No one can ever say i didn't get anything out of my education.

When I'm in hero pose (a yoga pose, as seen on yogajournal.com), i am otherwise sitting up straight. If one has a lot of hip flexibility, the feet are out to the sides while the ass settles comfortably into the floor.

For those of us who aren't quite there yet (including myself), we need something under our asses so that we don't tear out our knees.

A yoga block stands about 4 inches tall on its shortest side. That puts my ass just a bit too high up off the floor for me to still get the stretch.

Thank goodness for my education.

Last week, I found that my anthology of "From Modernism to Postmodernism" just about right. Today, it was slightly too far down to be comfortable. "LaRousse's Complete French Dictionary" was definitely too tall, but fortunately, I had "Norton's Anthology to English Literature, Volume 2." Slid gingerly under my ass, it afforded me sheer bliss.

No one says i'm paying student loans for nothin'.

Visited States

Mine's even more pathetic than Q's. (not to say that hers is pathetic). I've been to more French and Canadian provinces than American states. Ha!

The good news: I get to add another one to that next month when i visit Lyrica in Chicago! And in May i'm planning on visiting college friends in Denver, so that's another stop this year. I'm getting there.

More good news: definitely feeling better! Today, i walked to Harvard, taught a yoga class, walked back, went to Target to get a lamp and some other necessities, walked to Davis Square to write in my journal at the Diesel, bought some fun clothes at the new "Poor Little Rich Girl" location, walked back, made muffins, and still have energy. daN is in bed reading, and i should consider joining him soon. After all, i've got another full day tomorrow what with the Pats playing the AFC Championship :)



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Well Enough to be Pissed about Being Sick

The past few days have been kind of a blurry haze, or a hazy blur. Whichever you prefer. For the first time since my sinus surgery over two years ago, i am actually sick. I have to say -- i have a gosh darned good immune system. For the first time in recent history, my immune system actually gave into a nasty cold that's been going around. Literally everyone at work has had it, and the symptoms include but are not limited to: sneezing, coughing, bleary eyes, post-nasal drip down the back of the throat, sore throat, very woozy, achy bones and muscles.

I am finally to the point where i am completely bored lying around all the time, but being upright is still admittedly a challenge. Lying there in bed this morning, i was feeling fully prepared to conquer the world and go to work afterwards. After about 20 minutes of behaving as though i were going to work, i was zonked and achy again. I learned my lesson.

So here i am with all this schpilkis. Fortunately, i seem to get tuckered out by simple tasks like making tea and damp-clothing some dust off the furniture, so i'm not feeling too under exercised. That's how i know i must still be sick. Usually by this point, after three days at home, i'd be ready to blow holes in the walls and create a complicated obstacle course involving hair i'd removed from the drain pipe in the tub, but all i am is kinda bored. I'm just tired of being sick. Email me!

I guess i'll watch "American Pie 2," which i've been borrowing from a friend for about two years, and perhaps i'll knit. Sounds like a day.

Thumbs Up!

If none of you have already checked out the new MBTA site, it's totally worth doing. There are much more useful maps, much more useful trip planning devices, things that actually link bus schedules to the T schedules, and that sort of thing. I highly recommend it. www.mbta.com.

ALSO thumbs up is the new page for A Chainstory: Scarlet. There's a new site, and here are the rules should you want to participate, from the moderator's mouth himself:

"The scarlet address is now:

http://www.evilmustachegames.com/scarlet/

Next:

I've got entry number 15 up. IF the above link doesn't take you there...
um, hit refresh or the Scarlet link in the upper left. sometimes my server
is slow to update.

Also, this took too long, and it is the fault of a LOT of poeple. NO single
person. FOr the next round, let me know if you want in. Lindsay has asked
to go next, so I'll give her the standard length of time. By the time she
has posted, let me know if you want to be in on the rotation. Otherwise, I
simply won't put you on the list until you ask to be.

FINALLY:

M@ had a GREAT idea. If you want to make a random Once Of comic that isn't
a part of the story, but uses characters and makes a joke, feel free to do
that when ever. I'll just post them when ever I get them. In or out of
turn."

Last but not least, I had a great weekend. And it's still going! We drove the Boggies back up to Maine after their nearly monthlong journey to drop off Kal-El in L.A. They arrived via train on Thursday night, stayed over one night, and then we started our way north on Friday night after I got home from work. We stopped at this wonderfully kitchy place in Portsmouth, NH called "The Friendly Toast," and it was indeed friendly. Lots of hippie food, lots of breakfast stuffs, and burgers and fries and the like. Not to mention all those THINGs that would go so well in the kitchy kitchen. We had a simply marvellous waitress, and I hope to see her again someday.

We got into Friendship around 1:00am.

