I like lists. Every day I make them. I particularly like “to-do lists”. There is something strangely satisfying about making a to-do list, then checking off each task on the list after having completed it. When you check off something on a to-do list, a chemical called serotonin gets sent to the brain, making you feel happy. But I like lists of all kinds: bucket lists, grocery lists, music playlists, Christmas wish lists, short lists, long lists, naughty lists, nice lists… etc. Before starting this post, I even made a list of the lists I’d planned on writing about. Here are some of those lists:
List of books I read this year:
- I got the idea for the title of this blog from this book.
If It Bleeds: four novellas by Stephen King (“Mr. Harrigan’s Phone”, “The Life of Chuck”, “If It Bleeds”, “Rat”)
- I am not anorexic and have never had any kind of eating disorder, but I like reading and learning about this kind of stuff. The story was very inspiring and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who is struggling with an eating disorder.
- I read this the month before running Grandma’s Marathon. (Lorraine won Grandma’s in 1979, 1980, and 1981). Not only is Lorraine a phenomenal runner, she is also a very creative and talented writer.
- I had already read most of the stories in this collection before but many of them are worth re-reading. Some of my favorites in this collection include “Taste”, “Man from the South”, “William and Mary”, “The Great Automatic Grammatizator”, and “Bitch”.
- Finished reading this on the way to Boulder, Colorado this past summer. Misery is set in the town of Sidewinder, CO, just outside Boulder.
- I really liked the first three-quarters of this book, but it kind of burned out towards the end. I think I can relate to the way Annie Wilkes must have felt after reading Misery’s Child.
- Don Kardong is another good runner who also happens to be a good writer.
- I read this before during my Sophomore year of high school. I’d forgotten how fucking depressed it made me feel.
- Found this in a little-free-library. I’d read a number of Gary Paulsen books when I was about ten or eleven and I remember liking them. This one wasn’t terrible but I didn’t care for it as much as I liked some of his other books, such as “Hatchet” or “Dogsong”.
Different Seasons: four novellas by Stephen King (“Hope Springs Eternal” aka “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”, “Summer of Corruption” aka “Apt Pupil”, “Fall From Innocence” aka “The Body”, “A Winter’s Tale” aka “The Breathing Method”)
- A collection of 21 of Ron Clarke’s running heroes. Many famous runners are covered—Peter Snell, Abebe Bikila, Paavo Nurmi—as well as some lesser known figures dating back to the 1880s. Very cool.
- This was another little-free-library find. The picture of Stephanie Herbst on the cover caught my eye. Most of the book revolved around Stephanie and other Badger greats from the Tegen era. Also, some fascinating insight into the lives and training regimen of early women runners like Doris Brown and Tatyana Kazankina. There were, however, some boring sections that I had to skip over as it went into great detail about times and splits—numbers about which I could care less.
- Yes, I am a complete klutz and I’ve been trying to learn how to juggle. If I ever get the hang of it, I would eventually like to learn how to joggle (jog while juggling).
List of books I want to read:
- I’ve spent several hours gawking at the colorful pictures in this book, but I haven’t yet gotten around to reading any of the words.
List of things I collect:
List of Great 90s albums:
Everything But the Girl - Walking Wounded
Walter Becker - Eleven Tracks of Whack
The Eels - Electro-Shock Blues
US3 - Hand on the Torch
Joni Mitchell - Night Ride Home
The Pet Shop Boys - Very
Fatboy Slim - You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby (This contains only 3 or 4 great tunes, but the album cover is absolutely beautiful)
Elliott Smith - Either/Or
Joe Jackson - Laughter and Lust
XTC - Apple Venus Volume 1
List of pastry club route themes:
Every Wednesday morning when I’m able to, I run with a group called the Pastry Club. We go for a nice leisure run, then stop at a bakery or coffee shop and eat pastries. Each week, a different member of the club gets to be the “route leader”. The route leader has to come up with a unique route and a certain “theme” for the route. They also get to choose the bakery or coffee shop we stop at. I have a whole list of themes to use for when I get to be route leader. But I will not be listing any of them here in the case that any pastry clubbers happen to be reading this—I wouldn't want any of you snitches stealing my themes! So, the following is a list of themes that have already been used:
“Reading route”: For this route, we stopped at each little-free-library on the way. One of the members would get to pick out a book, read part of the book (while running), until we made it to another little-free-library. Then, the book was dropped off and another member would get to choose a book to read to the rest of us until we made it to the next little-free-library. Reading a book while running is much more difficult than you’d expect.
“Rebel route”: I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed the morning we did this route. Feeling very rebellious and mad at everything, we had to disobey every sign we came across. When we came to a stop sign, we’d run through without stopping. For all those “Slow Down” signs, we’d speed up. We came to a sign that said, “No dogs allowed on these premises” and let Monty, a dog, run around in that space. We ran past a “No Smoking” sign and lit ‘em up. We ran past a “No F-37s” sign and we all turned our noisy engines on, spread our wings, and pretended to be F-37 fighter jets. We ran past a sign that said “No left turn between 5am-11am on Wednesdays” and what did we do? We turned left. Fukitol.
“Colorful route”: This route was in mid-October, probably the most colorful time of the year. We ran past each establishment that had a color in its name: the BLUE lotus tattoo, the RED gym, the GREENbush bakery (where we stopped for pastries), PURPLE door pilates, hotel INDIGO, the SILVER dollar bar, the BLACK moon tattoo, ORANGE shoe fitness… etc.
