A pleasant surprise....

The first time I went to the fitness club to use the cycling machines, the cross-trainers or the treadmill (which I still haven't touched) I watched the televisions they so thoughtfully provide, with ten live stations to choose among.

Every one of them was a dud. No wonder I don't turn on my TV very often. Even on Saturday mornings, they didn't have the station with the X-Men cartoon. What's the use of that?

So I got into the habit of bringing, and listening to, books on tape. I'm always complaining that I don't have enough time to read - it's been great. I mostly don't even glance at the televisions in the work-out room now.

Except this morning I was on the machine, trudging away and listening to my tape, and suddenly one of the TV screens caught my eye. Horatio and Lt. Bush at the Spanish fort! They were showing Horatio Hornblower: Retribution.

Needless to say, I turned off my book. This is the one of the things I would be watching, if I were exercising in front of my own TV in my own home. I hadn't seen it for a while: I was in heaven. Didn't want to stop exercising. I had to, of course - had to be at work ten minutes later.

So Horatio was brave and ingenious and Pellew was troubled and protective and Bush and Archie were cute (in their respective ways) and all's right with the world.

Friday Five...

I almost forgot, but raggedrose reminded me! Thanks, raggedrose!

1. Name five things in your refrigerator.

1. Ghee
2. Soy sauce
3. Yams
4. Apples
5. Leeks


2. Name five things in your freezer.

1. Ice
2. Chicken broth in old, labelled yogurt containers
3. Coffee
4. A half-baguette, wrapped up in plastic, that some guest put in there and I haven't had the heart to throw out (or something)
5. Cold air


3. Name five things under your kitchen sink.

1. My kitchen step-stool
2. A box of SOS scrubbing pads
3. Some old plastic yogurt containers, a few with lids, even
4. Olive oil
5. A rack for the yogurt containers to sit on


4. Name five things around your computer.

1. Four issues of the apazine "Apaplexy"
2. A salt shaker
3. A box of matches
4. A box of kleenex
5. A Superman pencil container (a birthday present from blackbyrde)


5. Name five things in your medicine cabinet.

1. Harry Potter band-aids
2. Toothbrushes
3. Bufferin
4. Sunscreen
5. A plastic glass (holding up the toothbrushes) with a picture of palm trees on it that now reminds me of Lex Luthor's deserted island.

And the task for today is....

For some time now I've been thinking of picking a task (big or little) each day, and making it a priority to get it done. It can be a fun thing (like reading a slash story) or a serious thing (like cleaning the bathroom or paying a bill), but it should be feasible and it should be something I wouldn't necessarily do regardless. That is, I can procrastinate on cleaning the bathroom or paying a bill like no one you've ever seen. It's a fine talent.

The task for today was to meditate for eleven minutes. So I did it. The cunning plan worked. So far so good.

Tomorrow... well, I can think about this overnight, and decide what it's going to be.