I recently spent some time in Big Sur. It’s a national treasure and quite possibly one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Part of the magic of Big Sur is the manner in which nature takes the lead role. Humans are supporting actors. We’re extras, even.
At dinner one night, however, I sat at a sushi bar with five other people. Here a young whippersnapper started to interject as the lead antagonist. The young man acting younger heard the sushi chef’s pleasantries and small talk about how “we’ve got some nice weather for your stay” and responded with, “This is nice weather for you guys? I’m freezing my butt off!”
The weather, of course, was chilly. Not cold. It was high forties at night and low sixties during the day. Big Sur, which is remarkably coastal, can be often socked in with fog, cloud cover, and rain. The visibility was all time. Clear skies were supported by a full moon and sunshine during the day.
What struck me is that the young man’s worldview was challenged by the assertion that something other than warm weather could be “good” weather, especially as objectively beautiful as Big Sur was that day. This, of course, led me into one of my favorite DEUCE Blog topics: preferences.
Our narrow-minded, highly biased, perceptually specific view can often confuse preference as a qualitative measure. I believe Mr. Lebowski would say that our young whippersnapper’s view of the weather is, “like, your opinion, man,” rather than the truth.
Would snow on the ground in the French Alps be “bad weather,” bro?
When it comes to understanding quality, I find a much better qualitative measure is to recognize when a person, place, or thing is as it ought to be. This subjective and objective alignment allows for both the dive with the laminated menus and the white-table-clothed Michelin 2-star to be “amazing restaurants” and eternal pacifist Mother Teresa and eternal trash talker Deon Sanders to be models of greatness, albeit in their own authentic way.
In short, sometimes a crisp, cool 51-degree afternoon can be perfect weather. For in that instance, Big Sur was being Big Sur perfectly.
12/7/20 WOD
DEUCE ATHLETICS GPP
[Meet at Anderson Park]
DEUCE BACKLOT GPP
[Meet at Pan Pacific Park]
DEUCE GARAGE GPP
Take 12 minutes to find a heavy triple in the floor press..
Then, complete 2 rounds for quality of:
8 Barbell Floor Presses
12 Tempo Ring Rows (4011)
Then, every 2 minutes for 14 minutes complete:
250/200m Row or 15/10 Cal Bike