The next day, we did yoga, went for a walk, took things slowly, and then daN and i headed off to Union for various purposes -- daN to get his haircut and work out some details of a story-telling gig that he got for his story-teller uncle at his school. Mine was to visit me Mum and assist her in the transition away from wheat and dairy (doctor's orders). Lovely time in Union overall, and then Saturday night, we landed back in Friendship to find Mea as well! We ate yummy food, and then the two of us drummed up a storm as Judy worked out the details of her new Wii. Oy. The drumming was magnificent.

Sunday: freezing rain and wintry mix with highs of 26 degrees along the coast. Yarg. We took it slowly. However, we did go to Gardiner so i could see me Dad and grab one of his Christmas presents to me -- the best CD case EVER! Please see the link. It's like a converted librarian's card catalogue made to hold CD's, and it is constructed of solid walnut! Yes! My home furniture collection is coming together!

Today, we're going to rearrange, hopefully get our stove fixed AGAIN (yes, another gas leak. Sheesh. This time the landlord went out and bought us a double cooktop almost immediately though). This is the first time i've lived anywhere long enough to get tired of the furniture arrangement since i moved out of Mum's at the age of 18. That was nine years ago. I've moved every year since then, except for this one! Time to rearrange the living room.

Also, since today is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, please take few minutes to watch or read his "I have a dream" speech. It really is breathtaking.

Marboxian

Dear friends: a dear friend of mine made this movie a couple of years ago. I recall that it won a few awards, and a place in multiple film festivals in the Boston area.

It's fantastic. This sympathetic little character makes me laugh and cry. Or, i suppose, more brilliantly, my friend Razz does. The best part is that it's now on YouTube!

Please watch it. If you like it, feel free to post these by whatever means you have as well.

I present to you, "Marboxian."

Part I:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHWPXVbuyaY

Part II:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHYmebjlX_I

Good Evening, Ladies and Gentlemen!

Are you prepared to Rock? (that's a total rip-off from The Presidents of the United States of America)

I'm not. I'm ready for bed. And yet, i'm still awake.

This weekend was good. Actually, this whole week was good. I feel tremendously lucky for a few reasons.
1. I am in a city grand enough to have all these fabulous yoga teachers to learn from, and i still get to teach on the side. I have a job at a Foundation, so people are always happy to hear from us since we give them money.
2. I am going to see LYRICA in Chicago over President's day weekend! WOO HOO! Not only have i never been to Chicago, but i've never properly paid Lyrica a visit. I'm looking forward to it immensely.
3. I had good food this weekend! I made wheat-free focaccia with garlic and rosemary and parm cheese, and it tastes so good dipped in olive oil! I also made the more traditional breadloaf with my standby recipe of oatmeal-spelt.
4. I got to see the one and only Kate Tanski that we all know and love! She and her fellow Kent are travelling back from Maine to Baltimore, and stopped overnight with us. It was wonderful! We ate at Christopher's last night, and then played "Settlers of Katan" this morning. That is really a FABULOUS game. It's hard for me to decide which i like better -- that or "Blockus."
5. I realized that i met my goal for 2006, whether it was a real "resolution" or not -- to get at least $1000 into savings of some sort. And i did! I put $1800 into a 401k! GO ME!

And that's about it.

New and Improved Photo!

I'm off beta now! And to celebrate, i have linked a new photo. Woohoo! This one is from this year, as opposed to from the year 2003. Sheesh. Has it really been that long since I journeyed to France toute seulle (all alone)? It's too bad that this new image makes my eyes look funny when the photo is shrunk. Ah well.

I suppose i have some updating to do. Christmas was wonderful. daN and i stayed in Friendship at the Bogs' empty house taking care of fluffy. Q joined us for one of the nights, and it was delightful. Being a 25 minute drive from any of our relatives really worked out for us. It took care of all the disadvantages of all other previous Christmases in Maine: 1. Privacy; 2. Familiar sleeping arrangments; 3. No one felt (this time) like they got unfairly less time with us than anyone else. We saw people when we went to visit them, and other than that, we were able to chill out, rest, do yoga to our hearts' content, take walks down to the ocean, and actually feel like we were having some "time off." It was pure bliss. And because of that, we enjoyed the actual time with our families more. Go figure.

The schedule went like this:
Friday, December 22, drive up from Boston to Maine in the pouring rain, right after our oven was (finally) fixed (YAY!).

