Pondering Movement

Sometimes I have a breakthrough discovering how to get my body to do a particular movement or hold a particular position. At those times I get shocked as to how much of a disconnect there is between what I think I should do, what I actually should do and what I actually end up doing. Sometimes the first two are in line with each other, but getting the third part to agree seems to be a major challenge. I frequently think I need Physical Special Ed. Maybe that's why I've never been able to hit the volleyball. Who knows.


Last night was a classic example of my disconnect & that's what got me thinking about it again. I use gymnastics rings sometimes and ever since I was a little kid, I have flipped myself upside down, hung from the rings & put my legs straight up in the air. More or less, it's a handstand without the hands. I have NEVER been able to do a handstand. Theoretically, they should be the same as long as you have the strength in your arms. I take that back, the center of mass relative to the pivot point is different, so you have slightly different torques and control issues. Anyway, I tried to do a handstand in an Acro class last night & I could support myself upside down. The arm strength was not, apparently, the problem, but I couldn't stay upright without people holding my legs. Then someone came by & said "tighten up your stomach & squeeze your glutes." That piece added up to being a heck of a lot more stable. Apparently, I was letting my mid-section be all loosey goosey. No wonder I couldn't balance. You'd have just as much luck balancing two things that were connected by jello. I must be used to keeping that form because otherwise I'd have the same problem with the rings. I think the mitigating factor is that with the rings you hang and my arms do that pretty well, so I can kinda ignore them. Here, pushing, supporting myself, that's "new", so I subconsciously focus on my arms & forget about everything else. fail.

Also, I have problems if I have to move one bit at the same time as the other... hands and feet, or even right-hand, left-hand. When learning piano I preferred syncopated rhythms which are "harder" because it was easier for me - at any given moment, you're usually only using one or the other. Ballroom dance (social, not competitive) works well because you kinda "lock in" your arms (bad way to describe it) and focus on moving your feet in particular ways. With Rock Climbing, you typically only move one foot or one hand at a time. (I avoid dynamic moves). In parkour, most of the vaults are hard for me to process because it requires both hands and feet in synchronicity. Ponder, ponder....

Sorry. Might not be interesting to anyone else, but it's just something I'm pondering. Hope the disconnect starts to go away the more different things I do.

Public Service Announcement

Oh my holy __(fill in expletive of choice)__! It's been a longtime since I posted anything. Honestly, I've been crushed under the guilt of not being able to write up a description of our trip to Alaska since I was unable to post the photos for a long time. Ah well...



I found this CNN story today... Why? Really WHY must people demonize playing and having fun? Is fun something that is only allowed for kids? If so, then I might as well just kill myself now or revel in being a self-centered, perpetually adolescent generation Y-er. I mean, seriously... what's the purpose of posing and being staid & reserved? There's this whole social stigma about "This is what you wear at this age, this is how you act, this is what you look like and this is the way you move, this is what you like..." etc, etc, ad nauseum.... What a load of bunk.

Anyway, done with my rant and on to playing a bit of catch-up with you, my dear readers (all one of you...). : ) The alaska trip was fabulous and I'll hopefully devote an entire post to that at some point. The summer's been hell-a busy, so I've been going quite crazy, getting behind, and falling quite short on a lot of my resolutions.

At some point, I've gone crazy and decided I needed to be getting a more well-rounded exercise regimen. I found a theory called MovNat, an updated version of Methode Naturelle, which has been on my radar for about 2 years now, but I've never done anything about it. I also found an exercise concept called Exuberant Animal, which is all about full body & mental wellbeing through play-activities. Conveniently, the local Rec Center has classes by one of the only EA instructors on teh East Coast. Yay! Basically, it's a minimally structured exercise class based on being silly and whatever the Kwame decides seems fun at the moment. So far we've used such recognizable childhood favorites as Tug-of-War, Follow the Leader, Crabwalks & Wheelbarrow races among other thing. There's a lot of partnering and cooperative aspects too. It's a good silly time. I hope tonight's class is still on! At some point with all of this, I went crazy, decided to be "spontaneous" and signed up for the MovNat seminar in Summersville Lake, WV. I embark on that adventure tomorrow. Bright & early. Let's hope I come back in one piece.

This past weekend we went to the Jane Austen Ball at Gadsby's Tavern & hit a pool party downtown that ended up being a filming location for MTV's "The Real World". Interesting.

I think that's about it for now. I'll get more pics up someday and see about taking photos of the seminar. Fun.

Forming a new religion around the internet...

