It’s almost December 21. Do you know where your daylight is?

Creative slump. Writer’s block. Call it what you want: I’ve got it.

So instead of blabbering away here with nothing to say, I’m repeating my mantra of the week:

“Don’t force it.”

Your foot hurts when you run too often?

Don’t force it.

Not feeling inspired to job search or map out the next year of your life?

Don’t force it.

Can’t drag yourself out of bed at your standard early hour of the morning?

Then don’t force it. There’s probably a reason. Respect it.

Does this time of year ever make you feel a little off? Weird? Foggy? Frantic? Whinier than usual? Confused? Listless? Inexplicably tense and unmotivated at the same time? Ask your doctor about… sunlight!

Right. Winter does all of these things to me, but for some reason I still enjoy it.

In fact, I think the bears have got it right. A healthy dose of hibernation – away from high mileage, away from the internet, away from writing, away from overthinking things – is not bad. Things will come back around.

Side note: Thank you, blog-world, for commiserating with me over my strange foot pains. I saw a podiatrist today. How does walking over that little scan mat do anything to produce orthotics that will help “correct” the motion of my foot-strike when I am running? Oh, the mysteries and inconsistencies of modern medicine.

Lastly.

In an unprecedented showing of internet meme proliferation, The Angry Runner tagged me to answer several difficult questions.

They all seem to expose the fact that I live under a cultural rock.

Here we go:

1. Name one movie you’d never watch again even if someone paid you.

Am I the only one with an attention span so feeble that I usually can’t get through an entire movie unless someone else is there babysitting me through the screen-viewing experience? That said… this question leaves me feeling conflicted. How much am I being paid to watch the movie?  Because if you’re pushing at least an Andrew Jackson my way, I might be convinced to re-watch even Donnie Darko or some other similarly annoying psychological snooty oooh-I’m-smart-and-I’m-making-you-think-because-I’m-really-effing-weird movie.

2. Name 5 fictional characters you want to have dinner with. And TELL ME WHY.

Lord Voldemort, Forrest Gump, Stewie from Family Guy, the Disney-animated version of Aladdin, and Calvin of Calvin & Hobbes.

We’d have enough egotistical power struggles, witty banter, and hysterical misunderstandings for the dinner conversation to be a real riot. I imagine Voldemort and Stewie would trade menacing threats, Forrest Gump would make subtly incisive observations and inadvertently infuriate all the bad guys, and five-year-old Calvin would provide clever commentary.

Aladdin is only there because I’ve had an unabiding crush on his cartoon self ever since I first saw the movie, but I don’t really imagine him fitting into the mix otherwise.

In fact, Voldemort would probably try to include him in the conversation by making some racist comment about him being a street rat mudblood towelhead, and then we’d all get in a big debate over whether Qatar deserves the World Cup, and after that Forrest Gump will realize his latent soccer talent and lead the U.S. soccer team to victory in 2022.

3. Give me a race on your “must do” list.

The Klondike Run.

4. Any races you’ve done that you will never ever do again? Why?

Nope. I don’t race all that often and haven’t encountered a truly bad event yet.

5. Cake vs. Pie: Your pick?

There is a versatility specific to pie that cake lacks.

Cake frosting is nearly always disappointing, while the pleasant flakiness of a pie crust is rarely so.

Cake fillings are usually banal jelly-like messes and the actual cake itself is typically of an uninspiring, same-ol’ same-ol’ consistency, whereas with pie fillings one’s imagination can really run wild. Ha.

As the last word, pie can come in pizza form.

I’ve officially convinced myself.

Pie, every time.

6. Last meal – what would it be? AND YOU ARE ON DEATH ROW SO MAKE IT CREATIVE.

No thanks, I don’t want to have my last meal on death row because I hear that prison food isn’t all that great, so I intend to Shawshank my way out of this situation one way or another.

Perhaps my last jail meal will include some combination of Indian food and Mexican fare and beans and chili peppers so intense that the ensuing flatulence will cause all bystanders to collapse on the ground in comas just before giving me the chair.

This will buy me enough time to escape high security prison, preferably in a C-123 a la John Malkovich in Con Air.

7. Favorite book to movie adaptation ever? Least favorite?

Into the Wild was my favorite in recent memory. As for least favorite, well, the entire Twilight franchise is awful – books and movies – but that didn’t stop me from reading and watching each one. Like a trainwreck, I tell you…

I thought long and hard about coming up with seven more questions and then foisting this on seven more bloggers, but I think I might do my part to let this internet meme start to die.

So I’ll only tag five of you, and only with five questions. Bahaha!

What was your favorite toy or game to play when you were little?

If you could achieve any athletic feat, what would it be, and in which sport/event?

Which vegetable best embodies your personality, and why?

Would you rather live somewhere that’s known for being really really cold, or really really hot? Why?

Pizza: if you had to pick one, is yours Chicago-style or New York-style, and why? And while we’re at it, what’s on this hypothetical pizza?

With no obligation to follow through on answering the questions, I tag: Chasing the Kenyans, Duke’s House, See Jess Run, My Running Shorts, Dubay319, and anyone else looking for creative post fodder who would like to answer either in the comments or in a post.