Skip to main content

Immersing myself in books


I have found the perfect place to read in peace. The swimming pool. When my H20 Audio headset arrives I'll be able to listen to audio books, right now it will be short stories, but as my aerobic capacity increases I'll work towards The Brothers Karamazov or War & Peace, I suppose music is an option too. What would the best music for laps be?

As part of my new exercise regime I am spending my allowance on all sorts of paraphernalia to make the experience more palatable. Anti chafe shorts, lightweight running shoes - resisting the urge to become obsessive compulsive as I was back in the 80's when I got hooked into triathlons.

It was in the very early days of the sport. I worked for an ad agency called MacKay King (famous for Terry King's cunning reverse takeover of Saatchi & Saatchi). The General Manager was Tony Thomas (now the business manager of the New Zealand America's Cup Team). Tony was also in charge of the Schweppes account and they were sponsoring the first short-course triathlon series. "You're young and fit" he said - "…sign up for this." "OK" Said I, signing as I spoke, "…what's a triathlon?" "Swim, Run, Cycle…" he giggled, disappearing down the hall in a blaze of Prince of Wales check and French cuffs.

The problem was that I couldn't swim.

I had six half hour lessons with Kiwi swimming Legend Lincoln Hurring. My classmates were middle aged housewives. For every half hour I spend about 15 practicing the techniques. Who'd have thought you'd have to relearn how to breathe?

In the end I got hooked. Oddly enough, swimming is the only part of the exercise I came to love. So much so that I swam until my arms nearly dropped off. Mr Hurring paid me a compliment I will never forget. He said I should compete. The true compliment was to his clear, simple instruction and emphasis on precision over power in the water - understanding hydrodynamics and buoyancy (quite important) - very Zen.

I was only a mediocre Triathlete - I over trained for swimming, which affected everything else…balance grasshopper…my shoulders became inflamed from endless laps of the Parnell Baths (long, outdoor and saltwater…my favourite place…especially on a mild summer's morning as the sun rises over Rangitoto).

So - now I am back…awaiting the arrival of my sound system.

What fun we shall have. Is there an audio version of Thus Spake Zarathustra
? Or better still Chronicles by Bob Dylan?

Comments

  1. Stanley Johnson12:33 am

    There is an audio book of Chronicles. It's read by Sean Penn! Better still, track down some of Dylan's The Time Radio Hour shows. They're brilliant.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ze Frank thinks so you don't have to

Ze Frank appeared on my radar when I saw his presentation among the excellent TED Talks videos . This morning I was reading Russell Davies planning blog in which he referred to a clip by Ze Frank - Where do ideas come from. Here's the transcript: "...Hungry Hippo licks Aunt JEmima [sic] writes, "Are you ever gonna break into song again? Are you running out of ideas?" Hungry Hippo licks Aunt JEmima, that's a good question. I run out of ideas every day! Each day I live in mortal fear that I've used up the last idea that'll ever come to me. If you don't wanna run out of ideas the best thing to do is not to execute them. You can tell yourself that you don't have the time or resources to do 'em right. Then they stay around in your head like brain crack. No matter how bad things get, at least you have those good ideas that you'll get to later. Some people get addicted to that brain crack. And the longer they wait, the more they convince themse...
1 comment
Read more and leave a comment

Johnny Bunko competiton

The Great Johnny Bunko Challenge from DHP on Vimeo . There's a young chap in Indiana, one Alec Quig , who has written to me about creating a career based on a polymathic degree, from which he has recently graduated. He's an interesting young man and his concerns about going forward in life are the anxieties we all face at crossroads in our lives when we are forced to make choices. Dan Pink's latest book The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need might help: "From a New York Times, BusinessWeek, and Washington Post bestselling author comes a first-of-its- kind career guide for a new generation of job seekers.There's never been a career guide like it.the fully illustrated story (ingeniously told in Manga form) of a young Everyman just out of college who lands his first job. Johnny Bunko is new to parachute company Boggs Corp., and he stumbles through his early days as a working stiff until a crisis prompts him to find a new job. St...
Post a Comment
Read more and leave a comment

Why billboards must go.

The problem with billboards and advertising in public places is they are an invasion of privacy. Unlike magazine, tv, radio (etc) advertising you cannot choose to turn it off or avoid it. Nor does it offer anything in return. It is a medium that offers no benefit or advantage to the person it is inflicted on. At least television ads subsidise the programming. Without doubt some billboards are entertaining - I thought the anti GE poster for short lived MADGE activist group was particularly good. But most are rubbish. Literally. Badly executed. Nothing important to say. The debate has led to a great deal of hysteria - mostly from people with a vested interest in perpetuating the deployment of hoardings. Perhaps the idea that the issue at stake is 'property rights' is the creepiest. If you own a building you have every right to plaster anything you like on its external surfaces. Is that an antisocial point of view? I think so. In the UK you could have an ASBO slapped on you for si...
Post a Comment
Read more and leave a comment