bad metaphor

- oh goody, a timid, terrified mouse of a professor. She’s barely loud enough to compete with the shuffling of papers in another classroom down the hall.
- No! She’s actually explaining the A through F grading system! Did you know “C” is an average grade? And “B” is better than that, “A” being the best? And “F” the worst? No mention of “E,” golly gosh. This class gets a “D” so far.
- “Lectures may be taped only with the permission of the instructor.” Shit, was hoping to tape this for my insomnia. Guess it’s back to the ol’ trick of washing down muscle relaxants with some JD. KU makes it so hard to stay sober.
- Now she’s explaining pencils. Oy.

For those of you political dorks following the Democratic Convention, you probably caught the best speech Hillary Clinton has ever given last night. Being a fervent Obama supporter, I’ve been frustrated and even furious with her campaign at times (as those of you who endured my rants during the primary season well know).

After that speech, though, there’s nothing more that she could have done to make the case for her supporters to throw their passion into Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Having followed her speeches during the season and over the years, I really think she was at the top of her game.

If you told me I would do this around, say, March, I would have been shocked. But I threw her a donation to help retire her primary debt (I think the deadline is by the end of the convention, maybe this Friday?). And I wrote her this email:

Dear Sen. Clinton,

I would like to thank you for your wonderful speech last night. I have been an Obama supporter since the beginning, and at times have been turned off by the divisiveness of the primary campaigning. But last night made up for the long primary battle and any wounds inflicted upon the party as a result.

I know it must be very frustrating, as Erica Jong put it, to have “always worked twice as hard to get half as far as the men around her.” But your speech made me proud to be a woman and a Democrat. You’ve inspired millions of women to try and achieve great things, and for that I am grateful.

Sincerely,
Kim

For those of you non-political dorks, who don’t want to sit through endless hours of boring humdrum no-namers (who is Nancy Floyd and why does she get to go on stage?), you can watch Hillary’s speech here.

I once told my friend Nina, who tried unsuccessfully to get me to run a 5k with her – “I only run if there is a fire behind me.” It’s not that I’m lazy per se (well, okay, maybe it is). I have just never seen running as an activity worth doing for the sake of itself.

Lately, various excuses have cropped up for my other means of exercise. I’m putting off using my car more and more, so I’m more reluctant to go to the gym. I’m still terrified of biking. I do walk to work every day, but at a pleasurable strolling pace, not sufficient for exercise.

None of this would typically bother me in the slightest, of course. I’m not a whale from anyone’s perspective (except maybe that of my teeny tiny stepmom, who seriously buys clothes from kids’ sections of department stores). Sure, as of late, I’ve got a bit of intractable rubber tire around the middle, but my weight fluctuates and it will just kind of go away on its own. Especially if I just ignore it and feed it with good beer and fine cheeses. And just buy bigger, totally temporary pants. Right?

Then I saw seadragon’s Couch-to-5k contest. It finally clicked that yeah, okay, maybe this tire won’t just deflate on its own. The blobbier folk at Walmart, zipping around on their little rascals? They were probably like me at some point, stubbornly ignoring their own flubber tires as they gradually swelled to Rubenesque proportions and beyond.

When I emailed seadragon to join the contest, this ad came up on the side. I guess that’s why they call it “the runs”?

I want to be healthy, and I want to live for a very long time to enjoy my good beer, seafood and stinky cheeses. So running it is. It isn’t so bad these days, with iPods and podcasts and plenty of entertaining stuff to break up the monotony of feet pounding on road. Best part of all – it’s free and all you really need are shoes (and pants and shirt, if you want to be all decent about it). The Couch to 5k plan is really pretty doable, even for a lazy potato like myself. Finished the first part today, and am actually looking forward to getting into shape!

1) My mother called me on my way to the airport, right before my flight to Houston. She just wanted to remind me to bring my cell phone.

2) My sister is thinking of buying a house and expanding her family, both actions heartily approved by my mother. Her sage advice: “buy a house with a bedroom on the first floor. I don’t want you to fall down the stairs while pregnant!”

3) “Who are you going to vote for?” asks Mom, unprompted by me. I was a bit shocked and a little concerned about what was coming next, having long ago sworn never to talk politics with her (I tried bringing up Kerry in 2004 and got a mouthful about Jane Fonda for some reason).

“Uh, I’m voting for Obama,” I said.

“Good! Me too. McCain is stupid!” Launches into rant about dumb ol’ McCain and his trophy wife. Turns out my mom is AWESOME.