T-Rex

I slept in later than I meant to. I could have gotten out of bed at 4:45 when I first woke up, particularly since I thought I heard the dog pacing around, but there was no inspiration, no sense of urgency, and so I fell back asleep until 9:00ish.

Our new bedroom has helped me fulfill my sleep debts; it has a very calm palette and atmos. The decor isn't one I'd choose for myself, particularly the pastel slightly shiny wallpaper of what appears to be grasses or sedges of some sort, but it is soothing and I am not staying awake staring at it. The "window treatments" (paperish blinds and translucent cloth drapes) is soft, and mainly dim. I've been falling asleep quickly and waking up slowly. I'm slowly discovering that, if I don't accept waking up in darkness, I could conceivably not wake up until close to noon. Maybe this torpor will wear off once I completely eliminate my sleep debt, but I suppose if I ever had to decorate a long-term care home, I would use our bedroom as a template. However we're not quite at that point; I might change the drapes if I can do this super cheaply, or maybe buy some sort of wake-up light that will gradually flood the room with "sunlight".

A side effect of this laden sleep are the weird dreams. Sometime this morning, I was in a Boston pastry/candy shop (and I've never been to Boston, but this was in Boston), and I bought something for which my change was $6638 or so...the first three digits were correct. Somehow, it was understood that the last digit was a mistake, including the place it held, and I was actually getting back $663, but I didn't have any recollection of actually paying and I felt rather awkward about this. Curiously, all I was buying were a few chocolate truffles; the purchase did not warrant getting change for $663. Would it be possible to get that back "in change" for anything? I remember feeling ill at ease though I hadn't actually paid anything. The other weird thing was being asked where I was from, which has happened quite a few times here. In my dream, I couldn't answer, though the same place conveniently answers for both "Where are you from?" and "Where did you move from?": Ottawa. I know I'm from Ottawa, and I'd settled back in Ottawa better than I had the few places before, but I hadn't realized until now that I hadn't settled completely. It didn't help that I hadn't come back to the same Ottawa I'd left...when you go abroad, you can't eally return.

Anyway, I eventually got my change (which dissipated disappointingly when I woke up), got moving, grabbed the dog, and ran to and down the street by the river. This leads to a path down by a creek; to rejoin the river road, a detour is required. I figured that I'd figure it out, run down some streets, and so forth, but my mind wandered and I found myself on the concrete creak path, even though I've already run its disappointingly curt 0.5 mile stretch, which was covered in a thin layer of slippery mud last time. This was more slippery than most ice and I almost fell several times. Fortunately, this time, the thin layer of mud was dry and eroded, and we ran to the end without incidence. The path is all concrete; it's a bit curious in that in some places, it's really part of a concrete liner/creek containment system, and when the water is high, the creek washes over it (hence the mud)--there are enough shrubs and curves and so forth to disguise its concrete trough-ness, not that it isn't cool to run in a concrete trough now and then. I suppose it will feel somewhat refreshing during the summer before the sun is high.

The run was too short; I went further west to a street which I knew crossed the creek back into my side of town. I did not know that this would involve a more steep than usual hill, at the top of which I saw a dip, and then a second identical hill...it was like a sound wave. This was memorable; I will remember these hills.

This was supposed to be an easy run...well, I tried. I think I managed to loosen up on some stretches at least. Another thing which I've noticed is a deterioration of form. I'm herding cats. I'm tackling these hills in a brute, messy fashion and something is going awry; my left hip has been feeling a little sore. I don't know what's going on but it's easier to run a little more straightly than figure it out. In total, the run was almost easy, and felt a little better in terms of form.

Just can't get an easy run on these streets, but I have another idea...