Bold

After thirteen years in school and seven and a half at uni my brain cannot cope with intellectual downtime. If I don't do physical exercise, I get fidgety and grumpy, and if I'm not being pushed and challenged mentally my brain does exactly the same thing. It threw a hissy fit today, with the brain equivalent of lying on the floor kicking and screaming - it refused to concentrate on any one thing, went into whiny mode, and stomped its foot like a brat every time I thought 'well, how about I finish posting my travel photos/clean that cupboard/do that other thing'. No matter how much I ignored it, tried just to get things done, it wasn't having any of it.

So I did what every self-respecting bored Gen Y'er does in this situation, I texted Erica with something along the lines of 'ierrrourrhgargher'. She knew exactly what to do (there are definite advantages to a 23 year friendship), coaxed me along and told me I would be going to her aqua aerobics class this evening. Personally I suspect she's been waiting for an excuse to get me along for quite some time.

Chastened (slightly), my brain permitted me to go into town to do some errands, but only on the condition that I go over to the Eastern Shore to try for some weathery-mountainy photos. Fair deal I thought. It was pretty impressive, with the rain coming in from the west over the mountain, and the sky flitting between blue and grey in moments. I timed it well, the rain arrived just as I was driving back over the bridge to town.

I went along to aqua and floundered along, enjoying myself but not quite converted from land-based aerobicky exercise. We had a surprise visit to the taco van that migrates around Hobart, to make sure we would be sustained for a visit to Officeworks. After some browsing for some stationery it was time to head home again.

My brain is certainly feeling much calmer now, although if I don't get some PhD news next week I will have to start researching and writing essays just for fun. It's a worrying sign when even National Geographic fails to capture my attention for a morning. I'll build up my stack of deeply intellectual books, read the thesis that's sitting on my desk, and I will remain sane. Ish.