Another Pair Of Eyes

RAAAARGH!

Just got in from another 35-odd miles cycle ride; my second this week. Two days ago it took me exactly 4 hours and I was wiped, and today it took me exactly 3 and I feel good. I’ve got a kind of adrenaline/testosterone rush urging me to go stomp on the heads of my enemies, do excessive amounts of DIY while going GRRRRRR and throw rocks at passing edible animals to bring back for the tribe.

Roll on the good times! Who said primitive exercise-satisfaction couldn’t be awesome?

Tomorrow, back again. Growl.

Circles

I’m bored of my current music ‘phase’: a set of playlists which I play often. I’m hunting new music (and therefore spending money I don’t have)* so anyone’s recommendations are welcome. I go through these time when I play a particular set of music a lot, then abruptly go off it and am left at a loss (hence yesterday’s album-buying spree [Florence + The Machine's 'Lungs' and Little Boots' 'Hands'...contemplating La Roux as well but not currently convinced...anyone capable of giving me a recommendation own this?]). Times like that I tend to put my library on shuffle, realise I am not finding enough stuff and start running around people for something else new and interesting. I come back to music a few months/years later and then it all seems new and fresh, and the cycle repeats. Around we go.

My hobbies tend to fit a similar cycle, with the exception of badminton which is solidly by my side and has been for the last 4-5 years. Piano follows a cycle that is measured in days (grrr, <insert piece title here> I’ll come back later), poi/staff one of months, hockey has an annual quiet phase in January (in no way related to the rain, ice, dark and dangerous cycling roads in winter that are part of getting to hockey at that time of year).

Faux-profound statement: I guess most of human life is done by cycles and circles, from day/night, social circles, seasons up to the life cycle itself.

In other news, today my ascent to what should be my lifetime-thus-far peak of fitness begins in earnest. 40 miles a day (cycling) for the next four days, then upwards from there working up to 100-150 miles once every couple of days by the end of July. Sadly, today it is also pissing down with rain so I’m going to begin my ascent to fitness with a descent into hypothermia if I’m not careful.

On that note, I need to go roll out into the world outside.

Circles

*On the note of money, Amazon have quite a few free songs kicking around, they change a lot – if you keep an eye there are a few good ones in there. It’s where I picked up this, which I rather like.

Ireland

I’m back from the Emerald Isle. Anyone miss me?

Probably not, what with Honduras and the Wimbledon finals and days so hot you could die, but there we have it. I certainly enjoyed being disconnected from everything and living with a group of college friends for a week or so. We were right down south near Cork in a house by the sea and it was lovely (although there were the inevitable days when it was Rain and everyone was stuck inside and sharp edges started to show). Hats off to the organiser, who did a fantastic job. The house also had the world’s most out-of-tune piano, which was fun. Still, after all the good times and all the constant company, being dropped back into the world is so mundane.

However, back in the real world I am, and with that comes to inevitable job hunting, boredom, work and mysteriously wasting day after day without really understanding what you’ve been doing. Any holiday at home is a holiday at home too long, in my opinion – I like to be doing things. If life is getting boring, then you’re doing something wrong. Harsh? Maybe.

Anyway, enough of that. At some point during the holiday we were all sitting around the dinner table assigning an animal to each person based on their characteristics (read: based on very little). It was one of those throwaway converations that start suddenly out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly. Still, some interesting things came out of it: some people are really quite perceptive.

One thing I did (re)discover in Ireland was my love of reading. The only things I read at uni are road signs and textbooks, neither the most inspiring works. If I do read a book, it takes me quite a while before I can get through it because lets face it, time spent reading could be used for cooking or working or going out or chatting and it feels kind of indulgent. As such, I only brought a couple of books with me to Ireland. They were finished in the first two days (incidentally, The End Of Mr Y. is really quite an interesting read, and very closely matches my ideas about God), and a further 3 bought from Waterstone’s  in Cork went in a similar fashion (C.J. Samson. Go read.). It just goes to show how much I missed it: the phrase ‘vociferous appetite’ would not be out of place.

I do suffer the same problems with books that I do with films though. Even if I know a book to be good, I will have great difficulty starting it if I think it’s going to be serious and thought-provoking, even though I know I’ll probably enjoy it. Still, its enjoyable, can’t complain.

I count myself lucky to be able to read as I do.

I’m going to stop writing now. Literary verbiage.

maybe I’ll just write a quick note directing you to Florence + the Machines’ Rabbit Heart, because I like it. Stick with it.