A whole new ballgame

It did all work out, and so I'm in a new room now.
So far, except that I'll have to be more careful financially (again, more to pay), it seems like a heaven-sent:
During the hours I've now been here, there were only maybe three instances of some kind of noise - and some of them, from before the door. None as bad as downstairs on the first floor.
And, of course, having some 20 square meters all to oneself, and a door to close behind yourself and not have somebody watch you (who complains that he feels observed by you...) is definitely worth it.

Everything is still not organized, but it's getting there. Does show how quickly stuff accumulates, even when it's still not all that much, and some of the things that needed carrying to the new room today were also the bed things and food... (I'm thinking about how to get home: arriving with one backpack, changing rooms and needing to go five times... not a good sign.)

Now, I should check if I'll sleep as nicely here as it promises, and do so at once.
And then, see if I can't get more work done now...
Not wasting time will be especially good (well, I always think it would be good, actually) since I now need to get some things for studies at LU finished very quickly, and then will - the way it looks - have time on my hands almost all of January, and starting around Christmas already, actually.

So then, Good Night.

Before I go, a training note
(and I wonder if it would help also putting other things done or not done on here...?!):
00:35.17,0 - 5.18 km - TE 3
Didn't feel all that good and wanted to get back to bringing things in order, so went back soon today. Rule #1: Trust your instinct. Except when it shouldn't be trusted.

No ja

Aside from "labi" (good, or really: well), "no ja" may easily be one of the most important Latvian expressions. It means just what it sounds like... well, yes, maybe, gimme some time to think about it, we'll see,...

Well, looks like the problem in talking with the dorm's komandante was really just that she can't tell when (as in: what exact time) the room will have become empty, but she is more than happy to let me have it as a single room as long as I pay it in full. Hope things will really be somewhat better there, but it's certainly a move up.
Not least because that room is one floor up ;-)

Yesterday was the first day of training time I decided I had all too much work and the weather was too wet (rain and sleet) even for my liking to go out running.
Today, then, I ditched a class which is (or will be, when I finally get around to doing the required work - except I don't quite get to it, and, apparently, some work I recently did had not been sent and is now lost) a lot of work and hardly worth it, because I had too much other work - including training:

00:58.30,0 - 8.94 km - Training Effect 3

Rather icy roads (it had been snowing or pelting some sleet every once in a while during the day - and it was sunny sometimes, actually), but Riga roads make it more like track and field than like road running, anyways. And I don't have objections to such conditions.
Just yesterday, got some new sports glasses I eventually did decide to get. Not good for my account balance (with the higher expense for lodging, even less so), but although I did not get to see their hydrophobic coating at work today, their persimmon coloration, clarity, and additional protection is great (and I wear contact lenses, so some protection is rather appropriate).

No ja, I'll be off to sleep asap. If I manage.
Yesterday the plan was like that, but I finally wanted to get some class administration (test results, grades for school work, homework done/not done/graded) up to speed.... I did manage to do that, but it took until midnight. Then, there was another (it seemed shorter) birthday party for one of the students... and this morning, I also ditched a class in favor of some more preparation for my teaching and, admittedly, relaxation).
Sounds like I'm not nearly working as much as I'd like to be. Then again, it's not that little, especially for and at school. Today's ray of hope: In Russian, where I had feared we'd also have our test soon, a colleague asked about it, and the answer was that we'll have the test before we go home, whenever we come and say we need to take it. Ufff.

To sleep, perchance to dream

No, just to sleep. I don't dream much, and not recently.
I am pretty tired right now, however.
Not exactly sure why, but then again, last night also didn't go all that well: People talking, loudly as usual, until about 1 a.m. ...
There may be a distinct chance that I can finally, more or less soon, get another room. On the second, (according to people staying there, and hopefully) quieter floor, and to be taken as a single (paying double... but it still would be better).

The problems with lectures I'm taking and thereabouts did indeed, already, turn out to be based on some misunderstandings and concerns everybody is having, but really shouldn't...

