Image-inations
Miles run: 5k (3.12 miiles)
Time: 38:28
Pace: 12:19 (This definitely isn’t right. I noticed the Nike+ case had slipped and come undone, so I lost a big chunk of data mid-run.)
Temp: 10°, feels like 0°
HR: 162/179
Perceived effort: 6
On the iPod: Never Let Me Down Again by Depeche Mode
Bitterly cold this evening. A light wind from the North provided the bitter. A clear sky provided the cold. Ran right after work and had daylight up until the last five minutes so that helped. Three more days and then we’ll all get another hour of daylight (at least at the END of the day).
The lower part of the shins and calves were tight, probably from the cold. Everything else felt good. I think I was burning off extra energy from an unusual day at work.
The Day
It was a bit of a chaotic, if not unusual, day. First, I took my department out to lunch and had some delicious Indian food (only the two of us plus our new intern, AND it was on the company tab).
Second, we lost power in the office for about half an hour–at just the WRONG time. ‘Course, is there really any RIGHT time to lose power? Still, I was right in the middle of something, when… slam! No power. Groan. Scratch that. EXTRA groan since I lost what I was working on–had all sorts of windows open–tried but failed to finish an email just before my battery backup died. It’s supposed to last several minutes… I only got several seconds. Time to buy replacement cells, huh? Apparently many, many blocks in Saratoga were out for the duration as well. Not sure why.
So power comes back on. I put out a couple little fires and go back to what I was working on. Then I get a message, a big ol’ fire starts and I have to focus all my energy on it. Something about image quality in the Design department. Luckily it was something I’m good at (I think) and had things well in hand. Applied my tech support mojo and everything came out OK.
Third, a wine tasting! Forgot all about it. My office had a local vendor come in and give a half hour wine tasting seminar at 4pm. I forgot all about it but wanted to try it out–so there goes another half hour of my day. But it was worth it. The two guys were very nice and informative and explained many of the things I learned while watching Sideways recently. I think I could get into wine a little more than I am now. Which is to say, I could start drinking it and appreciating it instead of avoiding it in unknowing ambivalence.
Then home. Then a run. Short one. 5k. (Three miles for you metrically challenged.)
The Image-inations
I got to thinking about images after my tech support issues of the afternoon and, as my mind is wont to do while out on the pavement, wrangled a couple thoughts together and made them sit down and have a chat.
Thought #1 said “I think images you develop in your head from reading or listening or just plain imagining are always better than an actual image or movie or play.”
Thought #2 said, “That’s a load of dingo’s kidneys. The real thing is always better.” He said in a huff.
Whereupon the first thought retorted with “But why do people always say that the movie never lived up to what they had imagined when reading the book?”
Could Thought #1 be right? Is the imagined image always better than the real one? Is the beautiful landscape we paint in our minds forever destined to be sweeter than the one down the road? Is the creativity of the individual’s imagination a factor in this equation? Is the subjectiveness of this whole argument to great to make a generalized statement one way or the other?
What about the vehicle for delivery of the image’s description? Can that be a factor? Meaning, would a vocal description create a more vivid image in the mind’s eye than the written word? Would pure thought, unhampered by language, provide even that much better a method of creating the image in mind?
Seems like deep stuff, and I may be over thinking it, but I don’t think I am really. Basically, what I’m asking is… Is what we IMAGINE a beautiful landscape to be better than how we actually SEE it in real life?
I thought about answering my own question here, but I won’t for fear of muddying the waters of responses from you readers… Let’s hear what you think…
March 9th, 2007 at 2:31 am
I think everything we see is colored - by our experiences, our expectations, our mood, the language we happen to speak, even the romanticized versions of things we get from outside ourselves. So we never really SEE what’s there. When we do manage to still our minds and just be where we are, the “real world” can be incredibly beautiful. But what’s so attractive about the imagined image is that it still contains everything we can imagine. It hasn’t been limited by the particularity of a real experience.
The movie version is usually worse than a really good book for a similar reason. Because one of the things that makes great literature great is that it can be understood on so many different levels. Making a film is a bit like translating into a different language. The filmmaker must choose a particular interpretation, while the book was able to hold all of them. The viewer is left feeling that something rich and important was left out, but we can rarely articulate what.
On the other hand, the movie version is often better than a bad book. Maybe because the paltriness of the book leaves plenty of room for the filmmaker’s imagination!
A few thoughts, anyway.
March 9th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Images,well you know that saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” right? I do believe like Rose said, it so depends on your mood, eg the glass is it half full or half empty. Images are just like that. Do you truly appreciate what you see, or are you seeing it and seeing all the bad in it? Me the image of a mountain stream georgous. Go to see one, I still see the beauty, I block out the pollution, the littering on the side and just see the beauty of nature and the stream. My husband can be right beside me and say “sure it’s all polluted and dirty, let’s go”. I so don’t think it’s a question that has a flat blunt answer, but it’s individualized so to speak.
Now why are you running in the bitter cold??? Yikes you are so so dedicated, like I have said many many times before I so admire you fo that.
Don’t get too happy with the WINE tasting haha you could turn into a wine-o, then your running would be a real challenge!!! :)
March 9th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Now why in the hell does MY office not have wine tastings????? I need a new job!
March 9th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
hahah I’m totally with Rachel on this one!! Kurt your office hiring?? haha too funny! WOw — such deep thoughts….I need to think on it for a bit..I will come back to comment..hahaha
March 10th, 2007 at 7:30 am
OK Kurt….I’m BAAAACK!! See told you I would be! Ok now to answer your question. I do believe that what we imagine and picture in our mind is almost 99% better than what we actually see or even the written word. Reason being….think about this….when your speaking to someone you don’t know oh the phone or well even on the computer you immediately develop some sort of picture of what they look like in your head. Our brains have a hard time just listening to something without forming some sort of image. It’s hard to relate to something without a picture or image to go with. As for movies..I completely agree with Thought #1….we see the trailers for the movies on TV, then we automatically formulate what the rest of the movie will look like and be like…that is basically how we decide if we want to go see the movie of not …right? We make these judgements based on our life experiences and things we have seen or heard in the past. The saying “it is what you make of it” has a big role in it as well. I believe that if you truly “talk something up”…you are almost bound to be disappointed. The real thing in most cases is never as good as what you imagined or pictured it would be. As for the written word……this is completely true. You read a book…it gives vivid details of events and people and your mind automatically assigns those events/people images….the you go watch the movie ..it is never as good. It almost always is completely different than what you pictured….Point being….your mind always is working to create a clearer picture whereas when you actual see it..thats it..its there and its final.
Hmm…I hope that made sense…hhaah I think I confused myself somewhere in there…
March 10th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Come to the dark side and begin to enjoy wine. We do live in the finger lakes with many many loverly New York wines. yum.
As far as your imagination versus your finished products. I feel that what I imagine is not always attainable in real life. My imagination doesn’t need to obey the laws of physics and has no limitations that life sets upon us.
In the case of books, I think that it is your perception of the characters and the way it is written that colors the way you think that it should look. When you go see a movie of that book, it is the directors interpretation. Therefore I always feel a little let down but only because it wasn’t my creation it was the directors. However I have had a few exceptions (most notably LOTR) that have fulfilled what was in my minds eye and lived up to my imagination.
All that being said, I don’t think it’s right to choose one over the other. My imagination is a fantastic place but it’s not concrete. Something may not quite live up to that standard but it’s a real concrete thing that you can be proud of. Something that you can share with those around you and not just carry around in your head.
Whew, that was a lot. Thanks for opening the brain a little and letting it air out.