Month: January 2017

Random Semicoherent Thoughts – Volume 21

My youngest daughter, 10, is taking gifted classes at her school.  As part of her instruction, the teacher introduced chess to class.  This makes me happy because, if for nothing else, I’m now playing chess for the first time in twenty-some years.  Just about every night, the youngest and I pull out the chess board for a few matches.  I’m happy to report that she beat me for the first time last night with no assistance whatsoever from me.  It took a few tears and quite a few beat downs to get to that point, but I am absolutely proud of her accomplishment.

Taking chess up for the first time in a long time has been an interesting prospect for me.  I really wasn’t very good at it growing up – on more than one occasion, someone I taught to play beat me the second or third game after I instructed them.  Like many things, I find approaching it with the wisdom that comes with age brings a new perspective.  As the Chinese proverb says, I’m ready to learn and the teacher has appeared in the form of a ten-year old girl, though I will admit that the internet has also served up a lesson or two.

A very wise acquaintance of Ms. Boss and I once told us that he and his wife did not play games together for the sake of their marriage.  Ms. Boss and I have ignored this advice and occasionally suffered the consequences.  For the denser partner in the marriage, Ms. Boss pointed out that the lesson here is that marriage should be about cooperation and never about competition.  A smart woman, that Ms. Boss.

One of the games Ms. Boss and I play with a minimal amount of acrimony is backgammon.  While backgammon does involve a certain amount of skill, luck plays a heavy part in it.  We used to play online when I worked midnights and she was stuck at home with the kids.  We didn’t play for the sake of backgammon, we played for the conversations we had on the side that allowed us to be together while not being together.

I used to love playing games as a kid – Monopoly, Pay Day, chess, backgammon, cards – we spent hours playing with other kids and the occasional adult.  Unfortunately, playing with my kids has often become a frustrating experience – they just can’t seem to stay focused.  That’s why playing with my newly-minted chess player has been so rewarding.  She’s actively engaged and studying the game.

One of my favorite games growing up was Bonkers!  (for the record, the exclamation point was part of the title, not an indication of my excitement)  Bonkers! was a board game that changed every time you played it based on the tiles that you played on the board.  I’m sure the fact that few have ever heard of it is an indication of the quality of the game.  Being the forty-something and often full of nostalgia, I might possibly weep openly if I were to run across an opportunity to own this game again.

Random Semicoherent Thoughts – Volume 20

I turn 46 this week. I’m still trying process that particular piece of information.

If I had to pick the most difficult year of my life to navigate, I’d have to pick 27.  Quite a few things happened that year that started to make a hard look at where I was in life and where I was headed.  I used to say I had my head fully in my hindquarters until I was 31, sometimes I’m not sure it still isn’t in there.

I’m almost 46.  I’ve been married almost 15 years.  That means I was 31 when I got married.  Based on the statements that you’ve read so far in this post, I’ll let the reader draw their own conclusions.

One of the more soul-crushing experiences in my life was the first time I discovered that I was too old to apply for a job.  It seems that you have to be younger than thirty to be an air-traffic controller – something I contemplated doing once upon a time in my life.  For the record, police officer, firefighter, and soldier are also no-go’s.

In my twenties, a half case a beer was the standard for a weekend night.  I currently have a part of a six-pack in my fridge that’s headed into its fourth week of habitation.

Reviewing my life, I really shouldn’t be here.  Stupidity or hubris should have killed me well before now.

In my twenties I wanted to play a electric bass in the worst way.  My eldest daughter has a spare one in her room, I’ve never picked it up.  I could say that I don’t have the time or we don’t have a second amp and get away with it, but that isn’t the reason.  If I had the passion for it, I’d find a way.  Besides, I’ve moved on to pining over the cello.

My FitBit today informed me that I exercised for sixteen minutes.  I didn’t.  As near as I can figure, I got credit for playing air guitar while playing dinner.  I wonder what my neighbors must think about a man my age rocking out to Minor Threat in his kitchen.  They probably thought I was having a seizure.

Speaking of Minor Threat, I wish I would have known about them in the early 90’s.  They’re a recent addition to my playlist.  See?  An old dog can learn new tricks.

I find hard core punk to be quite motivational on my runs.  Why?  ‘Punk’ and ‘slow song’ are generally mutually-exclusive terms.

Speaking of running, that hasn’t happened much the past few days.  I put quite a few miles in early this week, then managed to get sick with some sort of upper respiratory thing.  Getting sick when you have to ‘adult’ really sucks and the older you get, the worse it gets.

I don’t work my birthday, not if I can help it.  I had one really horrendous experience once while working my birthday – someone (not me) got suspended, my employer got sued, and the people we worked for were… err… not very nice – and I’ve only worked one or two times since.  This week is no exception.  I plan on enjoying myself.

Random Semicoherent Thoughts – Volume 19

‘Tis the season for making New Year’s resolutions – like resolving to write more in one’s blog.  The season for breaking New Year’s resolutions is also fast approaching.

It has been so long since I’ve post on my blog that even Nigerian spammers have forgotten me…

Speaking of New Year’s resolutions, last year’s was to run a thousand miles in a year.

I didn’t make it.

Saying I didn’t make it doesn’t mean I failed per se, it just means I didn’t realize the lofty goal that I set rather flippantly in the middle of a run before doing any real math about the issue.  With 612 miles logged for the year, I just missed the consolation prize of thousand kilometers but was obviously well short of my target.  I don’t consider my miss a glass half empty, but a glass 61.2% full.  In the end, I came much closer to realizing my resolution than most.

For the record, the resolution for this year is to beat 612.  With only five miles on the books so far this year, I’m not off to the best of starts.

A longer, more coherent post would have fleshed out my run resolution into a full blown essay which would .  Here in Random Semicoherent World, I can just draw a line and pivot to a completely idea, like this list of my running highlights for 2016:

5) The first nine miles of my second half marathon run with Ms. Boss.  The last four after her leg of the relay was finished, not so much.

4) Running a color run with Ms. Boss and my youngest Bosslette.  While I don’t need to run another color run ever, I did enjoy being active with one of my daughters.

3)  Running with Ms. Boss and my sister on Thanksgiving morning.  The two sisters-in-law talked the entire time, the longest conversation they’ve had in years.

2)  A moment of joy for Ms. Boss during a race on a cold day when she realized the people up ahead were handing out tissues.  I’ve never seen anyone so joyful for an opportunity to blow their nose in my life.  It made me smile for her happiness.

1) The thirteenth mile of my third marathon with the tears streaming down Ms. Boss’ face when she saw the finish line and knew that her first half marathon was in the books.  She worked hard for that moment and I was privileged to be there with her when we finished hand in had.

Despite my running and the fact that I ran my fastest half marathon back in November, my weight is creeping back up.  Ironically, to provide myself solace over the fact I’m giving up my hard won gains, I’ve been known to grab a handful of Goldfish.  Now that the holidays are behind me, all my excuses should be too.

So, after months of neglect, another post is in the books.  Let the spamming begin…