Dear Energy to Burn

Dear Energy to Burn,

Hey - how you doing? Guess what I had today? Yeah - that's right. I had you. Plenty of you. Oh, yeah.

And why was that? That's a good question. A really good question. There are a lot of possible answers. Let's try to give all of them. Because if we don't give all of them, how are we ever going to figure it out?

The most probable of causes (or the biggest one, perhaps) is my past weekend. I went up to Seattle this weekend to see my parents (they were up there for a conference). And what can I say about that trip? We had some good dinners. We talked a bunch. And did NOTHING else. I mean - nothing. Now I don't blame my parents for this nothingness that we did - not at all. It was the weather. Since anything even mildly interesting we wanted to do involved being outdoors, it didn't help that it was crappy and rainy the whole time. So I ended up stuck in a hotel room for most of a weekend - getting no exercise (mental or otherwise) and napping constantly. There was nothing else to do. It was just: wake up and blow time until dinner.

But again - it was still good seeing my parents. It always is. Even in spite of the rest of the trip. But that definitely didn't help me use any energy (and I missed my weekly football games that I play in on every other Sunday).

Speaking of playing sports, another reason I had you today was likely that - last Thursday - we didn't do Open Gym with the kids. That's usually a good time to play some basketball and burn some energy with the kids, but we had to cancel it because of grades. And so my two opportunities of the week (Open Gym and Sunday) for real exercise were taken from me.

So I rested a bunch, and exercised very little. And on top of all that comes my little Lamp. It definitely seems to trigger an afternoon burst of energy for me. We might even call it an afternoon burst of you. Because I got all antsy around 4pm today and just needed to get out of the building. But then I didn't know what to do with myself when I was out of it. And since I hate all forms of exercise for the sake of exercise, I did not take care of that energy. Thus - you.

So now that we know where my you came from, we must analyze whether or not you is a good thing. Right now, I find myself leaning towards "No." It's not exactly fun to feel all antsy and anxious with nothing in mind to do. I don't like craving exercise when I know that I'm not going to get it. It may very well cause me to have trouble sleeping tonight. It's hard to say.

But I don't really dislike you, either. Because you, Energy to Burn, are something that I have become accustomed to lacking during the dark winter months. Getting up in the morning becomes hard enough for me, let alone getting energy to do anything real. So I'd say it's a bit of a welcome problem at this point in the year. It might cause some problems in the dead of Winter if I'm all cooped up and not able to get out (due to the weather), but I'm sure I'll come up with some way to deal with it. You should certainly make me more productive. At the very least, my room should end up cleaner than it normally is through the winter. That's not a bad thing.

So - overall - I think I thank you, Energy to Burn. I thank you for existing at all on a cloudy day. I thank you for being a welcome dilemma at a time when I'm used to the exact opposite being an issue. And I'm sure some of my friends and loved ones will be thanking you, as well, when having some you translates to me actually talking to and seeing more people this time around.

Ooh. That reminds me about a couple people that I've been intending to call for a LONG time. Maybe I should do that.

Anyway - thanks, Energy to Burn. I'm going to use my you right now to get a little bit of room organization done. Yup.

Looking All Around with no Known Purpose,
CVT