2:20:08

Two hours twenty minutes and eight seconds.

That's how long it took me to finish my first ever triathlon, in Noosa.

Swim: 1.5km Cycle: 40km Run: 10km

I stuck to my game plan, did a great swim an okay cycle and a better than planned run to a sprint finish and had an awesome time! I'm hooked. The transitions were fun the whole thing was fun actually. And Noosa was just chock full of hot men. HOT FIT MEN.

I'm definitely going back, so long as I can get into the event again which has reached epidemic popularity. With good reason.

All the training to get there was worth it. I'm fitter than ever, feel great all round and am confident I can do another one of these triathlon things and soon. In fact I'm lined up to do one much closer to home (in fact in my home town) in early December, a sprint distance triathlon which should be quite interesting. So I have to get back in training again... I've avoided running for a week. I'll call it recovery.

My brother beat me in the race - by just under 3 minutes, but I think I can improve for the next one. I just need to get into training mode again. Though this time will be easier. I think.

Faster Higher Stronger Smarter

It's been a long time between posts. It's not like nothing's been happening because it has, so much so that I've seriously had no time to even think about posting. There was a brief shot on location in Hollywood, some political lobbying in Washington DC and a little bit of altitude training in between. Amélie has started running around, and saying words and doing things that make as stand in awe, or just laugh, a lot. Our house is undergoing renovations, so we are living in a construction zone, but the progress is awesome and I'm looking forward to the finished product.

I'm training as hard as ever, actually possibly harder, to the point of trying to manage the pain as much as the training. Training smarter. But the pain gets less and less, and the fun more and more. I found myself at the pool after training the other day surrounded by all manner of beauty in the form of elite athletes and surf life savers (the iconic ones). In the showers.

Fun indeed.

And the fun promises to continue. Racing, training and a great summer ahead.

Drinks on the deck set to be a new and improved regular event as the summer heads on in.

I can feel it now. I can feel it in my legs now too - a huge inter-city cycle and later run today mean it's time for a nice, long rest.

Keep well until next time.

The Road to Noosa

Run, Cycle, Swim. And repeat.

I have days when I love running, days like Monday when I feel my legs twitch with abundant energy, ready to get out there and pound the pavement, grass and sand. I arrive home to a sunny warm day and get into my running gear, pop in my earphones and off I go, the last stretch along the beach with waves rolling in making me feel like I'm in an ad for something. Something good.

And then there are the days when my brain says "must do the required number of sessions for the week" and my legs say "get stuffed". Invariably the brain wins, and the legs suffer to be tortured with the addition of cycling to the mix. At the end though the somewhat prolonged shower is heavenly relaxation.

Cycling is reliably fun. I'm used to the lycra cycling gear now that I never used to wear and which makes me look like a pro. I'm also used to the Frenchman's chant "be careful on the road" usually following more reports of people who have crashed their bikes. Tightened helmet and flashing lights I'm off; and when not I'm cycling on rollers in my living room with considerably less gear, but all these points of pressure have given me new understanding of neuroanatomy and I'm very thankful that the rather regular genital numbness is only transient.

The pool however is a stress free event, no concerns, no worries, I can't get enough. Love it, it's my superchilled element. Needless to say, it's the area I least need to be in preparation for this triathlon that rapidly approaches.

I have a laundry basket filled with sweat-scented shorts, shirts, singlets, towels, bike gear and hyperchlorinated swim gear. There are a collection of grease stains on too many of my clothes, showing up along side young Amélie's food bits at times when I least expect them.

Despite the super-training I've been increasing in weight. I expected to lose a few kg but have gained 3.5 . But I feel leaner than ever.

Oh, and my brother's training is also going well, which means I have to train harder! I'm the underdog right now but I need to make sure I'm not after the race! I'm not sure I have the numbers I need just yet, but I have until October 31st. The road to Noosa continues.

