Does Exercise Help?

            I was told all my life that exercise was important – not to mention fresh air and sunshine. I never paid much attention, as I was always on the skinny side and had sufficient muscles for my daily life. I figured my just-about-daily bike rides to and from school were sufficient, as well as my weekly LARPing in my teens. I was probably right, but who could say for sure?

            My adult life provided far less opportunities for movement, but, again, I wasn’t particularly troubled by that. At least, not in any way I was aware of. Then, a few years ago, my wife decided to start exercising regularly, and I figured it was probably a good idea to join in – I’ve always accepted that exercise keeps you healthy when you’re older, and I figured that if the routines are built at a younger age they’ll be far easier to maintain. We managed to get into a routine of walking three days a week.

            It took a while, but eventually our bodies adapted and came to expect the exercise – just in time for winter. So we pulled out my old Dance Dance Revolution games, and switched to that for the winter months. It worked well, and when spring came we went back to walking. Last year, we even increased the exercise to every day instead of just three days a week.

            Still, while I knew the exercise was healthy, I couldn’t see it having any impact on me. Yes, it was a good established routine, and was making excellent building blocks for eventual old age, but it took up a great deal of time with no visual impact. I didn’t resent it, but I did often wonder if there was much point to it.

            Then various circumstances conspired to make it so DDR was no longer an option for exercise, a month before it was warm enough to start walking again. In the month it took the weather improve, we had no exercise. I didn’t notice any difference at first, but once I did become aware I came to realize that they happened within the first few days. It became harder to get out of bed in the morning and I had noticeably less energy throughout the day. What energy I did have wasn’t used optimally, because my brain wasn’t functioning as well. I even became less enthusiastic about going to the weekly D&D game I run.

            When the weather improved and we were able to get out walking again, all of that reversed within the first couple days – and I was amazed. There were so many little things in my life that had been affected by the lack of exercise – some I’d guessed at the cause, but others I hadn’t even noticed until exercise improved them. For me, it was quite the revelation.

            So, if you ever find yourself wondering if you should exercise – or if there’s any point in exercise – chances are there are a whole bunch of things in your life exercise can improve, though you probably won’t even notice them at the time.

            Besides, it’s good to know that when the zombie apocalypse comes you’ll be able to survive longer.

Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Lonely Pets Club

            My in-laws were away this weekend, leaving me in my usual position as pet-sitter. Now I feel compelled to tell you about this atypical group of pets, because they really are quite amusing.

            First, there’s the dog. At least, genetically he’s a dog – we suspect that he may identify as something else. Possibly a sheep. Many dogs, he’s afraid of thunder, but he also takes it a step further – he’s afraid of rain. And just about any sounds, really, which is probably why he almost never barks. He’s very sweet and friendly, though, and is very good about not jumping up on people who have just come into the house – instead, he prances over and grins at them, truly happy to see them.

            When his family is away, I always get a little concerned about him. He misses them so much that he stops eating for several days – except for the treats he gets every time he comes inside from his walks. Of course, I use every a little loosely here; he usually gets a treat when he comes in, but I sometimes feel compelled to do a little training.

You see, my in-laws came into dog ownership later than many people do and, as a result, they aren’t as firm with the dog as they could be. Therefore, when going for walks, he’s used to his humans stopping and waiting for him every time he wants to sniff a tree or roll in the grass. Having grown up with a dog, I have an expectation that the walk keeps moving, and therefore the treat gets denied if I’m kept out in the cold too long. He learned very quickly that I would tolerate nothing more than on very short roll in the grass, and he may even have noticed that he got more treats when he didn’t hold me up at all.

            Then there’s the cat. The latest, and currently only, in a string of abandoned cats the family took in, he is always a bit “my way or the highway”. In other words, he’s a cat. Yet, once the family has been away for a day, he starts begging for attention. As I’m allergic to cats, he doesn’t get it from me, but it doesn’t stop him from trying. He spends the time I’m in the house following me around, meowing and pointedly rubbing against various objects and making me feel generally guilty about my allergy.

            He has, however, given up on trying to sneak out of the house. Due to tome feral cats he’s feuding with, he has been relegated to being an indoor cat, much to his chagrin. I think that’s his greatest sorrow about my in-laws being away. He’s used to a house full of people who are used to him, so they don’t pay him that much attention, making it relatively easy to slip through a closing door (luckily he can be summoned back into the house with the shaking of a treat container – which is ridiculous; I mean, he’s a cat! Cat’s can’t be summoned like dogs!). He has long since learned that this doesn’t work with me. He doesn’t even try anymore. But he does watch me very closely, waiting for me to slip up...

            And, finally, there’s my sister-in-law’s bunny. Now, apparently this bunny is pure evil and hates everyone other than my sister-in-law. It certainly seems that way when she’s brought out in public. She’s certainly very skitterish and ant-social. This is common knowledge.