Why would I do this? Because the internet is my SAVIOR!!! I've had rusty looking gunge leaking out of my fridge periodically for close to2 months. I figured it was the drip pan overflowing or something? This morning I found 1/2 inch of water in the bottom of the fridge under the veggie drawer.... Issues! So I googled "water leaking into bottom of refridgerator" and foudn a lot of answers to that question stating that there's a drain from the freezer to the drip pan & that it gets clogged & probably needs to be cleaned out. YAY! I disconnected a bunch of sh!# and lo-and-behold, after getting brown/greyfridge splooge all over my arm, I found that my drain part was clogged. I've since openned it up, cleaned it out & confrimed that water is now flowing just fine through the drain. let's hope that does it. : ) I'm also builing a religion around headlamps because I cannot think of a more useful device invented by man.

Unfortunately, I started fixing my fridge be taking apart the freezer compartment (which turned out to be completely unnecessary). On the upside, I got to see what the cooling mechanism of a freezer looks like & it's pretty darn cool...

So that happened.

Well, on to more happy things... Last night was the Glen Echo Evening with Strauss (Viennese Ball). As always, it was fabulous! We got dressed to the nines & had a nice evening, though we were constantly mistaken for Prom-goers over dinner.

I had so much fun & even got to get someone on my dance card for the Polka!!! Even better, he bore a striking resemblance to Steve Martin. Too bad I didn't get a picture... The best pic of the night though, was one I got of J on the carousel...

I don't know about anyone else, but with that profile and the tux and the hair the way it is, he totally looks like a romantic lead from a Jane Austin movie, don't you think??? : ) Maybe it's the side-burns...

Help, HELP! I'm trapped!

So it was an eventful weekend. I still have not started holiday cards, so don't get worried. They will most likely end up being New Years cards. I also have not started wrapping (which will consist of throwing things in gift bags or boxes to minimize paper waste) or the making of Rum Balls (consequently they will be strong again this year).

We did start the weekend off with a viewing of Washington Revels, which does a Holiday show every year that follows a different holiday tradition of a particular location and time period. This year's show was based in a 19th century French Canadian frontier town. It was nice and reminded me of Dave & my trip to Canada when they mentioned Poutine! : )

Saturday my friend, Adi, took us trap shootingat Bull Run Regional Park. We took the 40 minute gun safety class which turned out to be a two hour class. Then we signed up for some of the Wobble Trap games. That part was fun. I'll have to go back when it's warm out. The only thing that wasn't fun was waiting the hour for the games and taking the 2 hour class because it was quite cold out. Ah well. I found it something more than mildly amusing, but then again I feel the same way about shooting galleries (the ones with the bar scene and targets that make things happen like the piano player plays or the vulture ruffles its feathers) in amusement parks. I'd do it again for a hoot. I definitely have to beat down my recurring thoughts of "there are a million and one different ways this gun can kill me", but eh...

Saturday night was our Vintage formal dance for which I got to wear my slinky black dress... I still hold that the dress was only labelled four, but I don't care.

It was a good time with fantastic people as always. I was sad to find out that my favorite old guy, Roger, is planning to move away to Cincinnati within 6 months... Boo! I also must admit that there was more food than you could shake a stick at & I nibbled so much that I nearly got sick during a Waltz. I think that's the sign of a good party!

AH-Ha~! Hahahahahahaha.... I just now, while writing, uncovered the solution to a mystery that has been plaguing me for weeks now.... I feel quite a bit like Nancy Drew (or I feel quite dumb, I'm not sure which). So my iPod has been randomly turning on before I touch it for the morning and it keeps going to a particular playlist (Calm International). My purely scientific brain (that has a degree in Physics), had one of two thoughts.... something in my purse is hitting the "ON" button or it's haunted. Most likely option is "it's haunted" - obviously by some benign spirit since it keeps choosing the Calm International playlist. Just now I put together the fact that I keep finding it on in the mornings and that it's ALWAYS the same playlist - I decided to check the alarm settings. Yes, indeedy, the alarm clock feature is still turned on and set to go off at 8AM on that playlist. I am brilliant. It must have been doing this since Thanksgiving. *grumble* : )

Sunday night ended the weekend with joining my sister & her family for the walk-through light show at Brookside Gardens. It was fantastic to drive into the site and listen to my little nephew pipe up "lights!" He doesn't have many words, but that was loud and clear! I love the holiday season, I love lights. I always have. I'd wear lights if I could. Actually, I have worn lights, now that I think about it...

