PROJECT CXC TAKES A BREAK:

I am on a one-week hiatus from working out, after spending another fruitless... depending on how you look at it*... day in the ER yesterday.

After my triumphant return to the below-10-minute miler club on Monday, I began to have the same kinds of problems that have plagued me in the past and while I made it to work on Monday, I had to leave at about 3:00 and go home, where I spent the rest of the night resting.

("Resting" in my house means "only occassionally giving in to Mr F's demands that I play "Ding-Dong" with him, with Ding-Dong being a game where I pick him up by his arm pits and hug him and then swing him like a bell, while saying "ding dong ding dong" until he gets tired, which takes a while, and "resting" also means that I only spent about 20 minutes playing Guns with Mr Bunches, using his new NERF pistols that I can't believe Sweetie got him because they're so clearly dangerous that she must have been distracted at the time)

When it came time to go work out yesterday morning, I opted to try to sleep in, since I hadn't so much slept the night before, and then when it came time to go to work, I instead opted for a dizzifying drive to the ER, where I was run through the usual series of tests to determine how serious my inability to breathe was this time.

(Their answer:  not very serious, in terms of inability to breathe.)

So I spent the day having X-rays taken, and pictures of my heart taken, and a stress test given

(Actual dialogue:

Doctor: So you passed the stress test.


Me: That's because I studied.)

and a student doctor sent in to talk with me for practice -- turns out he used to be a photographer for Sports Illustrated but gave it up to come back, at age 29, to medical school, so there's probably something inspirational in there for someone to latch onto.

And in the end, they decided that it wasn't my heart this time, just like it wasn't my heart last time, and sent me on home with directions to follow up with an entirely new set of doctors

(Actual dialogue:

Doctor:  I'd recommend Dr. [Name Redacted]

Me:  Is he good?

Doctor:  Well, he's funny.)

and now I have agreed with Sweetie that it wouldn't be the least prudent course of action to take a week off of working out, insofar as I somehow passed that stress test despite nearly throwing up during it and having to stop it earlier than they wanted.

So the song for today is Some Nights (Intro), by fun., and it's not the same song you heard the other day if you listen to these. 

*While I didn't get to work and I didn't get to work out and I didn't get any closer, really, to finding out why I can't do all those things as regularly as I'd like, I did read a lot of short stories by John Cheever and bought a new book about the Periodic Table Of The Elements, so there's that.

"Why don't we break the rules already?" (Project CXC, Day XXV)

Doesn't Mr F kind of look like a wizard, there?

I broke the 10-minute mile mark today for 2 1/2 miles, getting an overall time of 24:52, for just under a 10-minute mile.


This is the second draft of this post, and marks a rare time that I've edited myself; the first draft had an explanation of the complicated way I ran but I realized that it was about as fun to read as the label on a box of spaghetti, so I deleted it, and instead I am going to post more pictures of Mr F:

I took those while he was swinging yesterday.

Today's workout: Running, 2.5 miles, 24:52.
Latest weight: 251
Today's song for which I can't think of anything to say about other than the fact that I can't think of anything to say about it:  Some Nights, fun.

Where have all the good songs gone? (Middle)

Lately I have been really into watching music videos and it's not like I've never watched them but I have been really fascinated with them. I love music, the lyrics to a song, the beat of a song, really every aspect of music I love.

 
But what I really like is when an artist can take a song and create an amazing video that represents what the song is about.


I will hear a song for the first time and then go home and research to see if the artist has made a music video for it yet. Once I find that video I immediately sit down and analyze that video. I look for the aspects or parts where the artist did a good job and I also look for the negatives.

 
For the most part I am not disappointed but lately I have been really kind of dumb founded as to why artists have been slacking.

 
One of my favorite music videos of all time is "No Rain" performed by Blind Melon. I loved the song the first time I heard it and then a couple years later when I watched to video I fell in love with it. I don't necessarily think that the lyrics were captured but if a music video can make me smile and laugh and feel sad and can make me feel different emotions in a just a few minutes than I think that they did a great job.


I am also in love with the video "Wake Me up When September Ends" by Green Day. What really drew me into this particular song was the video. I was not particularly a fan of the song until I saw the video and that was when I really listened to the song and had a new found appreciation for it.

 
The video made me smile and cry at the same time. I am not sure why but I think that I could put myself in that situation and I realized that I would felt the same as she did in that moment in her life.

 
Lady Gaga, in my opinion, does a great job with all of her music videos.  She takes a role and puts her own unique spin on it and just creates this character that sticks in your mind.  People may talk bad about her and how weird she is but they can’t say that they don’t respect her for being different and out there.  There has not been an artist in the past (that I can think of) that even comes close to her and her style. 

 
I am more disappointed in the videos that the boy bands are making now.  As well as the rappers that are out there.  All of their videos consist of women dancing provocatively and showing that they are there for one reason.  I, for one, find that disrespectful towards women and I think that we are worth more than that.

 
Justin Beiber has been a pet peeve of mine since his first single came out.  I mean he is very young and is singing about love and all that jazz which is nice and all but does he really understand what he’s singing about?  His videos are all the same as well.  Him chasing after a girl who likes him but she’s too shy to do anything about it and blah blah blah.  They are all predictable. 


So what I am saying is that it’s really hard to be impressed anymore with music videos and not just that but songs as well.  I wish we would go back to the good old days where CCR was respected and still listened to by young youth. 


What are your thoughts on this? (That is if you do think about this…) Has there been a song or even a music video that changed your outlook on something?