Teaching went okay; my nice class was underwhelmed by today's performance (I certainly was - I guess the strain is showing); the third class went okay - don't quite want to, but can be forced to their good (to some extent); the noisy class had the vice principal sit in for teaching observation - so, they were pretty nice to work with. Tomorrow I'll really be getting feedback, and the class will probably be back to troublesome. I however, have some more ideas up my sleeve, too...

Soon enough, it's Christmas holidays. First semester is as good as over then, definitely at school, sort-of at university; many people will be leaving; January should offer some time for getting other work done.

I'm quite certain by now that I'll be getting a flight back home soon, and early in June already. And the Campus Europae coordinator and I, we are already talking about whether I'd be interested in going to Ankara. That university, as I mentioned before, has joined the Campus Europae network recently, and work for sending the first students over is going quickly - and I've said before that I would be interested... the peripatetic exchange student who's also not a student anymore? And there, I still don't know (and can't know) about some other ideas!

Training Note:
00:44.15,4 - 7.03 km - TE 3.2

Withdrawal symptoms?

Gosh, only got back online about an hour ago. Had not had an internet connection since yesterday morning. I guess it is addictive.
And there, two days ago, I saw a CNN news piece about exercise addiction. To running, I'm not addicted. I just love it, and the more things are going cross, the more I need the motion for, at least psychologically, getting away from it all for some time.

Like this e-mail I just got, and answered, according to which the people responsible for Campus Europae here at LU sound quite unhappy with what lectures I'm now taking. I hope they just didn't sound so happy, or I'd have hoped they would be talking with me - and that unhappiness was mentioned, but not quite the way it now sounds... But okay, that's always the trouble: We tend to say things one way, and find them to be understood in quite another way... how it sounds and how it's meant tend to be not just two pairs of shoes.
I'll let that pass for now (right now, I don't want to state explicitly what it's about, anyway).

Training Notes:

11/24/2007: 01:30.19,0 - 13.92 km - TE 3.6
Just felt like running for a longer time and distance again, and it was good. Actually, I thought it would get it to have a stronger training effect, too.

11/25/2007: 00:45.54,0 - 7.64 km - TE 3.7
A run in flurries of snow, almost a little snow storm. People bundling up, one person going out for running training ;-)
Would have liked to go on longer, but in the end decided it wouldn't be that good, and - as usual in that kind of weather - I had been pushing the speed, anyways. Still, it felt good.
(Pearl Izumi is doing my kind of campaign: www.wearenotjoggers.com)

Another Friday…

… another week passing by. Tempus fugit.
Four more weeks and Christmas holidays begin.
In the first class, we have set a date and time for the exam in January (in another, we talked about it some weeks ago, in Latvian it was set recently and will be mid-December, in yet others I should probably know rather better what work will have to be finished by what time but don't quite …).
The thing about that is that in January, it's exam and "individual work" time. So, except that I'm continuing normal work at school, of course, there may be a lot less to do, for/at university at least. May be that it even amounts to something like the February-long spring break (except for tests, if there are any in this month) we have at Austrian universities. Then, it would be a great chance for getting some other things done, but maybe getting out-of-step, e.g. if not continuing with language studies, too.

Having come back from my teaching job, I'm just writing a little now while checking e-mails, news, and the like; I'll soon go out running. And, it's cloudy today and with that, almost dark already. At 3 in the afternoon!
...
A bit later: 6 pm. Stark darkness.
Training Note:
00:46.57,9 - 6.94 km - Training Effect 3.5

So, this is the student's elite?

Background story:
I am neither a night nor a morning person, and have - with jobs usually making it necessary, anyways - therefore made the choice of acting as a lark, not an owl. And sometimes both, but this requires that the sleep I can get is halfways decent.

Last night, I finally managed to get to bed early-ish: 11 p.m.
Guess what?
People were talking until 1 p.m. Loudly. And slamming doors.
My complaint to them only, mainly, made them think I were an idiot who had to complain instead of taking life easy.

Know what?
I've never been one for that idiocy of "taking life easy."
You only have that one life, and you should use it well, making something of it. And no, partying hard does not make something of it, in my opinion (though I understand other's need for it).

Some points this made me notice:

• Partying is all well. When it becomes four days of partying and three days with some studies, I don't think that's an educational elite, though. (And to me, students as wannabe-academics are among the/an elite.)
  
