While 2021 is just launching off the Earth, my workout streak is over. Last night, I pivoted on my right patella which immediately responded with excruciating pain. It's one of those rare moments when I achieved singular focus: this time, of PAIN. I massaged the demons back to their fiery crypt and sought my old friend of sleep.

When I woke up this morning, I could feel something different, but greenlighted it nevertheless, until I just had to move it at a different standing angle and felt a sharpness, imparting a dull reminder that has been present since. So, for those of you keeping score at home, it's now a tweaked right knee and left elbow!

That pretty much is the proverbial last nail in the coffin for my workouts...HOWEVER, I've always liked the zombie genre...

You hear the door slam
And realize there's nowhere left to run
You feel the cold hand
And wonder if you'll ever see the sun
You close your eyes
And hope that this is just imagination, girl
But all the while
You hear a creature creepin' up behind
You're out of time

Where will 2021 take us? Hold on, my friend! My seven 5K goal isn't over, I'm just pausing the workout to heal and honestly, like I posted the other day, I already knew that I should weigh under 200, ideally 180 lbs, before I kick off a running regimen. I can fight through a run, but it's like hauling a backpack of bricks. It's not the best context for these 42-year-old knees; it's not the time to flip on the afterburners.

Fortunately, the driver of my success continues in January's WORLD CARNIVORE MONTH!

YouTube Link

While Spotify has helped to drive the success of The Expeditions as a container for its soundtracks, I am moving on from my reliance on both it and the general subscription model. Whew, heady stuff, I know! The '90s called and I want my CD grove back! And I could very well break from my playlist building archetype. I want to concentrate on building my music library, like, what I actually own! CRAZY, I know!

Long gone are those days where I once owned 800+ CDs. But, I've got a armload now and they come pretty cheap these days. I rip them to FLAC and also create a MP3 version to upload to YouTube Music for my mobility. And with Exact Audio Copy, I can recover scratched up used CDs that are otherwise atrocious to listen to endure, like my recent rip of a favorite of mine, the Smashing Pumpkins' Adore. After ripping them to FLAC, I'll create a MP3 version to upload to YouTube Music for my mobility. I like FlacSquisher for this purpose, but it could be anything.

Of course, this new approach won't cleanly enchant into all of my musical desires; everything has been so one-off single driven as opposed to the entire album. For example, I never listen to one song from Pink Floyd. I gotta listen to the entire The Division Bell album. And yes, that CD is on my shopping list. But, there are a whole slew of one-hit wonders or might-as-well-be one-hit-wonders. As much as I like Howard Jones' Things Can Only Get Better, I doubt I'll ever own whatever album that came off of. The same thing goes with Kavinsky's Nightcall, though the whole retrowave genre is problematic as it is a new, niche. I might be able to find some limited run, new CDs, but I'm not interested in the sticker shock.

Then there are my vinyls that I might have to buy CD versions—at least my Simon & Garfunkel, but Bruce, too. While I know there are vinyl rips to FLAC out there, I'm disinterested in investing into the hardware for a one-time use.

Again, I am flanked by one side with a Fall Festival candle that flickers its light across my keyboard and a warm cup of broth on the other. The welcoming broth is brought to me by the entire chicken.

I'm on Day 58 of carnivore and continue to feel fantastic. I miss my striking routine as that was once a daily regimen for me through October into January until I dropped it down to three times a week and now; I hope this elbow mends quickly!

I'm in my second week of my forked C25K program. I'm having early success in its run/walk formulation. However, before Feb 11, I hope to drop some serious weight—like under 200 lbs serious—before I run the first non-stop session of 20 minutes. And while I don't think I possess that kind of magic to whip up in 23 days, I'll most likely be 8 lbs lighter...and at the end of the day, as I don't weigh in until Feb 25, it's all experiential anyway.

Will I adjust my program if I'm too heavy? It's a bit of a jump to go from one day an 8 minutes to the next session of 20—unless the logic is if a guy can run for 5 minutes, he can run 20. Oh, how I miss those days when running was the same as walking! But even then, I had to go out and get it! But yes, if I remain too heavy to do it well, I'll pull back and work my way up.

That said, the bigger showstopper is simply outside of my control. I have ABSOLUTELY NO interest in running virtual anything. If I'm running imaginary things, I might as well have Puff the Magic Dragon galloping next to me across strawberry fields forever as I smash through Alice's looking glass onto Deep Space Nine to grab an ale at Quark's with The Witcher and Jason Bourne.

I've had my fill of visualizations and imaginations; I want it all.