A short workout

So, this is something new I've been doing lately (not starting sentences with "so", even though the word doesn't belong there - I've been doing that for ages):

20-25 minute running work-out.

It's something I picked up from one of the trail running magazines I buy, and it had something to do with fitting in a work-out in your lunch break.  So far I haven't even tried to fit it in my lunch break (dude, I live in the Tropics; lunch time is seriously hot), but I sometimes throw it in for a morning or afternoon run if I only have a short time.

You have a five minute session, which you repeat four or five times depending on how much time you have:

• First 2 minutes brisk walk/slow jog
• Next 2 minutes normal run
• Last minute run like a crazy person.

Now, the "crazy person" bit involves jumping randomly from path to grass to road - dodging between trees, suddenly bursting into a gallop then going back to a sprint... running like you're being chased for a few seconds and then running like you're trying to leap over obstacles...  I tried skipping at one point, but found it easier to add leaping to my running stride rather than shift from running to skipping.

Then your watch beeps at you to tell you the minute's up, and you're back to the top of the 5 min with the brisk walk again.

Yes, it's basically a mini fartlek (and then a mini fartlek within the mini fartlek), but after 25 minutes you feel like you've done some exercise, so that's all right.

And I think my 16 year old me just said "you do what now?"

She would probably be more alarmed about the fact that I buy more than one running magazine than the fact that I actually try running workouts.

Running.  Never thought it would end up being my thing, but it's one of my favourite activities if I can find the time.

I'm not very good at it, but there's plenty of time.  Apparently (according to my magazines), if you start running in your 30s you end up getting quite decent at it in your 40s and 50s.

Something to look forward to.

Pharmacy or Kebab?

And now, time to play everyone's favourite gameshow:  Pharmacy or Kebab?

So, is this a pharmacist or a kebab seller?

Wii is a stupid name

So, I have recently decided it's time I became a gamer.  I've been thinking about it ever since I was a kid and my mother wouldn't let me have an Atari.

It's been a long time coming, but I'm a late adopter.  I bought a netbook just after tablets took off.  I recently bought a DVD recorder, now that most devices record directly to USB (I really wanted another VCR, but they stopped making those).  I'll probably buy an iPad 2 soon...

So, in keeping with my inability to commit to knew technology, I've just bought a Wii.

Yes, that's right, a Wii.  None of your fancy-pants Wii U thingy-whatsits for me.

I ordered it online because they've stopped stocking the bundle I want in my local shops, so I haven't actually got it in my physical possession just yet.  All in good time.

I really like buying stuff online because I can't have it instantly.  There's something wonderful about expecting things, rather than just having stuff.  It makes mail interesting.  It does make me sad about not using my local shops, but I'd order stuff from them if they had better web sites.  But I digress.

I have actually been avoiding buying a Wii for many years now, because Wii is a stupid name.  I probably would have jumped much sooner if they'd stuck with "GameCube".

It's still a stupid name, but it's also less than half the price of a Playstation3 - and if I'm going to buy a seventh generation consol just as all the eighth generation stuff comes out, I'm darn-well going to buy a cheap one.

I actually want a Playstation for the playing blueray-DVDs-etc capabilities, but I can't be bothered getting a PS3 now and I'm going to wait until the PS4s have been around for a bit before I get one of those.

By then I'll probably been a confirmed Nintendo kid and never switch.  Do you know Nintendo used to make playing cards back in the 1800's?  That pleases me greatly, for some reason.

They also owned a chain of "love hotels" in the 60's, but I digress...

Memoro

He doesn't remember what I've told him.  He will ask me questions I have answered several times in the past.  Sometimes he remembers the story but forgets I was the one who told it to him, and will then tell me this story "someone" told him once.

He doesn't remember what he's told me.  He will tell me the same piece of news several times, and each time it will be like he's sure he should have told me, but probably hasn't:
Him -- "have I told you I'm doing this thing?"
Me (aloud) -- "yes, yes you have."
Me (in my head) -- "we've had multiple conversations about this, several initiated by me asking 'how's that thing coming along?'"

He has asked me for my contact details something like five or six times - even though they haven't changed.

We can go for almost a year without being in contact, and when I send him an email (I initiate contact about 95% of the time) I swear his answer sounds vaguely like "Oh, that's right, you exist!  How are you?"

I visited him on a holiday, and in the course of conversation it became obvious he couldn't remember that I had crashed on his couch before.  Twice.

We went some place together, and I walked over to look at something.  When I turned around, I noticed he had lost me - even though I was only 200 meters away and was looking straight at him.  In the two minutes I was out of his sight, he had completely forgotten what I looked like and was trying to recognise me in the crowd.

He's known me for years, but I'm not convinced he has any idea who I am.

And then, out of the blue, he will give me something he bought because he found it in a shop and thought of me - something that's so completely spot-on he clearly remembers things I'm interested in, even if he can barely remember me.

It's hard to peg.  Is his memory just working on a different level, or am I just not something worth remembering?