Tuesday on the Treadmill.

Today it is off to the gym again with KidThree, then home to do laundry. (I do seem to do laundry a lot.) First, one more cup of coffee and a chat with myself here, then off to wake up the Kid, take my shower, get her cleaned up, and hit the road.

I decided not to finish "Crush Depth." The inanity of the writing and the stock characters eventually wore me down. It was plain that the good guys would win, that the maniacal prototypical Aryan would get his comeuppance, and that the 'good German' would also go down with the ship. The woman who got away would come back and the estranged parents & son would reconcile. Truth, justice, and the American way would prevail.

Please, authors, if you are writing for adults, act like it. Make up characters that have more than one dimension; get away from stereotypes; do something unexpected; and for goodness' sake, get me a subordinate clause once in a while. It is so second-grade to read sentences that consist of only subject, verb, object in ten words or less. Over and over again, that starts to sound like Dr. Seuss. And quit making the captains of the ship, literal or figurative, maniacs. I know from experience that the military gives all sorts of psychological screening to folks before they are allowed to become submariners--those lunatic megalomaniacs would never pass the screening.

Okay, enough rant for the day. Right now I am reading "Still Me," by Christopher Reeve. It is wonderful. He is so very clear and articulate about everything that went on with his life and his body and through his mind, and is so open about sharing it all, the good, the bad, and the self-pitying. I recognize so much of what he went through in what we went through with KidThree when she was paralyzed; she'll get the book next to read. Of course she is well aware of his experience and already holds him as an example of how to make the best out of extreme adversity.

Yesterday, after the gym, KidThree asked a question that reminded me to not take for granted things that are so automatic to me but might not be for her. When she was in the standing machine (a machine that puts her into a standing position), she got lightheaded and a little nauseated, then when she was on the treadmill (hanging in a harness, with a trainer moving her feet in a walking motion), she again got sick and was not able to finish the sequence. Both times, the trainers got her horizontal right away and gave her some water, and I was right there for reassurance. I explained to her that her body was not used to pumping blood all the way to her head while she was in a standing position, as she has been sitting or lying down for a year and a half, and she understood. Her question to me later was, could that have killed her. Uh oh! I forgot to add the part on how it all gets fixed right away once she is no longer vertical. I made a little joke, "no, you pass out, fall over, then your blood pressure gets happy," then explained in more detail how it all works. KidThree did not grow up in an educated, medically oriented household the way I did, and so much of what I take for granted is unknown to her. I try to remember to give thorough explanations for most things and she feels free to cut me off when I'm talking too much, but sometimes I do miss where she needs more detail.

I'm not sure what I'll read after "Still Me." I'm in that sort of mood where nothing sounds particularly appealing. Maybe some scientific non-fiction. Hmm.

After the gym yesterday, KidThree and I went to visit my parents. Those visits are both fun and stressful. It is fun to yak with Mom, but Dad is failing steadily, and that is hard to see. We all concentrate on the positive and work to ignore the negative (at least directly with Dad, as it is pointless--we certainly do talk about it amongst ourselves), but it does get wearing. We try to enjoy every moment and always leave on a positive note, just in case.

Now off to watch my dvd on how to care for people with dementia.

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