Gonna, Gotta GOMA!

Once I took a fiction writing course and, although I have never written a word of fiction since, I did take to heart the first rule that the instructor (himself a published author) offered on how to become a successful writer: AIC.

Ass in chair.

In fact, he suggested that we post a sign above our typewriters. (Hey, so the class was a long time ago...!)

Lou Lou's treatise on the dangers of sedentarianism (could that be a word?) certainly put a tack in my chair. And if that weren't enough, I just happened to be driving to the library that week for my sedentary reading fix when NPR's segment on Serena Williams' pulmonary embolisms came on the radio. Pulmonary embolisms are generally caused, they suggested, by inactivity.

Talk about piling on! Specifically, such incidents are most apt to occur after a period of prolonged bedrest. Of course, that doesn't explain how Serena Williams' embolism happened, but still, it did give me pause. . . which is the last thing I needed. I do my best pausing in a seated position.

Almost all of my activities are best done sitting; I read, I write, I knit, I do puzzles--crosswords and jigsaws, I sew, I watch movies and TV. I have only to look at my hip measurement to know that I do it all only too well--or at least too often. With a few notable exceptions, I don't like to do things that make me sweat.

Another NPR segment--this one on how walking at least 30 minutes a day three times a week had more to do with fending off dementia than brain teasers like crossword puzzles and Sudoku-- shot another dart at my bubble butt. I LOVE doing those! AIC activities, all.

So it's IXnay on the crosswords (sigh) and O-nay with the walking shoes if I want to stay out of the nursing home. If I really want to hit a homerun, I can download a foreign language lesson to stick in my ears while I'm hoofing it.

The NY Times says that exercise gives rats a shiny coat. Might that be simply sweat? My fleece-lined coat is fine, thank you, but a skinny butt, shiny or not, would be a wondrous thing.

Take down the AIC sign. It's GOMA time: Get off my arse.

No sweat, I hope.