madameblogalot

This morning before church I did the first leg of a triathlon relay event. I was the swimmer for our team. Our wave start consisted of men 45+, mens clydesdale (a weight division) and relay teams. Each wave had three minutes in between and they allowed us to jump off the dock into the bay to warm up for those three minutes. The water was pretty chilly when we jumped in. Thankfully I had on my wetsuit and that helped a great deal.

It seems in my limited experience I still have a hard time getting adjusted in the open water swim. Today it still took me some time, being one of the last swimmers to get started in our wave. By the first buoy however, I had caught up with the group. By the second buoy I was even passing a few people!

I never saw any of the women in the wave (other relay swimmers) but I know I was not the last finisher in our wave. I had estimated that I would finish the 1500 meter swim somewhere between 40-60 minutes. I was hoping for closer to 40. And I finished today in 38:38! I was thrilled with that time.

As soon as I finished swimming I ran out as quickly as I could to meet our next team member. I gave her the timing chip and she took off on her bike. Unfortunately I could not stay for more of the race but I did make it to church on time (after showering of course!) Our cyclist finished her 25 miles in 1:17 and our runner finished her 6.2 miles in 50+ minutes!! Good enough to earn us second place in our division!! And since we lost to some of my other team members, I didn’t feel too badly about it at all!!

We heard a sermon today about the effect each of us has on everyone around us. And also those we may not ever be around. It is the “butterfly effect”. What you do affects someone, who touches someone else, which leads to….and on and on. Even when you feel like what you do (for good or bad) is not a big thing, those small things touch other people in ways may we never know or realize.

It makes me think of something that has happened a few times to me as I am running. It is a sort of corny example but the first time it happened I thought it could be made into a tv commercial! As I ran by this older couple who walks every day, the man came over and handed me a small sucker. He had apparently just received it from a neighbor child of his. For whatever reason, he decided to give it to me. When he first gave it to me I just smiled and went on to carry the sucker til I got home. I did throw it away but while I was running with it, my “dream” of how it would make a commercial was if I were to hand it to someone else, who then passed it to someone else and on and on….

In this scenario the candy represents the effect we have on the people near us but also that we never know. If I had passed the candy on, it would have ended up with someone who was indirectly impacted by that little neighbor boy who first passed it on……

I have been looking for a little over a month now for a part time weekend job. You would think it would not be this hard! People are looking to hire, especially now for the holiday season. But I have not had any luck so far. I have applied at a photo studio, two Hobby Lobby, and Target. One interview, rejected. No other calls back (rejection!) So today I spent the afternoon looking online for a local job for part time, weekends/evenings, for which I am qualified. There are not many (rejections.) I did find our local JC Penney’s is hiring. So I went in to get an application. Seems like most are all online these days. So I filled one out at the in-store kiosk. After filling it out and answering fifty questions honestly, I was told “Thank you. Your responses do not match the qualifications for the job for which you applied.” I can apply there again, in 180 days!! I am not feeling too good about all these “rejections”!!

The Prestige: Wow! What an interesting movie! This show about magicians at the turn of the 20th century and their obsession with the perfect prestige was a bit confusing at first but in the end it was a good show with plenty of plot turns. I did figure some of it out before the end, but all in all an interesting show and I will rate it as a HIT.

The Great Divorce: I had been wanting to read some C.S. Lewis works and was able to get my hands on this one. I did not really enjoy the “story” though I did find the last few pages of the next to last chapter to be interesting. For the majority of the book I would rate it a MISS but since the one bit had some interest I will rate the book as neither a HIT or MISS.

Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters: This is daughter’s book for an English project. She has read it twice and said she just didn’t “get” the last chapter-even after reading the book twice. I told her I’d read it and see what I thought. I actually enjoyed this book, except for the language (WHY do they do that, especially in kids/young adult’s books!) And I liked the ending. The author left it a bit ambiguous, making it a great question in the reader’s mind. I think I “got” it, at least as far as my guess as to how it ended. And I liked the twist upon twist upon twist. With that last little twist added in at the end. I will go ahead and rate this one a HIT for older teens or adults wanting a fun, quick, quirky, easy read.

Four Blind Mice: I tried a new author this month. The book was fine, not outstanding. I liked the story (language and violence disclaimer) good enough. So I guess I will rate it as a near HIT.

Wintergirls: Haunting. Very descriptive imagery. This is a very real look at a pair of girls who struggle through the winter wastelands of eating disorders, and I hope it can be helpful to girls (and guys) who are in the midst of disordered behavior. A very thought provoking book. I can’t really call it a HIT in the sense of “enjoying” the book. But I think it does rate as a HIT in the way it deals with the subject.