O the pain. O. The. Pain.

Yesterday I took my first yoga class, and I was fine all day but this morning I woke up and could barely move. Ow. Ow ow ow.

The class was great, hard but great. It's kundalini yoga, which is a lot of arm work, and my arms are made entirely out of pieces of cooked spaghetti, so I couldn't do the whole thing without resting. My legs are stronger than I thought, though, those exercises I could do more easily. I still had to rest, but not as often, and there was one that I did all the way through.

The funny thing was that I couldn't sit cross-legged for a very long time, it didn't occur to me that I never sit cross-legged. I sit with my right leg in cross-legged position, but my left leg I sit with the foot on the floor, knee up, so trying to sit with both legs crossed on and off for an hour and a half was somewhat painful. I had to stretch my left leg out for much of the time.

I really liked it, though, even the mantra parts. There was one mantra that we did for eleven minutes at the end of the class. The thing that I never knew about mantras is that they aren't chanted, they are sung, and hell, I can sing for eleven minutes, I can concentrate and centre like that, that's like how I sing in church.

It took me years to do this, years and years, and it was great. I am a crippled husk, my stomach and my back and my legs and my shoulders and my arms all ache to hell, but I'm glad I did it and next Saturday I'm going to do it again.

Stupidly, I left the house in the morning without the birthday and Christmas presents for Tracing or the birthday present for Josh, whose birthday party we were going to that evening. Phew! Lot of birthdays in that sentence.

So I went home and got the presents for Tracing (the navy blue scarf and some Tipton Charles stuff) and forgot the one for Josh. Doesn't it just figure.

Tracing and I met earlier in order to talk a little and go to the movies. We saw Far From Heaven, which was excellent but took place in the goddamn coldest theatre in all of the land. It was all lovely and warm yesterday, I was so pleased to go out in my yellow voile shirt and no coat, but Tracing sure was happy to be in her winter coat in that theatre.

Why do they make it so cold? Even if it was summertime, nobody wants to have to cup their hands over their face, trying to warm their nose with their breath when they are supposedly out having a good time. Maybe if I were watching a hockey game I would have accepted the temperature in the theatre, but not a movie.

Which was quite good, by the way. As far as I could tell from peeking through the icicles on my eyelashes. Dennis Quaid was definitely robbed as far as a nomination, Dennis Haysbert was terrific, and Julianne Moore was a revelation. She made that slightly stilted language sound absolutely natural.

What all three of them had going for them was so much happening under the surface, all these things roiling away that they couldn't show each other, but they could show the audience. Just lovely.

After the movie we left the freezing cold theatre only to find that...it had gotten colder outside. I was a real ninny not to wear a coat, let me tell you, but I am just so ready for spring! I wore sandals on Monday and Tuesday, and it about killed me to put on my shoes and socks again on Wednesday.

We walked to the West Village, stopping at Barnes and Noble for birthday presents, we went in together on a couple of books and a Godiva bar and a card with an elephant on it, as well as a copy of The Hours for each of us, as we each recently saw the movie and fell in love. I should not buy books for myself, but it was 20% off.

We got to the restaurant and were so proud of ourselves for being five minutes early, but we were last anyway, Josh and Claire and Sara were already there. We never get to be first.

It was a Japanese restaurant, and I was completely prepared to not eat, since my only time at a Japanese restaurant in the past was a gigantic disaster, but I was urged to try the beef teriyaki, and you know what? It was quite good! I even ate the salad, though I looked at the dressing suspiciously and said, "What is that brown stuff on the salad?" I also ended up eating it with my fingers because they didn't bring me a fork, and frankly, nobody wants to watch me poking at lettuce leaves with sticks.

I can't really be taken out in public, I realize that. Though now I have a dish I can eat in a Japanese restaurant! I am very excited.

And then we all walked to Cones and got ice cream. The sidewalks were full, everyone spilling out of restaurants and onto the pavement with ice creams in their hands, as though by doing that, it would make it summer.

O, I started reading the most wonderful book yesterday! I have had it for years, centuries practically, and I just grabbed it off of my To Read shelf on my way out the door, and now all I can think is, "Why have I never read it before?"

It's called Tender at the Bone, and it's an autobiography centred around food. The writer, Ruth Reichl, has a wonderful voice and has lived a fascinating life surrounded by interesting people, and she doesn't shy away from stories that don't show her in the best light.

I've got to get the sequel now, Comfort Me With Apples. Except that I cannot buy books! I have no money! I need to get a new library card. It's either that or paying my fines, and that ain't happening, I'd better just get a new card. Not that I don't have plenty of unread books to read at my house. Look at this, it's been on the shelf for five years, and it's been keeping this secret from me for that long. What other secrets are on my shelves?

Today's horoscope:
Who said that suffering is virtuous? You're the only one that's stopping you from being comfortable and happy. Break your tension to release the wonder that's struggling to get through.

One year ago today:
So apparently, Kansans are just sloshing through the streets hip-deep in Campbell's Chicken and Dumplings Soup, while those of us on the various coasts have been shit out of luck!

* Yesterday / Index / This Month / Tomorrow *

E-Mail / In the Belly of the Hedgehog

Graphics by that fair colleen Saundra!

This page was written by hand. My hand. Only pussies use HTML editors.
Last Updated Sun 23 March 14:27:09 2003