• It's especially striking when foreign exchange studies are described as "extended holidays" - and that's what I have heard them described as, more than once. So, going abroad shows your commitment and internationalness (and other good qualities) - supposedly; but it is used as "party scholarship" - actually?
  
• Also, somebody going to a foreign country supposedly does so because intercultural understanding is ever more important.
  Even the basic socialization of some seems to be incomplete, however: There is hardly any understanding for anybody else's needs or perspectives... such as poor me who'd like to get some sleep. And the complaint is hardly acknowledged, but rejected arguing that no one else complained.
  Well, most people have a hard time speaking up, but there's typically ten people who cause all the noise (usually, the same ten), but easily fourty students on this floor...
  
• The understanding to be found is when groups of students go out partying together. Understanding for the culture and just the country lived in seems to not advance much, though: I keep hearing people talk about how bad things were, and how much better at home.
  - "This (home) is normal, that (here) is wrong/odd/..." is one of those statements I very much love to hear.
  - It get's even better, in my opinion, when somebody also goes to neighboring countries, then comes back and states how it's all quite perfect there. And you know that after a weekend (of drinking, usually)?

Thriving....

... thriving on adversity?!

Certainly, this day when I learn that I missed quite some things in Latvian, that the Campus Europae students should be especially good at it, and that our test will be on December 14 already, I like going there and want to learn it even more.

Teaching's back on, and going quite alright.

I'm waiting for time to pass and working, preparing teaching, reading, all the usual, while waiting for midnight - the next student's birthday celebration is coming up, so going to bed earlier would not be worth while (though healthier).

Training, too, went nicely again:
01:00.29,9 - 9.1 km - TE 3.1
Just continue to feel my abs - well, how one knows they are there :-)
Otherwise, all's pretty good, heart rate stayed nicely low (what's low for me, anyways).

Oh boy

Although I have a little less work to do, I need to get quite a bit more done. So, I currently feel quite stuck in a rut - again. Just like home...
There are some ideas, however.

---

Today's training was fitting: still sore, and maybe went out a little too soon after eating (though it shouldn't have been so), and my heart rate showed it:

One of my dreaded peaking HRs: Sudden spike, HR remaining high afterwards. At least, it only lasted for about 5 minutes. These peaks used to be quite a bit worse (getting higher and staying high. (And yes, I had my doctor back home check all he could think of!)

The data:
00:33.00 - 4.95 km - TE 2.9

---

And now, I'm still awake. Alas, not going to be much longer. Good night!

Day of the Republic

Let me just call it that... as in Austria, the most important thing about it (to me) is that it's a free day (well, okay, today is a Sunday, anyway - but tomorrow will be a free day because Latvijas Republikas Proklamesanas Diena, the day celebrating the proclamation of the Latvian Republic would have been Sunday, and therefore not an extra free day... ).
Only went out for the fireworks, and didn't quite get to them, didn't get any too good pictures of them, but tried out some other photography:


Otherwise, spent the day chilling, thinking about some things, checking where I stopped in the writing I've been doing...

---

Training, in spite of being a bit sore from yesterday's parkour:
00:44.21,9 - 6.86 km - TE 3

Basically had to stop myself from keeping on going...

parkour

Yesterday, finally met up with the guys doing parkour in Riga - see some notes here.

Good cross training, I think. At least, I am a bit sore today:
01:45,00 - TE 3.1

It's a very different kind of training, much more for upper body strength (which I otherwise do way too little for...).

Today, the Latvian Republic's Proclamation Day... and work to go on with.

Pre-Proclamation Day

National holiday coming up, commemorating the proclamation of the republic.
Hence, no teaching (for me, since that stopped at noon) today, but a visit to the school, nonetheless: Musical presentations, declamations of student essays on where to find the Latvian soul... Nice to see the students in other roles than just as pupils in one's own classroom. Makes for a different perspective.

