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The Worst Part of Being Sick · 17 September 2022

The worst part of being sick is well… being sick.

I do not like to complain, but I am going to do it anyway. In a kinda sorta tongue in cheek way.

I recently went through a bout of COVID. Five days of not much fun. Well, technically six days since the first day of symptoms is called day zero. Which is one of the better things about the COVID protocols. Everybody else counts like computer geeks and starts with zero.

At any rate.

The worst part of being sick is the fever. Well, not the fever exactly. The aches that come with the fever. For me, my whole body aches. Like I had been punched on every muscle in my body. Especially, my arms and legs. But worse than that, if I have not been drinking enough fluids, I tend to get cramps too. Usually the muscles in my legs or feet. Those feet cramps are the worst.

But there are other worst effects too.

I tend not to eat much when I get sick. Which is not too bad. You know. Starve a fever. But if I do not eat for too long I get a little light headed when I walk around. That is the worst. Going up and down the stairs to get this or that. Making a misstep or having to grab the hand rail to stay steady. I know. Somebody will surely comment that it is just me getting old, but that is not the cause. And quit calling me Shirley!

But seriously, the worst part of being sick is isolation. At least the worst part of having COVID. You need to stay away from everybody. Don’t be near anybody so you can’t breathe on anybody. Don’t breathe on anybody so you don’t get anybody sick. Which makes sense. It makes even more sense not to breathe at all until you are healthy again. At least if you could survive.

I suppose when it comes down to it, there are many worst parts of being sick. Did I mention the aches? Did I mention fever? Did I mention chapped lips? How about not being able to drink enough water? Or feeling a little light-headed when walking around? Or isolating? Well, I might have missed some, but those are the worst things for me.

I know. They cannot all be the worst part just by definition of worst, but they are.

Well, there is one more worst part of being sick. Not having a clear mind to write. Surely that is a worst thing too. (And no. I didn’t call you Shirley.)

When it comes right down to it, there is really just one worst part of being sick. The worst part of being sick, COVID or otherwise, is just being sick. (Of course, you already knew that.)

Be healthy.

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Nothing New Under the Sun · 10 September 2022

There is nothing new under the sun or under my blog banner.

Solomon said, “Vanity of vanities… There is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2, 9 ESV) Or something like that. Of course, he was talking about all of life. The struggles and strifes and victories and glories. They are all the same. Life goes ever onward. And it is all the same. It is all vanity. It is all worthless. (Which is the second definition of vanity.) Solomon does end his discourse with hope. “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13 ESV)

Now lest you think that I am going to preach on, I am not. The last paragraph is the only preaching I will do. Instead, I want to talk about the worthlessness of blogging. What!? That cannot be. For how can a person who blogs talk about the worthlessness of blogging? For shame.

No. I am not saying that blogging is worthless. I am not really even saying that my blog is worthless. I am merely saying that sometimes I feel that I have written stuff that is worthless or at the very least stuff that has been written before. Even stuff that I have written before. In fact, I was going to write a piece about recycled writing and found that I have already written such a piece. With that exact title. Recycled Writing.

When I saw that I hung my head in shame and wondered why I am still blogging after all these years. Blogging in obscurity. Blogging with the same few readers (both real and imaginary). Even blogging with the same running gags. Sheesh.

But then I remembered. Even if I do reuse and recycle some of my writing, I am still writing. Maybe the same subjects. Maybe even some of the same words. But I am still writing. Maybe that actually means something. Even if that something is just persistence.

Then I remembered something else. That something else is that I am a glutton for punishment. Punishment from both myself and my two readers. Which is not to say that my two readers punish me all the time, but they certainly do punish me at times. Not that I consider it all punishment either. After all, their punishment is just their way of showing affection.

Which is also something I have written about before. Sheesh.

There is nothing new under the sun. Or in my blog posts. I should just accept that and move on. And I should remember my whole duty. That is enough.

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Life Is All about the Lag · 3 September 2022

All of life is about the lag.

When you think about lag, you usually think of video games or video conferencing or even live video broadcasts. You think about the frustration of not getting that kill shot because your internet glitched at just the wrong time. Lag. Or you think about how the audio is behind the video in the video chat with your parents who are across the state or across the country or across the sea. Lag. Or you think about how your friends who are at the live televised sporting event saw some amazing feat milliseconds or maybe even seconds before you did. Lag. Even though it may seem like it at the time, that lag is not what all of life is about. That lag is not what I am talking about.

I have just come to the realization that lag is all important in life. I did so after years of admonishment from my wife, the Mindboggling Mrs. Miyoshi. She has told me time and again that I should savor my food and drink. She has said, “That bite could be three bites.” And yet, I have not listened. Until today. Today, I took what would have been a small bite for me and actually took three bites to savor the taste of that dessert. She was not even there, but she was right. In fact, the Mindboggling Mrs. Miyoshi has been right all along. I should savor my food and drink. I should let the taste linger. Mmm.

Well, that realization about food led me to another realization about lag. Several, actually.

Besides just taste, lag is important for the digestion too. I have known for a long time that if I eat what I believe is the correct amount of food and then wait for about twenty to thirty minutes, I can decide whether I really need more. In other words, my brain will not know that my stomach is full until there has been a significant lag.

Lag is important in other aspects of life too. Professionals tend to call it delayed gratification. You put in tons of work before you realize any benefit. Or at least before you realize a large portion of the benefits. It is like I wrote before. I would love to be an instant success now that I have put in lots of work. I would love that lag to finally catch up with me. But I am also happy just to realize that there is a lag called delayed gratification.

The last type of lag is probably not the most important, but it is a big part of who I am. The last type of lag is in athletics.

While it is true that there is the delayed gratification type of lag in athletics – put in that work up front and reap the rewards later – there is also a lag in the mechanics of athletics. The golf swing is probably the best example of lag that I can think of that many people can relate to.

Many people think that the golf swing is all about power, so they just try to swing harder. But that is not the key. The key is actually lag. The arms and hands and club all need to be aligned at the point of impact, but they will not really be aligned at the top of a proper swing. The key to getting the best possible swing speed is to wait for the club head to get to its farthest point along its path before trying to get it speeding back along its return path. To do that, you need to let your hands hang back a little bit at the top of the backswing before starting the downswing. You need a little bit of lag.

Photo courtesy of Fred Luke

That lag in the golf swing is important for throwing the javelin too. (Which is where I have been finding its application the most these days.) Fred, my coach and mentor and friend, has been trying to get me to have that lag as we have worked on the javelin. The hand that holds the javelin needs to lag behind the rest of the body to get the best possible throw. I am hoping to get there one of these days. I am hoping to get all the mechanics of the throw, especially the lag.

Lag is important whether we are talking about tasting or eating or life or athletics. Yes, we can get along without it. We can scarf down our food and drink without really tasting or enjoying our meals. We can eat our food too fast without realizing until later that we ate too much. We can give up just before we reach success because we were too worried about getting what we wanted right now. And we can hook or slice the golf ball or underthrow the javelin because we could not be patient in our athletic endeavor. It is amazing that I have come to realize all these things with a little bite that I turned into three. It is amazing that all of life can be enjoyed or enhanced with a little lag.

My many thanks go out to the Mindboggling Mrs. Miyoshi, Fred, and all the others who have taught me through the years that lag is important. I wish that I had listened earlier. Because when it comes right down to it, lag may be the most important thing in all of life.