mostly earnest

Tag: notions

  • Gone birding

    A friend texted me after seeing some of my Instagram posts recounting the birds I’ve spotted:

    “You’ve officially reached old man status!”

    A new notion? Perhaps!

    A new notion swiftly calls for new gear.

    I was inspired, oddly enough, by The Residence on Netflix. Specifically the main character, Cordelia Cupp, a world-famous consulting detective called in to investigate the death of the chief usher at the White House. Much like her literary and cinematic forebears — Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Benoit Blanc — Cordelia exudes a quiet confidence, unintimidated by the powerful, and solves mysteries through keen originality and sharp analysis.

    On some level, I think my interest in birding has more to do with my aspiration to be like her: highly observant, with a razor-sharp memory for detail; patient; and the smartest person in the room. These are qualities I hope to cultivate in myself. And while watching birds obviously isn’t going to transform me into a genius detective overnight, I believe the practice offers lessons that can inch me closer to those ideals. Graaakkkllle!

    That’s a ZEISS Victory SF 8×42 and it costs over €2,500 🥵

    Truth be told, I’ve never been much of an animal person. Looking at animals, interacting with them, rarely stirred anything in me. Except for the occasional cat or dog, though even then I’m extremely picky. Cats and dogs often trigger my allergies, and while I know that doesn’t mean all animals will, I’ve been conditioned to approach most creatures with caution.

    So colour me surprised when I found myself genuinely enjoying watching birds, learning their names, admiring the intricate details of their feathers and movements. Somehow I had forgotten that real life could be so breathtaking. I’m convinced our HD-4K screen-addled brains have warped our sense of wonder. I mean, why go out of your way to experience the real thing when you can stay comfortably at home, consuming it all on demand?

    Me in a bird hide @ Ghadira Nature Reserve.

    Because watching common swifts dart across the sky, or great crested grebes diving and resurfacing in a quiet river, or cormorants drying their wings on a perch: these moments slow time. They slow me. I’ve always found it difficult to relax, but birding softens my anxieties, steadies my breath, grounds my feet. Birding is healing! It is medicine, a cure-all for those affected by hyper-capitalist afflictions.

    Another aspect I find surprisingly enjoyable is the little thrill of ‘catching’ a new species. It’s a bit like Pokémon hunting: try to spot as many different kinds as possible, then log what you find. I’ve been using a free app called Merlin ID—probably the most wholesome app on my phone. No ads, no dopamine traps. A rare platform that isn’t trying to extract anything from me. Existing purely out of love for bird observation.

    Merlin’s Sound ID listens to the birds around you and shows real-time suggestions for who’s singing.

    It’s so easy to forget that we live on a planet with unfiltered beauty right before our eyes and that the natural world is always there, waiting to be witnessed. All we have to do is pay attention.

    Birds! What a gift. Their songs and calls (even the startling squawk of a heron) are a kind of grace. Logging them feels like a small act of gratitude. A way of saying, Thank you. I see you.

    “You’ve officially reached old man status!”

    At 34, I wear this as a badge of honour. But what is it about birds that speaks so universally to people as they grow older? Is it the freedom they represent? No cholesterol, no rent, no tax deadlines to dread? Or simply the everyday miracle of their existence, made more poignant by an awareness of mortality?

    Whatever it is, I’m in deep.

  • Couch to 5k

    I have always thought that running was inherently uncomfortable and that anyone who chose to do it had a high threshold for pain.

    In the past, I would be so sore after a run, I needed a week to recover. By the time I was ready to head out again, my enthusiasm had waned just from anticipating the pain.

    My relationship with running continued to fluctuate. I replaced running with hiking and was regularly at it until I left for Europe. The logistics of looking for housing along with acclimatising to my new life put an end to any form of physical activity.

    When I finally settled in Malta and had some semblance of normalcy, I was mainly hiding indoors doing calisthenics. Summer was brutal and although the longer days were a nice welcome from dreary Ireland, the heat was relentless. Coupled with the humidity, I didn’t feel like moving an iota of muscle.

    By the time September rolled around, the temperatures became a lot more tolerable. I was ready to come out of hibernation. I decided then that completing a 5k would be my winter project. With encouragement from a friend who was a veteran runner, I signed up for a race with 20 days to train.

    This time I was going to do things differently. I consulted the same friend for some advice and she recommended I use a couch-to-5k app. After a bit of research, I went with Nike Run Club.

    On the second day of September, I went for what would be my first run in 2 years.

    That run took me 20 minutes and only as far as 2 kilometres. That run was also deliberately slower than I have ever ran since lockdown but it was also the first time I finished a run feeling like I could go for another run.

    Game-changer.

    With the guided runs on the app, I discovered the right way of running. Up until then, I hadn’t considered form, posture, breath, or pacing. It was a whole new world.

    But of these elements, pacing had the biggest affect on me. It is everything. Pacing is what will make or break a run. Set off too fast and the run can quickly turn into a slog. As I have learned, slow runs, runs that allow you to talk without struggle is what motivates a runner (at least in the beginning) to keep showing up at the starting line.

    Diligently following the beginner guides, I often found myself finishing a run excited for the next one. I wasn’t sore to the point of being unable to move the next day and whatever knee-pain I had was also quickly rectified with a quick search on YouTube about form adjustment.

    It’s been two months now since I first started running and in that time, I have completed three 5k(s), two of which were races. My current personal record stands at 34 minutes.

    It was a misconception on my part to think that running is innate and that it was something people got better at the more they did it. And if they didn’t – as in my case – then it was just a matter of incompatibility. I forget we inhabit a world rich in knowledge and tapping into them can make all the difference.