Conrad Not Pleased with Nostromo

Nostromo by Joseph Conrad
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Upon completion of Nostromo, Joseph Conrad told a friend, "Personally, I am not satisfied. It is something—but not the thing I tried for."

Conrad's "something"contains numerous characters, great and small, set in a violence-racked, fictitious South American country. As Costaguana's resources are tapped by American and European investors, resentment, greed, and betrayal roil the nation and spawn yet another revolution. Wealth is sought, gained, lost and hidden, always with a price.

Conrad jumps about in the time line, changing points-of-view, foreshadowing, advancing the story, then later filling in details. For substantial periods, I was left guessing as to which details really mattered and which character backstories would pay off. However, the last fifty pages raced along, indicating that, perhaps, other narrative sections might've been equally condensed.

As a note, I would avoid the Brent Hayes Edwards edition, since the introduction seems designed for people returning for their third helping of Nostromo and is a nest of spoilers.

Uneven, but fascinating book.


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Notes on Running Form

This man zips along on an uncrowded  track courtesy of Men's Journal. 

Mild sunny weather as I shambled along for three miles, running the last one. Clearly, my training issues go beyond weight. I need to strengthen my core. This is a running truism, but far more important with Chi Running, where your core strength determines distance and speed.

A Contrast of Running Forms

Note the man in the image above. See how his leg is thrust before him. He will impact ankle-knee-hip each time he lands and toes back for the next step. This is how I ran for many years. This is why I wore a hole in the cartridge of my left knee.

Here is an illustration comparing "normal" running with Chi Running. Because one propels oneself by leaning forward, the body is aligned and the feet land under or behind the runner.

Chi Running diagram from Running Moments. 

For several years, I was so thrilled to run again using Chi techniques, that  I was content with my 3x a week sessions at between 3 and 5 miles. For that, I didn't need a solid core. But if I'd like to tackle distance one more time, I'll need to invest in crunching, planking and others exercises I avoid in general.

Chi Running does not comes naturally to me. It's like trying to breath through your ears. But I'd rather run with difficulty, than not at all. And I've got a built-in warning system. If I slip into running the old way, my knee sends me a pain text.

Returning home today, quiet and serene, I heard a woman on our street erupt into several minutes of coarse profanity, cursing out another driver. I served four years in the Marines and this woman was no newbie. And using two languages, mind you.

Could other issues have been in play? That is a matter for religion or psychology. Were I younger, I would've videoed everything and uploaded it to Instagram. But no. In any case, I remained serene.

Creating the Imperfect Cat Video

Brief and informative video on creating other videos less informative. 

Hallow Mass and Lumen5

Hallow Mass

Whipped together in an hour or so with Lumen5. 

A Most Happy Easter!

Ocean Lakes Campground

Some poor old guy keeled over in Mass this morning. Fortunately, my church is predominately Filipino. Thus, from the congregation, about 35 nurses rushed forward to help. The Fire Department arrived quickly and carted the old guy out. No word on his condition, but my second favorite place to die, other than home in my sleep, would be church.

Met with a host of old Team in Training chums at the Rose Bowl yesterday to celebrate Virginia Garner's 20th anniversary on the drug Gleevac. Facing death from cancer in 1999, she took a chance on an experimental drug. A generation later, Virginia lives to help raise money to fight leukemia, lymphoma, and assorted other Grim Reaper blood cancers. Her amazing story, and that of husband Van, is chronicled in their book: Journey to the Finish Line: Surviving Cancer Together.

I mentioned to the group (SGV marathon team) that I felt one more marathon resting within me. This was because I had a great running book idea that needed the happy ending of a marathon. (Finishing time of no consequence.) Ideas sprang forth including the LA Marathon and one I'd never heard of: the Ventura Marathon, said to be a net downhill and a big Boston Marathon qualifier.

Ventura is in October, but I doubt I'd be ready by then. I'll need to decide soon since marathons tend to fill quickly these days. (Except LA, where they were offering discounts in February.)

Exciting to even contemplate. More soon on this momentous decision.

Hacked!

Ugh. Monstrous. Infected. Unclean. An email account and Twitter soiled. Writing on hold as I unclog the mess. Wearying.

Chi Running Once More

Social Control

After ten months of letting my right leg heal, sloth, eating, excuses, and overall fatigue, I'm back on the road. I can shuffle along, running one mile out of three. Truthfully, I walk faster than I run at this stage, but it's good to be mobile thrice a week. (I weigh an embarrassing amount.)

Writing a number of short stories as if it were 2009/2010. Three completed with beta reads, two more outlined, and writing the fourth. I'll send them out to publications as I unscrew my disordered marketing. Amazing. Nobody can find anything I write because I position my work so poorly.

This is changing now.

Screams From My Father Lots of Fun

Screams From My Father by Paul Gleeson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Funny noirsh tales make up this collection from back-in-the-day. A most rapid read, running the gamut from ironic to hilarious.


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Scrivener Hacks for Macs

MyYouTube playlist for Mac users. Very basic novice stuff, for I, too, am a Scrivener neophyte. Hope it helps in ways grand and petite.

Pasadena Half-Marathon and 5k 2019

5k runners awaiting the gun. To the lower right are TNTvets Virginia Garner, David Hall, and the top of Esther's head. 

On good authority, Conquer Endurance Group held a half-marathon along with a 5k this crisp Sunday morning. My place was in the 5k, shivering with everyone else. As many know from my 13 + years of blogging, the Rose Bowl is my home turf, scene of much training, and now hosting an actual 3.1 mile event, finishing on the 50-yard line of the venerable stadium.

Early morning at the venerable stadium.

Back in October, I challenged myself to run this race as a motivation to lose weight. In that, I failed.  Backtracking briefly, last June, at this very same Rose Bowl, I injured my leg climbing over a construction fence. That threw off my training, led to weight gain, and the reduction of exercise to walking along thinking of better days.

Enough self-pity. I woke up and thought of reasons not to participate, but went anyway. Stuck in traffic for 25 minutes, I didn't panic, recalling worse jams at the Surf City Half-Marathon. There, I was stuck in my car for over an hour, needed a bathroom desperately, and missed the starting gun. Rushing across the start line, I failed to adequately warm up and wound up injured.

Sunrise over the arroyo. 

Today, I walked like I trained, only pushed it a little, and didn't really run until the finish line was in sight so as not to be picked off by a short round woman who was really tearing it up.

Ending inside the Rose Bowl was quite cool. There were ample bananas and bagels, Gator-Ade and bottled water. Very sweet bling and a decent technical shirt contributed to the morning's success.

In my age group, there were only twelve men. I finished at #6. Not bad at all, given my erratic training.

I should sign up for a spring 5k, just to keep in the game. Be a little more consistent with my preparation. But no injuries today made it an event worth getting out of bed for on a Sunday morning, other than an earthquake.

Me and my big fat medal.

Your Marketing Plan is a Road Map to Building and Sustaining Your Freelance Writing Business

Plan to fail when you fail to plan. So said either Ben Franklin or Winston Churchill, probably both. Nevertheless, here are a few ways to ditch the 'fail' part:

Your Marketing Plan is a Road Map to Building and Sustaining Your Freelance Writing Business