Extreme training

With just over 10 weeks to go until Noosa Triathlon I'm stepping up my training. I have a lot of improvement needed in my run times and a little extra speed in the cycling too, with my swimming yet to return to its normal standard (so I'm working on that too). So far I've been getting faster - esp in the running, and my calves are paying for it. But it's nice to see some stepwise improvement. I would like to make those steps a little bigger though... so I'm increasing everything. Surprisingly I've also gained some weight despite getting leaner - I guess those legs need more muscle for all that extra activity.

The weather is strangely warm here at the moment too - daytimes are like mid-spring which makes training easier and it feels like everything is locking into place. Now if I can just manage to run sub 4minute km's...

All dressed up with no place to race

As you may know I have been in training... (see One Step Closer ) Finally doing all training for all three disciplines of the triathlon I had decided upon racing in Noosa in October for my first (and rather large) event as an individual triathlete. My brother also entering the event in the same age category made it a must-do event and has given me extra motivation to train hard.

Entries opened last week, and as it's a very popular event we had both arranged to log on exactly at the time it went live, but the site crashed and entries rescheduled for this week. Same story this week, we log on - but it won't let us in.. try and try again (for hours) until FINALLY I'm in and I'm entering the race until I get to the screen half way in that says "entries now closed".

NO!!! It's not possible! I've been trying all morning, even had my brother trying for me until he had to leave his office. I've been training and getting equipment arranged and training tips and running a LOT - and running is not something I'm in love with. But no they've closed it - have all the entries they wanted. This really sucks. I'm so pissed off I don't know what to do. So pissed off I really want to tell them where to stick it, and so happy that I didn't organise flights and accommodation already as I'd been very close to actually doing.

It turned out my brother had another friend logging on for him while he was out of office. SHE got him in! So he's already won. And I'm trained up with no pace to go. Time to look for other races to start my triathlon career, but it's not going to be quite the same. Bastards!! So now I'm thinking of all the money I'll save and where I can go instead...

Older

I'm known for my birthday parties. I've sent people on mad car rallies across cities, thrown them into starring roles in short films, had them shooting photo essays, learning to jive with same sex partners... and combinations of the above. Which brings me to this year where instead of the 6 weeks ahead planning of old, I've given 6 days of warning and little if all planned. I guess having a 1st birthday party to plan a week ahead of mine takes the focus off me. And I've been quite happy to be in the shadows this time around.

The youngster turned 1 a week ago, the date seemed to be a springboard for exponential development for her. She's learning so much so quickly it's hard to keep up. But fun trying. From a babe of complete dependence a year ago into a girl with character and charm today. She's obviously the apple of her daddy's eye, and more the focus of my attention than my birthday planning has been.

I've been writing this blog for a few years now, and my life has changed progressively over that time. People routinely assume that becoming a parent has 'turned your life upside down', but they just frustrate me. I guess I'm a big planner, and there have been expected changes which have been planned for and a lifestyle modified somewhat, but it hasn't really changed in most respects. It certainly has become richer. There are other factors that have equally changed my life involving most significantly changes in personal relationships with friends and family, and these to me have had a greater impact on me than parenthood I feel. Having said this though, other people have commented on positive changes they see in me in this past year that I guess I'm not quite so aware of at this point. Introspection isn't something I have a lot of time for these days. Perhaps that's a good thing.

So happy birthday me. Today's the day. And I really don't mind what happens or how I celebrate it. I hope you all have a great 24th of May. Do something to celebrate it for me, tell me what that was, and I'll be more than happy.

Taking hold, and letting go

Amélie holding onto my dad's hand - in Hospital.

My dad came out of hospital today. It's a place he's not really frequented in his life but managed to be in for 12 days this admission. He was wheeled to the exit and into the passenger seat of my mum's car - another place he's not generally found - and home with a few walking-frame-navigated distances into a modern apartment now adorned with various mobility aids and hospital style elevated chairs. They all look so out of place. My dad has always been a powerhouse, the guy who lifts cars, fixes everything, climbs into ceiling spaces to install lights and the like, and to see him walking slowly and deliberately with his new titanium reinforcements now inserted into his fractured femur is a little disconcerting. It makes you think about life's responsibilities...

