EZ Does It

There's a lot that I knew I'd be leaving behind in the Dairy State, like nice seasons, uncrowdedness, and community-style open spaces. Since moving to Madison in 1997 I must admit I have become a total cheese snob, and this is perhaps the biggest sacrifice that I knew I'd have to make. Yeah sure, California makes more cheese now that Wisconsin, but let's be honest - in California it's possible to have a complete meal without cheese. This is the first brick of cheese I bought in Cali, and it is horrible. I don't even think I'll be able to finish it. Maybe it's really good "New York" cheddar, I don't know. I wouldn't know because they don't serve New York cheddar in Wisco.



"Nice seasons" will be hard to miss when this pool at UCLA is open for lap swimming 10 hours a day all year round. The last time I was there my lane partner told me that it should only take 22 strokes of front crawl to go 50 meters. That's a lot of glide, since it takes me about 52 strokes. Lap swimmers are so funny. They always assume that you're trying to get better at swimming. I tell people that I just swim for 30 minutes then go home. Everyone I've ever spoken with in a pool instantly goes into training programs and why swimming for 30 minutes then going home is the worst way to get better. Well, I don't want to get better. All I really want to do is not drown. Swimming laps in a lane pool is possibly the most solitary thing one can do. You're not just alone, but you're ignorant of the world around you. All you have is the sight of a line and the noise of water swooshing. It's this that I like about swimming. Thirty minutes of escape and meditation. I purposefully let my mind do whatever it wants, and don't try to remember or think about anything in particular. Counting strokes and timing lengths would be antithetical to that purpose. So for anyone reading this who wants to share a lane with me, don't worry about me, just let me go. I promise when I exit the pool my quality of intersubjectivity with the world will be healthier than when I got in, and to me that's a good workout.