I’ve been meaning to thank Deepu for giving me a list of some cool podcasts to check out. My commute is about 30 minutes each way, and listening to podcasts I enjoy helps keep me sane. I added the Moth Podcast, NPR Selected Shorts, and RadioLab to my podcast list and have been enjoying all of them. NPR Shorts is my favorite of the bunch. It’s usually 2 short stories being read live somewhere in NYC. I love short stories. I thought I loved them because they’re short. Reading a novel just takes too much devotion sometimes. But there’s something more than that, too. I just love how a good short story starts with a simple premise or a few simple characters and then draws you in, so that within a minute, you feel completely involved.

I was running today even though I didn’t want to. I figured I’d just go around the block, maybe a mile. I strapped my nano Ipod to my arm and started off, feeling completely unmotivated. A minute of slow jogging later and I was deeply engrossed in a great story about a middle-aged long distance runner in NYC who jogs back to her old neighborhood and gets accosted by the new neighborhood kids living there. I couldn’t stop now! So instead of turning right, I turned left and took the long way home. (Well… 3 miles long).

Podcasts - they’ll make you healthier!