Procrastinating. Expecting interviews. Expecting calls back. Expecting responses from editors, answers to job queries. Amazing how interesting the presidential debate seems now as I lie in wait.

Spent most of the weekend with Kylie, traipsing around the city, walking through Little Italy Days in Bloomfield, hitting Penn Brewery's Oktoberfest absurdity, seeing things we hadn't seen -- or hadn't seen in a long time. We ran the Great Race yesterday. The 10k. We ran side-by-side and finished in exceptionally slow time -- over an hour. At the end of the race, we were passed by a speed walker. Out of 6,247 finishers, we came in 5,551st and 5,552nd... though somehow the results say Kylie crossed the finish line before I did (probably because I pretty much had to roll her across). 

Running is something I've gotten into since returning from the cross-country bike trip. I still bike everywhere I go (and in fact sold my '94 Civic LX sedan to fund the trip). But I find that running is better exercise when I have an hour or so to kill. Gives me time to sweat and think and listen to music.

Before the trip, I couldn't run farther than three miles, and really had no ambition to, either. Now I can go about 13 without stopping. When I run alone, my pace isn't fast, but it's acceptable for now -- an eight- and a half-minute mile. I guess I'll train for a marathon next summer, see what that's like. I imagine it'll be nothing like this. And so on.

Trying my hardest not to fall into irrelevance. I'm writing professionally, freelancing, and getting the opportunity to talk with a lot of interesting people. But the stories I want to write -- long, personal, observational, explorative -- are also the stories that generally pay shit -- about ten cents per word. Under pressure to make decent money and get health insurance, I'm having to expand my options. Though I've recently seen and applied for some interesting work in publications and broadcasting, I'll probably have to swallow a bullet or two, and get a job that is well-paying, but creatively unfulfilling. Which would be appropriate, considering the reason this Web site was created in the first place.

Here's what I think of speed walking: