taking the "push" where you find it

I've had a couple of wake-up moments strike me in the last few days, both of which, if applied properly, should be good "pushes" toward greater achievements.

Firstly, the humiliation. I took a prescription to a new pharmacy where they had to input my information for a new account. The pharmacist proceeded to ask me if I am male or female. Now, granted: the name is gender nonspecific; as were my clothes, from the red fleece jacket to the somewhat beat-up blue and grey tennis shoes. One could even argue that the accompanying three-year-old wasn't enough determinant, that maybe in these days of transgenderdom they have to ask, etc. The fact remains that if it isn't obvious and the ambiguity is not intentional ... well, things have to be improved. (No, I didn't leave in tears. I took it in stride and was even somewhat amused. However, I do feel that if I allow the memory to fester a bit it's more likely to be motivational!)

Secondly, the pop culture. Yes, I did it - I set up a Twitter account and am now following various people who are mostly interesting. (Frankly, I kind of wish I had waited a few days, as I'm not really finding the Kutcher/CNN race that interesting. But then again, usually I'm not part of these pop-culture events, and I am part of this one, so I suppose that's something.) At any rate, as I sit here watching the chats of people who are busily going about their lives and careers, it occurs to me that my own chats probably aren't that interesting. Not because I'm not a celebrity, but because I'm not doing that much. Sure, I have kids, and they have activities ... but there's an equilibrium there between actually doing something interesting by accompanying your children to things and just being the means by which the children do something interesting. As they get older, my reporting on their achievements as my own achievements by proxy will lose its validity and simply become lame. If I'm going to Tweet, I might as well be doing something Tweet-worthy.

So - diet/exercise, writing. Both must be done so I can a) be recognized as the proper gender, and b) hold my own - in my own mind - amongst people who have things to say.