Fortunately, I had finished grading the tests of the class I would have taught on Friday. - Many of them did like the chance they got at seeing what their grades are like. I was quite lenient, but I think objective enough (certainly not guided by likes or dislikes for students - and I don't actually dislike any of them, I just wish they would be a bit more attentive). Now, I just wonder what they will make of the rather good - better than expected - grades they achieved: Will it motivate them, or will they be worse slackers now?!

Afterwards, the teachers had a little reception. Comparing between my father's stories about the teachers' room and my experiences here, it seems to me that Latvian teachers are a more comradely lot...

---

Training Note:
01:00.37,9 - 8.82 km - Training Effect 3.4

Things and Interpretations

Found that on my table as I got home:


Ear plugs.
As it would turn out next day, my roommate bought some for himself and left one pair out for me. This way, I took it to be a reminder of somebody's thinking of me. Which is sort-of sweet. Except that I hate earplugs: noise ought to be for a reason, and so I wouldn't want to cancel it out.

Had they been left by anybody else, things might have gotten ugly. For then I would have interpreted it as saying, sorry I am a disrespectful person who's noisy and doesn't care about anybody else, but just live with it.
Which, to me, would be like saying that you should stick your head in the sand when there is a problem...

Looking at the pic, you get an idea of how interesting language issues here in Latvia can be:
There are tons of products which are imported from all over, mainly Poland and Germany, but also other places (and those ear plugs have an Italian box); those, most of the time, only get a small sticker with a translation of the main points into Latvian. And that's it.

And, of course, there is the issue of Russian-speaking Latvians, schools for which Latvian is a requirement (or not, but it becomes a necessity if you want to attend university in Latvia).

Not quite P.C.

Just a little something I found today.

Hmm, Morisu Piparkukas: Moorish Peppercakes (gingerbread).
The name is not quite politically correct, the image much less so. Which, in today's world, is almost sweet, being so retro and all.
(Unless, of course, if you have objections.)

200 days

No time for much, but blogging is addictive...
... and today, it's the "200 days to the Stockholm Marathon" mark!

Training note:
00:43.16 - 6.59 km - TE 3.3
Still going strong, with nice continuity

Sleep, work, run

Last night was "great," too.
Only went to sleep about midnight - which should fit: too much work plus all the din of people chatting, coming, going, slamming doors (many here don't seem to know what door handles are for - Gary Larson, after all his cartoons about dogs and door knobs, would have a field day with that). Unfortunately, however, the time when I still couldn't sleep and looked at the watch was 01:35 - and I couldn't sleep because of the noise that was still continuing.

I've been asking for another room, but right now there is none (or so they say - everybody else says there were one). Well, we'll see.

At least the teaching situation can be seen as improving: Today, my two 10th classes had their first test, so there was less to do; and I got my salary for the first time ;-)
Not all that much, but not nearly as bad as feared (although I don't quite know whether taxes are already deducted or not). And, of course, after my last job as a security guard, every job is comparatively well paid.

Today, a day like the Baltics of one's imagination may be:
Somehow quieter, snow falling all day.
Some people are covered quite heavily already, some are dressed as if they hadn't quite realized that it's winter. On some playgrounds, parents and children can still be seen, never mind the snow. At the Lido amusement park - where I usually come by when I go out running - the ice skating rink opened a while ago, and today they were putting up a Christmas tree. Shops already offer Christmas decorations, and Laima (Riga's chocolate maker) has brought out its Christmas Collection.

Running, footfalls are subdued, people finally have even more reason to look strangely at me (running tights draw strange looks everywhere, it seems, but especially in winter).
Yet, there is something to seeing one's tracks, yet leaving no lasting footprints.

---

Training Notes:
11/11/2007: 00:46.00 - 6.89 km - TE 3.4
11/12/2007: 00:44.58 - 6.97 km - TE 3.8

---

I think it's the running more than sleep or anything else - except maybe chocolate - which keeps me going, and sane (or as sane as I may be considered to be; as I mentioned recently, some people tend to disagree - I think I'm sane, but crazy. Which owes most to how stupid conventional views are.)

So, I hope I can continue, or some of those noisy people may get into serious trouble...

A sort of morning-after

I'm officially fed up again... too much work, and then when you finally go to sleep, too many people making too much noice all around. I'll be asking about a room on the second floor, it's more quiet there, but unlikely the dormitory's "commandante" will want to let me change... But I'll see.