Oh well anyway, it's been so unbelievably and uncharacteristically dreary here this year that I really, REALLY need the lights this year. I went out & bought 400 more lights to put on out back deck (400 lights do not go as far as you'd think). Darn! The rain's back. I'm going to bed & pretend like I don't see it. : ) For the record, I'm going to try to cook my meatloaf in a crockpot tomorrow. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Samhain 2007 to 2008

I have no idea how many people know this, but I inadvertantly deided to celebrate Samhain (ancient celtic New Year ~ Nov 1) last year and made some Samhain resolutions. I would recommend that EVERYONE do it! The main benefit: you make resolutions to be better about what you eat right BEFORE the major binging holidays and they're so new that it helps you be good around all those cookies and candies and turkey and stuffing and.... *drools on self *



So last year (don't know if it's Samhain 2007 or 2008) I made the following resolutions:

1. Improve myself, healthwise


2. Take less of other's issues onto my own shoulders (kinda relates to 1 if you think about mental health)


3. Get off my ass & make some friends, or try to be better about those that I already have (relates also to mental health)


4. Start doing the things that I like to do again


5. Find social outlets where I fit


6. Eat better (relates to #1)


7. Conduct experiment to see if I can enjoy running

For #1, there were a lot of sub-resolutions... exercise more, get a physical, find a primary Care physician, go to the dentist, get my weight in check or lose some (most preferable), and get myself into a better mental state through improving my lifestyle.

I think I've done pretty well so far... I did get a physical and a PCP, I've done a greater variety of exercise, I've found dance groups, I've lost 45 lbs., I'm in better cardio shape & I think I've built some muscle? I'm doing more things that I want to do instead of just going along with what everyone else is doing. I think I'm happier? Who knows. Happiness is hard to quantify, especially when work is stressful. I HAVE NOT GOTTEN TO A DENTIST.... someone please, PLEASE harass me into doing it. I need to go, I know I need to... I just... don't... waaannnnttt... to. Ack!

For #2, I've been distancing myself from the problems of others and have kinda stopped trying to solve them for them.

For #3, I 'bought' a friend on Craigslist and that has been quite nice. I've also made more of an effort to call & hang out with the girls that I already knew, but kinda sat back and waited for something to happen. One person or the other needs to make a move for a friendship to go anywhere. So I've actively worked on countering my paranoia of rejection and started making the first move. hoorah! I've also been trying to reestablish old friendships and make the most of current long-distance ones. Facebook has helped since I can't bring myself to pick up the telephone. One thing I still need to work on is to not be so afraid of the social stigma of a married woman going off & getting herself guy friends to hang with. I used to hang out with guys all the time in college. J doesn't care. The only thing that's holding me back really is the stigma. That damn stigma held me back from just calling my friend Matt up to hang out & now he's gone & I'll never get the chance again. Must change this.

Regarding #4, I think this year has been a success. I've been to a lot of odd movies at the Arlington Drafthouse. I've also gotten involved with some 18th century dance that ends up combining my love of costuming and dressing up with dancing and it only requires a twice a year or so commitment. Additionally, I found a vintage dance group that meets once a month, so once a month I get to go do a kick-your-knickers-up Polka and other fun things. I've been doing more sewing and I've been going to fewer events that I don't like - I used to go because "someone else wanted to go".

For #5, please check out the comment about Vintage dance in #4 and I also got in with a group of girls my age through 18th century dance and we all are a little ga-ga over regency stuff. So darn comfy!

Number 6, as of April I started in on The Daily Plate and I've lost 45 lbs and am eating sooo many more fruits and veggies that I'm quite proud. I'd say it's been a success eventhough I do occasionally fall back into my meat & potatoes only thing. I'll have to be on TDP forever, I think.

The running is a semi-success. I enjoy it to a point. The fact of the matter is that I eventually get bored. I can't really keep my attention on it for more than 30 mins and I need a significant number of rocks & trees around to keep me interested. But, hey! I think I will try to work my way up to a 10 K by this time next year though. What do you think?

Now, I really should start thinking up a new list of Samhain resolutions for this coming year. Once again, the eating better & less sweets will be a part of it. But what else... hmmmm.....

Regency me...

Ooh fun! My friend Joanna just sent this to me.... apparently my back is featured prominently. I was blissfully unaware that I was even being filmed, but I enter from the left, in a white dress & beehive-ish hairdo, dancing with a blonde woman wearing a green & white dress. It's easiest viewed full-screen. Goody!








Ah, and here's a better view of my back - not quite so fuzzy and half-cut-off.

From Jane Austen B...