I was driving home afterwards thinking, if something serious happened - would I be able to sort out my parent's affairs, organise appropriate farewells. Would I cope emotionally? I've not ever contemplated life without them, but fragility is just a short mis-taken step away. I see photos of my daughter with my parents and I wonder what memories she will have of them, will they be anything like those I have of my grandparents? My niece the other day asked of my grandmother "...the lady with the purple hair?" but oh, she was so much more than that, the emotions and experiences that are imprinted in my being from her are a powerful influence to this day. And then I see how different my life has been from that of my parents, how I'm partly in their world, but with a foot in another world and Amélie in turn will have her own path...

It does make one look at things with a different perspective. Issues that may have once been all consuming in various relationships become minor details that are insignificant in the grand scheme of things. One's transience becomes a whole lot more obvious. But it's not necessarily a negative thing. I think it's more a reminder that each day is something to be grasped by the balls and run with. There'll be plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead.

14 years on...

In Gay years we've been together what, 98 years? It certainly doesn't seem that long. 14 years has flown by, but looking back there's a hell of a lot we've done in that time. We've broken all kinds of new ground for ourselves and the people around us, we've bought and sold homes together and lived in a handful of others, swum probably thousands of kilometres together, many competitively. We've made friends, welcomed new family members and fare-welled others, we've taken hundreds of flights together and tied up the globe with our flight paths. We've driven a car or two into the ground. We've raised our Labrador Norten, of whom we're very proud, and now have embarked on raising a child, which will certainly keep the next 14 yrs and more as busy if not more so than the first. We've grown closer together even when we're apart. It's been one hell of a time and I'm looking forward to the next 14 and beyond.

Happy Anniversary Mr Frenchman, My Frenchman.

Late night bursts

I'm sitting in the living room with the heater turned down, and now it's too cold. Of course I am wearing shorts and it is mid winter. I could spew more CO2 into the atmosphere, or I could pop on some pants.  Or I could just be cold, and that's a lazy and easy option. Which I take.

It's a night at home on my own. I've left The Frenchman in charge of the youngster in her city abode and returned home to the coast. Of course everyone else had had their night and was headed to bed. I headed to the pool, swam then came home, worked, researched and did some reading. I love the late night. It's quiet apart from the occasional breaking wave thundering in the darkness and the thoughts in my head. I've read a selection of posts on blogs I check less regularly now, and I've gotten into their heads for short bursts, and realise that I haven't let anyone into mine here for a while. I've wondered whether I have anything useful to say any more, and if everyone is bored with baby stuff. You get into a bubble with a newborn around and your focus is a little narrowed. Its normal and I kinda like it. But I'm conscious of following the stereotype. I'm not a fan of following anything, much less stereotypes. But sometimes you need to start off on the same path before you head off in your own untrodden direction. Just not too long. 

Standing on Oxford Street in Paddington this evening in the late afternoon light was stunning. A warm sky, a cool air and glowing light beaming out of eclectic shop fronts inviting me in, the mouth-watering  smell of the various foods wafting about as I meandered past. It's a place I've been a thousand times before but rarely has it felt like it did today. I realise it's a whole new place for me now, a whole new world, and I'm loving it.

Ecstasy

In contrast to the week before it, the weekend was positively fantastic. I'm typically a gregarious person; there's nothing more that I love than catching up with friends and spending time. Some connections were by pure chance, some arranged well in advance and others much closer to the moment, but a collection of different people shared food, drinks, watched movies, walked swam or ran, discussed life the universe & braved the quite stormy elements with me this weekend. I've eaten some truly amazing food - highlights are the Tapas selection at diggies, the flourless chocolate cake at Fireworks cafe in Austinmer (honestly the best cake ever), the hot chocolate at Bourke Street Bakery, and the lamb strips at Onde. But the connection with all is they were meals and experiences shared. Perfect. 

