Uh...

Blog Instead of being asleep at 04:35 on 25 January 2018, kitt created this:

"I noticed your website hodsden.org runs a lot of social campaigns which I’m sure you must be tracking."

You aren't particularly observant, are you?

*delete*

Ran a Mile

Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 17:24 on 24 January 2018

I did it.

I m----- f---ing did it.

I ran a fucking mile.

Not a 5k. Not a half marathon. Not a 6:30 mile that I wrote down in my 2018 goals, to run by the end of the year. I ran a mile.

One. Fucking. Mile.

And it was the hardest mile I might have ever run.

I have been trying for twenty-four fucking days to run that mile. I've managed a quarter mile. I've walked many, many miles. I haven't been able to run that mile until today.

I ran that fucking mile today. I ran it.

I, who used to be able to play ultimate all day and have teammates comment, "I didn't know you could get tired," couldn't run that mile. I, who used to be able to run the Wildflower 10k without any additional training, couldn't run that mile. I, who could head out and run a 5k in just under 30 minutes without any prep, couldn't run that mile.

This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance

Book Notes Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 17:12 on 24 January 2018

Mom recommended this book to me after I finished A Man Called Ove. What I didn't understand immediately was why Mom kept recommending to me books where the spouse had recently died. Now, I'm pretty sure she's been recommending them to me because they are light, but they also show how there's more after the sorrow of that parting.

This book smacks of Defending Your Life (1991 movie starring Albert Brooks) with its telling of the life of Harriet Chance nee Nathan. The story-line bounces from current time, back to when she was a year old, and all the way through all the times she failed to choose herself during life. We hear of how again, and again, and again, Harriet's deferment to authority and others causes her to become smaller and smaller.

And you know what? It's is hard not to defer to authority. Some people can. Most people cannot.

The story is about redemption, how one can forgive, and how one can choose a different path, no matter when in life that choice is made. I found out this was the point of the story not through the story, but through the author's note at the end. And the study notes. Why do books include study notes at the end?

The book was cute, but I really couldn't get past the Defending Your Life ("NINE DAYS!") feel of it. I kept waiting for the trial at the end, or the movie screens, or an explanation about the Candidate and Chancellor stuff with Bernard. Didn't happen, seemed odd.

I don't recommend this book. If you're a fan of the author, sure. Otherwise, skip it.

Two Classmates Walk Into a Bar

Blog kitt decided around 12:56 on 24 January 2018 to publish this:

Okay, so, tell me, what are the chances that two classmates from Phoenix, Arizona, both end up living in the capital of another country? Let's be real, not very high.

Yet, here we are.

Jonathan and I went all the way to the west end to meet up with Brad and Lily, the former I hadn't seen in decades, the latter I had never met. Except there's a non-zero chance I had actually crossed paths with Lily, as she loves ultimate as much as I do. We might have played against each other at some game in the OCUA leagues, just please let her never have played for that terrible team that insisted I remove my jersey when I stood on the far sideline, because it "distracted their teammates." (Editor: no, she did not, she played at my level, not at the chump level of that team.)

Meeting up was more than a little bit awkward before we settled into reminiscing mode, and then lunch was just so lovely. I am delighted to meet up with these two, hear their history, learn about their kids, and just catch up. I am so hopeful we can hang out frequently soon.

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption

Book Notes Instead of being asleep at 22:13 on 22 January 2018, kitt created this:

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is one of four novellas in Stephen King's Different Seasons. The movie The Shawshank Redemption is based on this novella, but to say "based" minimizes how closely the movie follows the book. Given the movie is one of my top five favorites, has one of the best movie lines ever in it, and was watched by me less than two weeks ago, when this book became available from the library, all my other books were pushed aside to make time for this one.

That's all nice, but I'm really not sure how to explain how powerful this book and the movie are. The differences in details are small enough that it doesn't matter which you consume, both are incredible and worth experiencing. I recommend both of them.

And that best movie line ever?

Get busy living, or get busy dying.

“Yes. I suppose it would. I understand, and you don’t need to worry.”

“I never worry,” I said. “In a place like this there’s no percentage in it.”
Page 24

In spite of the problems he was having, he was going on with his life. There are thousands who don’t or won’t or can’t, and plenty of them aren’t in prison, either.
Page 25

An alternative to staying simon-pure or bathing in the filth and the slime. It’s the alternative that grown-ups all over the world pick. You balance off your walk through the hog-wallow against what it gains you. You choose the lesser of two evils and try to keep your good intentions in front of you.
Page 56

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