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Screen Gems
Feb. 21st, 2006 09:02 pmI'm still reconfiguring my mental schedule with the new job thing. The big problem is, it takes a hell of a lot longer to get to the gym after work than it did with my previous gig, partly because of distance but mostly because of traffic. Today I gave surface streets a try and it wound up taking as long as it would have had I taken the highway on an extra-thick traffic day. But it's good to know I have a backup if things get completely gafarked.
Going to the gym at five instead of three or four means there are, unsurprisingly, more people there, so I don't have my pick of treadmills like I used to have. My usual treadmill was taken, so I took the one next to it on the far end. The screen was off, but I didn't bother to turn it on until I was off and running (okay, walking.)
As it turned out, the cable was out on that particular screen. So I had nothing to stare at but dead channel snow.
I left it on.
It became an odd sort of mental challenge, to keep myself diverted without some late afternoon reality television to watch. I had my iPod on, so the soundtrack was irrelevant. So I stared at the swirling dots and my eyes made shapes in the patterns. It took on an odd 3-D quality, like one of those Magic Eye books, swirls of blue as one layer and the greenish dots another, forming DNA-like helixes, wire frame domes and (when I really got into it) swarms of flying creatures. Lightning flashed and circles formed, grew, twisted and drifted off the edge of the screen.
I spent over twenty minutes staring at static, with occasional glances at time and distance on the treadmill. And rather than being bored or restless, I was mesmerized.
I think this confirms my status as a member in good standing of the Society for the Easily Amused.
Today I took pleasure in a perfect banana.
Today I learned how much a banana costs at Einstein Brothers Bagels. (99 cents, in case you wondered.)
Going to the gym at five instead of three or four means there are, unsurprisingly, more people there, so I don't have my pick of treadmills like I used to have. My usual treadmill was taken, so I took the one next to it on the far end. The screen was off, but I didn't bother to turn it on until I was off and running (okay, walking.)
As it turned out, the cable was out on that particular screen. So I had nothing to stare at but dead channel snow.
I left it on.
It became an odd sort of mental challenge, to keep myself diverted without some late afternoon reality television to watch. I had my iPod on, so the soundtrack was irrelevant. So I stared at the swirling dots and my eyes made shapes in the patterns. It took on an odd 3-D quality, like one of those Magic Eye books, swirls of blue as one layer and the greenish dots another, forming DNA-like helixes, wire frame domes and (when I really got into it) swarms of flying creatures. Lightning flashed and circles formed, grew, twisted and drifted off the edge of the screen.
I spent over twenty minutes staring at static, with occasional glances at time and distance on the treadmill. And rather than being bored or restless, I was mesmerized.
I think this confirms my status as a member in good standing of the Society for the Easily Amused.
Today I took pleasure in a perfect banana.
Today I learned how much a banana costs at Einstein Brothers Bagels. (99 cents, in case you wondered.)
