- After finishing 26 Marathons (which I loved – see my review here!) I started Matt Fitzgerald’s memoir, Life is a Marathon. I was only expecting running stories, but duh Kim, the tagline is “A Memoir of Love and Endurance,” so a lot of the book is about his relationship with his wife, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder shortly after they got married. This is such an interesting read. In the book he runs eight marathons in eight weeks in a quest to answer the WHY of running – why do people do it? That part was great, but the parts about his relationship with his wife really drew me in and made me feel compassion for her struggles (and anyone with a mental illness). I will be thinking about their story a lot. And probably putting this book on my wish list, because I can see myself reading it again.
- My only complaint is Fitzgerald’s use of big words in what seems to be just for the sake of showing off. I had to look up several words in every chapter. I couldn’t figure them out by context. We get it. You smart. Ha ha. (And I dumb.) (Here are some examples: cognoscenti, glossolalia, verisimilitude, solipsistic, seppuku. Looking up words is fine, I just hate how it interrupts the flow of reading, and having to use my phone.)
- I started reading The Passion Paradox. Shalane Flanagan and other athletes I admire have been talking about how great it is and I wanted to check it out. Oh, and I listened to a cool podcast interview with one of the authors that intrigued me. It’s an easy, interesting read so far, about cultivating your passions and not letting them take over your life. I am curious to see if it applies to me – the only thing I seem to be remotely passionate about is running. But one chapter is about finding and developing passions, which makes me hopeful I can find more.
- It snowed around 7″ at our house Sunday. After wrecking my car in an April snowstorm last year, I will never forget that it does, indeed, snow in April. I didn’t mind the snow. I knew it was coming, and got all my errands done Saturday, and enjoyed staying home Sunday and watching it come down!
- We’ve tried the Impossible Burger at Red Robin! We did take out in Kansas City, and dined in last night, here. It tasted good, so Red Robin is moved to the probationary sh*t list. (One weird thing I noticed at both restaurants – there’s a bit of a dirty feet/locker room smell when you enter, even though the one by us was recently remodeled. Gross.)
Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 225
Those are some insanely long words! The only one I’ve ever even heard before is verisimilitude, and I’ve only heard it. I don’t know what it means! That would drive me nuts, especially reading it in a real book. Libby lets you look up words on the fly while you’re reading, but it’s an app, so that’s obviously an option, unlike with a real book.
That’s interesting about the finding and developing passions chapter. I don’t think I’ve ever set out to develop a passion. It’s always just kind of happened. Like, I got interested in running, and then the more I did it, the more I enjoyed it, to the point where I am with it now. Same thing with birding. I’d be curious to know more about what that chapter says about how to find passions, rather than it being more of an accidental thing!
Thanks for validating what I was saying about the long arse words and my annoyance with them! This makes me wonder if I should try out an e-reader… I just love physical books so much!
You are doing it exactly how the book says! They say if something vaguely interests you, check it out. Don’t make excuses (I am too old, I already do xyz for a job)… just see where the interest goes. So that is what you have done with running and birding! What is really interesting is that they compare people finding interests to how people feel about finding their one true love/soul mate – that people think things should be instantaneously awesome and exciting, but they aren’t, always – and shouldn’t be! Passions should build (as relationships do)! Of course they had a word for all this that I can’t remember right now!
I am going to add both books to my library list.I agree with you regarding use of big words; ugh. One of my bosses does that in his emails. I know he is trying to show off.
Also catching up with reading blogs, your cats are so cute!
Awesome! Let me know what you think of them!
Ha, your boss is totally trying to show off!
Thank you! 🙂
Ah, seppuku. Hari kiri. Ritual self sacrifice. I knew one of them!
That’s good! My dictionary app struggled with that!
Reading this made me realize how much reading on a Kindle has made looking up words so much easier. It would definitely interrupt my flow to have to put down the book and check the phone or computer.
I was surprised that you feel passionate only about running. To me, you seem passionate about so many things: running, doing RAGBRAI, connecting with people, caring about animals, and, of course, making salads in OC2! (Haaaa.) I guess people’s impressions don’t always match up with your own!
(I had a hard time parsing the cover of “The Passion Paradox.” Because “passion” is written upside down, I read it as “NOISSY” at first.)
Yeah! This is making me think more about getting one!
Thanks for saying that! In the beginning I really felt like I wasn’t passionate about anything, but as I am reading more, I am thinking about it in regard to some of the things you listed! They give advice on NOT going all in on a passion (like quitting your job for one, for example) and that made me feel better about my little passions. Ha.
Ha! I can totally see that! NOISY PARADOX!
Haha, I’m giggling at all those ridiculously big words the author used. I had a teacher in middle school who would give us extra points for using big words like that, and it’s just so cringy. What’s the point?!?!
Snow in April sounds crazy to me, haha, but I guess it’s that one last snow before the weather turns? Hopefully, at least!
Ha ha ha, totally cringy. I don’t see the point other than to impress and annoy me! I am not going to learn them to ever reuse them! They are too specific!
I really hope it is! Funny thing, Steven was talking about winterizing the snow blower on Saturday and I was like “maybe wait…” He ended up using it Monday!