Author: Force

  • Six Miles

    I went to Gainesville to do a 6-mile run around the University as part of my training for the Honolulu Marathon. It’s the end of Week 3 of training, and I’m really pushing hard to prepare for the race this time. I felt sluggish and slow, feeling the effects of weight gain and aging. There were students milling around, getting ready for the start of the semester. They all looked so young, which made me feel old. Has it really been that long since I first started to attend college? Yes, it has… Twenty-two years, in fact.

    Running was much easier back then, yet I recall being primarily sedentary during my first college years. Moving out of town and unfamiliarity with the new city kept me confined to my dorm room and secluded in the University gym, where I would sometimes retreat to running on the treadmill.

  • Breathing

    I have been dealing with irritation in my right lung for over five days now. It started with pain when taking deep breaths, but now it radiates towards my right shoulder and hurts constantly. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow to figure out what’s going on. I realize how important it is to breathe normally

  • Severe Thunderstorm

    The rain was pouring down heavily, making it difficult to see through my car windshield as I arrived at my usual Friday evening commute truck stop. I decided to pull over into the parking lot and use my iPhone to check the radar application. It showed a long stretch of highway being hit by the storm, so I chose to wait it out at the nearest Starbucks coffee shop. While I waited, I took the opportunity to review my new syllabus for the Data Science Program, which starts next week. I’m really looking forward to learning something new! Can’t wait to start the class.

  • Saint Leo

    Saint Leo University offers an online master’s in creative writing degree. Since I live nearby, I decided to drive out and see the campus this evening. I had been working until 7 pm, so I left my apartment about half an hour after sunset.

    As I approached the main street to the campus, my Apple GPS tracker redirected my route to help me avoid blocked accessways and led me through a detour. The detour route took me through a desolate, winding road with limited lighting, so I needed to use my high beams.

    I noticed a well-lit building and got a spooky feeling, like the one you get from watching horror movies at night. Curious, I saw that the building was a convent, so I continued towards the campus. When I reached the campus, it was well-lit but deserted at that late hour. I drove into one of the main entrances, made a turn at the roundabout, and headed back home. Maybe I’ll even apply for graduate studies tonight.

  • Phone Call

    Last week, I received a phone call from my brother informing me that our mother wasn’t doing well. He mentioned that it’s time for us to act. We quickly discussed a plan and I decided to call my father, whom I hadn’t spoken to at length since last year in October. As I listened to the situation, I realized that it was quite serious. It’s difficult not to have an emotional reaction to the situation, and I feel deeply for what my mother is having to endure.    

    Today, I needed to adjust my plans, as the situation evolves. I am scrambling to find qualified resources that can provide support.

  • Iowa City

    Life has a strange way of revealing itself to me. The serendipitous flow that my life often takes makes me wonder if I do indeed possess special magical skills that make anything I wish for manifest.

    On my trip to Cedar Rapids for an amateur radio conference where my husband was presenting, I decided to visit Iowa City and coincidentally found myself there during the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. I didn’t know about the festival beforehand, and it was inspiring to be in the literary hub of Iowa City during the festival days. This experience made me hope to study there one day and participate in workshops with great writers.

    While walking downtown, I came across the famous historical marker for “Writers in a Café” and read the poem written by Marvin Bell as Iowa City bid to become a UNESCO city of literature in 2008.

    “Amid semi-trailers hauling produce grown in the deep blue-black topsoil left mid-country by an inexpressible Ice Age, there is known to be a place where words have dirt on their shoes. Where sky reaches to girdle the globe, the earth is etched by signs and portents. Many have bowed to their writing in attics and basements, at rest by the river or paused on a bridge, in the shadow of winter or eclipse, voicing local lives and affairs of state — as much by the reflections of leaves and the glow of prairie grasses left to live in the mind as by shapes in clouds or the dark news. They were here who made the sentence behave and misbehave, who added chapter and verse, and recast the myths. The café grows quiet as they write. The espresso machine lets go the steam someone may write in on the mirror. It is an impulse that survives disaster. The guns fail when surrounded by writing.”

     

  • Pack

    I’ve finished packing for tomorrow. The wake-up call is scheduled for 4am, but I wanted to ensure I made an entry today. Have you ever listened to a speech that brought you back into action or motivated you to take immediate steps? I heard one today, and now I’m trying to analyze the content to replicate it and inspire others using a similar approach.

  • Egypt

    11:00pm – I’m exhausted and unable to focus. Here’s a photo of a souvenir that my colleague brought back for me from Egypt.

  • Overheat

    Reflections on the weekend: I ran a half-marathon in Ocala, FL, with a heat index of 104. I pushed myself through heat exhaustion symptoms and finished with my race clothing drenched as if I had just taken a dip in a pool. The drive home took an hour and twenty minutes, and I tried to rehydrate while on the road, sipping on water, Gatorade, and Sprite to ease the nauseated feeling.

    Later that day, after taking a rest, I attended an inspiring Evening of Poetry hosted by the Writer’s Alliance of Gainesville. I had the pleasure of listening to two talented traveling poets, James Norman, and Daryl Gussin, as part of their 2024 Wet Heat Dry Heat Overheat Tour. Local poets also read, and I was moved by the rhythm of their words. One line that stuck with me that night was “Write it down, or you’ll forget.”

    Today, I woke up with an unusually low HRV reading, prompting me to take it easy. I allowed myself to relax and complete a jigsaw puzzle while listening to an audiobook. Currently, I’m engrossed in Jon Fosse’s “The Other Name,” his repetitive prose has me completely captivated.

    Overall, this weekend taught me the importance of staying properly hydrated, appreciating the power of poetry in a small group setting, and finding solace in completing a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle.

  • Glare

    Arrival time 10:30pm: The decision to drive North was made after the lightning storm rolled East.

    Estimated departure time 8:30pm: I’ve become familiar with how to navigate through the Interstate-75 traffic, but my night driving vision is getting worse.

    During the drive: The light glare is amplified with the recent rain and I wonder if this will be my last drive home. I grip the steering wheel, squinting my eyes and step my foot down on the pedal, this time maintaining the speed limit.