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Hi and welcome to episode 8 of the I Walk Toronto podcast. I’m Lorrie. Thank you for listening.
Introduction
Well, it’s Friday night and I’ve just come back from my first run since New Haven. Normally a run is a good time to relax and clear your mind and just enjoy yourself, but the first run, especially after an extended layoff and especially after coming off of a couple of injuries, is stressful.
Now, not as bad as my attempt at swimming where I thought I might drown, but stressful nonetheless, as I waited for my knee or my IT band or my lungs to give out.
But, I survived.
Of course, there’s a reason for tonight’s run. I’m in the beginning stages of planning a run for November 1 and since I’m planning the thing, I figure I’d better get in shape to run it. Unfortunately, I can’t talk run the damned thing, but you can. The URL is runmore10ka.ca and I encourage everyone to sign up. It’s a 1am start, but because of the time change, you get the hour back. I haven’t been this excited for something in a while. Fingers crossed it comes off as I hope. The swag is good and we’re working hard to make sure that it’s a great and memorable event.
What I’m listening to
Well, the new Dr. Dre came out.
To be honest, I wasn’t going to get it. I didn’t want to listen to it at all. I was afraid. After waiting so long, I figured that there was no way it could live up to expectation, and I thought that perhaps the best thing to do was not listen to it and then it could always be the best album I’d never heard. But, a work mate messaged me to tell me it’s good, so I got it.
It’s fine.
There’s not much more to say. It’s definitely better than Chinese Democracy, but is it as good as the first two albums? Nope. Is it better than the last NWA album? Nope. In my opinion, it suffers from too many guests and not enough Dre. I might be in the minority, but I’ve always been a big fan of Dre’s rapping and there just isn’t enough on the album. And his flow is all wonky in some places – the wishes of his ghostwriters, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t listen to much modern hip hop, so it’s hard to say where this album stands among recent releases, but I’ve listened to it a bunch and fine is the best I can do.
Anyway, it seems strange to talk about Dre on an episode and not play any. I’m not playing you anything off the new album though. Here’s NWA’s 100 Miles and Running. It’s got some of Dre’s best lyrics and flow. Enjoy.
So, what else have I been listening to? Public Enemy dropped a new album the other day, and it’s not bad. No real standouts, but it did make me revisit a track of theirs from 2007. Here’s Harder Than You Think, which is probably their best track in the last 15 years.
To be honest, I had planned to be listening to the new Deafheaven on vinyl not only tonight, but all weekend. All week. For the rest of the month. But, it’s been delayed, so I’m stuck listening to the digital files. I wish I could explain to people what it is I like about them, but every time I try, or every time I play a track for someone, the words fail me. It’s just the best fucking noise I can imagine. It makes me unbelievably happy, in spite of how bleak it can be. Here’s Tunnel of Trees from their first album. Try not to think about what you’re hearing, but instead think about what you aren’t hearing. That’s the best way I can try to explain why I like them so much.
What I’ve been thinking about
Well, it’s been 12 weeks or so since I quit Facebook and Instagram, and I’ve been thinking about a few things.
First, people spend a lot of time on that shit. It kind of amazes me, when I see people walking around with their faces in their phones, not noticing the world around them. Not cool!
Second, I guess I should have told people I was quitting. I’ve had a few friends message me, wondering if everything is okay, or asking why I defriended them. In a way, that’s good. I get to talk to people, not just see what they’re up to on social media. That was part of the point. I want to engage with people, not their photographs and status updates!
Finally, I didn’t quit because of other people. I quit because of me. When life gets hard you have to face it head on, not hide out, wishing you were someone else or somewhere else. That doesn’t work.
This podcast is about my thoughts. If you think social media is cool, then that’s cool with me. If you take offense with something I say, then use the email address I list at the end of every podcast and tell me.
Life is beautiful. I spend a lot of time walking around the city thinking about what a beautiful place it is and how lucky I am. I go to bed late. I get up early. I listen to loud music and smell flowers. I do yoga and play soccer. I eat broccoli by the pound and pizza by the tonne. Life is a gift. Put your phone away and appreciate it. Understand that you can live a full and complete life without sharing photos of it. It’s one thing to want mementos. But are you capturing an image because you want to remember it or are you capturing it because you want people to be envious of what you’re doing?
When I was a stupid teenager, I once told a friend that life is too temporary for owning things. After so many years, I find myself coming back to that. I don’t know why I said it, though I suspect it had a lot to do with my unwillingness to have any type of personal responsibility, but in some ways it makes a lot of sense.
Don’t get me wrong. I am extremely particular, and I appreciate the comforts with which I have surrounded myself, but it’s the extraneous that I have problems with. When I outfitted my kitchen, I purposely stuck to only buying everything I needed to make my daughter her preferred dinner.
Of course, my sneaker collection is now causing me a lot of psychic pain. I think that 2016 could see a lot of really good, slightly used adidas superstars hitting the open market.
Closing thoughts
It’s autumn. Enjoy it. The leaves are turning. You can wear a sweater. You can walk an hour to work and not sweat. Turn your phone off, and get outside. Life is short.
Thanks for listening. If you want to get in touch, you can send me an email to iwalktoronto@gmail.com. Or follow me on twitter @iwalktoronto. The Facebook group and Instagram accounts are still up, but I won’t be using them, nor checking them. I have a blog to host the podcast, which is iwalktoronto.ca. And you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes – search for I Walk Toronto, this time three words. If you enjoyed it, please rate the episode. If you have questions or comments, please get in touch.
Thanks again.
Bye for now, and remember, be awesome.
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