« August 2005 | Main | October 2005 »

September 23, 2005

Uneventful

It's been a little while since I've posted anything of any substance here. That's possibly because it's also been awhile since I've practised and since anything truly significant happened in my life. Things are pretty normal and nothing especially eventful has been happening. School has been keeping me sufficiently busy, as has stress about finances, not to mention my addiction to The Sopranos dvds. Luckily, this week saw the financial stresses erased, leaving me feeling guilty, but relieved and so thankful.

As for yoga, I practised this morning, just to navasana. Here's the problem: the space that I have to practise in (my entrance hall) is quite small and doesn't allow for room to do things like kurmasana and upavishta konasana. If I want to go past navasana I have to move into my living room, but since it has quite thick, kooshy carpeting it hurts my wrist (especially in bhujapidasana), so...a quandry indeed. Anyhow, practice this morning was fine, but unfocused. My breath was good, my bandhas were good, but my hamstrings were STIFF and my mind kept wandering. I hope to be able to make it to Katie's improv class on Sunday morning...that would be divine.

I do have to say this though about my practice: I'm really coming to terms with my lack of regular practice (due to lack of a teacher/studio), and I'm kind of okay with it. Because, the thing is, when the mood strikes, my mat, with its worn marks at either end where my hands and feet go, is always there and I know that I can always count on a clear mind after practising. Last night, as I was waiting to fall asleep, in that half-conscious world between sleeping and waking, I dreamt about flowing through the series, the feeling of my feet on my mat, the heat and the wonderful feeling of always knowing what comes next. I think that's one of the things I love most about this practice: there are no surprises, it's predictable, and flowing from one pose to the next doesn't involve thought, my body already knows and that makes it a comfort zone, something familiar when everything else is changing or chaotic.

Enough yogic flakiness for one day. I love The Sopranos. I went on this same kick about a year ago, but only made it to the beginning of season two. Well, I breezed through season two last week, and this week I'm about half way through season three. It's a little embarassing that the guy at Blockbuster actually knows me now, but hey, I do what I have to do for Tony (Soprano, that is). So yeah, I have this strange fascination with Tony and all his good and evil. For some reason I really think he's a good person (aside from all the killing), and I think his character is an incredible balance of dark and light. Maybe it's just my Italian half talking...

School's been crazy, but exhilarating. I love tv, and I think that's what I'm going to specialise in (which surprises even me!). Right now I'm in the middle of putting together a 2.5-3 minute feature, and it all fell apart yesterday when my main interview subject pulled out, but miraculously seems to have been put back together this morning.

Off to film, edit and rent more Tony!

On my iPod: "I Thought I Held You" --Wilco, "My Way Home" --Kanye West (feat. Common)

Posted by alegato at 11:20 AM | Comments (4)

September 17, 2005

Summary

My weekend in 50 words or less:

"God damn the liquor store's closed,
were so close to scoring
it hurts, it destroys til it kills..
I am tired and hungry and totally useless."
--"Let's Get Fucked Up and Die", Motion City Soundtrack

On my iPod: "The Execution of All Things" --Rilo Kiley

Posted by alegato at 1:26 AM | Comments (0)

September 13, 2005

Fractions

Why is it that when nine out of ten things in your life are going splendidly, everything's ice cream sundaes and laughter, why is it that you can't help but be wistful and a little bit sad about the bit that's not quite right?

On my iPod: "How Soon?" --Martha Wainwright

Posted by alegato at 11:06 PM | Comments (0)

September 12, 2005

I heart chocolate soy milk

Okay, first things first, why haven't I ever bought chocolate soy milk before? I've become obsessed with Vitasoy's light chocolate soy milk. I guess I never thought it would be as good as real chocolate milk, but I think it might be *gasp* even better.

So I haven't written anything in awhile for two reasons. (1) I've been really busy, and (2) I've been so uninspired about my practice that I feel fraudulent writing as a yogi. I feel like a coutnerfeit yogi.

But then I had a great practice this morning and I changed my mind. I practised a couple times last week and was thoroughly discouraged, and then I got up this morning and decided to practise up to navasana. I figured that I was going to be so pathetic that I had no business going beyond navasana, but things actually went surprisingly well and I would have kept going if I hadn't been in a bit of a time crunch. My standing poses were strong. I had a "moment" during the prasaritas when my mind actually stopped for a few minutes. That hasn't happened in awhile. Even my balancing was good. I did this "Total Muscle Conditioning" class at the gym the other day and my abs have been sore since then, so that was a really good indicator as to when I was using my bandhas, and it helped me be more aware of them. Even my maricyasanas were good...and I almost never say that. Twists are usually the weakest part of my practice, but I actually help my mari C for eight breaths on both sides because I was enjoying it so much!

I had a really busy week last week. The Gay Husband called me on Tuesday and left me a frantic message on my voice mail asking me if I wanted to go with him that night to the Elton John concert. Of course I did, and it was freaking incredible. He sang for three hours straight, no break, all the hits. FANTASTIC.

