18 October, 2008

Working on a Saturday, and all the Thoughts that Come into One’s Head

It’s funny, I don’t know if I am into writing about thoughts as much as I am thinking about the various websites I’ve been visiting today. Right now, my Shuffle is playing “Check Your Ride,” by Tribe Called Quest, but I was last reading an article about Memphis-rocker Jay Reatard—that’s how he spells it.

Anyway, as I was reading about Jay Reatard’s latest album on Pitchfork, I was thinking to myself, third-person, “Wow, what is Matt doing right now, but sitting for his twelfth hour on a Saturday, at his work desk.” Of course, admittedly, I did run seven miles from about 7:30 to 8:35, plus the time back at my place to shower and change. That involved leaving work where I was earlier and coming back. That’s my Saturday, and of course, because I had to open a conference bridge and run this morning, I went to bed wicked early last night.

Apologies, I’m not trying to whine. My point in writing that is to note, I’ve had a lot of time to think. Of course, seemingly, I always have time to think. I live alone, run alone, and do most everything else alone. For some reason, however, being at the office alone has provided ample time with fewer distractions to update myself on media.

Of course, if you read this blog ever – bless your heart, you probably know that I spent the bulk of my time reading http://www.economist.com/, http://www.cnn.com/, http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/, http://www.espn.com/, http://www.slate.com/ or http://www.salon.com/. Yeah, politics, tunes, or sports, I am an action-packed man—a man of action.

As an aside, I thought of something as I wrote that. Thursday night, I went running in the dark, which meant I didn’t run the trails, instead I ran Hill Road, here in Boise. Hill is a great road, with a nice long sidewalk and a great amount of bike trails on it, both of which make it a safe and easy run, particularly in the dark.

I took Hill from Harrison Boulevard to 28th Street. I loved running down 28th Street! What was quite lovable about it was how running down it immediately took me back to both Memphis and Chicago. At times, it looked like running in the North part of Memphis’s Midtown. In the case of Chicago, it reminded me of my runs this last fall between Lincoln Square and Ravenswood.* Between the dark, the cool fall temperature, the age of the houses and buildings, and the era in which the street was expanded to what it is, I was reminded of these different areas.
28th St. Boise


Nostalgia is such an amazing feeling, isn’t it? Certainly, different senses initiate different components of nostalgia, but above and beyond that, once one experiences it, they then have the cognitive processing that takes place. For example, in this case, I was immediately reminded of Memphis and Chicago, but then I went into my knowledge of things and analyzed why I was so reminded of those two different places.

I guess that’s what one thinks of while they’re sitting at their office on a Saturday.


*For those of you that don’t know, Ravenswood, in a way, envelopes Lincoln Square on the East and West.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Of course, I totally know Lincoln Square and Ravenswood, and I love your aerial view of 28th St! It is amazing all the things that come into your head when you're running. Fall is my favorite time to run, and here in Boise, the leaves are changing color, the air is so fresh - it's just gorgeous. I can't wait to spend a couple of hours in the foothills tomorrow afternoon.