After watching this clip, I just can't complain about shoveling anymore. Have your tissues handy!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
I am warrior, hear me roar?
I spent an afternoon cleaning out old files and paperwork and came across a folder that contained the one piece of evidence I have that proves I played a team sport during my childhood. I am not and was never very athletic. Short legs don’t run very fast. Poor hand-eye coordination can’t hit or catch balls. And no upper body strength meant I couldn’t throw things very well or far. I did dance, drama and art. Activities that didn’t involve a field and were the least likely to cause injury. And while I did play youth soccer, I don’t recall enjoying any second of it.
That was probably because I was bad at it, coupled with the fact that I didn’t want to do it. But like most parents, mine wanted me to be well-rounded, active and involved in stuff that included other kids. To say soccer wasn’t a good fit is an understatement. I was so bad I once kicked the ball towards my team’s goal and then this girl yelled at me and then I started to cry...while still on the field. I’m telling you, this picture did not bring back great childhood memories that are now some 20 years old. But I tried it and stuck with it for a season, and luckily we all moved on. I swear, I’ve moved on.
Come this June, my athletic “prowess” will be put to the test in something called the WARRIOR DASH (this must be yelled out with the force of a Viking making its latest conquest). By its own admission on its website, “Warrior Dash is a mud-crawling, fire leaping, extreme run from hell”. Yay. It was brought to our attention by Hal’s paintball buddies who are all signed up. Normally, the men do their own thing with an unspoken “no girls allowed” rule. But since two significant others are joining the guys, I was invited and encouraged to participate in the fun.
When I heard that there was mud and fire involved, I adamantly shook my head in refusal. It’s not that I mind getting dirty but choosing to crawl through mud while running a 3.5 mile dash and ending the course with a final leap over fire sounds unappealing and hazardous to my 29 year old body. Whose idea was it to leave the fire until the end of the race? There’s also a wall to climb over, a cargo net to climb up and something with logs you have to jump or swim over. In an attempt to market the fun of this, Hal reinforced the team effort involved and how the gang sticks together through it all. He also said something about beer and warrior helmets given out to the participants but I was busy reminding Hal that my short stature may be a huge detriment to my ability to complete this course. Mostly, I didn’t want to be that girl that slowed everyone down by having a heart attack trying to crawl through the giant pipe.
In the end, my desire to get to know Hal’s paintball friends and experience the camaraderie was enough to sign up. And while I continued to show great trepidation, Hal reminded me that we survived an unexpected and strenuous rock scramble not because we were experienced hikers but because we were there to support one another through it. So come June, it really won’t be our athletic prowess that will be tested. It’ll be our ability to get each other through this in warrior-like fashion.
Come this June, my athletic “prowess” will be put to the test in something called the WARRIOR DASH (this must be yelled out with the force of a Viking making its latest conquest). By its own admission on its website, “Warrior Dash is a mud-crawling, fire leaping, extreme run from hell”. Yay. It was brought to our attention by Hal’s paintball buddies who are all signed up. Normally, the men do their own thing with an unspoken “no girls allowed” rule. But since two significant others are joining the guys, I was invited and encouraged to participate in the fun.
When I heard that there was mud and fire involved, I adamantly shook my head in refusal. It’s not that I mind getting dirty but choosing to crawl through mud while running a 3.5 mile dash and ending the course with a final leap over fire sounds unappealing and hazardous to my 29 year old body. Whose idea was it to leave the fire until the end of the race? There’s also a wall to climb over, a cargo net to climb up and something with logs you have to jump or swim over. In an attempt to market the fun of this, Hal reinforced the team effort involved and how the gang sticks together through it all. He also said something about beer and warrior helmets given out to the participants but I was busy reminding Hal that my short stature may be a huge detriment to my ability to complete this course. Mostly, I didn’t want to be that girl that slowed everyone down by having a heart attack trying to crawl through the giant pipe.
In the end, my desire to get to know Hal’s paintball friends and experience the camaraderie was enough to sign up. And while I continued to show great trepidation, Hal reminded me that we survived an unexpected and strenuous rock scramble not because we were experienced hikers but because we were there to support one another through it. So come June, it really won’t be our athletic prowess that will be tested. It’ll be our ability to get each other through this in warrior-like fashion.
