after several months of trial & error (and the ‘errors’ were pretty gross), the kitties are just about toilet trained! i never would have believed it was possible, but kitty litter is a thing of the past. bleecker has totally got it down. buddha is the slow one, but i think he’s almost got it, too.
konfabulator is a super-cool app that lets you install neat little widgets on your desktop…like a little weather report, a rotating picture frame, a clock, whatever. there’s hundreds of widgets to download from their gallery. it used to cost $20, but yahoo just bought them and now it’s free (for windows & mac osx). they were kinda screwed anyways, because apple ripped em off and built their own widgets right into osx.
check it out - but let me warn you, you’ll be playing with different widgets for the next hour…
i leave for bm in exactly one month! we’ve been doing lots of prep work. like hitting salvation army every weekend to see what funky new clothes show up. Amo bought a sewing machine and has been going nuts making all kinds of interesting things. we bought a bunch of fabric from ’spandex world’ for $1/yard. i’m volunteering to be a black rock ranger this year, and attended a day-long training class. and very soon we’ll be placing our order for el-wire so we glow nice ‘n bright at night.
it’s been hot and humid, in the 90’s the past few weeks, and we’re well into ’summer training’ at the temple. not only is there no a/c, but the heat almost seems to gather in the training room. even though the windows are open, there’s hardly a breeze at all. and no fans. the sweat starts to drip during stretching & warmup exercises. within 20 minutes of the 2 hour class, my first uniform is drenched top to bottom. after 1/2 hour my hands are pruned from the humidity. by the end of class, my 2nd uniform is drenched and my shoes squish when i walk because they’re sweat-logged.
the first few summer classes were a bear to get through, but i’ve been diligent in going to class and now i’m starting to get into the groove. i’ve completed all the basic exercises and the first form (chuji quantao), now learning the 2nd form (yi lu quan). and most importantly, i’m finally doing cartwheels! that was my big embarrassing secret. i’d discreetly step aside when it came time for ceshoufan (cartwheels). i just had this mental block about being inverted - i’d just flop down on my head. finally, last weekend my baby and i went to central park and she showed me how to do ‘em…and now it’s cake! in fact, it’s fun!
overall, i’m much further along in class than i ever thought i’d be. there’s still infinity more to go, but i’m feeling so much stronger and more flexible than i’ve ever been. there’s been a definite shift in my exercise paradigm - it’s all about stretching now. and balance. couldn’t care less about weights. and soon, i’ll be able to fly.
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my inner nerd |
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