View Larger Map


At least (?), I got to playing around a little again: That above is (more or less) the track I ran yesterday.

Now, that's better...

Yesterday, party at the dorm. What else, it was Friday, after all.

Quote of that night (during the three minutes I was there):
"Why don't you drink? That's not normal."
[I don't drink alcohol. Just because I don't.]

Even better, today, having just come back from running:
"Did you go running? [Yes.] - You're crazy."
Has he read what I mentioned yesterday?!

Today, I finally managed to get to the bazaar at Berga Bazaars (a pretty upscale kind of shopping arcade close to Riga's central train station), which is held twice a month - and apparently, every month (not just in summer, as one ad poster for it had led me to believe).
It's pretty interesting because there is some "antiques" (oh my, all too many medals from Nazi times and areas) and artisanal things to be found.

And, there are stands by Latvian eco-producers and Slow Food Latvia. Like the above, selling quite simply bread.
Austria may pride itself on its bread and pastries, but I still think that Latvia has more and more artisanal kinds of bread. And, even if you could find similar breads in Vienna, I doubt that people would stand in line for it like that.
So, I had a chat about old varieties of apples (and some other things) with a nice lady there - as far as my understanding of Latvian allowed, anyway.
And, I got to meet Martins Ritins, *the* famous chef of the Restaurant Vincents in Riga and founder of Slow Food Latvia. Cool thing, that!

The only problem is that otherwise, I was only out and about running errands, and plain running, so I still haven't gotten any of the work (which needs to be finished this weekend, preferably) done... Well, there are still a few hours left to this day.

---

Training note:
01:15.33,9 - 11.28 km - TE 3.1
I think this is the first time, certainly during the time I've been training in Latvia, that my EPOC peak was in the first half of training, not at the very end.

What kind of teacher am I?

Today, the teaching was enough to make anyone wonder...
I taught my difficult class again: They are 18 pupils, more than in my other classes, most of them would and/or could be quite good at English, but they prefer to chat and not listen. Preferably, not at all.

I talked to some of the more experienced teachers, and there are some ideas; on Monday they (too) have their first test, and towards the end of the month I'll also have someone observe...
It's just that it's all a bit crazy: As a newbie at teaching, you feel as if everything might be your fault.
However, class behavior is not just a matter of the teacher, learning also requires a student.
It's particularly interesting here, because this class would make me look like a very bad teacher - but how should you get students to listen when you have hardly any effective sanctions at your disposal - whereas the parallel class is nice and calm and studious...
Well, we'll see...
It still is a great experience and an interesting challenge.

Which reminds me of how strange some people are:

There, everyone commonly tends to think I am strange - and I sure am. I have been getting a little concerned: It's been such an unusually long time since anyone last called me crazy, I must be losing my edge!

Yet, actually, what it reminds me of is the comments I've been hearing about how bad, and at least silly, Latvia and Latvians were.
What's really the problem, in my point of view (which is, after all, also shaped by professional training as a cultural anthropologist), is that people go to a foreign country, look at "others," but only see themselves:
They do not take things and people as they are, but want them to be as they think they should be. Which, to make matters worse in my opinion, is a view usually based on how they themselves were perfect (even if they'd never express it like that), thinking that you are an idiot if you don't behave, if you aren't, the way they imagine you should be, if you behave differently.

Call me asocial anytime, but at least I don't want you to be like me. In fact, I'd hate for you to be like me, I'd much rather have my idiosyncrasies to myself.

Training Note
(And now, for something completely different.
Or maybe not, since I haven't seen too many people running today, now that it's raining and temps are just a few degrees above freezing.)

00:36.35,9 - 5.9 km - TE 3.7

... and more music

Another day spent teaching English, but not going to lectures (well, not having to go to one).

Somehow, going to Porta Pasaules Muzikas Festivals these two days was a bit like taking a break, even though I have ever more work which needs to be finished very quickly. (- More on that, if it turns out to be something to mention - which it may be - a bit later.)

