January Random: Jazzercise and Joe Biden

Few things make a writer happier than reader appreciation. Yesterday, a colleague stopped me in the hall and said, "I went to your blog yesterday. I thought with the snow day, you would post something new." I have to admit to a moment of pure, unadulterated happiness. Not only does someone read my blog, they look forward to it.

I did take advantage of the snow day to write, but all my efforts were spent on my WIP. I've been floundering around trying to find the voices of these new characters in my head. I made some headway Tuesday, but spared no time to blog. So now, when I should be grading Animal Farm tests, I'm blogging on random topics.

I started exercising this week. I've wanted to get back in shape for a while, but I was looking for the right opportunity. I hate running. It's too cold to walk outside, and I'm not interested in going to a gym by myself. Last week, one of my co-workers who has been waxing lyrical about Jazzercise, invited a group of us to come along. Something about the herd mentality made it easier to say yes. Everybody else was doing it, so I might as well go along for the ride.

It was fun. No, really. Jazzercise incorporates dance moves into the cardio portion of the workout, and I was with a big group of my friends. It's kind of like vigorous line dancing, without the alcohol. (Although when my friend, Pam in Iraq, heard Linda and I were jazzercising, she wanted to know if they were offering free wine with a membership.)

I've gone three days in a row now. Somebody told me you have to do something at least ten times before it becomes a habit, so I'll let you know how it goes. When I get tired, I start writing in my head to distract myself. The first night, I was behind a woman with "John 3:16" emblazoned on the back of her t-shirt. Brittany Spears' Three was playing. The incongruity of those two inputs cracked me up. Listen the words sometimes. Three is not referring to the holy trinity. I imagined a character who would think Brittany's three was a religious experience. I might use him in my WIP.



On a separate and totally random note, I watched the State of the Union address last night. I'm not going to comment on the speech or politics, but if you missed it, watch it on YouTube, paying particular attention to Vice President Biden in the background. My fifteen year old was watching as an assignment for his social studies class and pointed out something interesting. Our Vice President is an animated man. His unusually wide smile prompted my son to compare him to the guy on the cover of Mad Magazine. We missed a whole section of the speech because our son had Bruce and I laughing hysterically as he narrated our VP's facial expressions. I think there might be a writer's soul in that boy.