Fractured

July 22, 2011, 5:51 pmDoctor Psychobabble14 comments

“We live in a fractured world. I’ve always seen it as my role as an artist to attempt to make wholeness.”

- Anish Kapoor

Fractured

I’d love to write my usual happy post about how awesome things are right now. But alas, this would be a lie. I’ve been feeling a bit down in the dumps lately. I think there are a few factors at play here:

1. While I am enjoying my new rotation this month, I don’t feel super challenged by it. And because I’m not super challenged, I have found myself being a bit lazy about it. I don’t think I have been at the top of my game, like I usually am, and that stresses me out.

2. It’s been hot as hell outside lately. I am more unmotivated and lazy than usual.

3. Because of the heat (or maybe other factors as well), I haven’t been running as much lately. If the prior 30+ (notice my vagueness here) years of my life have taught me anything, it’s that I feel better the more I move. Damn you weather for putting the breaks on my marathon runs!

Friggin HOT!

As always, I now feel a bit better just getting all that crap off my chest. Thank you world for listening.

Photos: 1) Taken on my walk home from work. Another shot of this awesome broken glass. “Fractured.” You can’t tell in the photo, but my legs were drenched with sweat. 2) The friggin weather….screenshot taken from my iPhone today. Yes, I walked 4 miles today in 103 degree F weather. YUCK!!!

  • Tara Ferland

    Seems as if many people are a little bit down lately. I blame the heat, but I also get the winter blues.. guess I just can’t win ;)

    Try and stay cool! I’m not sure how you walk that far in the heat.. I would deffinetly pass out, or it would take me over an hour. Good luck!

    • http://doctorpsychobabble.com Dr. Psychobabble

      In fact, I almost died. Don’t wanna do that again! Stay cool! :)

  • Tara Ferland

    Seems as if many people are a little bit down lately. I blame the heat, but I also get the winter blues.. guess I just can’t win ;)

    Try and stay cool! I’m not sure how you walk that far in the heat.. I would deffinetly pass out, or it would take me over an hour. Good luck!

    • http://doctorpsychobabble.com Dr. Psychobabble

      In fact, I almost died. Don’t wanna do that again! Stay cool! :)

  • Chris P Jordan

    Saw this article and thought it really relates to your post! Something I never realized about NYC till I moved here!

    As temperature reached 104 degrees on Friday in New York, people have asked in the midst of the heat wave if I’m used to it, since I’ve spent most of my life in the South.
    Of course I’m not used to it, I say. Nobody ever gets used to 104 degree temperatures.
    But here’s the kicker: I’ve rarely experienced a temperature of 104 degrees, even living in the South for most of my life.
    What I have experienced over the years is some of the hottest days in my life in New York.
    I love the city, and the area, but no place feels as hot as New York when the temperature rises.
    Not even close.
    It’s the massive concrete, which warms in the day like iron on a burner. It’s the humidity from all the surrounding water, which steams in the heating of the day like a fresh, frothy espresso. It’s the transportation system, which huffs and puffs more insult to injury.
    Nobody could ever get used to that. We can only hope and pray it doesn’t last long. Forecasts, however, call for the record heat to last until Sunday.
    More troubling than daytime high temperatures, however, are high nighttime low temperatures. A Pepsi truck driver told me this morning he checked the temperature in the city at 3:30 a.m. today. The result: 82 degrees.
    “Something is wrong with that,” he said.
    And he was right.
    That’s why subway station terminals boiled in an early morning commute that began at 6:45 a.m. Already the temperature was nearing 90, but in the bowels of the city it was a lot hotter than that. Once inside the train, all was OK, but only for as long as the air-conditioned ride lasted.
    “I never thought I would say I hated to leave the subway,” said one co-worker. “I don’t like the subway.”
    But on this day, as 82 degrees overnight began to work its way up to 104 degrees and rising by mid-afternoon, the subway was oddly a respite. The problem was waiting for the train, as temperatures in the underground stations rose to near 100 by early morning.
    Many New Yorkers simply called it a week early Friday, leaving the office and heading out of the boiling city for an extra long weekend.
    “Nobody should be here,” said one man to another, heading out the door.
    The problem, though, was that there was nowhere to go nearby to escape the heat. As New York seared at 104 degrees Friday, Washington, D.C. checked in at 102 degrees. Boston was a warm 100 degrees. Philly was basking in 100 degrees as well.
    To escape the searing heat, one would have to get farther away — heading South perhaps, since in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday afternoon, as New York boiled over, the temperature was only 90 degrees.
     

