IN THIS ISSUE (Organic, non-GMO, and not generated by AI)

• Draw like a kid again!

• A flip through of my most recent diary

• Some original writings

• Recipes for a quinoa black bean salad and a cranberry/apple crumble

• Revisiting Christmas Memories

• The usual regular features

DRAW LIKE A KID AGAIN!

Most children draw, without lessons, and are usually quite proud of their handiwork. Somewhere along the way the Inner Censor takes over with negative thoughts and the artistic spark is gone for many by the teenage years.

I recently picked up a book called “Doodle Everything” and spent some enjoyable hours working through the book. Do all of my drawings look exactly like the book? No. But that’s not the point. The drawings are a good training tool in that they help you to see familiar things in simple forms.

You can see more examples, along with the supplies that I used, here.

DIARY FLIP THROUGH

I’m finding that a few minutes of daily memory keeping is useful in keeping me engaged with the daily goings-on of Life. The tool that I’m using is a 1 page daily diary format to record what I did, saw, heard, and small sketch. No “Dear Diary” moments here! Here’s an example from April.

The drawings from “Doodle Everything” fill a substantial part of my diary that I started on September 1 and finished on December 31. The diary making process was detailed back in April. The video flip through is here.

ORIGINAL WRITINGS

DON’T LOOK BACK

(WRITTEN SEPTEMBER 4, 2012)

Don’t look back
Keep going-don’t stop
You can’t return
To what you lost

Don’t look back
Shuffle off to the station
Take a train
To your next destination

Don’t look back
You are not being chased
Running away from ghosts
Of sorrow and hate

Don’t look back
The future is ahead
Be thankful for Life
Thankful you’re not dead

13 Kinds of People You See At the Gym

(Written December 21, 2025)

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I began teaching group exercise classes in 2002 and got my personal training certification a few years after that. In my fitness journey, I’ve noticed some common behaviors

1. The Socialite: you’ll find them arriving early, spending most of their time visiting, chatting, and laughing. If there is a workout, it will be later.

2. The Assistant Coach: You’ll often find them in classes, or in the weight room, correcting others’ form or technique (especially newer people)

3. The Germophobe: They spray down all of the equipment they are using BEFORE they use it and AFTER they use it.

4. The Slob: The complete opposite of the Germophobe. You can usually see where they’ve been by the sweat puddles they leave behind on the floor, or on the equipment.

5. The Diva: Their workout clothes are always a little pricey and color/style coordinated.

6. The Independent: They always do their own thing, whether in the workout rooms or in a class. Examples: walking sideways on the stair master, doing bicep curls in a class while everyone else is doing pushups

7. The Introvert: You’ll usually find them in a back corner in a class, or by themselves in the equipment rooms.

8. The Data Scientist: You’ll see them with their tattered notebook containing years of workout data in the equipment room, or fiddling with their fitness watch in a group class.

9. The Shoe Collector: Each time you see them, they are wearing different shoes

10. The Egoist: They want everyone to see how much they are lifting or how fast they are on the treadmill.

11. The Phone Addict: They are often checking text messages or shopping on Amazon both in classes and in the equipment room.

12. The Gym Rat: Usually wearing tank tops and shorts to show off their muscles

13. The Complainer: the gym is too hot, too cold, too crowded, too dirty, or too loud, and they can’t find a parking space or their favorite locker.

RECIPES!

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES

Just so you know, this is also in my diary.

Here are the Lost Remotes Trio playing “Let It Snow”

BOARD GAMES I’VE PLAYED

BCS Arracourt

BCS Valley of Tears

Yinsh

Cuba Libre

The Last Hundred Yards

CD’S I’VE LISTENED TO

• Jorma Kaukonen Wabash Avenue

• The Vince Guaraldi Trio, A Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack, and their self titled album from 1956

• John Hammond I Can Tell

• Slim Chance On The Move

• Elvis Presley Promised Land

• The Bill Evans Trio Haunted Heart

FINAL THOUGHTS

I’ve had to remove the capability for you to leave comments on my blog. Despite my efforts to filter spam (and questionable website links in the comments) I was unable to keep up with the scamsters attempts to hack into the website. The best solution for now is to disable all comments.

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