name game

today, whilst resting on the john, my toes looked incredibly tan. maybe it was the lighting. the tile floor. or the tanning bed trips that I recently stopped. but why was I barefoot in the bathroom at work with the candlestick?

changing clothes for my daily run of course. and thinking of something else other than the musical contributions of my stall mates.

30 minutes later out on the trail with my stand-in running buddy, I'm playing the name game for the first time. I'm no longer grunting yes or no answers in response to my chatty, high-spirited, and extremely in-shape partner rather, I'm spouting out names of famous people with my huffing, puffing, and slowly turning red temp buddy.*

what's the name game I hear you whisper to yourself? I say Will Smith, you say Sean Penn. I say Paul Newman, you say Norm McDonald. and on and on it goes until he says Bill Cosby and my brain freezes. we hit our destination, flip a bitch, and I dust him.

with no buddy to hear panting next to me, no buddy to hear the leaves crunching under his/her feet, and no buddy to outrace if I see a mountain lion, I turn in to Snow White. not because I immediately adopted 7 dwarves or pulled a narcolepsy tantrum, but because I looked for my quails, my deer, my wild turkeys, my little bunnies with their white butts that remind me of that white spot above my own ass - all to help me distract myself from my lungs. and my little homies were nowhere. probably keeping warm in their little nests and burrows.. chuckling to themselves while they watch me struggle, or hiding from simba who's waiting around the corner. little fuckers. some Disney movie THAT run was.

I continued looking for them until before I knew it, I was almost done. hauled balls to my personal marker of which stopping beforehand would keep me up at night and stopping past it would create a feeling similar to pouring vodka on an open cut on my left lung. after finishing, I immediately turn around and walk back to find my temp buddy and make sure he followed the correct yellow brick dusty road amongst the many yellow brick dusty roads.

I spot him. and shout "COREY FELDMAN!"

*Mitch, you did a great job. Thanks for pushing yourself for my sake and, I will see you tomorrow out there.