Music
Trio Groupa from Scandinavia had some musical pieces evoking landscapes and a mixture of somewhat recognizable Scandinavian tunes and experimental-sounding music which was of interest, but all in all wasn’t quite that exciting.

The Brazilian drumming by some young people during the break was rather fantastic, though. Made me wish I knew capoeira - not that I were a show-off, but doing a show of it during such drumming could tempt even me ;-)

Nakaira, from Siciliy, was very much to my liking, on the other hand:
Some traditional Sicilian music, much that's from other areas around the Mediterranean (and a little bit further) - Greece, the Middle East, Asturia and Galicia…
Whoever is thinking that purity were important when it comes to culture ought to be in deep trouble, for the creativity and beauty that is to be found at historic crossroads - even though it usually came with quite some bloodshed - is usually much more interesting.


Picture of Dzelzs Vilks & Forshpil, from yesterday

Music to my ears

First, teaching.
Going quite as usual… not too exciting, but quite alright. Still interesting to note how my nice class is not too good at history (we are talking "Times Past," so I'm using some other subject matter in my teaching), and the 11th grade class, as usual, doesn't think highly of homework...

Language matters
Next up, went to Russian class.
That didn't take place because the teacher is sick. And there I was finally not playing sick again but trying to attend. As a colleague at school had said, teachers made the worst students. Oh my, maybe I should study languages and not for teaching... ;-

What did I hear from a small group of Latvian students while going there? Chinese.
As it turned out, one of them was a gal who is also in the student council, and supposed to help us (or organize a help session for us) exchange students, should there be any problems. And she just started studying Chinese… we had a little talk, obviously.

Then, went back for my next lecture. While waiting, who do I see, what do I hear?
What was apparently a Chinese delegation… we exchanged a view words in Chinese. Of course, the second thing they asked me was already something (I think concerning how long I had been studying Chinese) which I couldn't quite understand, let alone answer…
Still, if all that isn't a sign that I should sit down to studying that again!

Next up was the first of the concerts making up Porta Pasaules Muzikas Festivals (Porta World Music Festival).

The second group, The Shin from Georgia, was not as exciting for me, but it was interesting nonetheless.

First of all, it reminded me of language issues yet again:
The band leader explained a few things about the music - how it was "Georgian Cowboy's music" they had just played, for example - in Russian. So, yes, Russian expansionism whether under the czars or with the Soviet Union, was not a very good thing, but it did bring a lingua franca to many countries which are pretty diverse; and Russian continues or could continue to function as such.

The gig
Secondly, the dancing you see from one (well, once, two) of them seems rather spasmodic, yet strangely reminiscent of Flamenco; one element of the music is a "vocal drumming" (dada dadi dadam, dada dadi dadam,…) like I only ever knew from Indian tabla drumming…

The first group(s) that played, Dzelzs Vilks and Forshpil really amazed me. Forshpil is basically a Klezmer music ensemble (the singer even sings in Yiddish - as far as I could tell, anyway), Dzelzs Vilks is rather oriented towards rock, the collaboration of the two is somehow familiar here and there - the singing and the wailing violin rather reminded me of Hungarian-Viennese music, for example, and Yiddish is just perfect for songs like those traditional to Vienna - and yet impossible to categorize.
I certainly wouldn't have said: Oh, yeah, of course, it's Latvian music ;-)

Looking forward to tomorrow: Groupa from Sweden, and Nakaira from Sicily.

And, it's definitely a small world, and a strange one, too:
At that lecture, a student told me she had heard the FM4 radio interview (accompanying text and pictures, in German, here) with me, about studying in Riga, while she was in Vienna last week…
Normally, we sit next to each other; there, she suddenly heard about Riga while she, a Latvian, was in Vienna and recognized my, an Austrian in Riga's, voice… the first person to respond had already been a student from Germany now studying in Riga and staying at the student dorm across the street....