I also managed to find a new pair of speedos that I like, and I managed to test them out in a brief moment of sunshine at Boy Charlton pool. They swim fast.

I'm very much looking forward to the week ahead. Who knows what will be thrown at me this week, but I'm recharged and ready for it!

localised showers

It was a day that started off badly. I was woken up at 5.20am to do work that should have been done a day before. I then slept one hour at a time (between work bits)  before ultimately throwing myself out of bed and into the pool. A boys' school group arrived and the first 5 minutes of bliss in a crystal pool became a spa pool of so many deodorant smells it was a sea of teenage angst. The guy who hit on me at the pool a few weeks back apologised at the scene of the crime - he had been about to abduct me back then - so it was kind of appropriate - we had a surprisingly reasonable conversation. 

Breakfast was at the usual suspect, diggies with a surprise friend. We chatted about all and sundry, including the medical dramas developing during the week, in the pleasant breeze of a perfect spring morning. I had a breakfast of bircher muesli mixed with with yoghurt, marinated strawberries & cranberries. I was surprised at how good the cranberries actually tasted. I'll order that again.

My breakfast buddy invited The Frenchman & myself to a tapas dinner back there in the evening with some of her friends after we'd mentally re-landscaped her garden. It was all over too soon and we were both off to work again. I arrived at the hospital, dropping my phone on getting out of my car to promptly step on it. Perfect.

With one patient I asked about how long she'd had the cancer affecting her liver to which her partner interjected (or should I say, lectured me) that she didn't know and until right now no-one had told her about it. He knew of course. There are so many things wrong with this scenario that I don't know where to begin. 

At gym after work I had an unexpected gym buddy. He was doing pretty much the same routine as me, running, then weights then abs then stretching. We'd chatted quite a few times there and at the pool - sexy man I might add, and it was great to actually spend some reasonable time chatting about life & loves in between the puffing and sweating. 

Dinner back at the regular was with my breakfast buddy, The Frenchman and 3 as yet unknown diners. We stayed until there was no-one else left at the restaurant, enjoying conversation that was sparking on all cylinders right to the end. I could easily do this regularly. I find out later that they in fact do do this every Friday - and we're welcome to join in the tradition. 

It wasn't such a bad day after all. 

Look Both Ways - do you?

Look Both Ways: preview

When I first saw the movie Look Both Ways a few years ago, it was quite revelatory. It became apparent that I wasn't the only one who visualised all manner of bad things happening as I went about my everyday life. As you can see in the preview here, there are illustrated imagined events happening involving shark attacks, car crashes, train wrecks... I see people riding motor bikes recklessly and I visualise them in ditches and trees farther down the road, I see cars crashing and trucks veering over the road into my path, and since Sept 11, I frequently see planes in the sky spontaneously exploding. You name the scenario - I have seen the worst possible end result.

Now I'm not neurotic, I'm not anxious and those who know me often describe me as being in fact as superchilled as the title of this blog. Certainly it seems that I have a creative imagination, although sometimes I'd like to watch a plane taking off at the airport and not wonder where it will land when it crashes. I like the way the film has put it into perspective - the imagined events are split seconds and the reality continues fluently despite it. It's like an aside, a 'what if' scenario that is mostly speculative, though sometimes eerily close to reality.

I'm curious if anyone else has these moments. I'm guessing from the film that there are a lot more out there who do. If you do - you'll love this Australian film.

Trevor the Goldfish?

I have a goldfish named after me!

And no it's not mine.

I arrived for my regular Friday breakfast at diggies at the beach and the manager tapped me on the arm to tell me that they now had a goldfish at the cafe, and that it was named after me! What do you say when you have a goldfish named after you? I was quite surprised, and pleasantly so. When I thought a little more about it I wondered if it was something to do with swimming relentlessly (almost all my posts have a swimming reference, as a reader has pointed out to me recently) or perhaps it's a short term memory thing? But that's not me. I don't quite know how I was chosen, but regardless, it was a nice start to my day, sure it's not a national library, or an Aquatic Centre but it's a living thing, and that can't be all bad.

