The Passing of Time — mnchrm vol. xxxvi

Hello friends! Hope this weekly letter is reaching your inbox all safe and sound.
How do we feel about these photos at the start? They’re just photos I’ve taken I’m pulling from my own Unsplash page. Figure it’s just something nice to look at before you read.

Speaking of which, I’ve got my photo website fully operational again, so if you do like these, you can see my larger archive on monochromatic.co.

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I’ve been trying to run better this year, specifically this Spring / Summer. Of course, better is hard to define. I started running a few years ago, probably my Sophomore year in university.

I’d run a mile, maybe two, around the park some mornings. I hit various milestones I set for myself, first clearing a mile in under seven minutes (foolishly, far too quickly for my ability level), then some time later achieving 100% completion on my habit tracking app (which meant running at least four times a week three months straight).
 

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However, I knew my running as amateurish at best, and didn’t even try to compete in any events. I’m in a physically demanding field at times, and want to try and utilize my body while I can. I sort of had this revelation, that I may get injured or something and never find out if I could run well.

So this season I’ve been following something of a training plan (I did C25k before), and bought a Garmin GPS running watch to track myself without my phone.

I tried a smartwatch before, a Samsung Gear that I’d gotten with a phone purchase a few years back, but it never clicked with me. A smartwatch sits in this odd space for me, sort of an extension of the phone, largely useless without one, but in a space where I don’t want that smartphone-level of distraction.

I have worn a wrist watch every day for over a decade, probably, starting in Elementary school (yes, I was definitely that guy). For me, the watch is a simple, elegant, beautiful piece of technology. I use it like a meter, checking it as a reference point to see what I should be doing at any given time, how long I’ve spent on any given task, and how much time I have left in the day.

The smartwatch for me was almost a reversal of this; it draws you in rather than focusing your view outwards. Needless to say, it didn’t last long with me and I quickly sold it off afterwards.

This second attempt has been far more fruitful, perhaps because I’m not using it like a smartwatch. I don’t get notifications on it, nor do I connect it to my phone. I put it on when I’m going for a run or a walk, wait the five seconds or so for it to get connected to GPS, and I’m off. During a run, I check its screen to see what my pace, distance, elapsed time, and heart rate is.

It doesn’t ask for my attention. It’s just a tool I use to check specific stats. In a way, I think that’s the highest form of technology; there when you want it, away when you don’t.

So far, it’s been working well. I’m running well, probably the best I have in my life, falling into the right pace with ease, going longer times and longer distances than I have before. Is it the watch? Not sure, but I’m happy with the purchase. I can’t stop thinking about this video I saw this week about the brain damage suffered by boxers. In the US, we hear a lot about American Football players brain damage, especially post concussions. However, boxers, MMA fighters, and other combat sports athletes undergo incredible trauma that changes them forever.

It’s tremendously sad. The one that gets me every time is this clip in the middle of the video, of Gerald McClellan. He’s shown in interview as a boxer, perfectly eloquent. Then, clips of him boxing, then, the knockout punch arrives: a clip of him interviewed with a boxer he competed against.

He’s wheelchair bound, talking both to the fighter and his caretaker. He asks her to repeat the answers to his questions, again and again, louder and louder, before he gets it or moves on. The boxer he’s with eventually has to let go of his hand and walk off, where he’s shown sobbing. It’s heartbreaking in every sense.

It’s easy to think of the success stories, like Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor. Also easy to forget how fragile our little existences are.

I’ll share the link, but it’s not recommended unless you’re willing to be sad today! This week, I ended up seeing two of my old friends, one from college and one from high school, in two different occasions. This is rare for me — I’m somewhat of an antisocial person, and perhaps prone to losing contact with people, though half of that is just the era we live in.

It was good to catch up with them. I kept thinking just about how people change as time goes on, not in a bad way. Even in the simplest of ways, and ways that are probably imperceptible to the person themselves. I’m not sure I would have even noticed the change had I seen either person frequently over the past few months or years; it’s only through the separation it became apparent.

My one friend, the one I’d known from grade school, had asked me if there were any movies coming out soon I’d recommend. This is a normal request, especially to make of someone like me who works in movies, but funny coming from him. Throughout school, he was staunchly against movies! And who could blame him?

I wonder in what ways I’ve changed. I think I’ve mellowed out somewhat, and become more empathetic. Wonder what their impressions of me were! I’m still going strong at hibikaika.com, blogging daily about life and topics that cross my mind. In a way, it’s sort of a micro, daily, form of this newsletter. As a subscriber, you’d probably like the posts there as well.

Here’s the link, and here’s the twitter account that auto-tweets them out upon posting each morning (central time).

Thanks again for letting me into your homes or pockets this week.

Your faithful commander,
 — I