see, kim is training for a marathon with her boyfriend and the piddly 4 or 5 miles i cant be bothered to run because im "lazy" have now become warm-up for her 22 mile training runs and she likes to bust me for it. but, let's be fair...kim and i were at the yardhouse the other night sampling the plethora of beers on tap and when she called me lazy for not going running everyday like i used to she immediately took it back when she realized that i would be grossly offended at the notion of sitting around my house all day doing nothing. this is a vicious lie. i hate doing nothing. actually, i think i have undiagnosed adult a.d.d. and i cant sit around for any extended period of time without doing something. if i am sitting, im usually reading...or muddling about with the mysteries of the universe in my head.
lately, im playing my guitar. it went long neglected last year when i had to take an hour out of my day everyday to run halfway across town and back. so im writing songs and kim runs.
if i called kim lazy for not writing songs im sure she'd look at me as if id just said she was lazy for not finding the cure for cancer. kim doesn't play an instrument...unless those electronic drums that come with the rockband game count. so of course i would be a fool if i gave her crap for not songwriting. she doesnt write songs. never has. i dont even think she has a desire to. her boyfriend has a guitar, but i dont think he wants to write a song either. so maybe it's not fair, but i just want to say, "hey, its not my fault you dont have as many hobbies as me! its easy to make time for running when its all you do! but i have many interests, high and lofty interests that extend beyond the physical realm and it is necessary that i spend time cultivating them." but i think that might be ever so slightly arrogant, and i like kim, so i don't say this even though i think it.
i like to think of myself as someone able to multitask. i can get a lot of stuff done in my 16-18 waking hours. i do two or three loads of laundry while doing paperwork. i carry on 5 conversations via text while teaching class. but i dont think i could manage cardiovascular songwriting. but it might be a good experiment for when the weather gets warmer. rockstars walk and jump and participate in all kinds of aerobic activities with their guitars on stage that get them all sweaty and out of breath, so im sure running in a straight line while playing wouldnt be very difficult. you wouldnt have to bother with a microphone because it could be a live acoustic set and i dont know how much of an audience a running performer would attract anyways. the idea of having to move down the street with the artist might discourage attendance.
now, that scenario is all well and good for playing songs i already know, but what about writing a new one? the pen and paper become a problem. the issue of a hard writing surface could be remedied easily with a clipboard, but writing and running and playing seem like too much. you dont have enough hands.
unless you employ a jogging scribe. someone to run with you and write as you dictate lyrics to them. it would be tricky, but it could work. the writer runs and plays while the scribe...well...scribes. kim will be in good shape by the spring with her marathon training and all so she'd make a good scribe except that her handwriting is pretty rough. so i suppose as long as she typed it out for me after the run, itd be all right.
and this way i could run and kim could write songs.
