Bud Runs a Marathon

Over the weekend, while our house was being shown to prospective buyers, my wife Muri and I decided to go to the movies.  We chose Brittany Runs a Marathon, the indie film from Amazon Studios directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo, and starring Jillian Bell as Brittany.   Brittany is a 29 year-old Cornell graduate whose once promising life has faded into a montage of mindless partying, low paying jobs, and falling self-worth.   After being told by her doctor that she needs to lose weight she reluctantly decides to try running.  As played by Bell, Brittany is a funny, resilient but wounded girl whose self-deprecation masks deeper self-loathing, and whose self-sabotage veers precariously toward self-harm.  Toward the end of the film, Brittany is near mile twenty-two of the marathon, too tired to continue.  Friends convince her to keep going and the camera follows her painful steps toward the finish line.  Surprisingly, I found myself emotionally invested in her progress, crying like I rarely cry at movies.  What was that about?

Stones

My Dad was a man of few words. He taught us mostly by example, unless you count, Don’t you back-talk to your mother. My Mom, on the other hand, not only set an example, she would verbalize her views of what constituted a good boy. I remember her telling me at some point, probably in my adolescence, that Life is for growing as a person. When you stop growing, you might as well be dead. She probably didn’t say exactly those words but the message was clear. Obviously, she wasn’t talking about growing up or about growing rich. She was talking about becoming a better person spiritually, socially and personally.

Time and Music

Many people die with their music still in them. . . .  – Oliver Wendell Holmes

One of my favorite authors (at least of inspirational non-fiction) is David Kundtz, author of  Mind – One Minute Mindfulness.  One Minute Mindfulness is a collection of short essays describing what Kundtz calls stillpoints, very short exercises to stop your mind during the day, mini-meditations that can keep you centered when meditation isn’t an option (of course, it always is, except in our heads, but that another post).  The quote above is from an essay titled Time Runs Out.  Of course, he’s not suggesting everyone speaks the language of music … he means whatever music dwells in our souls; be it the music of accounting, the harmony of teaching, the notes of repairing, the symphonies of poetry, the melodies of marketing, the tunes of programming, the rhapsodies of selling, and on and on through the whole gamut of human states, activities, and gifts.  Why do they die with their music in them?   Because, Holmes continues, too often . . . because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.  Time running out … a remote notion at 21 but a companion at 74.

Tuesday. It’s Tuesday.

Does that count as Two Thoughts on Tuesday?  No?  I was afraid you’d say that but it may be all I’ve got.  My old pal, Jack London, tells me that sometimes I have to go after inspiration with a club, but I’ve been beating the bushes for hours and haven’t even seen so much as a mildly interesting.  Perhaps the drought here in California is driving the little buggers East.  I tried to come up with an interesting photograph but this was the best I could do:

Reality. Really.

For some holiday in the past year, my daughter, Amy, gave me a subscription to ESPN – The Magazine.  She’s like I am … she loves to find gifts well-suited to the giftee and she knows, I am an avid sports fan.  My reaction to the magazine is mixed.   For one, sixty-eight year old men are not the target demographic of any sports media.  As I pointed out a long time ago, men are set in their buying ways by thirty-five, so the target demographic of sports advertisers in 18-34.  As goes advertising, goes ESPN the magazine.   Therefore, it sometimes spends too much time on silliness like fantasy sports or athlete fashions.   I even threw out one issue when, after noticing the cover photo was a naked man, I found many of the photos inside were, too.  It was the Body Issue.  Am I homophobic?  Absolutely not, but I have no desire to look at naked men, either.  But the other side of the coin is that ESPN often has very interesting articles about aspects of sports that you don’t find in the primary media and it’s one of those I want to talk about here on Top Sites Tuesday #165, the meme where we get to offer Two Thoughts on Tuesday.

Poster’s Block 2011

Way back in May of 2009 after the first two months of Older Eyes – Bud’s Blog, I complained about a case of Poster’s Block.   When I started this blog back in March, I wrote, I committed to posting at least twice a week.   Looking at my archives, you’ll see that I posted five times in March and eight in April.   But with May has come a return of poster’s block and it’s driving me crazy.   Bud’s Blog has come a long way.  I’ve published 516 posts and have been posting every day in 2011 as part of Postaday2011.   Some days, I’m three or four posts ahead with publication scheduled in advance.   Other days, there’s a post already written in my brain, waiting to be transcribed.   But last night, I encountered true poster’s block again.   You’d think it would have struck on one of my theme days.  After all, if I’m having a crappy week, Monday Smiles might be hard to come by and if my Inner Curmudgeon has escaped, he’ll fight tooth and nail to keep me from writing a spiritual post for Sunday.  But yesterday was Top Sites Tuesday … all I needed to do was come up with Two Thoughts.  Still, by midnight I had nothing.

Uninspired

So, what do you post when you’re uninspired?  Not just uninspired to write, uninspired by life?  No, nothing major has changed but you just don’t want to bother.   You look in your handy-dandy Ideas for Posts notebook and there are lists of unexplored inspiring and interesting topics but you are neither inspired or interested.  This week, I seem to have found two possibilities.  If you scroll down on Bud’s Blog … or look at Recent Posts in the sidebar … you’ll see that there were no Wednesday or Thursday posts, this after posting for 13 consecutive days.   Possibility one is post nothing.   Possibility two is post something I’ve committed to, like Monday Smiles, Top Sites Tuesday and Friday Favorites, something that takes effort but not inspiration, hence Alice Hoffman as my favorite author on Friday Favorites 8/20/2010.