Invigorating

:: Body
I joined my friend for a workout this morning at a local park. Nikki is a regular attendee of Stroller Strength led by an ambitious fitness and nutrition expert. One whole hour in the morning sun doing various relays consisting of jogging, bear walking, and lunges. It kicked my butt. But it was that good kind of kick in the butt where you are sweaty and sore but feel compelled at the end to say things like "thank you" and "I'll be back." A weird sort of logic, if you think about it.

:: Mind
I'm a grammar geek, of sorts. It's not that I spend tons of time thinking about punctuation and verb tense. It's just that those things matter to me when I write. Whether or not it's apparent, I edit all posts a few times prior to publishing. If I find a mistake after posting, I'll go back and edit and republish. I just can't let those mistakes go. And I blame all of this punctuation perfectionism on my middle school English teacher, Mrs. Taylor. When it came to all things English language, she ruled with an iron fist. I lost hours of my prepubescent life to grammar diagrams and rule memorization. Though I more fondly remember the hours spent perfecting my flirtation skills with the male counterparts in my class, this here blog benefits from the former exercise.

Given my predisposition for grammatical accuracy [she pushes up her glasses and snorts], I find the Grammar Girl podcast to be informative and oddly enjoyable. Rather like an adult form of my middle school grammar class, I get to brush up on my knowledge but in the comfort of my own home. Each installment focuses on a single concept such as parentheses or hyphenation, and they average about five minutes in length, which is just about all this brain can handle these days.

:: Spirit
This afternoon I cranked up the espresso machine, hooked up the iPod to the stereo, and cleaned the better half of our house. A hot latte and a recent This American Life podcast do fun housework make. In this episode, host Ira Glass explored the cruelty of children in 3 segments. The first featured a favorite author of mine, David Sedaris. While I sometimes find David hard to listen to for his raw honesty, I marvel at his gift of writing and impeccable humor. The two other segments were just as enjoyable to listen to. What I love about this show is the brilliant exploration into human nature and relationships. These are good stories told well.

The more I read and write (and listen), I realize I'm inspired by people's life stories. I love to photograph people in a way that reveals a little bit of their story. I love food in the context of the story of who made it and what significance it has to the cook and the people eating it. In large part, I think this love is what drove me to get my master's degree in counseling. My favorite part of counseling someone is hearing their story, told by them, and then getting a chance to retell it to them in my own words.

Regarding my educational background, I've often said English is my first love and counseling my second. The first I majored in in college. The second was the focus of my master's degree. Writing about people is a lovely marriage of the two.