If a Tree Falls in the Forest...

I was on a flight recently (shocker, I know) and as I tucked my Kindle away in its bright orange neoprene sleeve while we prepared to land, the guy sitting next to me asked, “So, how do you like your Kindle?” (Another side benefit of the device – it’s an instant conversation starter.) Normally, I immediately say “I love it!” without hesitation, but for some reason, I turned to this poor, unsuspecting soul and said “Here’s the thing about the Kindle: it creates a sort of existential crisis for me every time I finish a book.”

I’m sure that he immediately wished he could roll back the clock about 35 seconds and seriously reconsider the decision that prompted him to engage me in conversation. Who is this wacky chick who doesn’t even get the basics of a classic “small talk” conversation??

I could have stuck with the pat answer I’ve given numerous times before (and it would be no less true – I really DO love it), but unlucky for this guy, I’d actually been giving this a little bit of thought lately.

As I’ve previously noted, I love books. LOVE books. And while I love books because of what’s in them (natch), I also really love the books themselves. I like the look of a full bookshelf and I get a warm feeling of satisfaction when I add a recently completed volume to that collection. It’s information, it’s entertainment, it’s décor, and it’s a little peak into the reader’s mind and soul. Talk about conversation starters.

So, I admit that in spite of (re)kindling my love for the printed word in yet another format, I’m still a sucker for the traditional page-turning variety. (As an aside, will particularly engaging books now be described as “it’s a real thumb-clicker”? Yikes.)

I’ve noticed that when I finish a book on the Kindle, I have a moment of uncertainty that I’d even read the book at all. That perhaps I’d just quickly skimmed a random, disposable magazine article or that I had a dream that is now only coming back to me in fuzzy, disconnected bits and pieces… It’s a bit disconcerting to say the least. What I’ve taken for granted in the past is that I do create a set of associations of sorts with the book itself. I see the cover, and it immediately evokes memories of not only the content within, but also of the circumstances under which I consumed that particular book. Now, when I’ve completed something on the Kindle, I get the distinct sense that it’s not really real. That I didn’t really just read it. That the book doesn’t even really exist because it’s not on my shelf with everything else I’ve recently read.

Hence, my existential struggle with my new found love… If a book is finished on a Kindle, but no one is around to see it, does it make an impression?

Wii Are Fit! (Well, Wii Hope To Be Soon!)

I would love to love to work out. Really, I would. It’s not that I don’t like it, but I just don’t love it. I kind of get bored at the gym, I don’t really like to run (I have bad knees and a worse attitude), and in the past couple of years, I haven’t been stationary long enough to commit to taking any sort of regular class. (Side note: The last class I did take was kickboxing and I highly recommend it, both for the exercise and the exorcise after a particularly bad day!)

Special K is super athletic, having played pretty much every sport in the book and he is endlessly patient with me as we drag our big white pail of tennis balls to the court and I exclaim “home run!” as I belt yet another ball clear over the fence and into the street.

In an extremely inspired move (and probably somewhat motivated by the ballooning tennis ball budget), Special K slid a Wii console and Wii Fit under our Christmas tree this year and I am pretty excited about the possibilities! This seems an appropriate way to tackle fitness challenges in the 21st century!

I have wanted to do yoga for a while now both for the physical AND mental health (sensing a theme here?) benefits, but I am about as flexible as 2x4 and I was never quite sure where to start. The Wii has solved my dilemma, providing me with a very nice and supportive virtual trainer who walks me through the poses and with the help of the Wii balance board, I am gaining a pretty decent sense about the right way to execute said poses.

As supportive as the Wii aims to be, it still has the somewhat eerily human quality of not being able to resist a jab every now and then. When I missed one day of “working out”, the Wii snidely remarked “couldn’t find time to work out yesterday, huh?” As I’m settling my feet on the board, looking for the right position, the Wii sighs (I swear it does!!) and says “Are you fidgeting?”

So far, with my limited experience, I’m pretty impressed. I definitely felt the results of my “work out” in my muscles the next day and I feel like I’m already improving my balance and posture. Although, I’ve been back in NoCal all week and I can only imagine what the Wii will have to say to me when I finally return to it.

But I have set myself a mini-goal to track against (the Wii measures your weight and BMI as well), so wish Mii luck!

Words to Live By for a New Decade

2009 was a good year. A great year, actually. I married the man of my dreams, made new friends and deepened existing relationships, explored and enjoyed yet another new home (this time in Northern California), and had a major impact on the development and success of a still young internet company. But in spite of all this, I still let many things slide, especially during the second half of the year (as you can tell from the fact that my last blog post was from way back in August). By the time fall rolled around, I’d lost much of the balance in my life, not doing much more than working, eating (too much) and sleeping (not enough).

I've never been one to make New Year's resolutions per se because I've always believed that you can make a positive change in your life at any time, on any day of the year. But since 2009 ended on a rather unbalanced note for me and since an entirely new decade has just kicked off, I figured it couldn't hurt to remind myself of a few key philosophies that are good words to live by. Maybe you'll find something helpful in here, too:

• Be here now.

• Let go and move on.

• If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

• Do what you love, love what you do.

• Life is too short to see bad movies. (Full disclosure: I adopted this one from Special K.)

• We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. (Credit for this one goes to Sir Winston Churchill.)

• It's never too late to be the person you might have been. (George Eliot)

• To thine own self be true. (Thank you, Polonius.)
  

And finally, one key question to keep in mind:

• What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Happy 2010! Here's to a year (and an entire decade) of happiness, health, adventure, surprises, love and laughter.