Let the warrior training begin!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
So that's a McDreamy and a McSteamy
I don’t watch that much mainstream television. I have never seen an episode of Gossip Girl or Beverly Hills 90210 redux. Ask me to name one character on Friday Night Lights and I’d say, Jack, because isn’t there always a Jack or a Tom. Perhaps with these shows it’s more likely to be Grady and Callum.
And when I have caught on to the latest and greatest in TV land, it’s usually in the show’s 4th season. I feel like such a late bloomer that way. I think that’s when I started watching The West Wing, in its 4th season and of course had to promptly start from the beginning once I recognized its brilliance. When Hal and I were first dating, I would watch Lost with him but I believe it was already in its 5th season and I really never knew what was going on (I think even die hard fans were in a similar state of being). Trust me when I say he never appreciated my ceaseless line of questioning during the broadcast. I don’t know why. I was merely showing interest in smoke monsters and oversized time capsules.
Most recently, I caught an episode of a Grey’s Anatomy rerun. I attempted to watch the show once years ago when it was the talk at the water cooler but I thought the main character, Meredith Grey, always looked and sounded teary-eyed (like Neve Campbell on Party of Five) and I found that intolerable. I didn’t understand its huge following but having suddenly been bitten by the GA bug, I’m more willing to keep an open mind. I still can’t keep all the characters straight and it doesn’t help that the episode that hooked me was the season 6 finale, but with Netflix Instant Play I’m working on a Grey’s Anatomy retrospective. I didn’t feel the need to start from the beginning so I started from season 5. Random, I know. I don’t much care for Katherine Heigl so bypassing the previous 80+ episodes in which she appears is fine with me. And the show definitely has its share of annoying, over achieving and over acting characters. I think I’m starting to realize why I never got into this.
But there are some pretty well-written moments and it is nice to see just how much McDreamy has grown out of his awkward years, although he looks like he’s going to cry most of the time too. Is being a surgeon in Seattle really that emotionally burdening? As I get caught up, it’s like watching a prime time soap opera that helps pass the time while I’m on my elliptical. And while I’m curious to know what’s going on right now in season 7 with these characters, I have absolutely no idea what day and what time Grey’s Anatomy is on. I’m okay with that. I just wish there was a way to attach my iPhone to the Bowflex so it acts like a mini TV and then I wouldn't have to miss a minute of "my stories".
And when I have caught on to the latest and greatest in TV land, it’s usually in the show’s 4th season. I feel like such a late bloomer that way. I think that’s when I started watching The West Wing, in its 4th season and of course had to promptly start from the beginning once I recognized its brilliance. When Hal and I were first dating, I would watch Lost with him but I believe it was already in its 5th season and I really never knew what was going on (I think even die hard fans were in a similar state of being). Trust me when I say he never appreciated my ceaseless line of questioning during the broadcast. I don’t know why. I was merely showing interest in smoke monsters and oversized time capsules.
Most recently, I caught an episode of a Grey’s Anatomy rerun. I attempted to watch the show once years ago when it was the talk at the water cooler but I thought the main character, Meredith Grey, always looked and sounded teary-eyed (like Neve Campbell on Party of Five) and I found that intolerable. I didn’t understand its huge following but having suddenly been bitten by the GA bug, I’m more willing to keep an open mind. I still can’t keep all the characters straight and it doesn’t help that the episode that hooked me was the season 6 finale, but with Netflix Instant Play I’m working on a Grey’s Anatomy retrospective. I didn’t feel the need to start from the beginning so I started from season 5. Random, I know. I don’t much care for Katherine Heigl so bypassing the previous 80+ episodes in which she appears is fine with me. And the show definitely has its share of annoying, over achieving and over acting characters. I think I’m starting to realize why I never got into this.
But there are some pretty well-written moments and it is nice to see just how much McDreamy has grown out of his awkward years, although he looks like he’s going to cry most of the time too. Is being a surgeon in Seattle really that emotionally burdening? As I get caught up, it’s like watching a prime time soap opera that helps pass the time while I’m on my elliptical. And while I’m curious to know what’s going on right now in season 7 with these characters, I have absolutely no idea what day and what time Grey’s Anatomy is on. I’m okay with that. I just wish there was a way to attach my iPhone to the Bowflex so it acts like a mini TV and then I wouldn't have to miss a minute of "my stories".
