Football is like cocaine to me. I mean I don't really enjoy it and it makes me feel miserable. I'm just wasting my time. The game that's just on in the background that first week starts to matter a bit more such that by week 3 or 4 I just sit there the whole day doing nothing else. And so this weekend I watched WVU, Steelers game and Jets game and that's 12 hours. I read a book here and there also, but just a bit. I'm disgusted with myself. Now as it's getting dark, I could at least go practice my cello.... and I will. But if not for writing this I wouldn't have. I would just have gone with feeling disgusted and completely wasting this day.

As some people can't handle alcohol, etc, I can't handle football. I have to just not watch it at all. Of course I know it's stupid sport also. People hurting each other and tons of commercials. But I've learned the hard way that in order to have any enjoyment at all in this life I have to ignore the inherent stupidity that is in everything. But perhaps for football I shouldn't ignore it.

Crashed yet again on weekly time trial. Also I notice I'm increasingly just laying around. Hardly played the cello in the last month. Some garden work (that doesn't really need done till spring) has just sat for a few months. Lots of anerobic activity makes me want to lay around. And my 3 mile PR is still from 18 months ago when my training was just two runs a week, although very long. So I'm going back to just running twice a week I guess. Today did 10 miles in 90 minutes. Hopefully will improve on that and at least be ready to run half marathons whenever.

Really watching a lot of football lately. Oh well. Summarizing the plot of the Farseer Trilogy. At one point Fitz gets caught, escapes, gets caught again, like three times in a row. Ridiculous. Most things when they're taken apart eventually don't look like much. And it seems when putting them together it's probably much the same in the beginning.

Today 2 miles in 13:39 which is a 19 or so second PB. Of course my garmin broke and the mile marker may have been a bit off but any which way it's a really good time for me. First PB in about a year. Must remember what I've been doing:
1. A few months of intervals about 5 days a week. At first 3 minutes, in the last couple weeks 2 and then only 1. Then easing up last week and this week instead doing my first long run (12 miles at 5mph) on Saturday, then 3 minute intervals on Tuesday for only 3 miles. (I now definitely think that 1 minute intervals are too short!)
2. Weighed 204.4 without shoes.
3. Have eaten more fruit recently than I ever have when into running. Cantalope and honeydew often for breakfast and otherwise apples and pears baked with cinnamon and walnuts/pecans.
Still doing the one legged squats after each run. Just a quick set of 100. Knee doing well, though what is wrong is still there.

Previous PB's happened when I combined slow long runs with some very hard fast runs. I really wonder though that additionally the fruit may be helping. I definitely feel a bit better with eating more fruit anyway.

For weightlifting, just a single pretty hard set of bench presses, pulldowns and shoulder raises every 4 or 5 days.

I cured a second person's insomnia.
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World building. Jare, Meglin, Viridian, Noror, Teng (preliminary names). Making the kings. The basic cultures and so on. The geographical features and so on. Need to work on the magic system. And the religions. And if that's all that ever comes, that's just fine. But it seems like for better or worse there will be more.
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Switched to just running three days a week. A long run. A hard tempo. An interval workout. Running 6 days a week made me feel like I wasn't getting other things done.
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Pond leak. Can't find it. Very slow leak. Could just refill it once every week or so. But strangely inconsistent.
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Nothing much to say. Would rather be working on my world. Still hanging out with D and S all this time later. No others. Found S is also a INTJ. Wife is a INFJ.
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Rereading Farseer Trilogy for I think the 4th time. This time not quite as good. Still nostalgia. Comfort read. Maybe on the kindle with black background plays a role? Some plot stuff is just too contrived. And I think there were even a few inconsistencies? But I care far more about worldbuilding and characters.

Actually the world building is nothing special. I've heard her say you have to have a religion to make a world any good, but there is virtually no religion at all so far. Verity being in Fitz mind when Nighteyes is there also and yet Verity doesn't know is a bit much. The extent to which Regal gets away with things also. And the slow poisoning of Shrewd. I like the plot of Titus Groan and Gormenghast much better. If only it had some magic.

Would that work? Some magic added in?

I was moving along with the writing pretty well. My best ever I guess. But then it seems things unraveled on me and now I'm putting if off out of some fear of failure thing maybe. Forgetting what I was enjoying in the first place.

I felt that the story needed to be completely thrown out. And that isn't actually true. I could continue with it and make something of it. Possibly doesn't have the potential to be great, but it was something. But I went and started reading some Titus Groan and Assassin's Apprentice. The latter especially made me feel like I needed to start completely over again.

My guy is spending most of his time out alone. That's just the nature of what he does. Yet interactions are everything.

I recall Harpy's Flight by Lindholm. She was all out alone. And it definitely was not as good a book. Yet, she still wrote it. She stuck with it..... ....And then she had to take a new name when she wrote the Farseer Trilogy for it to have any chance of recognition...

(sigh) so I do think I need to reassess. Need to spend at least most of one's time in a decently sized town if not a city. Probably. Eh, I don't know.

Think I need to go back and write a history. Hobb had that for certain. And she had such injustice yet not in a dystopia. It is escapist yet with great injustice. Only the bastard really suffers because he's a bastard. It's kind of the perfect thing. No parents. Held in distaste by so many people. Just political circumstances.

What else would work as well? Born with a hideous birth defect? In the soldier tril the guy suddenly starts gaining weight like crazy because of magic and is thus disowned by his father. The magic boat series has some pirates and rape/pedophilia. And then the poor sentient boat is left abandoned. Injustice but not in a dystopia. That is what has to be managed somehow.

(sigh) Will work on the history of the red plain. A Claw of the Conciliator sort of world.