Vlog the Inhaler, or The Occasional Video Blog Musings of Jim Thornton

Either I'm getting my period, or this one is touching...I'm going to get a tissue.

Jimby, you nailed it!
I know exactly what you mean. I wander around thinking about these things all the time! Sometimes I think I'm going crazy.
All I know is KEEP SWIMMING! Swimming is a great mood enhancer and I think it helps keep us young. (physically, mentally, and emotionally)
The other day I decided this must be the torture I have to endure so I will appreciate my grandchildren (whenever I get some and I hope it's no time soon)
Our job as parents is to guide our offspring to independance but the reality of it is so lonely.

Jimby -- you gotta get to workout to get some of that chlorinated Prozac back into your system.

Originally Posted by Bobinator

Our job as parents is to guide our offspring to independance but the reality of it is so lonely.

Bobinator -- you and Jim are bumming me out. Here I am in the midst of kids aged 6 to 13 playfully imagining (at times) the footloose & fancy free life my wife & I will lead when the kids are off in 12 years and independent and you whack me with this quote.

You two need some of this or this

Jimby and Bobinator, I can honestly say that I understand what you are experiencing. I have already put two stepdaughters through college, one of them has been married for a year. My son turned eighteen last week. Next year, we will be sending him off to college, and then we will have a big empty nest. The reality of that is indeed lonely.

So, keep on swimming, the chlorine will keep you young!

All this introspection and complaining and you did fantastic tonight. You almost made Mark Cox your little bitch for the night. Probably your best workout performance all year.

Thanks, one and all. I suppose there was just a smidgen of melancholy, but I am proud to report that I easily made all 6 x 500s, and the two "faster" ones, both of which were on the 6:30 interval, I managed to squeak by in a 5:59 and a 5:50, which for me in this state of the year, is not really too bad.

Pat, there is a certain empty nest loneliness, true, but there is also a certain relaxation that comes from not having too much cacophony in the house all the time, too.

My steaks are burning.

More later.

All's well now that the chlorinated Prozac has seeped into the pores.

I sure am glad I missed this workout - whew! Hopefully Billy will come to his senses for Wednesday & Friday.

Originally Posted by pwbrundage

Jimby -- you gotta get to workout to get some of that chlorinated Prozac back into your system.

Bobinator -- you and Jim are bumming me out. Here I am in the midst of kids aged 6 to 13 playfully imagining (at times) the footloose & fancy free life my wife & I will lead when the kids are off in 12 years and independent and you whack me with this quote.

You two need some of this or this

Only 12 years? Is that all? You have no idea what burnout awaits you. Thoughts of escapism will inevitably increase ... random thoughts of why you bothered to procreate ... Unless you are somehow mysteriously immune.

Bill, I was determined to try to make my way back to the Jim of glory days past.

Thanks for the good workout. I confess I probably didn't do it 100 percent right. I tried to semi-slow down my stroke count. And I tried to do every other 25 with alternate breathing.

But I just wanted to make them all.

Oh, and I took your advice about the fungus.

Mermaid! You could have done this. It would have been good for you...to see me almost make Mark my little bitch, that is, if we were applying Finnish formulae to the sets.

It would have been great for you to see my ego inflate like this.

Pat, as a Brundage, this sort of thing we are talking about probably doesn't apply to you.

I wish I had the exact quote, but I can't seem to find it. I am pretty sure it was John Cheever who said (in a much more elegantly lyrical way than my butchered paraphrase): Why is life for some such an effortless adventure, whereas others must pay for their seat at the ball with a ransom of fevers, cholics, and dread?

Please safeguard your birthright and the future of humanity! Do this by continuing to Brundage full speed ahead in all things righteous and honorable!

Originally Posted by SwimmerGirlKT

Either I'm getting my period, or this one is touching...I'm going to get a tissue.

Thanks.

Depending on what the tissue is for, that is.

Let me know when you think you might be ovulating next, and I will try to do a vlog on my testosterone-fueled rugged maleness.

The rest of the time, I will try to emphasize my caring nature.

Jimby, what was that article you posted over there on Facebook yesterday???

Originally Posted by jim thornton

Thanks.

Depending on what the tissue is for, that is.

Let me know when you think you might be ovulating next, and I will try to do a vlog on my testosterone-fueled rugged maleness.

The rest of the time, I will try to emphasize my caring nature.

As someone else recently mentioned, there is a lot of talk about your virility and sperm-availability (not that there is really a dearth of sperm out there...one of Mother Nature's many cruel tricks for women). Now that your little chicks are leaving the nest, are you looking to pull a Tony Randall or just spread your seed indiscriminantly?

-Kentucky

...not that I haven't considered the impending desiccation of my eggs and not that you aren't a top sperm-donor-contender, with your obvious embarrassment of riches in a myriad of areas, such as looks, wit, intelligence and swimming prowess, to name only a few....but let me ask you this: surely you're already spoken-for?

As the "little bitch" in last night's workout, I call bullhockey on this morose tail of woe. You are far from in your twilight. In fact, you can't even see it from where you are. I hope I'm as decrepit as you when I'm 57. Those 500's were a bear whether you did them 100% "correct" or not. At this point in the season, the goal is to survive. You can excel in a month or two.

Either the Metamucil is working or this one is touching.

Thanks, one and all, once again for all your kind words and implied compliments that those such as me can read "in between the lines" with our exceptional compliment-sensing night vision.

Alas, I am spoken for.

John Thornton, my beloved twin brother, and I plan to spend the twilight hours in our childhood twin beds, separated only by a bubbling aquarium in whose algal waters crawls a sluggery of snails, even as the demons our mother let us draw on the walls before the wall paper was applied threaten to burst through that flimsy tissue of flowers and drag us screaming to where we've always been destined to go.

At least the bad twin.

And I have no doubt that John will come too, if for no other reason than to assure his little brother that things will be all right.

Bless you, Johnny boy, the best of all possible Scuppertons!

There is actual mathematical proof that time speeds up as we progress through blinkings and holidays. Each year represents a smaller percentage of the whole to a human. Only a quartz crystal sees time on a linear basis (except a heisenberg crystal, but that's another story). Your next year will be about 1.7% of your life, but for your son it's 4.7% It will feel like less to you on a relative basis. It even works for non relatives. Nice 500 set too.

Bill, I had heard about that theory somewhere, but thanks for clarifying.

For a neonate, the second day represents 50 percent of his or her time on earth.

For a centenarian, the next year represents slightly under 1 percent.

I do find that abject misery somehow slows down the passage of time, not that I am currently abjectly miserable, nor do I want to become that way again.

This calls to mind, as well, those studies with hamsters that show you can keep them young and robust much longer than their peers by essentially half starving them to death.

I suppose I could A) live longer, and B) perceive time going by much slower by C) inducing appetite-suppressing misery of the kind, say, so nicely induced by romantic heartbreak.

This is just one of the many lines of thought that has lead me to an inescapable conclusion: Longevity is ovverated. And the human lifespan, even under the best of circumstances, is overly generous.