I also ran into an old high school colleague while at work Thursday night. Mind you I'm not sure his wife was too happy with the introduction whilst in the middle of her delivering their second child, but it was quite nice to be there for them, in a most unexpected turn of events. It was a girl! All healthy and well in the end.

Oh, and for the compulsory swimming reference, for my morning swim the weather and the pool were both excellent, while I was feeling absolutely weak in the water today. But what is most striking is the increasing cuteness of my fellow swimmers and the increasing number of gaydar pings happening all around. Given my lack of form in the pool, I was happy to have some pleasant distraction.

The weekend is looking to be quite an eventful one. I hope yours is a great one.

Thursday Friday

Let's go back to Thursday, where I wake up and it's morning - I've not overslept on my morning off for a change. They predict 33 degrees today and I feel that they're going to be right. I want to take advantage of this weather and not sleep it away, so after about 6 hours rest I'm up, breakfasting, and getting ready to go to the beach. I'm not a big fan of the sun, but I love the water and the energy and at the same time the relaxed feel I have being somewhere without electronic communication. Reading things written on paper, listening to the waves in the dappled shade behind the beach. Life is good, and the men are getting cuter. I wonder how they'll be looking after 6 months of warmth and exercise. The future is looking good. I'm chilled out and a world away. 

Work in the afternoon at the surgery is a lot of fun, and I get fantastic feedback about my photos hanging there, though nobody has bought anything yet. At the hospital I arrive and within minutes am at the delivery of twin boys. Then there are a further 4 deliveries that follow where I am required. The dads faces expressing emotions from extreme excitement to shock and disbelief - I think one is about to cry or fall over or something, but he seems to remain in complete shock well after the baby's wrapped and given to him. I wonder if he knows how to change a nappy. He soon will.

The father of twins now has 5 kids. He looks like he knows how it all works. But he's still thrilled. 

Breakfast Friday at diggies and there is a new menu. I think I prefer the old menu, but they've brought back an old fave, so it's not all bad. The day is again superb, sunny, way too hot for spring and it gets to 39 degrees (102.2F) at various points in my travels. I really don't feel like working, and all the homes I visit with air-conditioning have it turned off, but it's a dry heat and they're a lot sicker than I am. They're saving the planet even if they are killing themselves to do it. 

My last house call is to a patient I've seen a few times now - relatively young and dying from melanoma. He and his wife are coming to terms with the whole process of dying, and it hits me harder than most patients I see because I relate to them more than most. At times during the consultation I wonder if I'm really any good at this job, but they surprise me by telling me at the end how many and varied sources have told them how good I am, and I'm quite frankly surprised. My eyes start to tear a little, just a little, and I know that I've actually helped them today by the time I leave. I spent about 30 min more than I had planned, but it was worth it, they needed it. The compliments are icing. The reward is in knowing they feel secure in what they're doing.

I head back to the pool after work. It's too hot to go running, and I swim so fast it's like I've actually had a proper sleep and haven't worked all day. I'm happy about this. And then just to go for complete exhaustion I go to gym, and before I know it, it's the weekend, and I'm hungry. 

Sleep Surplus and Albino Killers

So I finally listened to my own advice, and I slept. I slept a few hours on the couch, I looked at my blog at the Wild Wednesday post and rather than posting again, you got it, I slept. I slept at the hospital, hell I even slept over at some friends',  I did a whole 9 hours worth of sleeping there. In one go. And when you wake up in a luxurious bed in a gourmet apartment with birds singing in the trees and muted sun trickling through the leafy canopy, it really is like being on a tropical holiday. Sleep isn't something I typically do a whole lot of, just ask all my friends and family who routinely get emails sent at 3am. So if there was a sleep deficit, there is now a surplus. I think I can probably go a few months now on this recharge. 