“Short route”: Another Bernard route. “This will be a very short route,” he told us as we started off. He led us down Johnson Street and we ran past the “Short Stack Eatery,” a breakfast restaurant. After that, we passed by “Taiwan Little Eats” and Bernard stated, “this is just going to be a little route.” We passed some establishment that had the word “small” in its name and were told, “this will be a small route.” Past the Kwik Trip—“this will be a quick route”. After a few stops we got the idea. I think the route ended up being a little longer than an average pastry run.
“Flashing route”: No, we didn’t flash anybody. For this route, we ran through each intersection in town that has those flashing lights that alert cars of crossing pedestrians. Every time we crossed, someone would have to push the button and make the lights flash.
“The Many Moons of Madison”: No, we didn’t moon anybody. I think this route was on the day of a full moon, but unfortunately it was cloudy and the moon wasn’t visible. For this route, we ran past each of the moons in Madison: the black MOON tattoo, the ritual MOON tattoo, a light-up cookie that’s shaped like a moon in the window at Insomnia Cookies, Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream (where you can get Blue Moon ice cream), a mural painted on State Street that depicts each phase of the moon… etc. After the run we split up into two teams and did a relay race. One team had to carry a moon pie, while the other team had to carry a bag of moon cheese. I was the anchor for “Team Moon Pie”. At the end of the race, and with a 30-meter lead on Alex (of Team Cheese), I did a “moon walk” across the finish line to celebrate the victory. Of course, everybody then ate plenty of moon pies and moon cheese.
“Ghost sign route”: All over Madison are these old signs painted on the sides of brick buildings. Most of the buildings have since changed occupancies, but the painted signs have remained, though some are quite faded. During this run, we passed about 15 or 20 of these “ghost signs”.
“Are you smarter than a first grader?”: Greta, a first grade teacher, was route leader for this run in either late August or early September. We stopped at different elementary schools and Greta quizzed us on questions that first graders are supposed to know, such as “What is a digraph?” or “What number is a first grader expected to be able to count up to?” The correct answer is 120. Whoever scored the highest on the quiz was awarded a free pastry on Greta. I think I flunked out.
“Hot Route”: On a cold day last January, we ran past several establishments that had the word “Hot” in its title, such as “The HOT Pot 608”, “Dragonfly HOT Yoga” and “HOT Lunch”. I think Sydney, the route leader, thought that by running past all these “hot” places, it would help to warm us up.
“Old folks route”: This run was on June 19. Alex, the route leader, took us past several nursing homes and assisted living units, a place where one can sign up for an AARP membership, and other locations where old people tend to hang out. Half way into the route we thought we’d figured out the theme: “Are you implying that we’re all old?” “No,” Alex replied, “It’s Grandma’s week!” Most of us in the group would be running Grandma’s Marathon on Saturday, June 22.
“Choose your pastry wisely”: For this route, we stopped at several different bakeries and coffee shops. But there was a catch—you could only get your pastry at one of the stops. And nobody, except the route leader, knew which bakeries or coffee shops we’d be stopping at next.
List of ideas for stories to write (if I ever find the time and motivation):
“Permanently Drunk” - A world where everybody is permanently drunk. It is illegal to be sober. If your blood alcohol level drops below 0.08 for more than 30 minutes, you are fined $1,000. If it remains below the legal limit for more than an hour, you die.
“No Time” - A world where the concept of time doesn’t exist. People wake up when the sun rises and go to bed when the sun sets. There would be no seconds, no minutes, no hours, no days, no months and no years. No birthdays, only aging.
“The Man in the Rocking Chair” - While visiting his grandparents, a little boy goes into the attic and, to his surprise, finds an old mysterious man sitting in a rocking chair, rocking.
Liszt of my favorite Franz Liszt compositions:
Liebstraum
Un Sospiro
Mephisto Waltz No. 1-4
La Campanella
Dante Sonata
La Lugubre Gondola
The Hungarian Rhapsodies No. 2, 7, 8, 15
Transcendental Etude No. 5
Totentanz
Piano Concerto No. 2
Orpheus Symphonic Poem No. 4
Nuages Gris
This week’s Grocery List:
Bread
Milk
Eggs
Cheese
Butter (sticks)
Steak
Roast beef
Ham
Salmon fillets
Peppers (red and green)
Onions
Tomatoes
Spaghetti noodles
Pasta sauce
Bananas
Peanut butter
Dark chocolate
Seltzer water
PR List:
1609m: 4:55 - (Subzero Mile - Feb 18, 2023 and Feb 17, 2024)
5k: 16:48 - (Subzero 5k - Jan 6, 2024)
10k: 33:42 - (Houdini 10k - Nov 2, 2024)
21.0975k: 1:15:34 - (Apple Dumpling Half Marathon - Sept 7, 2024)
42.195k: 2:40:10 - (Madison Marathon - Nov 10, 2024)
List of things that make me cringe:
(I came up with the idea for this list after reading this cringy blog post by Lize Brittin)
Penetrating eye injuries
Finding hair in my food
Finding food in my hair
Eating live insects. Just the thought of this bugs me out- I could never make it on Fear Factor.
Brown bananas
Overflowing garbage cans- I could not stand to live with (or anywhere near) Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Young kids running marathons
Mispelled wodrs tpyos and bad grammer
The J-word
Hearing recordings of my own voice
Essays and poetry I wrote in high school
Essays and poetry I wrote yesterday
Tomorrow, most of what I wrote today (including each of these lists), will likely make me cringe.
