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Sunday, April 22, 2007

Where Did it Go?

The next prompt for NaPoWriMo over at Poetry Thursday is "misplaced". There are a couple of things I seem to have misplaced. Firstly, I seem to ahve misplaced the weekend. Only a moment ago it was just starting and now it's Sunday night already.

Actually, I know where most of Sunday went. Which brings me to the second thing I misplaced. I seem to have misplaced my brain. Today I went orienteering. It didn't start too well when I took a wrong turn on the way to the event. I stopped to check my street map, which I couldn't find. That did lead to some good when I looked under the seat and instead of the map found a pair of sunglasses belonging to another orienteer, who I had given a lift to a previous event. At least I was able to return them. The reason I couldn't find the street map, I found later on, was because it was on the floor of the car beneath my gear bag. Why I didn't look there I'm not quite sure.

When I got to the event I purchased a map, chose a course, signed up for a start time and headed for the start. My time was called, I went to copy the controls from the master map and realised I had forgotten to collect a set of control descriptions. So I had to go back to get them, and choose another start time. That led to a half hour delay because there were a lot of competitors queuing up.

Eventually I got out on the course, and I didn't do very well. I won't describe all the mistakes I made. I wasn't very pleased though after a long struggle up a hill covered with very long grass between the fifth and the sixth control, to realise that if I had chosen a different route I could have had a very easy run most of the way over a neatly mowed field. Then there were the controls where I was confused, looking for controls with letters on them instead of numbers. Actually, the letters were on the map but the numbers were on the controls. So I found the right control but went right past it thinking it was the wrong one.

All in all, once I had actually started, after all the delays, it took me nearly two hours to finish a 3.5 km course. Given that it was physically difficult, with a lot of ups and downs and some very tangly vegetation, that's still a long time even for me. I almost decided not to finish, but I'm glad that I continued. A year ago I would have been exhausted after being out for that length of time, now at least I was not too stiff at the end, and even managed to run on the flat part between the last few controls.

Still, if anyone knows where my brain went, I'd like it back.

After the orienteering I dropped in at my daughter's for a while as she keeps "open house" on a Sunday afternoon. Then later on she came around for dinner. I posted my poem for the previous prompt, and that was about it. I haven't even done the dishes yet. (I guess they will still be there in the morning).

NaPoWriMo has been eating my spare time. There are a couple of things I wanted to post about. Firstly, Deb at Red Shoe Ramblings (see the side bar, my brain is too fried to do many linky things tonight) nominated me for a Thinking Blogger Award. Thanks, Deb! I meant to spend part of the weekend putting the button in the side bar, and choosing five more blogs to pass the honour on to (since that's the way it works). It will have to wait. Wednesday is a public holiday here, so maybe I'll manage it then.

The other thing I wanted to write about was the Ten Zen Seconds blog tour. I'm going to be a host in early May. Eric Maisel has come up with this very interesting idea to promote his book - he is visiting a different blog every day for about seven weeks, and answering questions about the book and the concept of Ten Zen Seconds. I'll write more about it later in the week, for now, you can visit his site and learn more here. (The first link is to the front page of the site, and the second link is to the dates for the blog tour). I've nearly finished the book and it seems like a very useful technique for centering yourself when doing creative work, or any work for that matter.

Now, I'm off to bed. Maybe my brain will pop back in my head while I sleep.

8 comments:

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Well, it looks like I skipped you over at Michele's, but I didn't...we posted almost at the same time but I didn't see your name until the "post" was up! Anyway...here I am.

What is orienteering? I must admit I didn't get what it is from what you wrote...Forgive me if I seem dense or stupid...Maybe my brain went south, too! (lol)

Pat said...

Reading your post I keep thinking Catherine would appreciate Anna. When you have a moment go to my side bar(I'm rubbish at html) and click on Apprentice. I think you'll like her.

Catherine said...

Orienteering is kind of like a car rally on foot - a cross country running (or walking) event which involves map reading to navigate around a series of controls. Here in New Zealand it is very family oriented with courses for all ages and abilities, I do the "short red" which is technically hard but physically not so hard (but hard enough for me!). Children start out by following paths and fences mostly, once you get off the paths it gets more difficult.

craziequeen said...

My weekend disappeared while I was practicing my archery....

But I have to admit, archery is cooooool.....

cq
Michele sent me to say hi

Michael K. Althouse said...

I always say that I have so much crammed into my brain that it's a wonder anything stays put.

Have a nice rest,

Michele sent me,

Mike

PS: Congratulations on the Thinking Blogger Award!

Jess said...

Michele sent me to say hi too! I'm glad to have found you!

Orienteering is great..I've done a little with my son. Treking is my thing tho', and on a smaller scale, walking the dog. Anything that gets me walking outdoors is great...really helps blow those cobwebs away.

Hope the sleep helps:)

January said...

I know EXACTLY what you mean about NaPoWriMo. But thankfully, it's almost over.

Congrats on the Thinking Blogger Awards. Deb (Red Show Ramblings) nominated me, too. But like you I haven't had a chance to post about it.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

LOL, LOL...So now I have three other things I did not understand from your explanation...It must be a New Zealand language/expressions difference..."Car Rally"..Don't know what that is. You mentioned a series of "controls"....What are controls? And last...I'm fadcinated what "short red" is! I'm sorry to make you work so hard Catherine...But, I am just vtrying to understand what it all means!
Thanks, my dear.