Nice job

It's 12:00 noon and I've taken 7,553 steps already. I know this because I bought my first pedometer (for a mere $3.99--what took me so long?) I've always wanted to measure how much walking I do since walking has always been my only discipline. At home I walked almost nightly the golf course behind our house (3 miles), and before that around the lake (3 miles) where we lived for 9 years.

After dropping Allie off at school I hiked Lily Pad Trail which takes about an hour at a good clip. It's a moderately easy trail--little children can accomplish the hike, sometimes with bit of piggybacking on parent's backs. Along the way there are log bridges to cross and boulder fields to step through before reaching the lily pad-covered pond and beaver-dammed lake. When you reach the lake you find a rock to sit on and stare at the still water and tell yourself how lucky you are. Soon you feel the urge to offer a prayer to the Creator. Mine was, I'm sorry, God, for being continually pissed at you for your flawed system that allows for sorrow and pain and death, and evil, (like 9/11) but, gosh, this particular spot, this sliver of serenity at this moment in time--Nice Job. I'm really not that dull, I figured out long ago that in this world everything has to have its opposite to give it value. Life if precious because it is so fragile. That's the system, that's just the way it is.

A few ducks pass by, a chipmunk, or maybe a noisy Stellar Jay. Other than that it is almost silent except for the sound of the rushing stream behind the pines. Today I sat only a couple of minutes for fear of getting beaned by a continuous shower of small pinecones dropping from the trees. I thought about phoning a friend with my cell phone just try to share the feeling, but somehow a cellphone seemed so wrong.

Currently, I am sitting in the history section of Border's Books using their high-speed internet access. I was mad at Border's earlier this year over some of their policies, but since they are the only game in town, I have relented. In fact, I want to get hired so I can say I'm working. I filled out the 37 page on-line employment questionnaire, a sort of tedious personality assessment. Questions no serious job seeker would answer truthfully, like: "Do annoying people bother you?" Nothing like, "Do you like books?" I figure I deserve the job for simply enduring and completing the insane questionnaire.