Actually, I ended up going out every night except Saturday. I was exhausted by the time the weekend rolled around, so I went to my mum's place on Saturday afternoon and hibernated for 24 hours before coming back to London. School's been busy but great. I'm increasingly torn between tv and print (never thought I'd say that!). There's something about the stress of tv that I love. Just goes to prove what Meg and I always said: that the people who do Ashtanga are the people who should be doing something more gentle, as Ashtanga only serves to fuel our A type personalities!

I've become a little bit of a gym bunny (again, *gasp*). I've found that I've been happy doing my practice a couple times a week and then going to the gym a few times a week. The key is variety. Yoga twice a week, swimming once a week, bike once a week and a class at the gym once a week. I think I get bored too easily.

I've also been struggling with the concept of home again. It's weird. I actually feel at home in London (another thing I never thought I'd say). But the other day I realised that my mum's going to be out of town for the next few weekends and I got really down about not being able to go home on weekends to spend time with her. So strange how I can live in another province for five year, see my parents every 3-4 months and be fine with it, but all of the sudden I'm upset that I'm not going to be seeing my mum for two weeks. Strange how quickly we adapt to new routines and habits.

Oh, I discovered another good reason not to drink the other day: I abandoned vegetarianism after a few drinks (I was at a club that served free sandwiches at 1am, and they didn't have any veg., so I happily ate meat while my friends yelled to remind me that I don't eat meat. Roast beef. I didn't even like roast beef when I did eat meat. Gross. Not doing that again).


On my iPod: "Hot Child in the City" --Nick Gilder, "Cinnamon" --The Long Winters, "Instant Pleasure" --Rufus Wainwright

Posted by alegato at 10:08 PM | Comments (1)

September 4, 2005

Note to self...

...when you live in a university town, do not, do not attempt to go grocery shopping the day before Labour Day when everyone's moving back into town. It will take at least double as much time as you anticipated.

God bless the peace, quiet and lack of family that comes from living on your own! So happy to be back in my apartment...alone. So nice.

On my iPod: "I am the Walrus" --The Beatles

Posted by alegato at 6:19 PM | Comments (1)

September 1, 2005

Ahimsa?

Something I forgot to mention: I appear to be on a murderous rampage this week. I have run over: 1 hopping frog and 1 scurrying squirrel. Yes, a few nights ago I was driving home in the dark and the rain and a frog hopped out onto the road and I had absolutely no chance to stop or swerve or anything. Then today I took another innocent life. I was driving my brother home from tutoring and we were getting off the highway when a squirrel began to run out into traffic. I slowed down as much as I could (with a car behind me) and just as I though Mr. Squirrel was going to run back onto the shoulder he instead ran under my right front tire. I felt horrible. I'm still racked with guilt. Nothing I could have done, but still, two animals in like, four days?!?! That's a bad record. Bad karma. Bad. Bad.

Posted by alegato at 11:34 PM | Comments (1)

Reminiscing

I'm watching a Passionate Eye documentary called "College Days, College Nights" that follows seven UBC students through their time in university. It's making me giggle. It's making me remember. Last week the McGill campus was awash with frosh and all that comes with them: parents, kegs and general drunkeness. We saw kids moving into rez and we laughed with nostalgia. We remembered the awkwardness and the anxiety and the anticipation. Then we (the Gay Husband, the Model and I) realised that that was the day five years ago when we all met. We were all (ALL my friends are from rez, save for like, three)living on the same floor in the same rez. And here we are five years later, thoroughly different, but still attached. As much as we bitch and complain about being students, it seriously is a pretty good lifestyle. I'm still enjoying it. Even in London. It's funny looking back though at how much everything and everyone has changed...and even more significantly, how much has remained the same. I don't really know how to say what it is that I'm trying to say, but I guess I'm just marvelling at how things have turned out given how they started (my first year was beyond rocky) and how so, so happy I am that I had such an incredible experience with the greatest friends in the greatest city.

I was so, so sore from taking Katie's class the other night when I woke up this morning that I immediately cancelled my plans to go to the gym this afternoon. My stepmum though told me to go, because it would help move the lactic acid along...hmph...don't know about that. I rode the bike (and read at the same time, that's why I like the bike so much) for 11km. Then I swam laps for awhile. Then I steamed. Weird thing: this gym, although it's the same chain as my gym in London, doesn't allow people to wear tank tops. I was wearing a tank top, because I didn't know about said rule, and no one said anything about it, but I tried to keep my shoulders covered with my towel. I found it kind of an odd rule, but maybe it's more common in gym-land than those of us in yoga-land know? I don't know. I thought it was weird though if it was a modesty thing, because obviously to go swimming I wore a bathing suit, and that's a lot less fabric than a tank top. And then when I was in the steam room there was one steam room inhabitant who was naked (which is strictly prohibited at my gym in London)...so it's okay to be naked, but not okay to wear a tank top? I don't understand.

"And I'm leaving. Wave goodbye.
And I'm losing, but I'll try, with the last ways left, to remember."
--The Weakerthans

Posted by alegato at 8:11 PM | Comments (0)