            Yet, when the family away, she becomes the sweetest bunny in the world. When I check on her, she rushes right over to see me – she doesn’t cringe in corners or kick aggressively as her reputation would have you believe. In fact, she’s so happy to see me that she hops in circles!

            I guess it just goes to show that animals miss their families as much as they are missed. Except, perhaps, the bunny. It is entirely possible she’s just luring me into a false sense of security, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Introvert Vacation

            It’s been a very long time since my last vacation – three years, I think. Well, I guess now the counter is down to one day, since Colleen and I just got back from a lovely two-week vacation (you didn’t even notice I was gone, did you?) up in Collingwood, Ontario.

            We stayed at a place called Georgian Manor, about a ten minute walk (if you don’t mind crossing a busy road) from Georgian Bay in one direction and the Georgian Trail in the other. It didn’t take long for me to suspect that there was a theme for naming things in the region.

            Now, some people, when they go on vacation, go looking for a place with resorts, theme parks, and loads of things to do. For this vacation, though, Colleen and I were looking for a nice, quiet, relaxing time that would be perfect for a couple of introverts like us. Instead of looking for things to go out and do, we brought along a bunch of books, movies, crafts, and games. It was wonderful – we got to work on a lot of projects that we never seemed to have time for at home.

            We weren’t entirely reclusive, either. Every day we managed to get out for a walk – most of the time the weather was good for it. Sometimes we drove to one of the parks by Georgian Bay, were there were plenty of pokestops so we could play Pokemon Go as we walked (and we met up with some local friends one day), and other days we walked to the Georgian Trail – a complicated procedure, because the trail that led to it was quite waterlogged. Luckily someone had provided stepping stones and planks for the most impassable areas, but even so we had to turn back a couple of times after it had rained.

            The first morning though, after we had awoken early almost early enough to watch the sunrise (some hours early than we were used to waking up – but, oddly, the early rising persisted throughout the vacation), we walked to the park closest to where we were staying. We only walked there once, because we needed to cross a busy road to get there, but that morning we were up early enough that there was almost no traffic.

            It was a pretty little park, and we never even would have found it if it hadn’t been for the pokestop that led us there. It had a fantastic view out over the Georgian Bay, of which we took a few pictures.

            Being who we are, the vacation wasn’t entirely work free, of course. I had brought along a commissioned scalemaille shirt to work on as one of my crafts. This turned out to be quite fortunate, as the person who the shirt was for had family in Collingwood, and leaving it with them would save us six hours of driving to deliver it normally. That put a little pressure on to get it done before we left, resulting in a blister on the palm of my hand (and a nasty pliers-stab on my thumb), but I think it was worth it.

            There’s not much else to tell. A chorus of frogs sang us to sleep each night. Overall, it was quiet, fun, and relaxing – exactly what a vacation should be.

To finish off, here are some pictures of the wildlife that frequently visited us, right outside our back door.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Zombies, Run!

            One of the failings in my lifestyle is that I've always found exercise hard to come by. It wasn't a problem when I was in school because I rode my bike to school every day, year round (up hill both ways, in the snow wearing a t-shirt – no, really, that actually happened once). The problem for me came after I graduated and there was no more purpose for my exercise.

            Purpose is a big thing for me – I have a hard time going anything without it. My friends can attest to how hard it is to get me to “just hang out” and going somewhere just to visit and talk to someone it unfathomable to me (luckily my grandparents are understanding of this). As for exercise, going to the gym is to social for an insecure introvert like me and if I'm walking or biking, I need to be going somewhere and have a good reason for it. As for running, I’d better have something chasing me.

            I had a solution for a while with the Wii Fit. The goals it gave me helped me exercise every morning. Then my work hours went from a couple of evenings a week to four mornings a week and I didn't have time any more. When I quit that job to work with chainmaille and writing, I didn't have enough space where I lived. Now I have enough space, but said room with space is above my sister-in-law’s bedroom and as a person who hates making any sound I can’t bear the thought of stomping over her head every morning.

            Colleen recently found a solution in the form of an app called Zombies, Run! (I bet you were wondering what any of this had to do with the title, weren't you?) This is a phone application that tells the story of a zombie apocalypse – and you’re one of the characters in it. You play the role of a runner for a camp trying to survive all the zombies, with the important role of going out to fetch various supplies or information – which inevitably ends in running from zombies.

            Colleen never thought running was a viable form of exercise for her until she found this app – and its counterpart, which trains you from nothing to a 5k runner. She started on the training program and was surprised at how well she took to it. The clips of the story she was sharing with me caught my interest, so I decided to join her. Now we have a regular running routine and are getting closer to that 5k every day – and we’re amazed at how effective the training program is. Not only that, but we look forward to running so much that we’re disappointed on the days we aren't running.

            So it is that I've discovered that to get me to do anything, I simply need to find a way to turn it into a video game. I now have that “something chasing me” requirement for running filled – even if the zombies are only in my mind (and the app sound effects).

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.