Round Robins and Wobbly Arms

If the following journal entry seems an awful lot like Carly's latest post on Ellipsis, that's by design.  I'll try not to make it a complete rip-off of hers.  I do have something unrelated at the end, so scroll down if you want to know whether I finally made it to the gym we joined on Monday.

Carly and I were talking last night about the Round Robin Photo Challenges, my latest entry for which will be pushed off the front page of this journal when I post tonight's entry.  (Here's a link in case you're looking for it for some reason.  And here's a link to the follow-up entry.)  This Round Robin thing is growing fast, and communication about it is a little chaotic, so we thought we'd better both post entries about it tonight, to update and clarify the information about it, and to remind you all that everyone is invited to join in the fun!

This all started about two months ago, when Carly and I challenged each other.  Then Carly invited Duane to join in, and to suggest the next topic.  Next to join us was Steven, whose topic, "Crystal," will be used for the next Round Robin challenge on June 8th.  Kat was the next to join in, and well, to make a long store short(er), we're at something like fourteen people and counting.

So what's the drill? Well, it goes something like this:

1.  "Robins" will be invited to select the next subject for the photo challenge in the order in which they joined in.  That's the "round robin" part of this, the whole taking turns thing.

2. As Carly says, Wednesday seems to be the best day for people to fit the Round Robin Photo Challenge into their posting / real life schedules. So we're trying to do this about every other Wednesday, to give people plenty of time to come up with pictures to fit the topic.  That Wednesday, between midnight and midnight, is when you should post your entry if possible, so that everyone knows to come and see it!  But if you discover this after the fact, or get a late start for some reason, yes, you can play catch-up and post it later.

3. Carly was coordinating all this by email and in Ellipsis, but I've been pitching in a bit lately with the email because she hasn't been feeling well.  The list keeps growing, but I'll try to keep everyone in the loop by email, at least for now.  To get on that list, you just need to have posted a Round Robin entry, or to RSVP your interest in posting one for next time.  You can do this by email to me (mavarin @ aol, of course), or by filling in Steven's handy-dandy RSVP form.  We'll remind you of the posting date, and send out a list of participating blogs and journals so we can cross-promote each other.  The best part of all this, IMO, is seeing everyone's different interpretations of the same subject, and discovering great journals we may not have seen before.  Please RSVP no later than two days before the challenge date, to give us time to get everyone on the promotion list.

4.  If there get to be a zillion and a half journalers participating, we may reach the point where not every journaler is going to want to post all zillion-and-a-half links in their entries.  Never fear, though.  As with John Scalzi's assignments on By the Way, we'll make sure there's at least one place that lists all the Round Robin entries we know about for that topic.  To make sure your entry is on the list, RSVP and/or post your link in the comments to the journal originating that week's topic.  So if you decide at the last minute to post a "Crystal" photo, please post your link in comments to Steven's Crystal entry in (Sometimes)Photoblog, or email it to me or Carly.

5. If one topic or another leaves you uninspired, or just isn't feasible for you that week, you can skip it, and still do the challege the next time.  The idea is to have fun, not to make a chore of it. 

Now go out there and take some crystal photos! Fortunately for me, I just managed to find my mom's crystal collection in a fruit cake tin, so I'm ready to start photographing stuff myself.

***************************************************

So yes, I did finally make it to L.A. Fitness at 10:30 PM last night.  I was only there for about half an hour, reading the printed instructions on every Nautilus machine that looked safe to use with a sprained ankle and a sprained finger, and trying about five or six or seven of them.  Because of the whole ankle thing, I mostly ended up working my arms and shoulders.  By the time I left, my arms were so weak that I could barely turn the steering wheel on the Eagle to drive home!  I was still feeling it enough this morning that just typing numbers at work was a bit of a challenge.  And yes, my arms and shoulders are still sore and weak and shakey at this very moment.

So okay, I probably overdid it, especially considering it was my first formal workout (i.e., at a gym) in about 19 years.  But gee, I was only there for half an hour!

John wants me to concentrate on aerobics and cardio stuff.  He doesn't seem to take into account the whole Karen-has-a-sprained-ankle situation, or the fact that I get winded ridiculously quickly, a condition that has never improved with dilligent exercise in the past. (Yes, I used to exercise dilligently, back in Columbus in the 1980s.) 

Anyway, with this new job, I'm already doing more walking than I've done in three years or more, since the last time I broke my ankle.  You see, my assigned parking is a block away from the employee entrance, and I work on the second floor.  I occasionally resort to the elevator, but mostly I take the stairs.  And yesterday, I even walked an extra block to a nearby restaurant for lunch.  So you see, I'm already getting just about as much aerobic exercise as asthmatic, out-of-shape Karen can handle right now.

But still, that little bit of walking isn't going to impress anyone, or lose me much weight.  So I'm going to have to get serious about the dieting, even though today my co-workers were foisting popcorn and donuts and Girl Scout cookies upon me.  And I'll have to get back to L.A, Fitness, and find a way to get some decent exercise in, and still be able to use my arms afterward.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Karen

P.S.  Although reservoir and aquifer levels remain low, John tells me that the decade-long drought is officially over now.  I guess  that the heavy rain last Saturday finally put us over the top for above-drought-level rainfall.  Yay, rain!

In other, sadder news, my friend Sara G. lost her cat this week to a sudden illness, probably neurological in nature. I think Sorsha was only about a year old. I'm sure all of us who have dealt with the death of a beloved pet can understand some of what she's going through right now. There's nothing I can say to ease the loss, but I at least want to acknowledge it here, and express my condolences.  - KFB