Back at it with the headlamp this a.m. My grandfather mined coal in Colton, CA. I guess it's in my genes to get up at 4:30 and live 1/3 of my life in the dark. I'm really glad to have someone to run with again. I haven't had a regular since Amanda moved to Virginia a year and a half ago. I tried out Marsha for 2 days a week while I was SGM training, and she was pretty consistent and up for anything (8:30's-10:00's, 5 miles or 7). She's so glad to get out and do regular exercise and she tells me all her stories as we run along in the dark. I need to stop underestimating people. She's taught me how judgmental I am--particularly about certain kinds of women. I like tough, self-assured women who have their own thing going--not the sweet, gossipy tricky kind; the kind who are self-deceived and not in touch with their true selves. In general I like people who have really been through some crap and come through polished hard, and shined for display like, well...as Smooth puts it...diamonds. When I've come to know someone like that, I realize how much I have to learn about living more succinctly and being tough. Humility is wonderfully deceiving. It allows you to be underestimated. I'd like to be more like that, to keep my mouth shut and to be underestimated. But in order to do that you have to have superpowers worth keeping secret. | 