I had it all planned out.  I’d quit my job, start a foundation to fund the political projects I believe in.  finally get to take structure Hebrew classes, run a hundred miles a week, go out and spend a month in Hueco climbing every day.  Get another degree for fun.  It’d be great.

But alas, it didn’t work out.  I did not win the lottery.  Instead, I worked another seventy hour week.  Such is the life of a working stiff.  We try to find time for the things that bring us fulfillment, but the boss always wants more.  We carve out time where we can and fight a rear guard action against bourgeois normalcy.  We get up before the sun to fit in a run, we stay up late, with Nimet Habachy on WQXR keeping us company, and try to puzzle out the logic of Hebrew vowels. We take a sick pride in being really tired and we tell ourselves over and over that if you want an extraordinary life, you’re going to need to put in extra-ordinary effort.

So far this month, I’ve held on to my running streak, but hit another bump in the Hebrew study.  Without a structured class , Hebrew will continue to an uphill battle.  But with my insane work schedule, a class is pretty much out of the question.  Running is easier –just do it a lot and you will get better.  I don’t need anyone to correct my grammar when I run; I just need to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

It’s a struggle to try to fit all this in, and sometimes I feel like a crazy person setting these personal goals all the time.  But that’s who I am.  And I’ll carry on, writing when I can, studying and running when I can, and trying to stay interesting and alive in a world that seems desperate to bring my personal ambitions down to size.