And now it's Saturday night - or technically early Sunday morning. But as far as I'm concerned it's still Saturday until I go to sleep and wake up and then it's Sunday.

And on this Saturday after waking in this tropical holiday, I get up and have hair that looks like I just woke up, and because my hair is quite long now, it's a magnified version of me having just woken up which scares me a little as I catch myself in the huge mirror hanging there, but I also kind of like it. And I pick up 'The Great Gatsby' from the bookshelf because I studied it at school and I enjoyed it yet I can't remember who I most identified with. It kind of fits the environment I'm in right now. I hated the movie because it just wasn't as good as the one I had in my head. On reflection I think the part of the book I remember the best was the graphic description of a character's (Tom Buchanan's)  muscularity. Described more than once. Maybe that's what made that book resonate. Who knows, I was in high school back then and didn't know anything. 

And then someone comes into the room, the book is put down, and before I know it we're off to breakfast. 

Today is the day of our first 'Open House' - if you're not up to speed we're selling up - and a car crash, not us, means we're about 40 minutes late home to do the final touches on our already show home, which means we have enough time to grab the dog, remove a few things that will declutter, and find that the doors the builder fixed yesterday - weren't actually fixed. My finger is on the 'dial' button to said builder but now is perhaps not the time to call. The day is otherwise perfect, sunny, 30 degrees, gentle breeze and makes you want to live by the beach. We hope the people who arrive are intoxicated by this sense. They bloody well should be.

Dinner is prepared for friends including someone who has so many food intolerances you have to cross check the individual ingredients of the ingredients. And it hits the spot, although soon after we discover that something must have not been filtered out and marinated artichoke hearts are under suspicion. 

And then I finally get to the imac to write a post. Half way through I discover that the 'photo booth' application takes xrays. So I take one or two of me and this is what I look like right now. It seems I'm not really that transparent. Can anyone see through me? 

It makes me look like some murderous albino movie character. And today I'm quite happy with that, because tomorrow is a whole new day and maybe it's time to be a little more

13 Years Later

In gay years The Frenchman and I have been together something like 91 years, today. But for simplicity we'll stick with 13.

I know we're both aging, but I think he looks more handsome all the time. And as time goes on I realise how great it is to have him in my world and to be a part of his. 

Today, being our anniversary I'd like to thank my mum for introducing us, our family and friends who have supported us, and particularly those who have made an effort to keep in touch and keep on interacting despite distances and hardships. 

The year ahead is going to be a completely different one for us. I'm excited and just a tad nervous, but in the grand scheme of things I can only see things getting better and grander. 

Happy Anniversary babe.

Am I the Antigay?

On Saturday I'm in the mood for shopping. I'm not usually in the mood for clothes shopping so I take advantage of it and head to Oxford Street Paddington with The Frenchman to explore my options. And for this shopping expedition I'm looking and feeling kinda straight. I don't have anything that much coordinates and my hair is kinda unkempt, but I feel comfortable and relaxed and confident. It's a sunny winter day and the street is sparkling. So we enter a shop and there are some okay things, but they're not selling what I'm in the mood for buying, that's okay, and we move along to the second shop where the Frenchman looks for shoes I'm bored and by the third shop I'm desperate to get out. There's dance party music pumping everywhere, I'm not even remotely connecting with any of the not-so-straight-acting guys selling me stuff, and the scents I'm inhaling are über-gay to the point of nausea (are  they pumped through the airconditioning?). How are they über-gay exactly? I don't know but it's an autonomic evoked response so I'm not going to question it. 

I've become the Antigay. 

I'm supposed to feel at home in this gay-friendly strip, but I'm starting to think I need to start buying Bonds clothing or, better still, wearing whatever my husband buys for me. Then I can avoid shopping altogether. 

We leave without buying anything and head out of the GAY ZONE to catch up with a friend. I don't want to go back in there so we eat locally and entertain ourselves outside the Zone. Though it turns out that outside the Zone is becoming more popular with gay men too. But I'm okay with that, in fact I like it. A lot.

