Decent

Went climbing last night and actually had a decent outing. At some point, Patti started talking about Star Wars Day. Let's just say that I once made the faux pas of talking about Star Trek while the topic was about the other Star...

Talking about Star Wars took me back to Jason Schmidt's memoir, "A List of Things...," when he verbally explodes on classmates plus a teacher and he has to go to mandated counseling. During the course of the first session, the counselor questions why Jason wants to be Han Solo instead of Luke Skywalker and Jason responds:

"...Luke wants to be a hero because he's got some stupid idea about being the good guy just to be the good guy. Han and Leia do it because they know why it's important. They understand what's at stake. Luke never even seems to think about that part of it...He just wants to be the guy with the blaster who everyone says 'thank you' to..."

"Luke doesn't want to be good. He wants everyone else to think he's good. It's different. That's why he's vulnerable to the dark side. He's full of pride..." (133-134)

On a completely different note, a new coworker is fascinated by all things Japanese which made me think of Ashima Shiraishi, a young Japanese climber. I read another article about Shiraishi and I like how her father told her to focus on her "small universe" a.k.a. her core.

Back to my new coworker... I love it that she has a tattoo of a Moomin. Too funny...

Not funny? There's no kombucha in this house.

A Bit Like

Yoga Cam on Sunday

Patti told me that she felt a bit like Eeyore today and I told her that I was torn between trying to cheer her up and telling her that "there will be days like this."

I've been feeling a bit Eeyore-ish myself despite having fun on Saturday with the kombucha class, outdoor yoga on Sunday and a very nice Monday night yoga class.

Went swimming tonight and this swim parent told me that I was in for a fun night. About 30 boys were at the pool qualifying or being tested for something. They didn't really bother me but I can't say the same for one of the lifeguards.

I've been noticing that when I climb out of the pool that my ankle feels stronger and I definitely feel good about that.

Finished reading A List of Things That Didn't Kill Me and just started reading Diana Gabaldon's Outlander which was due today but I couldn't renew it because someone else had requested it but I lucked out because My Name Is Lucy Barton, a book that I'd requested about a month ago, arrived at my branch today.

Jason Schmidt, the author of A List..., has classmates, at one point, from Cambodia. One of the students tells him about the chain of events that led to her family being trampled by elephants. The passage below is the one I remember most from the memoir:

...I realized that this girl's family had been trampled by elephants in my lifetime. And odds were good I had been sitting somewhere watching TV when it happened. It occurred to me, right there, to wonder who else was getting trampled by elephants while I was watching TV. How many little kids were being orphaned or killed, right this minute, while I was sitting there watching TV? (175)