Marlon Rando

"Pile o' unconnected thoughts I'm slapping together and calling a blog entry" #512:

-Is two weeks after the actual birthday too late to have a birthday party for a two-year-old? Probably, but I think that's when we're doing it anyway. It's not like he's going to know the difference, or care.

-I mentioned yesterday that the sleep situation in our house has improved, and I wanted to elaborate a bit. It's not perfect, but at this point I can pretty happily live with the way it's worked out. He goes to bed easily now between 7:45-8 and we don't hear a peep from him again until the middle of the night, at which point we usually bring him in bed and he immediately falls back to sleep until 6:30-7. On the best nights it's 3 or later, last night it was closer to 1, but things are consistently so, so much better I can't and won't complain. I'm sure we'll go through a million more setbacks, but it's gratifying to have this to look back on because it's evidence of how we conquered our biggest issues and have it in us to do it again.

-I'm almost back to the same running pace and distance that I achieved before I got pregnant and though it's not all that impressive in the scheme of runners the world over, I feel pretty great about it. At this point I honestly don't care if I lose any weight or look any different. I've shifted my focus back to kicking butt. I've already decided I'm still going wear a sweet two-piece on my late-fall/early winter vacation and feel good about it because who cares? Nobody's really looking at me, and if they are and don't like it then kindly look away. Am I right?

-On that note, probably the best thing about aging is the diminishing proportion of time spent on giving a fuck what people think of you. As the years go up, the tendency toward self consciousness goes way, way down. It is a gift.

-It's a quiet kind of day today, good for getting work done. Which is convenient, since I have plenty of that. And so I will take my leave, after a brief set-up for today's musical selection.

The other day I posted "Hurricane" and meant to start a theme of story-songs based on historical events. I didn't keep up with it yesterday, but before I forget again, I'm linking the story-song that, in my opinion, is the best of the best. I'm so taken by the idea of imagining how something happened when there's no way to know what really went down. Like, would the Captain have been able to say, "Fellas, it's been good to know ya?" How do you put to song the concept of knowing you're going to die and just waiting for it? Lightfoot pulls it off so poetically. This song has always given me chills.