Distant friends and pools of blue.

[deathpixie]

The letter box gods, as I told BRM this ofternoon, were smiling on both of us today - a letter each. Mine was from Lise, and I read it with a smile on my face. It felt good, smiling like that again. A flash of Liseness, to treasure and re-experience whenever I need it.

I also got a postcard last month from Sacha, a lovely hand-painted sun. *grins* It got eclipsed in the unpleasantness of the following days, but I found it again last night as I was talking to Mel on the phone and was reminded I hadn't thanked the Sass-Kitty. Very lax of me - come this weekend I shall make amends. ;)

Mel called last night, and now I have her new number, so she cannot escape me. ;) It was wonderful to talk to her, even though we did the "staying up really late on a work night" thing again and I was too tired to drag myself to the pool this morning. Talking to Mel always revitalises me, restores my ability to believe in myself, gives me the energy to go on. Sometimes I wonder if she has any left after I've been leeching off her, but it we agreed it was a mutual thing. Collective recharging. ;)

And I called David today from work, which was good. It was so quiet, I had to do something, and I can never talk to people properly on the phone when I have BRM in the background - he seems to have declared the lounge room his permanent territory - so I called from work and had a nice long chat. I'm going over to Albury on Saturday to visit the travel agent, and I'm going to drop by his place while I'm over there.

Movies on Thursday with Julie and Leanne, tai chi tomorrow. Plenty of human contact to keep me sane. I needed to do this last week; it's frustrating, how much being depressed holds you back, stops you from doing things. I wanted to see people, but couldn't be bothered to go out and find them, so I didn't.

***

Having missed my swim this morning, I resolved to go during lunch - and since it was so quiet, I had no compunctions in doing so. I'm glad I did, even though it was cloudy and the wind was gusty and rather cool - the water was wonderful, and the activity, the repetition of it, the counting of strokes and of laps and the rhythmic breathing, calmed my mind far more effectively than anything else of late. A kind of moving meditation, I suppose.

I learned to swim when I was about three years old. I swam my first lap of that pool - fifty metres - when I was four, going on five, at one of those learn-to-swim summer courses so prevalent in Australia - it's unusual to find an Australian child who cannot swim. One thing I noticed today, though, was that because I learned to swim and did most of my childhood swimming in a river, I can't tumble turn. At all. *chuckles* I touch the end with my hand and turn around and push off again. A kind of cheat, I suppose, because it gives me a slight rest between laps. I'm working on eliminating that as I get fitter - it's been a long time since I swam any distance. Ten laps is just enough, especially since I can do that and have a shower in forty minutes, leaving me time to get lunch. The other side effect of the river is that I have a slight sensitivity to chlorine - good thing my goggles (fifteen years old, by my calculations) are still in perfect nick. ;)

Much better than getting up at some ungodly hour in the morning - I'm going to make sure I go every lunchtime we don't have court - three days a week.

***

We finally have a date for the opening of the new court - April 15. Plenty of time to get ready.

Comments

[obsidian179.livejournal.com]

Fiter? Granted, I've never actually met you, but from the impression I've formed, you're hardly out of shape (to put it mildly). Sure, as the saying goes, there's always room for improvement, but one mustn't expect perfection. Personally, I think little "flaws" like that are somewhat, for lack of a better word (It's about 3 am here, don't expect me to be at my literary best *G*), endearing. When I get to know someone, I like them because of the little faults and foibles that go along with their better qualities, not despite them.

I really should stop writing these things at this hour of the morning. Sleep is a good thing, too. Or so I've heard. ;)

Never fear, no anorexia here. ;)

[deathpixie]

No, I'm not one of those body-obsessed exercise junkies. I've just noticed that the reduced distance I'm cycling to work (only 10km a day, whereas in Melbourne it was 20km), has had an effect on my cardiovascular fitness. And I haven't done any karate for a year. So the reduced amount of activity has had an effect, one I don't like and am making moves to fix. It's not about fixing 'flaws' in my appearance - I'm generally happy with the way I look - but about increasing the amouont of energy I have. When I'm fit, I have more energy to go round. When I'm not, I'm generally tired all the time. Besides, it makes me feel good, and that can't be a bad thing. ;)