    • http://doctorpsychobabble.com Dr. Psychobabble

      nice article! i can’t deal with this heat….my old bones are not meant for this!

  • Chris P Jordan

    Saw this article and thought it really relates to your post! Something I never realized about NYC till I moved here!

    As temperature reached 104 degrees on Friday in New York, people have asked in the midst of the heat wave if I’m used to it, since I’ve spent most of my life in the South.
    Of course I’m not used to it, I say. Nobody ever gets used to 104 degree temperatures.
    But here’s the kicker: I’ve rarely experienced a temperature of 104 degrees, even living in the South for most of my life.
    What I have experienced over the years is some of the hottest days in my life in New York.
    I love the city, and the area, but no place feels as hot as New York when the temperature rises.
    Not even close.
    It’s the massive concrete, which warms in the day like iron on a burner. It’s the humidity from all the surrounding water, which steams in the heating of the day like a fresh, frothy espresso. It’s the transportation system, which huffs and puffs more insult to injury.
    Nobody could ever get used to that. We can only hope and pray it doesn’t last long. Forecasts, however, call for the record heat to last until Sunday.
    More troubling than daytime high temperatures, however, are high nighttime low temperatures. A Pepsi truck driver told me this morning he checked the temperature in the city at 3:30 a.m. today. The result: 82 degrees.
    “Something is wrong with that,” he said.
    And he was right.
    That’s why subway station terminals boiled in an early morning commute that began at 6:45 a.m. Already the temperature was nearing 90, but in the bowels of the city it was a lot hotter than that. Once inside the train, all was OK, but only for as long as the air-conditioned ride lasted.
    “I never thought I would say I hated to leave the subway,” said one co-worker. “I don’t like the subway.”
    But on this day, as 82 degrees overnight began to work its way up to 104 degrees and rising by mid-afternoon, the subway was oddly a respite. The problem was waiting for the train, as temperatures in the underground stations rose to near 100 by early morning.
    Many New Yorkers simply called it a week early Friday, leaving the office and heading out of the boiling city for an extra long weekend.
    “Nobody should be here,” said one man to another, heading out the door.
    The problem, though, was that there was nowhere to go nearby to escape the heat. As New York seared at 104 degrees Friday, Washington, D.C. checked in at 102 degrees. Boston was a warm 100 degrees. Philly was basking in 100 degrees as well.
    To escape the searing heat, one would have to get farther away — heading South perhaps, since in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday afternoon, as New York boiled over, the temperature was only 90 degrees.
     

    • http://doctorpsychobabble.com Dr. Psychobabble

      nice article! i can’t deal with this heat….my old bones are not meant for this!

  • http://micahwalter.com Micah Walter

    who wants to go to Best Buy and get more air conditioners with me?

  • http://micahwalter.com Micah Walter

    who wants to go to Best Buy and get more air conditioners with me?

  • Jon

    Extreme heat is always nasty, especially to people and animals with health issues. I like the horizontal barber pole. I’m thinking that someone go a bad haircut, saw it in the mirror and broke a bottle of Brylcreme or Vitalis over the defenseless  pole. Some people see garbage, I see evidence! Stay cool!

    • http://doctorpsychobabble.com Dr. Psychobabble

      super cool that you saw “barber pole.” it’s actually a “national grid” (gas company in NYC) safety fence pole thingy. but i like the barber pole/haircut/brylcreme/vitalis concept better. wayyyyyy cooler! some people see garbage…you see evidence…i see multi-interpretable art!! :)

  • Jon

    Extreme heat is always nasty, especially to people and animals with health issues. I like the horizontal barber pole. I’m thinking that someone go a bad haircut, saw it in the mirror and broke a bottle of Brylcreme or Vitalis over the defenseless  pole. Some people see garbage, I see evidence! Stay cool!

    • http://doctorpsychobabble.com Dr. Psychobabble

      super cool that you saw “barber pole.” it’s actually a “national grid” (gas company in NYC) safety fence pole thingy. but i like the barber pole/haircut/brylcreme/vitalis concept better. wayyyyyy cooler! some people see garbage…you see evidence…i see multi-interpretable art!! :)