Things I enjoyed this week (July 6th)

Some things I enjoyed this week:

1. Attending my friend's wedding in Detroit. It was emotional, and grand, and lovely and got me out of the usual routine of things here in Portland. I got a free umbrella out of it and learned my Briggs Meyers type, for what that's worth.
2. Returning to my yoga practice on Tuesday. The week prior to flying out to the wedding I'd cranked-up my yoga attendance going something like 5 times during the week, mostly to be in a good place before traveling and knowing that I'd be out of my yoga practice from what would've been last Thursday through Tuesday. Tuesday yoga always rights me. In fact, I imagine I've listed it on these "list of things I enjoyed" posts more than once and likely will again.
3. LeBron James went back to Cleveland. I'm slightly embarrassed to have that on my list of things alongside weddings and yoga, but it's a storyline that made me smile. Basketball is one of my guilty indulgences — one of the areas in life where I allow emotions to seep into what really amounts to little more than celebrity gossip. It's fun to put weight in games like the outcomes mean something. It satisfies some kind of release and need for conquests and battles and other violent things but without the real-life casualties; athletes as proto-warriors, the reason college sports and fútbol incite such impassioned frenzy and can do this to an old man:

(It's okay — this story also has a nice ending.)

With Lebron's story there's something appealingly human about him choosing to go back and play for his hometown — a choice that was not the easiest or most obvious choice in the situation.
Real summer weather has arrived. 90+ degree days that leave the evening air warm enough to walk around in a t-shirt and shorts. I live for this weather.

4. Meeting new people and doing new(ish) things. I attended a Meetup event hosted by The Mazamas. I walk around and ramble so much on my own it seems like a good activity to try and share with people. It also doesn't hurt that their offices and meeting point were literally two blocks from where I'm living.

5. Putting music on my horizon. This week I finalized several gigs for my duo — Inky Shadows — over the next couple months. It's good to be playing again and have that creative, emotive outlet back in my life.

6. Dumbbells. They are heavy and you pick them up. There's no much more to it. I find this both amusing and delightful.

7. Running. Today I ran along my old running route for many years, through downtown, up to the International Rose Garden, past the Portland Japanese Garden, along the Wildwood Trail and up to the Oregon Zoo. It's hard for me to believe but that was the first time I'd done that in close to two years (!!!). Time has a way of slipping past you when you display yourself for a year. There were noticeably more signs around the trails but beyond that not much had changed. The old route was a nice break from my newer route that goes along the I-205 Multi-Use Path connecting with the Springwater Corridor.