acceleration of time

’07 was heaven,
’08, sorta great...
‘09 should be fine...

Uwharrie has been run and fed. Now I’m quietly sipping a Double Dog and procrastinating on the grading of a precipitous stack of papers. I'm thinking about the passage of time.

As the old laundry machine vibrates the whole trailer, I cast furtive glances over to the MYOG project table. It too is piled high, but with more tempting time killers: aluminum origami pots, an unfinished fabric order for cuben fiber, yet-to-be-sewn mesh pockets, and various other puzzle pieces to an ambitious journey.

I should be working. I should be getting around to those overdue Christmas thank you cards. I should be...

Where has the time gone? I used to think time was an illusion, but now I’m getting older. Something’s happening. If last year’s failed attempt to break my 100-mile PR is any indication, this is what’s happening: I’m slowing down.

We all slow down.The 5K PRs become unreachable, then the 10Ks, then the halves, then the marathons. No wonder the major onramp for ultras is somewhere around the 30-40 milepost. Anyway, this is all foreign to me as I’ve taken a short-cut...

Now I've chosen a slogging lifestyle no doubt. I’ve decided to live mostly inside an asbestos-infected, sterile knee-crushing hard-floor building. I provide stand-up entertainment for 14+ year-olds while (most hopefully) calling it education in the Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Where has the sunlight gone? We’re studying the movement of energy through ecosystems right now. Energy is linear, only about 10% passes on to the next trophic level. Can our species survive?

We’ll be discussing the energy efficiency of a vegetarian diet tomorrow. It may be winter, but the ultimate sun is still shining. I’m still dreaming.

Dream on...