People I Can't Forgive, Part 1

I'm generally a pretty nice person.  I'm far from perfect, and I don't expect others to be perfect.  I subscribe to that whole crazy notion of people living in glass houses not throwing stones.

Everyone makes mistakes.  Forgiveness is part of life.  It's a good part of life.  It makes you feel better.  It makes others feel better.  It allows life to continue along with less crap in your head.  Forgiveness makes you a happier person.

There are a few people, however, I am having trouble forgiving. They are listed below in no particular order.

Now I realize that none of these people have asked for my forgiveness.  So it's not like I'm doing wrong by them.  In fact, I think it's safe to say that all of the people on my list so far would actually not even think they have done anything objectionable or offensive or requiring my (or anyone's) forgiveness.

I would disagree.  Strongly.

So here is my list, thus far, of people who have committed egregious sins that I cannot bring myself to absolve.  I have included not just their names, but also their offenses.  As well as the severe and occasionally debilitating impact their transgressions have had on my life.  Yes, overly dramatic, but thanks to and according to Kim Kardashian (OFFENDER #1), melodrama is now something that should be not just a regular part of people's everyday lives, it should be celebrated, rewarded, and captured in every possible medium every single day so people can have it crammed down their throats.  Kardashian has made being a melodramatic, shallow, non-contributing, uneducated, greedy beauty queen into something to which young girls aspire.  My heart has never hurt more than when my wonderful teenage daughter came downstairs with her hair in a high ponytail, and told me how excited she was because the fabulous hairdo made her, and I quote, "feel like a Kardashian".  I cringed.  I may have visibly and audibly gagged.  We had a long talk.
I will be more accepting of Kardashian and her ways when she starts to responsibly demonstrate for her many young admirers that there is more to happiness than money and glamour.

OFFENDER #2: Sarah Palin
Oh, my god.  I could go on for days about the many things Ms. Palin has done that I find inexcusable and unforgivable.  But I'm going to concentrate on one.

She made ignorance into a badge of honor.

When asked what newspapers or magazines she reads and she failed to come up with any, she deemed it a "gotcha question" from the "lame stream media".  How is that a trick question?  The fact that you don't read any news periodicals should be a direct commentary on you, not the interviewer.  But people cheered her on, sympathizing at how she was dragged over the coals by Katie Couric.  Really?  Has Katie Couric ever dragged anyone over the coals?  She's far too perky for that.

When asked what she learned after going through the home of revolutionary war hero Paul Revere, she rambled on about second amendment rights and made no sense whatsoever (apparently, she also learned that Paul Revere had "warned the British").  When called on her gaffes (and called on it by a fellow conservative talk show host!), she once again accused the reporter who had asked her the question (again, as a reminder, that question was "What did you learn in there?") of trying to "get her".  People applauded her for exposing those 'hardcore liberal journalists' whose only true intention, apparently, was to make her look bad.

How much more of a softball question can you get?  If you can't even answer that one, you should bury your head in the sand, not puff up your feathers like a proud peacock.

You, Sarah Palin, make my blood boil.  If I have to go on blood-pressure medication, I'm going to bill you for my copay.


OFFENDER(S) #3: The Inventors of the Urban Dictionary
Those aren't words.  Don't encourage kids to use them.  It makes kids sound stupid.  And it makes the adults that try to use them sound even stupider.  Look that one up.  It's probably in the Urban Dictionary.

OFFENDER #4: John McCain
Once upon a time, I admired John McCain.  I appreciated his intelligence, his forthrightness, his ability to speak the truth even when it didn't match up with the Republican party line.
Then he brought us Sarah Palin (see #2).
I pretty much blame John McCain for inflicting Sarah Palin on us all.
Did you not do your research, John?  Did you?  Did you?  Did you not see it all coming?
Unforgivable.

I think this will be an ongoing list.  I will update periodically.

I'm going to stop here (for now), because it's just a day before Thanksgiving, and in the spirit of the holiday, I will focus (for now) on what I am grateful for--family, friends, and a bumper crop of GOP presidential nominees who, as a whole,  might just be the next update to this list.

Running Naked

I did the unthinkable this morning.
I ran.
With no music.

No buds in my ears.
No soundtrack to cover the sound of my footfalls.
No melodic voices to smother the "to do" list formulating in my head.

It was nice.  Peaceful.  Fast.

I generally will not run if my Shuffle isn't charged.
I've been known to start out on a run and turn around less than 100 yards later if the iPod runs out of charge.  Really.  I have done that.  Priorities.
I just have never really run without an accompanying playlist.
I have special attachments on my earbuds so they won't fall out while I run.
I have even gone so far as to arrange my songs by "bpm", or beats per minute, so that my pace will increase/decrease at certain points along the run, which seems to help me get a little more mileage.
The music is motivating.

This morning though, at 5am, I headed out the door naked (metaphorically, you know, without the music; it was 5am in November, so yeah, I did have running pants, a wicking long-sleeved shirt, a gore-tex jacket, ear warmers, a hat, and gloves; but naked mentally).

I was surprised by so many things.  Not just that I could run naked (with no music).  Eeew. I just re-read that part.  I'll find another metaphor.  Sorry everyone.  Try to get that mental image out of your head.  Please.  Pretty please.

Anyway.  I found out some things.
I  can run three miles with no music.
And I ran faster than I normally do.  And the run went by more quickly (which, I guess, makes sense if you are running faster than you normally do).

Without the music, I thought about things and people and places.  My mind wandered.  It was easy to get lost in my own head.  I wasn't waiting for a song to end, or anticipating what song would be next, or fiddling with my Shuffle to get to a certain song.  I was just moving my feet, listening to the steady sound of my breathing.  It's very calming to notice that your legs and your lungs can work in unison, increasing and decreasing speed in response to one another.  It makes you feel very in tune with your body.

I noticed details in my neighborhood (you can take down those Halloween lights now).  I heard sounds that are usually drowned out by Coldplay and Kelly Clarkson (lots and lots of very communicative birds in our area).  And while I cannot explain why, for some reason without headphones funneling Bruno Mars into my ears my sense of smell was much keener.  On a crisp fall morning, if you're paying attention, the air smells like camping and the beach and Christmas all rolled together.  I just never noticed that before.

It was very dark.  I don't want to say the darkness was disorienting, because I was just running a one mile loop over and over again, so it wasn't like I was going to get lost.  But it was kind of like the blackness made me less aware of where I was, which made me less aware of how far I'd gone, and less aware of how far I had yet to go.  The darkness concealed the distance, in a way.  In a good way.

I think I'll try it again tomorrow morning.

I'm going to run... how do I phrase this so no one gags... with my senses available.