"This was sports too, the grim side of sports, effort and exhaustion and dirt, no spectators and no cheering and no one caring about the outcome but themselves; it was like service to some obscure god, done for its own sake, disregarded by everyone but you." -The Paragon by John Knowles

I'm not serious enough about any sport to really understand this quote. Although recently I've been training for the Yosemite Half Dome hike by hiking at the Heninger Flats. It's a six mile hike but I haven't been able to get to the top yet. I don't realistically expect to get to the top of the Half Dome at this point, but I will at least try.

A friend of mine acquired a free piano so she let me play it this week. She was even generous enough to give me her extra house key so I can play whenever I want. It's been awhile since I felt the ivory keys and I missed it. I actually decided to start working on more challenging pieces for myself. It's difficult for me to put in the effort of practicing something difficult over and over and over without someone forcing me to do it. I get bored after the third time. Anyways, I chose "Claire de Lune" by Debussy and "Nocturne #2 in E minor" by Chopin. It feels good to be working on something. Does anyone have a copy of the Debussy I can borrow? I have the Chopin Nocturne on one of my Horowitz cds, but I don't own any Debussy piano cds. I like to listen to how people play the finished product of the songs as an inspiration when I'm slowly struggling through them.