, quiet, and I can knit and charge my phone while letting someone else do the driving. I took the late bus to Chicago, and then would take another one from Chicago to Minneapolis. The only catch was that there was a 5 hour window in between. In Chicago, on a Thursday. In the middle of the night, from midnight to 5 a.m. I kind of assumed that Chicago was always going, that I would be able to easily find somewhere to spend the time. I asked a friend who lives there where I could cool my heels for a few hours in the middle of the night, and it turned out the only place in walking distance that was open all night was a McDonald's.

I usually avoid McDonald's. The only thing I can eat there might be the fries and I've been wary of them since they admitted years ago that they cooked them in beef tallow. But McDonald's it was, and it was kind of fun. I got coffee and grabbed a booth to camp out until sunrise. It was amazing people watching. I made friends with the security guard, who seemed like a nice older man. He treated the people there kindly, letting them stay for hours unless they fell asleep at the table. I watched two guys dressed like preppy businessmen come in around 4 a.m., wide awake, and it made me wonder about all the people out there who operate on completely different schedules, and what it must be like to be up all night and sleep all day. I read my book and drank coffee and chatted with the security guard for several hours, and then I was off on my next bus ride.

Several hours later we arrived in Minneapolis. My friend was still at work, so I threw on my giant backpack and hiked over a couple miles to the Sculpture Garden and hung out by the giant spoon. Then my friend came by and picked me up. It's so nice to have those friends that you may not see for years, but who you're immediately comfortable with when you see them again.

Saturday morning we (my friend, his partner, a friend of theirs, and myself) were ready to head to the festival. The majority of the people who attend ride bikes there - about a three hour bike ride one way. I was slightly nervous about being able to keep up, but I was determined not to slow anyone down. We threw our bags and tents in a big van and headed off with a group of cyclists. We wove through Minneapolis and onto a long, paved path that headed out of the city. I found it amazing that this incredibly long path existed and led out into the countryside. I managed to keep up the whole way without killing myself, which I count as a victory.

They had warned me that at the end of our ride there was a huge hill. I was determined that I would make it up the whole way on my bike. So tired near the end of the ride, I finally saw the hill, my nemesis. It was enormous, and ridiculously steep. Who cares that I was already worn out? I was going to do it. I gritted my teeth and began to pedal. And then... hey, I was walking! My brain decided to override my legs and without even realizing it I'd jumped off the bike and started walking it up the hill. You win this time brain, I thought.

We were in the first wave of people to arrive, so we had our choice of places to set up the tent. When they'd said the festival was on a farm, I wasn't sure what to expect. This was quaint, and really neat. It was behind the family's house, with a small stage built behind. A large barn further back would serve as a second performance and film area.

Once we tented, we broke our bikes back out to go swimming at a nearby pond. I glared at the hill as we went down, but it wasn't intimidated. At the pond, two of us did the slow dip into the water while the other two ran and jumped in full force. When we were finally all in, bobbing up and down, someone said something that sounded incredibly wise at the time: "There are two kinds of people in the world - those that get wet gradually, and those who just jump in." I wasn't sure I liked being the toe in the water type.

On the way back to the festival, I once again faced the hill. It would not beat me this time. I gritted my teeth and began to pedal. And I pedaled, slower than I have ever pedaled in my life. Slow enough I wondered if I had enough momentum to stay upright. And it felt like it took an hour, but I beat that damn hill. Victory!

We spent the rest of the day lounging on a blanket as various bands took the stage. I dozed off and on, having left all my energy on the bicycle, and I woke up to three guys in a drumline. Pretty awesome, I think. The festival was really relaxed, I think because everyone had biked three hours to get there. I hope I'll get to go again next year, or the year after. It was the perfect road trip.

2015 Will Be... More of the Same, and That's Awesome (#ThinkKit Day 9)

#ThinkKit Day 9:

Just Can't Wait

 

The calendar still says 2014, but let's push forward. What are you looking forward to in 2015? Is there an event, special occasion, or reunion that you're counting down the days until? Planning a trip? A life change? A move? Or maybe it's the simple pleasures – the release of a movie, something or someone hitting a stage near you. ? Is there an event, special occasion, or reunion that you're counting down the days until? Planning a trip? A life change? A move? Or maybe it's the simple pleasures – the release of a movie, something or someone hitting a stage near you. 

It's funny - I nearly always have something on the horizon that I'm looking forward to - a trip, or a concert, or the culmination of some big crazy goal. But when I read the #ThinkKit prompt this morning I realized that what I'm most looking forward to in 2015 is continuing the things I love. Nothing huge, nothing flashy. 

2014 was a huge year of change for me and I am ready for some calm. I'm ready to hunker down and build on the things I've started this year to make them great, to improve upon them. Like: 

Running - This year I ran a marathon. I don't have anything quite that ambitious planned for 2015, at least not yet. But I have signed up for something that sounds really fun - next May I'll be traveling to Cape Cod with a team of vegan runners to do a 200 mile relay race. It'll be awesome to get to know other folks that care about the same things that I do, and to run somewhere I've never been before. 

Outside of that race, I'm looking forward to training to get faster, and to running distances more smoothly. It's an odd thing but I still don't feel quite right calling myself a runner since I've only been doing it regularly for the last 6 months. I look forward to being able to call myself a runner without hesitating or adding a qualifying statement.

Writing - This year I finally started writing on a more or less consistent basis and I look forward to keeping that going, and working out my pattern so that it's something I naturally do every day. I'm looking forward to finishing the first draft of the novel I started this year. I've promised myself a unicycle when I finish that first draft, so I have an incentive. I should probably up my health insurance in preparation. 

Music - This is where I confess my very bad habit of buying musical instruments that I never learn how to properly play. I have a violin sitting in it's case, but at least I took lessons on and off for a couple years so it sounds slightly less like a cat in heat when I fiddle around with it. I also have a guitar, on which I can play exactly one Jewel song and nothing else. I have a mandolin, a fiddle, and a keyboard that I can't play at all, yet I refuse to get rid of. So when some wonderful and wise friends saw me eyeing a banjo earlier this year they intervened and lent me their banjo instead. I've played around with it a little, but I'm determined that in 2015 I will actually learn to play a few songs. 

I'm sure that next year will throw me some curveballs, but for now I'm looking forward to making it the year of improvements and building.