Thursday, January 13, 2011
A depressing swan song
I watched Black Swan while I was home for the snow day. I had the video going on one side of my screen while I was answering emails from work on the other. I’m not sure what presented itself first, frustration with work or frustration with the movie, but three quarters of the way into the film I was officially in a bad mood.
It’s a Darren Aronofsky directed film, the man responsible for Requiem for a Dream, one of the most depressing movies I’ve ever seen, so I should have been more prepared for the onslaught of negative emotions that coursed through me while watching Black Swan.
Natalie Portman’s Nina Sayers appeared pathetically meek and timid for a good portion of the movie, which I guess can happen when you’re experiencing a downward spiral of paranoia and insanity. Her bone-thin body is not just that of a ballerina but it seems to personify just how emotionally fragile her character is. If that’s what they were going for, it was very effective. During many of the dance sequences in which Nina is trying to invoke her black swan, it almost sounds like she’s whimpering. Maybe that was me whimpering in my mind.
Much like Requiem, the film was dark with embittered characters and a loss of hope midway through that things would end well for any of them. You could tell Natalie Portman played the role exactly as the script and genre warranted. She convinced me she was losing her mind but I wasn’t exactly routing for her character to regain it; I think that was ultimately the issue for me and this film. Despite my feelings on the movie as a whole, they should just give Portman an Oscar already. She plays feeble and dysfunctional to perfection, and deserves some credit for morphing into a bird.
Even though I expressed bouts of irritation, I watched Black Swan to the end because good or bad, I resolved that I could never get that hour and forty minutes back so I might as well gain a sense of closure. And once I did, I quickly reminded myself that now I never have to watch it again.
It’s a Darren Aronofsky directed film, the man responsible for Requiem for a Dream, one of the most depressing movies I’ve ever seen, so I should have been more prepared for the onslaught of negative emotions that coursed through me while watching Black Swan.
Natalie Portman’s Nina Sayers appeared pathetically meek and timid for a good portion of the movie, which I guess can happen when you’re experiencing a downward spiral of paranoia and insanity. Her bone-thin body is not just that of a ballerina but it seems to personify just how emotionally fragile her character is. If that’s what they were going for, it was very effective. During many of the dance sequences in which Nina is trying to invoke her black swan, it almost sounds like she’s whimpering. Maybe that was me whimpering in my mind.
Much like Requiem, the film was dark with embittered characters and a loss of hope midway through that things would end well for any of them. You could tell Natalie Portman played the role exactly as the script and genre warranted. She convinced me she was losing her mind but I wasn’t exactly routing for her character to regain it; I think that was ultimately the issue for me and this film. Despite my feelings on the movie as a whole, they should just give Portman an Oscar already. She plays feeble and dysfunctional to perfection, and deserves some credit for morphing into a bird.
Even though I expressed bouts of irritation, I watched Black Swan to the end because good or bad, I resolved that I could never get that hour and forty minutes back so I might as well gain a sense of closure. And once I did, I quickly reminded myself that now I never have to watch it again.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Namaste
Like salmon, everyone says yoga is good for you. It helps strengthen your core and it’s aimed at breathing away stress from your body. The most dedicated yoga doers manage to stay fit and toned so I have to imagine it’s an effective form of exercise.
I have attempted it a couple of times, once as part of a high intensity exercise regimen and Yoga eXtreme nearly killed me. It was then that I decided I hate yoga. Hate may be too strong a word but I just can’t seem to get into it, and I choose to blame the yoga. I’ve tried to discover the appeal. I even own yoga-to-go cards so when I’m traveling I can keep up with my nonexistent routine. I don’t know where those are at present, and let’s face it lying in bed with my Kindle sounds much more appealing than holding warrior’s pose for five minutes while trying to exhale deeply.
How I feel about yoga is how Hal feels about salmon. He wants to like it. He knows he should eat it because of all the health benefits. But every time he tries it he quickly remembers just how much he loathes it. No amount of loathing, however, has kept him from trying it at least once a year.
