Have you ever watched The Big Bang Theory? If so, you may already be familiar with Erwin Schrödinger and his unfortunate cat. Or maybe the cat isn’t unfortunate. We don’t know. It’s in a box…for now.
It starts out kind of like a bad joke: a cat, a flask of poison, and a radioactive source are placed in a box…. Let the fun ensue!
The whole thing boils down to this simple premise: Did the radioactive source decay enough to cause the flask to shatter releasing the poison and killing the cat? Without inspection, Mr. Schrödinger’s cat is simultaneously alive and dead. We just don’t know…until we open the box.
Maybe I didnt’ explain it right. Sheldon and Penny do it better.
And that’s where I am with my elliptical machine.
Since last year, I’ve been riding my personal elliptical pretty hard as part of my new fitness regimine. (Hey, when you lose weight because of divorce stress you kind of want to keep riding that train for as long as possible.) And just the other day while doing my lunchtime workout, there was a snap, a random piece of plastic and a lot of gray-black dust. And then squeaking.
My elliptical may be alive or dead. I just won’t know until the repair man comes out to give me the diagnosis.
What a shame! I was in the middle of testing my Dark Chocolate Theory.
I recently stumbled across an article extolling the virtues of eating dark chocolate to lose weight. One of the major points that stuck in my mind was how chocolate lights up all the feel good centers in the brain. I’ll be 100% honest and admit that I’m not an exercise fan. I don’t get that endorphin high from exercising. All I get is hot and sweaty. I don’t like being hot and sweaty and that makes me grumpy. So like Pavlov, I decided to try an experiment in association in an attempt to change my grumpies to goodies.
Prior to exercising, I break off a thumbnail-sized piece of Lindt 90% dark chocolate and let it melt on my tongue. Then I head off to exercising while my brain pleasure center is lit up like a Christmas tree. Maybe I can train my brain to associate exercise with pleasure!
At least that was the plan. Then my elliptical broke three days into my efforts. My Dark Chocolate experiment will have to wait.
(For those of you wondering about the chocolate, and calories, my tiny little square equates to a whole 10 evil calories. I can live with that. Or I can eat the container of Haagen Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream in my freezer and feel really, really good! O you vat of frozen crack….how you tempt me with your peanut-buttery deliciousness….)
Yummmmmmmmmmmmmm…… drool on keyboard………….
What?!? Wait! Back to my blog post…
I won’t know the fate of my elliptical machine until the repair guy shows up and opens up Deja Vow’s Box to peer inside. Is my elliptical alive or dead? Right now it’s both.
I think the same can be said for my marriage. Right now, it’s both alive and dead. The confirmation won’t come until I open the box in November and see where Husband #2 and I stand with each other. Until then, we’ve been eating our metaphorical dark chocolate by savoring these small trips to neutral locations every other month. It doesn’t matter if we visit wineries, antique shops, parks, casinos, model train conventions, or restaurants. I would be happy just to spend some time with him sitting by his side. These trips light up my brain and I look forward to them.
We’re creating new memories and I’m discovering the man he is now.
Only time will tell the outcome…
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