On Bounding from Thought to Thought (Roleplay and Running)

This is the part where I embarrass myself. Only I'm not certain I can embarrass myself so early in a blog when I have no readers to be embarrassed for... though I suppose if anyone should ever decide they want to read back they may come across this and I could be embarrassed in retrospect, though I don't really think I will care. That and the only way I would know anyone had been here to witness this and give me cause to be embarrassed is if they told me. The Internet, however, being a wide and wondrous place with billions of users who may come across this humiliating entry gives me reason to believe that many may read this, none will admit to it, and I may live in unembarrassed and ignorant bliss until the duration of my life has come to an end.

I will admit now that I am a geek. WAS a geek. I consider myself to be in remission. That's not the embarrassing part. There are actually a great many things that I will probably never admit to about my geekish period of life that would be ten times worse to share. The hesitation I'm showing is in admitting that I was very heavily involved in roleplaying a la Dungeons and Dragons. The saving grace is that I concluded after many attempts at this abhorrent game that it was not my cup of tea. So I took my character and cofounded a group of writers who wanted to base their play in Middle-earth and revise some of Tolkien's works and write new legends. It was by far the better way to go, and relations were good for a time. Things were more democratic, and dare I say deistic (Tolkien being our god). It all turned sour in the end, as do most friendships amongst females (One of many reasons why I prefer camaraderie with males), and it shattered my world. It was actually one the best things that could have happened to me, actually, but it was devastating nonetheless when it transpired.

I have a point, and I'm getting to it. In fact, this almost has nothing to do with the main point of my writing today, but I often make leaps and bounds in my thinking, so forgive me for asking you to humor me a bit longer.

I delve deeper to humiliate myself further. I haven't talked about characters in probably years, but one of these was an elf. Now this particular elf was mentally unstable. I haven't been able to peg down what exactly was wrong, but I think it was some sort of disorder related to autism. The idea was to explore elven society and determine how handicaps would be treated by a people who are otherwise considered to be perfect. I could go into how this would work with a race that hails from Valinor where people really are perfect, but that would be far too boring for you.

So being an elf with autism living in a forest such as Mirkwood, one can imagine how often she would get lost in exploring the surrounding wood. There was much fun had in being captured by kobolds and escaping, fighting giant spiders, etc. My elf was very fond of running off into the darkness, and I must admit (I'm digging a grave here) that I am very much the same way. Plop me down in the outdoors and I am as happy as a lark. I will desert my companions and hide out to enjoy the time away from people. I think. I don't think. I laugh. I sing some songs. I listen. I sort of start going a bit crazy...

So really going out hiking is my sport of choice as you can probably guess. I was thinking about it today while taking a turn around the park across the way. This is where I get to my point. I really like hiking. It means something to me, and it does something for me. What I don't understand is running. I say this because I see a lot of people running around my neighborhood and they look ridiculous. I understand running around a track or loop. Sugar House Park is a fantastic place to run. I definitely understand running away from something or running after something. This is a game I play all too often with my dog. I even get running in a large organized group in sync and behind a commanding officer. Running a dog is fine also. It's when you're just running aimlessly, solo or accompanied by a friend, that you just look stupid. Where on God's green earth are you going, and why are you taking that route? I can't help but wonder this, and yes I'm over thinking it, but that's what I do. Someone has to do it. It may be the volume of runners I see that looks silly, because they run in all different directions like it's going out of style. Perhaps I'm too accustomed to running around a track in gym class. I know they're running for exercise, and that is commendable. For me it's a phantom itch that I can't seem to find; there's just something that isn't clicking right in my mind.

If you're in the habit of running, I'm sorry. I don't hate you. It's great that you can run because it's fun. Just be mindful that you look silly (Unless it falls under one of the aforementioned exceptions). At least to me. You may as well be flailing your arms above your head, screaming as you attempt escaping a Jabberwock. It's what my elf would do.

Endnote: Yes, I drew that. For the record, any pictures I use for entries that are not otherwise noted as being mine are not mine.