You know what happens when I let myself sleep late? I blog late. I need to try and not do that.
Yesterday I had therapy and worked through my disappointment about not getting the job. My current theory is that it’s my therapists fault as she was thinking about losing me as a patient if I got it. She said, “OK, everyone else blames me for everything.” I love my relationship with my therapist. I don’t want to talk to anyone about it, but I needed to talk to someone about it, so I chose my therapist and two friends. I’m not keeping it a secret, I posted about it on Facebook, I’d feel like it would be dishonest to not let people know.
Sadly, it took me a long time after therapy to get myself out of the house. I even considered not taking my walk. Then I remembered what my psychiatrist said, “When you don’t want to go out is when it’s most important to go out. It was getting late, and I didn’t want to walk in the dark, so I tried something new. Instead of doing my usual saunter, I would walk fast. I’ve been doing that now and then for a while but this time I held myself accountable. I discovered that the heath app on my phone doesn’t just automatically measure how far you walk and how many steps, but you can set it for a fixed length workout. When you do that, it gives you the time, and pace, and average speed. I chose three miles and went on my quest for a donut. I had an issue when I arrived at Krispy Kreme; I discovered that there was no way of pausing the workout except for standing absolutely still. I couldn’t do that so my time at the store counted as time spent walking, even though I wasn’t getting anywhere. My actual walking rate would be higher than indicated.
It alerted me ever mile and at the halfway point. It said, “Almost there, you can do it” but didn’t tell me how far “almost there is.” When I got to my building, I was .06 miles short. That was a lap around the little triangle at the end of the street. My average speed was 3.5 miles for hour. I used to manage over 4, but that wasn’t on streets where I sometimes have to wait for lights.
Today was New York’s first day of early voting and I voted at Bronx H.S. of Science. It’s just half a mile down my street from me but I was never there. I’m going to be working the polls on Election Day and used this as a primer. I’m a Scanner Inspector, the person that directs you to the scanner. I tried to get a pointer from the woman that did it for me by deliberately doing something wrong; I tried to hand her my ballot. It’s a no-no to for the worker to touch it. She gently backed away and told me to insert it in the machine. She did an excellent job of not making me feel stupid. I’m sure that will come up so now I know a good way to handle it.
I have a PSA for NYC voters. We aren’t just voting for mayor and city officers but there are also five ballot proposals, some of which are important. These proposals are statewide. Especially close to my heart is the first one:
This proposed constitutional amendment would freeze the number of state senators at 63, amend the process for the counting of the state’s population, delete certain provisions that violate the United States Constitution, repeal and amend certain requirements for the appointment of the co-executive directors of the redistricting commission and amend the manner of drawing district lines for congressional and state legislative offices. Shall the proposed amendment be approved?
The most important parts to me are that voting yes will lead to:
- The New York State Constitution would be amended to require New York State to count the total population in the Census, regardless of citizenship status.
- The New York State Constitution would be amended to ensure incarcerated people are counted in the Census at their last place of residence prior to incarceration.
As it stands now, the people in prisons are counted in the redistricting process as residing in wherever the prison is even though they have no interaction or ties with the local community. This gives disproportional representation to the people that live in the sparsely settled areas where we put prisons. If the amendment passes the prisoners will be counted with the people of the place where they lived, the home of their friends and families, and the place they will most likely return to.
I believe the first is in accordance with current practice but will in enshrine that in the constitution to make it more difficult to change it in the future. Even though the constitution clearly states, “All persons” not citizens, the GOP is trying to remove political power from places with many immigrants.
The school is across the street from the Jerome Park Reservoir. Bingo! I found a place to walk where I don’t have to cross any streets. I didn’t do a fast walk, I don’t want to do that every day, it’s a workout, I sweat and my heart beats fast. I do want to do it regularly, so I explored the route. It’s about 2.7 miles. If I start walking quickly a long block away, I should be fine with just one street crossing. Or I can continue to circle until I reach my goal. That would mean a fast walk of 3 miles and a saunter of another mile walking to and from the reservoir. That’s a plan. As I build up endurance I can walk further. I can saunter forever, I never get tired, walking fast I do.
I made matzoh brei pizza for dinner last night. I’m out of matzoh brei! I’ll have to see if the Stop & Shop carries it when it’s not Pesach. If they do, it is much more expensive. On Pesach I buy 5 lbs for something like $4. The rest of the year a one pound box costs $3. I want to buy it because that’s the best way I’ve found of making homemade pizza. It works better than the premade crusts. I could try making it from scratch. I have no plans this week. That won’t do. I’ll go to the Irish Session on Thursday but that’s not enough. Maybe I’ll see Dune. I still have money on my AMC gift card.
Now I should make dinner and watch the Dodger-Braves game. I’m rooting for the Brooklyn team playing 3000 miles away from home.
Wise Madness 