PAUL "ALWAYS QUOTABLE" WESTERBERG

"The best I can say is that it's better for me to write about despair and darkness than to be incapable of getting off the sofa. It's better to write about suicide than to contemplate it too heavily."

I knew this quote long before I knew who said it. I can honestly say I feel the same way. I write when I'm depressed not when I'm happy. It's my therapy, much like running.



Running clears my head. Writing clears my heart.

I finally looked up who said this and I was impressed with all the quotes attributed to Paul Westerberg

Who you ask? You know, he was the lead singer of The Replacements. No? The 1980s alternative rock band. Nothing yet? Well how about his solo work. Maybe that'll ring a bell. If you've seen "Singles," "Melrose Place," "Friends" or "Tank Girl" His song appear on each of those.

Here's his website: Paul Westerberg



Photo by Heather Douglass via Wikipedia


So here's a few quotes attributed to him and for some reason I connect with most of his quotes.

"I'm beyond caring what anyone expects of me anymore."

"A rock'n'roll band needs to be able to get under people's skin. You should be able to clear the room at the drop of a hat."

"I think it should be evident by now, but I'm as lost as anyone."

"I have my own language and it's high time I put a little of it out there."

"Reading music is like listening to flowers. I don't understand the concept."

"Stick with your heart and you'll be fine."

"Although, my experience when I've been depressed, not only am I too depressed to sit down and write a song, I'm too depressed to pick up my feet. So if you can at least write about it, you're halfway away from it."

And finally, to quote someone else, and I'm not sure who said it first ...
"THE END"

THE QUIET, FAT LIFE

I've been backing up my blog posts just in case Blogger dies. Reading some of my posts from my time in Hawaii makes me realize something.

Compared to where I was then I can't help but feel I now live a life of total obscurity.

I knew people back then.
People knew me.

I swam, biked and ran with some really awesome athletes, both famous and regular, everyday peeps. World-record holders and back-of-the-packers.

I haven't written on this blog for some time. Not that many people come here nowadays and if they do it's usually an errant search that brought them here. Even back in the day people mostly stopped by because they were doing a search on Hawaii and for some reason my blog showed up in their searches.

My "CHRISTMAS IN HAWAII" blog post from 2008 or 09 still get's lots of hits.  But when you put Christmas and Hawaii together search engines are bound to find it.

So these days I live in complete anonymity. No training partners. No group swims or runs or cycling. No training at all, actually. A little running now and then. Growing old and fat and slowly becoming that couch potato I once was.

I've thought about shutting down "The Kona Life" blog. Deleting it all. Erasing what seems like a dream now. Maybe someday. There's still a faint glimmer of hope that triathlete deep inside me will emerge once again.

But for now in these dreary days of winter here in Oregon I like re-reading my misadventures in paradise and dream of palm trees,  warm ocean swims, running along Alii and long, hot rides on Queen K.

A QUICK UPDATE 1/17/17
I haven't swam or biked since posting this. I have ran off and on though, but not much. I still miss Hawaii and all those wonderful people but I have lost weight. I weigh less now than I did when I weighed in for Ironman in 2009.  Probably less than I have in 20 years but it's from diet not training so not nearly as much muscle as I used to have. But maybe when the weather turns ...