Denver Urban Day

So, last weekend I was laid low by my back and neck. This weekend it rained! I mean the rain was actually kind of nice and soothing but it did prevent any mountain hiking. Today (Sunday), I felt the need to get out of the house. Happily, we've spend a lot of weekends hiking this summer but that means leaving on Friday, getting up early on Saturday, hiking at least 8 hours (mostly at altitude) and driving home. Sundays are usually filled with catch up and work work. Having done most chores, today was an exploration day. We set out for the day entirely on foot.

We walked from our building to the Botanic Gardens Mushroom Show, which, for fungus nerds like Sandy and me, is a fun and educational event to be with other nerds. It is also a show of mushroom specimens that are identified and about which information is provided (toxicity, places to find them, etc.). There is also a variety of mushroom stuff - tee shirts, books, posters...

After seeing the "show" we took a spin around the gardens which are in full freaking bloom after the rain. There were also a bunch of hummingbirds at the gardens. I mean there must have been 4-6 buzzing around the entrance and almost no one noticed them. Sandy chalked this up to our knowing what the birds sound like. Once you know their little snippy sounds when they chase each other off, you can't miss them. I chalked it up to most people being completely blind to the details in life and the external environment. I know this because I am so often blinded and deafened by my internal environment. I didn't get any pictures of the hummingbirds though.

After the gardens we were fairly close to Cherry Creek North and went there. We walked through the nice neighborhoods and pointed out all the small, cute houses and fantasized about moving. Even though I dislike sushi, we had lunch on the patio at Hapa Sushi (there are these tasty - but pricey - shrimp dumplings in a yummy sesame sauce, "shumai", that I ate instead of sushi). We had dessert at "Chill-in" (more on this in my next post on dessert). Anyway, blah blah blah, we did more white people stuff after this - visited Crate & Barrel and Whole Foods and walked home. My life is wonderful...so, why couldn't I make it in to work on Friday? This day and this weekend have been a real antidote to my stress mismanagement related to work. I'm fairly early in my career. Most jobs in my life have been characterized by boredom. This one is great in that it offers constant challenges but some of those are in the form of other stressed people or lots of them. I've been wondering lately what a "normal" job is like, meaning what is it like to work with folks who aren't under a shit load of pressure and who have normal workloads and to have a normal workload of my own. Again, I do have a good life but stress is taking a toll. Oh! I just learned that in addition to external stressors , my nature can cause stress. Below is a quote from a web page on stress - I think I have all of these except the last two bullets on the right:
"Not all stress is caused by external pressures and demands. Your stress can also be self-generated. Internal causes of stress include:

Uncertainty or worries Pessimistic attitude Self-criticism Unrealistic expectations or beliefs

Perfectionism Low self-esteem Excessive or unexpressed anger Lack of assertiveness"

Jolly.