Bonds Ad.  45sec

Thing is - I'm still attracted to the guy in the ad. 

I can't truly be the Antigay - maybe it's just a phase.

18|X : Things I'd do differently if I were 18 again

I'd actually seduce my university crush (god there were so many opportunities!) rather than find out later he was gay too.

I'd go out with friends to clubs & bars & things even though I didn't (and still don't really) drink. When I recall the Scandinavians who asked me to join them... and I didn't... what was I thinking?

I'd come out earlier - and hopefully avoid hurting all the people who were in love with me, with me oblivious to it all.

I'd do some more serious swim training early and get ahead of the pack then rather than working my way there now.

I'd have asked my religious leaders some more serious questions and voted with my feet a lot earlier.

In my summer breaks I'd find a way to work with advertising campaigns like the A|X one above, rather than working as a salesman at Grace Bros. (department store). 

I'd not care what people think about me as much as I did. 

I'd have read more widely, and studied more than just medicine.

The Dr is IN

Wednesday's are automatically wild here at superchilled, but rather than challenging you, today is your chance to ask me things. You know, stuff. Whatever you want really - it can even be medical stuff if you like. And my job will be to answer your questions, whatever they are, in a way that will be either informative or entertaining; hopefully both.

In case you're wondering (as you ponder what question/s to ask) this photograph of me on the right was taken on a car ferry (one of many) in Norway in late June. You can tell by the position of the sun that it is in fact daytime, or possibly night time, or really - you just don't know in Norway in summer, but obviously it isn't as warm as Australian summers as I'm not wearing bare skin or a T-shirt only - but it's winter in Oz, so I'm happy to take what I can get. I'm not taking the guy on the chair in this photo though, because, well, I prefer the Frenchman.

Ok, now I'm ready for questions.

I think.

Hit the ground running

"I'm bored"

As a kid it was my catch cry, with its cousins "are we there yet" and "I'm hungry".

Now I have so many things to do, both things I want to and thing I have to do, that bored is a fond memory. Though really, even if given the chance to have nothing to do, I'll fill it up with a thousand things, plus one or two more, because I'm sure I can fit it in, somewhere. And then on the way too or from wherever I'm going I can be doing things too, whether it's texting, calling, reading, or even mobile internet surfing. Every minute of my day has something planned for it. And some things unplanned; they just get thrown in and somehow manage to get done - most of the time. It's a 'hit the ground running' world.

Down time? 

I guess for me that's swimming or running, or gym. The more intense that is, the more relaxed I feel. Occasionally TV, but I try to avoid too much of that- and when I'm watching I'm constantly analysing - "is this really what I want to be doing with my time?"

But I love it. I thrive on doing things - getting things happening - interacting and creating. And while I love sleep - if I could skip it completely I would. A luxury for those times when, well I don't know - just a luxury that isn't in my diary just yet, but I'm sure I can find time for it, how about next month?

So what's on this week's agenda?

I need to start up a new business. The photography one I keep talking about. People keep wanting to buy my photos. Need to chat with the accountant about that one. Perhaps a few government bodies as well to get it registrered. See if I can create a website with the name I want. Finalise a logo...

Book accommodation for Stockholm & Reykjavik, and look into a few other accommodation options within Iceland too... Oh and then for another trip OS later in the year. (Yes Jed if you're out there - it's happening).

Upload the last of my pc photos to my imac and organise them. 

Take Norten for a walk or 7.

Swim 5-7 times. Cook a few times more.

Run if my foot tendinitis is settled enough. 

Chat to the builder about some renovations. Oh and to the estate agents too.

Write an interesting post or two on superchilled. One that people will want to read and make some kind of difference to the world.. maybe. Oh and find a wild wednesday theme.

I have a few people to catch up with too, and I think I need a haircut. 

Ah yes, and then there's work, and we're 1 doctor short this week - so it will be especially busy for the next 2 weeks in fact. And there are a few review articles I want to read.

I'm very not bored.

But I'm still hungry...