Class behaviors

Well, today I did not only teach two of my classes (as per usual). I also went to sit in with a German teacher from Germany (but married to a Latvian and now living here) to see how some of the same students who are causing me some trouble (being rather too fond of chatting in class rather than paying me attention) were acting in his class...
Actually, it was quite similar.
Which I like, since it makes me feel less self-conscious.
It's interesting to see, though, how much difference different textbooks alone can make... the one for English is quite a bit less well-made than that for German. Not just in my opinion, but in that of everyone I know who knows both.
It was also interesting to see differences between some students:
Some are just the same in both classes.
Others are a lot better, more relaxed, more interested in one language rather than the other...

---

Training note:
38:22 min, 6.06 km, TE 3.8

---

Another note:
blogger is causing some troubles ...

Much work...

... not nearly enough of it going along and getting done quite the way I'd like. But then, I like having rather too much to do.
"There's no rest for the wicked."

---

Training note - at least that is, also, going on:
41:34, 6.66 km ( :-) ) , TE 3.7

(Yes, I'll be putting up the exact data is my Training Manager shows it - what the hell, it's not like it mattered but for my own motivation, putting it out there as I am.)

Three Months

First three months in Latvia, quarter of a year...



16:00 hours. Basically, sunset. It will get interesting when winter's really here, and the time with sunlight is very short. Anyways, time seems to be passing quickly.

Today it was a nice, quite sunny day, temps just above freezing. Nothing like yesterday. Still, it was nice for running, too; hence, a training note:
46 min., 7.6 km, TE 3.7

That's the way...

Now, the weather is more like the Baltics...

And, I re-discovered one of my personal "drugs":
Going out for a run when others think that's crazy...
After all, the weather forecast was for rain, and I much prefer having snow; and being out when people are trying to hide from it - there is something I find eminently uplifting about it. I guess it's a case for a "you know you are a runner when you..." (or maybe, "you know you are a little crazy when..."? What's so great about being normal, to quote Special Agent Pendergast.)

Training note:
55 min., 9.2 km, TE 4.9
I guess that will have been my heavy run for this week (preferably); it is like a drug to me, but also always makes me rather quick to get and stay warm...

Decided this would be the right time for trying out the Clif Hot Shot Drinks, the "Hot Chocolate" recovery drink, to be exact. They have outdone themselves: It's tastier, a nicer cup of cocoa, than the hot chocolate drink mixes I have.

And today we (my room mate and I) managed to sleep in shifts: He came back from a foray through the city at six in the morning, which is exactly the time when I am in the habit of getting up. Yup, to each his own (and he's actually a good example of people who like both partying in the city and being out in nature by themselves).

Training Note 11/02/2007

30 min., 5 km, nice and steady.

Had a cramp in my thigh. Last night, not during the run, and it's aftereffects didn't bother me at all while running... I wonder if I was dreaming something that caused it, though?!

Talk about partying

Okay, sure it's normal that partying would interest a young(er) person (except I have to admit, it didn't interest me much even when I was younger. Chacun a son gout.)
Today, however, it's striking:
I'm sitting here in front of the computer, working on some essays for university.
Many of the other students have gone out partying, Halloween being a great excuse to start this weekend's partying today, Wednesday...

If it were an exception, I'd not be shaking my head about it, but Thursday's the latest the weekend partying usually starts.

Sure, there are people who see pleasure and enjoyment (i.e., dancing, alcohol and licentious sex?) as the aim in life.
Intellectually, I understand (and having put it this way already tells quite a bit about me, I guess :)

Still, then you get students complaining that it (their studying) is all taking too long?! Isn't there some priority-setting that may be a bit off balance? It's something that strikes me not only because I've always been one of those people who see life's meaning somewhere else, but after studies - if those people get lucky enough to get a job, and they usually do (I'm not saying I consider them to be stupid or anything like that!) - they try to strike "work/life-balance." As many problems as I've been having finding paid work (doing that ->), I still rather like my life to be my work, and my work to be my life, and not to have to separate the two as if your role as yourself and as a self that has to make a living were two totally different entitites... More than just slightly schizophrenic when put like that, isn't it? There's you who enjoys life, and there's you who works to earn money... and a you who does sport, who enjoys music or the arts, ... ?

There's a reason I (now) named this blog "my life, me, myself, and I," but all the different roles and aspects are still me. Others make me need to seem like separate identities, I am just who I am and, I hope, becoming ever more who I can and want to be.