Thursday Thoughts: Writing Frightening Verse

I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour
But heaven knows I'm miserable now...

I spent yesterday jotting down notes for things I wanted to say today. Because yesterday was Wednesday, and today is Thursday, and it's not Thursday Thoughts unless it's Thursday, y'know?

• During some Internet wandering the other day I found this.

  White people will train for months, telling everyone who will listen about how they get up early in the morning, they run when it rains, how it makes them feels so great and gives them energy.

• The sad part is that it's so true. And we all know it.
• I have something to do on Sunday afternoons again because the 2009 NASCAR season kicked off last Sunday with the Daytona 500. Let's go racing!
  
• I am trying, oh yes, trying very hard to break my department candy jar addiction. It's become like crack. My cubicle wastebasket is littered with candy wrappers by the end of the day. This habit is not good for my blood sugar nor my overall diet. I have decided I must wean myself off the chocolate teat. However, it is proving extremely difficult because the selection this week includes Twix and Heath bars, which are two of my favorites. Must. Stay. Strong. Resist the fun size candy¹!
  
• The New York Times is finally available for home delivery in my town. Many years ago when I lived in Ann Arbor I got the Times at my apartment. When I moved out to the sticks, that stopped, and for the last 8 years I have been waiting for the day when I could once again receive the Gray Lady on my doorstep. Apparently my town is no longer considered irretrievably rural, because as of yesterday I will be getting the Sunday Times delivered to my house. Oh, Sunday crossword, how I've missed thee! (I do it in pen, in case you were wondering.)
• I don't know why I waited so long to try it, but this morning I sang a little bit of opera (very pianissimo, mind you) in the shower at the gym. My gym has two very nice private shower rooms (they're nicer than my bathroom at home) so I wasn't serenading an entire locker room's worth of ladies with my rendition of "Deh vieni, non tardar" (Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro). The acoustics proved to be scintillating as only a small tiled-lined box can be. I think I will do it more often. Maybe I can garner myself a reputation as "that chick who sings in the shower" at the gym.
  
• Speaking of music, I pulled Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion and Deerhunter's Microcastle off iTunes last week and MPP has been on near-constant repeat everywhere (office, car, gym) ever since. The teasing I got from "My Girls," "Brothersport," and "Summertime Clothes" was only the beginning. I haven't loved an album this much and so fast since Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood three years ago. Additionally, I bought a ticket to see Animal Collective IN CONCERT in May (yes, the concert the day after the Cleveland Marathon; I hope my legs hold up). I am very excited as I have not been to a rock concert for a long time (incidentally, it was Neko Case at the Temple Club in Lansing in 2006 on her tour to support Fox Confessor). But first, even before AC, I am going to see the incomparable Andrew Bird at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor in early April. If there's one song of his that you must investigate, it's "Scythian Empires." Gorgeous. His new album, Noble Beast, came out January 20 and now that I think about it, WTF am I waiting for? I have to buy it...
  
• This week has been the Week of Non-Running, aka I'm Nearly Losing My Mind. After Sunday's near-disastrous and very painful long run (thanks to my running partner Fritz for putting up with my slow, gimpy ass and inability to complete the intended mileage), I decided to do the hard thing and not run this week, giving my IT band a chance to recover. It's now day four and I'M GOING FUCKING INSANE HERE, PEOPLE. I have been doing alternative forms of cardio at the gym but I crave the running, I need the running. Along with the elliptical, rowing machine, and stationary bike, I have been diligently doing my ITB exercises which I got from the doctor last week. My knee feels ever so much better, but then again I have not pounded on it since Sunday.
  
• FOAM ROLLER. I get it, OK? I'm going to buy one of my very own today. Then I can roll on my carpet at home while watching yet another rerun of "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s" on VH1 Classic.
• Along with the IT band meltdown on Sunday, I managed to break my just-over-a-month-old YakTrax:
  

Tragedy!

I was emboldened by Steve's post about his busted YakTrax to post my own sad story in the hopes that the kind folks at YakTrax will send me a replacement pair. I should confess, however, that the destruction was entirely my fault. I beat my feet against the pavement to bust off a wad of ice and snow which was interfering with my gait (which was fucked up enough already), and I guess the impact was too much for the wires to bear. Sproing! This event could not have come at a worse time since we are projected to receive three to five inches of snow on Saturday, and I was hoping to do a little (I said a little) running this weekend. I might be sentenced to dreadmill hell instead. That might not be a bad idea anyway, since if I feel my ITB start to quiver I can bail on the treadmill for the elliptical machine.

• Finally, this:

Yeah. Um...

I don't Twitter (I already have two blogs of my own and contribute to a third and I'm on Facebook² and that is quite enough, thank you) but this, from the comments, makes me squirm uncomfortably:

Do you have cravings to blog first thing in the morning?

Do you often think about how or when you will next be able to blog?

Has your blogging ever interfered with your personal life?

Has your blogging interfered with your health (loss of sleep, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.)?

Is there any recurring time during the day when you find yourself thinking of blogging?

Do you try to overcome shyness or become more confident by blogging?

Do you find yourself pressuring other people to blog?

Have you gained a reputation as a blogger?

Has blogging increasingly become the central focus of your life?

Great. Not only do I need that iPhoneaholics Anonymous group, now I need Bloggers Anonymous as well?

We admitted we were powerless over blogging—that our lives had become unmanageable...

UPDATE: 1:45 pm. I managed to eat only half as many pieces of candy as I usually do with lunch. Two Milky Way Darks, one Heath, one Snickers, and one Kit Kat.

1: It's after 10:30 and I haven't had one piece of chocolate yet today. This is a small but important victory.

2: If you can find me there, I'll friend you. Unless you're one of those weirdos whom I know is resisting the siren call of Facebook. And you know who you are. But I love ya anyway. ;)