Pictures Pictures Pictures

My blog has been a bit boring lately. Mostly because of the lack of pictures. This is due to the fact that our lives have been turned upside down recently in myriad ways and we're really not fully settled yet. We still haven't gotten the Ireland pictures onto our computers and there are still boxes all about in our apartment. Not only that but school has started and sadly it's as if summer never happened. Different children have arrived and other children have moved on, but the school itself, the politics and all that are exactly the same. Anyway, here is one picture to hold you over until the camera software is installed and ready to go. Our new apartment is so lovely. Even if it is infinitesimally tiny.

Timing

People always say timing is everything. And it is. Timing is really getting in the way of my yoga practice. This is because I am a hungry person. I love eating and I feel hungry and want to eat every couple of hours. I absolutely always must eat a mid-morning snack and then a big lunch and then an after school snack and then a big dinner and sometimes I still feel a bit hungry close to bedtime, though I do not like to eat and then sleep as this can lead to nightmares. But maybe a small piece of Ezekiel toast an hour or so before bed? Not so terrible.
The problem is yoga. It's best (critical) that one have an empty stomach when practicing. So I'm getting ready to go to yoga in an hour and I last had a small bunch of grapes at 3pm. I'm really hungry. I want to eat something right now, but worry that if I do, my stomach will not be empty enough. The guidelines say no food 1-3 hours before class. That is a big window. So, you know what? I'm going to try it. I have 10 minutes to eat something and still be within the hour window. I'm hoping I can find something simple to eat so that I will have enough fuel to have a good practice, but not so much food in my stomach that I feel sick. And we all know I commonly feel sick during yoga - well lately anyway. So, while food intake and the need to eat may have stopped me from going yesterday (yes, I know, I am a flake) I'm not going to let it stop me today. What a lot to think about!

Bikram

Wednesday night Andrea and I signed up for Bikram yoga at the studio on Fremont and we have the next month unlimited, which of course means we're going to go as much as we can. Unfortunately that means that I have to go back today and I really don't want to. It feels like torture. Attention all Bikram fans out there: If you're currently practicing Bikram don't ever stop! It's fun to start and easy enough to keep going, but to get into it again after a period of non-practice, say a year or so is nearly impossible. At least that's how it feels right now. Yesterday I started off class strong, I was feeling good and I was doing an awesome bow pose. Then I started to feel a little loopy and by the time we were on the floor for the spine series, I was a wreck. I felt nauseated and a little dizzy. All normal, of course, when you're detoxing and I believe I am. Then some nasty emotional blob came up and decided to settle itself right in my solar plexus chakra. That's when the nausea really took off, and then, I felt like a crappy yoga student and really wanted to leave the room, but didn't. Instead I just suffered and tried to breathe normally in savasana which was completely unsuccessful and then I cried a little bit. It was pretty painful and I think the nasty emotional blob was somewhat eradicated by the crying because the physical symptoms started to go away. Once we got into half tortoise, it was a relief to get into the posture and seemed helpful. But then of course it was time for camel and while I normally love camel, I just couldn't take it. God, what a class. It was brutal, so the obvious fact is that I need to go back sooner rather than later and work through all that garbage. I think I'll have a better chance of staying healthy this flu season if I move some of those nasty emotional blobs along. Yoga is so real. You can't pretend, you can't ignore. It's truly good if not always pleasurable. And I'll get to where it feels really good again. I know I will. I'll try and remember that while I'm suffering later on today.

Chaos

So let me get this straight - the Mercury Retrograde started when we began packing for our move and will end just after I turn T-H-I-R-T-Y. As if turning 30 wasn't going to be enough on its own, I now have astrological madness thrown into the existential mix. Crap.

The Horror.

I cannot believe, I mean really seriously cannot believe that I am in the process of dismantling by beloved apartment! This is beyond comprehension. How can this be? I just got this place organized, beautiful, perfect in every way and now it looks like this. I am too lazy to hook up wires to my computer and relay a picture, so imagine countertops covered with junk, giant ziploc bags littering the table, piles of newpapers, open cupboards half packed, bags of garbage, bare walls. Oh God, it's too much! I just want to sit down and cry in a big heap of self pity. To top it off I had the most crap day at work. I mean, really. This is awful. If you are a teacher you can understand just how life shattering this is for me. As a matter of fact, I know that my friend Erika who is also a teacher, and her husband are moving, too and they have a one year old to boot. Perhaps I need not feel quite so desperate. After all, I do not have a child running around. But I do feel desperate and self pitying. Oh yes I do. I think all of this has more to do with my crap day at work. Well that and the fact that Joel is on a run and has only contributed thus far by packing the bookshelves. Books are the easiest. Everyone knows that. Sigh. Anyway, if you have any shake the crap day at work tips, I'm all ears. Now back to this hideous mess.

Hungover

Burning toast in order to avoid a hangover was unsuccessful. However, it is possible that all of the water I had to drink in order to choke down burnt toast helped lessen the severity of the hangover. All in all it was a very hungover day, though. Naturally I am headed straight to bed for a nap and then it's time to get packing. Last night we enjoyed our apartment as is and all put together for the last time. We had a gorgeous dinner party for our friends Vince and Emily on the third floor who are moving to Minnesota. It's terribly sad to see them go. That seems to be the way things go though. Make some friends you really like and then they move. Get your apartment just so and then it's time to move. Ah well. Nap time.