So for 2011, I set a goal that I would try yoga. Thanks to Netflix, I took a stab at becoming one with my yoga self tonight while waiting for a foot of snow to fall. Set in an all white room, the video began with calming music and instructor with an accent that made it difficult to understand anything she said, but I made do.
The instructor first had us sit with our legs crossed and breathe. Sounds simple enough, right? Well the exercise involved pinching my nostrils shut and then letting each one go so I could inhale through the left and exhale through the right. But when your right nostril is all stuffed up, exhaling properly becomes a real challenge and results in a choking effect. Not a good start.
Then she had me lay on my back and swing my legs over my head, which is when I came to the conclusion that my legs are so short touching my toes to the floor was going to be an impossibility. I was not feeling very calm at this point, especially when I realized that there may be a leg-to-torso ratio necessary to fully engage in the yoga and I was not measuring up.
Finally I got in some position where I was supposed to resemble a crab, on my back, hips arched up, hands grabbing my ankles. I have to say, I wasn't even sure my body would let itself do this. The instructor told me to feel the blood flow down my back but that was overshadowed by the strain through my hips and thighs. And then the video stopped all of a sudden as it does with Netflix sometimes and I found myself stuck in crab pose. When it started to become painful, I detangled myself, got up and turned the video off.
When Hal asked me how it went I told him the exercises were too slow. He was apt to point out that it is yoga. I think by nature yoga is just not a good fit for me. I like something with a faster pace where I can break into a sweat and not from the stress of trying to contort my body into shapes it clearly rejects. I gave yoga another chance and now I think I’m done.
And so I bid it, Namaste.
I have attempted it a couple of times, once as part of a high intensity exercise regimen and Yoga eXtreme nearly killed me. It was then that I decided I hate yoga. Hate may be too strong a word but I just can’t seem to get into it, and I choose to blame the yoga. I’ve tried to discover the appeal. I even own yoga-to-go cards so when I’m traveling I can keep up with my nonexistent routine. I don’t know where those are at present, and let’s face it lying in bed with my Kindle sounds much more appealing than holding warrior’s pose for five minutes while trying to exhale deeply.
How I feel about yoga is how Hal feels about salmon. He wants to like it. He knows he should eat it because of all the health benefits. But every time he tries it he quickly remembers just how much he loathes it. No amount of loathing, however, has kept him from trying it at least once a year.
So for 2011, I set a goal that I would try yoga. Thanks to Netflix, I took a stab at becoming one with my yoga self tonight while waiting for a foot of snow to fall. Set in an all white room, the video began with calming music and instructor with an accent that made it difficult to understand anything she said, but I made do.
The instructor first had us sit with our legs crossed and breathe. Sounds simple enough, right? Well the exercise involved pinching my nostrils shut and then letting each one go so I could inhale through the left and exhale through the right. But when your right nostril is all stuffed up, exhaling properly becomes a real challenge and results in a choking effect. Not a good start.
Then she had me lay on my back and swing my legs over my head, which is when I came to the conclusion that my legs are so short touching my toes to the floor was going to be an impossibility. I was not feeling very calm at this point, especially when I realized that there may be a leg-to-torso ratio necessary to fully engage in the yoga and I was not measuring up.
Finally I got in some position where I was supposed to resemble a crab, on my back, hips arched up, hands grabbing my ankles. I have to say, I wasn't even sure my body would let itself do this. The instructor told me to feel the blood flow down my back but that was overshadowed by the strain through my hips and thighs. And then the video stopped all of a sudden as it does with Netflix sometimes and I found myself stuck in crab pose. When it started to become painful, I detangled myself, got up and turned the video off.
When Hal asked me how it went I told him the exercises were too slow. He was apt to point out that it is yoga. I think by nature yoga is just not a good fit for me. I like something with a faster pace where I can break into a sweat and not from the stress of trying to contort my body into shapes it clearly rejects. I gave yoga another chance and now I think I’m done.
And so I bid it, Namaste.
Monday, January 3, 2011
1.1.11
The start of the New Year has already been marked by a few moments that are characteristically "us". They were a refreshing yet comforting way to begin 2011.
Our first walk of the New Year to the pier thanks to mild January temperatures.
Our first blazing fire
And our little mischievous kitty getting into trouble already
Happy New Year!
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