Sunday, July 31, 2011

Quatre Cent Trente Deux Jours a Sceaux (432 Days in Sceaux)

Yesterday was a busy day, especially since it came on the heels of the day before, which was a 24 hour sojourn from Perth, Australia.  Flying from Perth to Kuala Lumpur took five hours -- five hours to basically fly from Perth to the equator!  In KL, I caught the twelve and a half hour flight to Paris, landing Saturday morning at about 06h30.  I had the whole weekend in front of me!

I traveled the last two weeks, first to KL on business, and then on to Perth.  I spent the weekend in Perth, and it was good to be among English-speaking people again.  No slight to the French, but my comprehension of the language is so poor I cannot even make casual conversation (I am only here half the time anyway).  In Australia, such things were much easier.  I must say, in addition, the service I received in Australia at the hotel and in restaurants was second only to the USA, based on my traveling experience, and a close second, at that.

I knew I had to stay awake all day yesterday (KL and Perth are 6 hours ahead of Paris), so it was a good day for cleaning: vacuuming the carpet (more dirt than I can see or even recall bringing in), mopped the kitchen floor (why is the water so black, it didn't look THAT dirty...maybe it should be done more often than once every six months...), dusted (no one had been around, where did all THAT come from...maybe I'd better check that six months thing again...), did laundry, went to Monoprix (grocery store) and Marche de Sceaux, and put away all the stuff I had taken on the trip.  Still, I went to bed at 8:30 PM, and slept pretty well until 4:30 AM.

I ran this morning, and it felt good.  The stuff I learned in the clinic is helping, though I have not been able to keep it up 100% of the time, my lapses are the exception now, rather than the rule.  I ran some 20+ miles while in Perth, as they have a beautiful running trail along the Swan River.  A full loop is ten kilometers (6.25 miles), but from my hotel it was just over 7 miles.  The metronome thing (see the last blog entry) is working well.

I also took a run in KL, a beautiful city in the heart of Malaysia.  Go.  The places (KL and Malaysia) are 'must see'.  The run in KL was my first since my clinic in London, and everything worked too well: I burned myself out with an 8:32 mile run right out of the chute, and spent the remaining two miles trying to recover.

Between my Sony Reader, my Acer Iconia, and countless hours in airports and airplanes, I have done more reading than I have done in years.  Here is my list of read books (not a lot for some people, but a lot for me):

  • Lyrical Ballads and other Poems (original 1798 version, scanned by Google)
  • The Johnson County War
  • Anthem
  • Area 51: The uncensored history
  • ChiRunning
  • Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy (I read this series went was first published, but that was 30+ years ago)
  • The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
  • Life, the Universe, and Everything (to which the answer is 42, but the question and answer cannot co-exist in the same temporal frame)
  • Barefoot Running Step by Step

Yes, I study as much as I read for pleasure...

Books still being read:

  • The Journey
  • Tarantula
  • The Fountainhead
  • Atlas Shrugged
  • My French Lesson (a WikiBook, so I can study French while traveling)

I also carry with me (on my Reader and Acer) a host of Greek reference books, music books, sheet music, technical papers, etc.

I go back home to Texas for 3 weeks of vacation in five days, I am looking forward to it and all it contains!

A bientot!

Mark

No comments:

Post a Comment