Sunday, November 14, 2010

High/Low Weeks 44 & 45, 2010

Does anyone like to be told how to live their life? When I'm not mentally prepared, it touches off a powder keg.

At the office, someone told me that I "needed" to do something within two weeks. In reality it could take months to do; I should have been notified accordingly; and frankly I just don't respond well to being told what to do rather than asked my opinion. Someone else's mistakes becoming my problem is a grinding way to participate on a team.

At home, I was censored by NCHS from including certain items on Hidden Blog.

Resistance. I've said it before. It burns, whether as part of an extra rep in the weight room or a reality imposed beyond our control. We can go find something else to do. We can push through it. Or we can be foolish and wallow in it. In these cases, it was time to chin up and comply rather than to complain or quit. Next week if something similar comes up, the challenge will be to do so without the intermediate fuming step.

We headed out for a fun evening with the Hillegasses last night. Dinner reservations at 6:00, followed by The Blind Side on DVD and a couple servings of Dena's pumpkin cake. What makes for such a great double date is good balance... four people interested to learn and support what each other are up to, and stirring up plenty of laughs while doing it. What better combo exercise is there than laughing - physically and mentally?

New next door neighbors moved in. Always curious to see if there are any distinctive habits to adapt to, such as gaudy exterior decorations, wind chimes, loud music, lousy parking, mangy pets, destructive children or weird smells. So far it looks like we will break even - a quiet young polite Asian childless married couple who speak fair English. A sweet collection of adjectives!

The annual condo board meeting was Thursday, and I officially rolled off the Board. That's good, because basketball is proving to be as consuming as I anticipated - looks to be about twenty hours a week. Thankfully, I've been able to take plenty of notes as I'd hoped, captured them blog-style, and so am building a reservoir of coaching knowledge that could be used on my own someday. No hurry though, as being a full-time rather than part-time coach this year is a huge improvement. The vocabulary makes more sense, I can be a step ahead of the players rather than behind, and the relationship with the coaches and players is just naturally stronger with the extra face time. It's been as good a fit as I'd imagined. I'm just performing better.

Saturday was a high-energy day. Besides the double-date at night, I kicked it off with hoops at Four Seasons (and squeezed in four victories in an hour without a loss), showered and jetted over to basketball practice for three hours, then practiced outdoors in blustery conditions with my new indoor soccer team in a 4-on-4 exhilarating friendly contest for an hour. My feet were pounding by the end, but thanks to my experiment with a fantastic recommendation of Thorlo cushioned athletic socks it was a blister-free experience. Another item to add to the Christmas list!

As usual, Dena is off making the world a better place by participating in the Jingle Bell Run for arthritis (to end it, not spread it). We will have plenty of good fortune to reflect upon come Thanksgiving!

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