For over a week now, I've gladly embraced the single-use, Keurig K-Cup life. OK, so I'm a little late to the party-for-one, me party, as the company itself was founded as I entered high school listening radio songs like Hey Jealousy, Nearly Lost You, Would?, and Man on the Moon. OK, I'll concede it took a bit to gain critical mass. And, contextually, the first Starbucks in Memphis opened in October 1999. But for me in 1992 at 14, coffee, like girls, was an enigma to be solved.

While the prices per serving are eyebrow-raising, a feature that makes my kitchen JUST like a coffeehouse, I have fallen in love with the variety.

Of course, the cornerstone of it all is my beloved Vitamix 7500. I just finished up a span of days without its container for warranty replacement. I tried all sorts of ways to make my butter fuse with my coffee manually for my iced beverages, but none is like the creamery of a Vitamix.

It really is a critical component of my high-fat carnivore implementation. I've now had 7 Expeditions—a total of 42 weeks—where every six-weeks my weightloss was in the double digits. That's rather remarkable, ESPECIALLY in the context of achieving satiety. It's just too bad I had that 33rd Expedition that was crippled by existential malaise. But now in my 13th week of my HFC return...well, cue this song from The 17th Expedition.

Bon Jovi released a deluxe edition of his first album today, something I returned to during my 3 AM hour. I owned it as a kid on cassette and knew it by heart even if it was a purchase I made over at the State Tech Walmart because I confused its Shot Through the Heart with the later, You Give Love a Bad Name.

I found this endearing: Runaway - Cassette Writing Demo. I ran through my entire routine this morning through the studio portion. Then I met my 4:15 AM appointment with the rain, but only did 2¼ miles because of a foot ding that developed, something that surfaced earlier that morning from a couple of unexpected pops during my stretches. I'm serious about December, but I gotta go the distance and NOT do something stupid. If I pushed on, the only thing out there that would have seen it was a soaking rabbit and that cat with the green headlights.

Perhaps what is the most encouraging of this phase of 2024 is how absolutely ALIVE I feel. I don't know what lies ahead and I have little expectation thereof; I have no need. I'm happy. Of course, there's always this and that to checkmark off—that's a given, right? But the state of my mind? I'm delighted. Perhaps it's a good thing I stay off the news cycle like I did in 2020—what a delightful year that was for me!

2020 included the full length of Expeditions 13-16 and began another that went full Carnivore with The 17th. Incidentally, those were the Expeditions that had the bulk of the playlists.

I do look forward to a morning paper that is a set of AI-generated articles directly relevant to my life. Then again, as it has been sung:

I can gather all the news I need on the weather report
Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile

I was happy out in the country. Sure, I thought of Memphis; I thought of friends. But, there was a peace out there. There was a night sky to gaze ever so deep into the stars. I'm afraid much of Memphis is reflected into the suburbs.

But what of my subsequent return? I do miss people. The difference between 2024 and 2020 is that I thought there was spatial distance from the ones I loved. But, no, it became clear to me in 2021 that the physical gap is irrelevant. It's more complicated than that. People tend to lose their individuality; they become systems, sometimes a collective for assimilation on the Us vs. Them campaign, sometimes just a flavorless We. Someone who says, I'm Me, idiosyncrasies and all, is someone I can gravitate toward and smile. But, most folks are a copy-of-a-copy—two-dimensional housefronts to quickly pass by beneath the street light.

This morning had no 2:30 AM alarm to boot me up. But, it was of no consequence. The rain washed the snow and me away. I put in a Chest workout making sure I dropped the weight on movements that taxed this sore forearm's souvenir from last week. It only comes up when I move a weight away from my center of gravity, so hardly EVER! ...then there was those failed attempts at opening a jar of sauerkraut for the kiddos...but again, as it has been sung:

Now, I look in the mirror and what do I see:
A lone wolf there staring back at me
Long in the tooth but harmless as can be
Lord, I guess he's doin' all right.
And it's a great day to be alive...

I'm back in rhythm: yesterday, I restarted the step streak; today, as the temperatures have returned to the upper 20s, I got the chance to return to the streets in that 4 o'clock hour. While I wanted my 5-mile route, the ice hazards rerouted me to cut it in half. I spent too much time concentrating on my footpath! That said, I got to apply my newly acquired narrow walking ability from that 19" walking pad.

A little ice and snow can't stop me! It's even less than the stuff I walked daily over the John O'Connell Bridge in my commute in Sitka. (Contextually, I left for Alaska not even owning a coat. Picked that up en route with a stop at the Ketchikan Walmart.)

That said, I miss my pullover ice cleats. Once a staple, who needs that in Tennessee? I mean, I only slipped once today (crossing Memphis Arlington Rd).

I had a good morning of lifting. It has been a different year: I don't put much value from one Expedition to another (there have been so many), rather, I eagerly await the results of New Year's Eve. It's something I think about before my sets. I cannot say I think about it during each rep—I run around the house during each rest, piling clothes in the washer and deftly putting away dishes at that 3 AM hour. I do have time on my hands after all...technically?

As I look toward December 2024, my thoughts fall on that St. Jude's race. It has long been on my mind, whether watching my coworker run pass in 2003 as I fast inside Molly's La Casita...dreaming of that day in the 2010's...or shaking my head at its zombie outbreak policy in 2021 thereby inspiring me to create the Wolverine Cup Series.

What lies ahead for 46?