Running(?) Song of the Day:

Sent in by SCOM, the magical frog entity. Thanks Scommy!

I’m not sure when these “song using X soundfont” remixes started popping up exactly. I feel like one day I saw a yt recommended video for one, maybe it was Radiohead using the SM64 soundfont, something like that, and then BOOM, they’re all over the place.

I kinda like ‘em. My anecdotal and/or vibes data for it makes me feel like the mario 64 soundfont is the most popular choice because of how distinct it is, and because of how deeply burrowed into the brain of every millennial those sounds are.

These songs really bring me back to a place I’m not sure I always want to visit. I was a lonely little 10 year old mikev when SM64 came out, and man did it blow me away. It wasn’t the first “3d” platformer, but it was the biggest and baddest one and it was the one that really achieved some kind of universality at the time. EVERYONE had and played and loved Super Mario 64.

I played the crap out of that game, hundreds of hours, possibly thousands. Squirreled away in my room, all the lights off but the soft glow of my tiny 13 inch CRT TV illuminating my face and the wall behind me, the sounds of Dire Dire Docks both putting me to sleep but also filling me with a sort of endless anxiety as the constant swimming sound effect of Mario pulsed over the soundtrack.

Something in me loved the escape, the feeling of visiting this vast and secretive world, ignoring all my responsibilities (responsibilites, at age 10, lol) and bottling up whatever emotions were beginning to stir inside me about life and the future and what would happen to me when I perished (I found existentialism early in life, yay me). Mario kept me at bay, kept me floating along, kept the sadness from washing over me completely. But that kind of buoy in the ocean of feelings isn’t always something that you want to stop and rest at again years later.

So listening to these soundfont remixes, I appreciate the novelty of it, the weird mashup of two very different parts of my childhood, but I’m also reminded of my childhood, and how I wish I could do things differently, and how I wish I still could do things differently, and how I’m not doing enough in my life, and how one day it will all end, and there’s nothing I can do to stop that, so I better make use of the time I have now, and maybe I’m not, maybe I’m wasting it, but it’s okay sometimes to blow a day re-watching The Office, or going to a new arcade that opened up a few towns over and playing House of the Dead 2 and absolutely kicking the game’s ass now that you’re older and understand how to beat it, or maybe it’s okay to not be okay.

Anyway, Everlong is one of my all-time banger favs, so this SM64 soundfont remix is much appreciated. Good quiet, contemplative, kinda funny song to move to.

Today’s Run:

Big day today. Need to convert one room into another room. This is commonly done by moving all the stuff between rooms. The stuffs are big, heavy. Lots of stuffs. Lots of little knicks and knacks. Dusty. Lots of cleaning. Lots of moving. Can only do it when baby is awake, for fear of waking baby up.

Coffee and banana sliced up on some bread (I’m a toddler). Two more coffees, we rollin’ big today.

Start cleaning and moving. Realize how much shit, material possessions, I have. Why? I don’t even use half this stuff. I have two bikes. I haven’t ridden either in months. But, you can’t just throw a bike away. There’s a lotta good juice left in the old one. So you ask around; friends, family. No one wants a bike. No one rides a bike.

So the bike goes downstairs, with the other one.

Move the dining table, move the book shelf, move the little side table thing, move the books the books the books. Why do I own 900+ books?

Anyway—

Little cold out, 40°. Didn’t do laundry. Wear the same t-shirt; nine straight days. Salt stains all over it. Fuck it. Throw on running pants, running gloves.

Get out there and get to business. No desire today, no fun pop in the legs. Pound pound pound, pound pound pound. Knee hurts, the bad knee. It’s okay though, run a little easier, preserve it.

Run the easy route, cut it off a little early. Turn around, run the easy route in reverse. 10k clicks over on the watch right before I get home. Perfect.

Get back in, go get bagels and coffee. Spend the rest of the day moving books and tables and furniture and get covered in sweat and dust and grime.

I lay down at night, wrap myself in my blanket, piss and shit and vomit all over it until it soaks through, covers me extremely tight, smushing my bones and organs and body into a new shape. The blanket hardens over night, I am now sleeping in my cocoon. When I awaken, I will be a new being, and hopefully all the books will be moved and sorted correctly on the bookshelves.

6.23 miles
in
1:00:41
so it was
6.2mph on avg
with
577 ft of vert
and i’ve run
49.55 miles this Spring

Cool Greenery Thing of the Day:

There’s this little patch of clover and other various hardy plants that have taken over what used to be a little open patch of dirt. Clover is notoriously tough and has a tendency to take over lawns over here on the east coast. Good. Lawns full of grass are wastes of space and water.