Saturday, December 23 at 9:00am was daN's Dad's Christmastime Brunch, and we had a lovely time. No gift-opening -- just visiting. And it was really nice to just visit with people. There were lots of interesting tasty dishes like a corn souffle, and things of that ilk. Around 2:00pm, we drove to Rockland to Second-Read it (now rebranded as Rock City Coffee officially!) gave some hugs to owners and staff there, said hi to some regulars who were waiting in line, and said hello to a fellow former member of the Midcoast Children's Theatre with whom i did 42nd Street in 1997. She was a lot shorter then, and i much heavier, but we finally recognized each other. Then daN and i wrapped up some last-minute Christmas shopping (two gifts that we knew we couldn't purchase anywhere BUT Rockland, so we weren't just procrastinating. Don't be so quick to judge!), did some grocery shopping, and drove back to Friendship. Q and Sadie were there when we arrived, so we did yoga and watched a really shitty Bond movie on the Spike Channel -- Diamonds Are Forever. It really was rotten. I fell asleep partway through.

December 24th: wasted most of the morning. Yoga again, slept kind of late, wrapped the aforementioned last minute gifts, went for a walk down to the ocean. When daN and i left to do family stuff, Q did too, thus ended Q time at Bogland (:( ). We went to my Nana and Aunt Kimmie's house in Rockland to commence further Christmas celebrations. Christmas Eve with me Mum's side of the family is always special to me. We also got to see my very cool cousin Asa and my hillarious and awesome Uncle Danda (Anthony) and his partner Chris who both live in Minneapolis. It was so much fun. I always have a blast. It was really great to see how proud we all are of each other, and what interesting folks were in the room. I loved it. We eventually said our goodbyes, and daN and i are vaguely thinking about going out to visit Chris and Anthony in Minneapolis in March.

December 25th: Christmas day! We wake up sort of early, get in some yoga, and drive to Nate and Tara's new house (one of daN's brother and sisters-in-law) for Christmas dinner there. Of course, no one else was around when we got there at 11:00, so we played Guitar Hero 2 on the Play Station 2, and i didn't do so terribly! I'm thinking i might pick up guitar lessons at some point in my life. Eventually, everyone else arrived, and food (including green bean casserole...mmmm....) and good conversation commenced. So did good presents! In the late afternoon, people departed. daN and i drove to Gardiner at Dad's digs (he is now living in the house that Grammy lived in -- a great old turn of the century house that needs some visual updating, but it's beautiful and in good condition). My brother, and Dad's girlfriend and business partner Jeanne and their daughter Yulia were all there. It was a delight! Dad griped a lot about cooking in a kitchen that he wasn't terribly familiar with yet, but he made an absolutely delicious dinner. He likes the non-traditional stuff. He made penne pasta with spinach and porcini mushrooms and a portabello broth, some kind of steak tenderloin, shrimp with a lemon-roasted red pepper sauce, and some apples-and-potatos au gratin. Lots of red wine.

Overall: I was happy. I love all the different facets of my and daN's families. I just had a wonderful time with all of them, in the quirks. As i get older, i've learned how to enjoy people's difficult patches, laugh things off, and honestly be able to enjoy their company. What a great thing to have up my sleeve.

On presents: as an adult, presents are not the highlight of the Christmas season. I love the trees, the music, the lights, and the special-ness of having a different kind of warm atmosphere in cold weather (though it was disturbingly warm in the 40's and 50's the whole time we were up). However, we both got some really great things this year! Among them were some fabulous new knives that have already taken off small bits of my right hand, a knife sharpener, and a cutting board; a wonderful librarian card catalogue style CD case; some wonderful coffee and Ayurvedic tea, Amy Sedaris' new book I like you: Hospitality under the Influence, a some great gift certificates, Debbie-home spun wool yarn, a new towel set, and a painting done by my extraordinarily talented water color artist grandmother. It's unusual and remarkable that we don't end up with something that isn't enjoyable or useful in some major way.

Well, anyway, we've been home since Tuesday night, and we've basically wasted the past few days. I worked on Thursday and had Friday off. I'm really excited to take the daN-drawn-specially-for-me-piece-of-artwork into my office today. I actually cried when i opened it (it was his Christmas present to me). And, my presents to daN went over very well, too! Wicked Tickets, for us, a pair of slippers, and this GREAT game called "Settlers of Katan." We played it the other night, and i LOVE it!

Anyway, that's enough of an update for now. I am going to finish my granola, take a shower, and somehow get started on the rest of my day. I was thinking about going to LLBean in Burlington and getting a smaller vest, doing yoga, and somehow visiting a couple friends before they go out to celebrate New Year's in style.

Happy end of 2006. It's certainly been a big year for me and daN: i got my yoga teacher's certificate, he got a full time teaching job, and i became a fully fledged yoga teacher, and a better student for it. Through all that self-actualizing, i also became a better office professional and got a better office job. Things have been good. My uncle has good advice: "Be good at whatever you're doing at the time." It will matter, and you'll learn about yourself, at the same time providing direction. Happy New Year.