Day 4,168—Earlier Still—

 

        I have recently started doing two things that I am proud of. I have gotten up early enough for me to get a comfortable mid-size run in, and I have stopped eating food after 8:30 in the evening. They might seem like small things that don’t matter, but for me, they seem like the most basic things that I should have control over, but often don’t. Most nights, I don’t eat a lot for dinner, and my wife and I can have a second dinner whenever the kids go to bed. It is always nice to eat while watching TV when the kids are asleep and the chores are done, but it also makes me feel out of control, like I need to make food, keep eating, search for contentment, and never get there. I don’t want to go to bed hungry, but I also don’t want to go to bed while I am still digesting dinner, so the past two nights I have made sure to eat my fill before 8:30 and throw on the kettle whenever I start putting my daughter to sleep so I can drink hot tea instead of eating.

I was up at 3:30 today, which made it possible for me to not rush my run and still do over 7 miles! I also didn’t have to hurry getting ready for my run. My route this morning took me by some abandoned clothes and stuffed animals that I saw yesterday. I was hoping whoever had left them there would be back today, but the stuff was still sitting on the sidewalk. One time when I was running, I witnessed a woman walking away from a man with a backpack and a suitcase. I heard partially what they were saying, and I didn’t hear anything objectively abusive, but it was the classic scene of a woman running away from a man in the middle of the night and the man trying to convince her to stay home; in the end, she went back.  

        Last night I stayed up past 9:30 p.m. because we were watching Only Murders in the Building, which is fun but uneven. The writing can come off so obvious it is offensive, and I am always struck, marveling at how bad of an actress Selena Gomez is. I've got nothing against her personally, and I don’t like throwing shade for no reason, but her line readings usually take me out of the scene, and I am left wondering if it is her or the writing that is so bad. And then I end up commenting, “Why does no one else seem to notice?” Is it just me? Do I just not get it? The writing of the show is unrealistically bad at times, so it is not just her, but they have had such a good cast that they have been able to make an entertaining show despite this, and I am glad the main cast isn’t all old white guys.