| Content filler... gacked from so many baaaa baaaa black sheep. |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|09:03 pm] |
(Let's please keep in mind that the only reason I post content filler is so that a certain reticent poster has something to re-post! :P!)
SCATTERGORIES: Copy the text below, erase my answers, then use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things.. nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial.. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.
WHAT IS YOUR NAME? Gilamonstre!
4 LETTER WORD: Grow
BOY NAME: Georges of the Jungles
GIRL NAME: Guyslaine*
OCCUPATION: Groper, grower, groupie? So many interesting things to choose from!
A COLOUR: Golden
SOMETHING YOU WEAR: Gotchies! (you know, I never ever thought I'd ever use that euphemism)
BEVERAGE: Grog
FOOD: GREEN SMOOTHIE!
SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: GOTCHIES ON THE FLOOR! Oh, and gel. For hair. And teef.
PLACE: Georgia. As in the former USSR...
REASON FOR BEING LATE: Mmmm... Gotchies on the bathroom floor...
SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: GOTCHA!
*Guyslaine or Guylaine is sort of cheating. In english speaking countries my name is often mis-pronounced (no offense taken, it's not like it's spelled particularly clearly) Gill, Gillia, Giller, or Gillian. In French speaking countries I get... Guyslaine. One UK expat actually calls me (after six years) Gueezla -- he gets the hard "gu" sound right but then seems to pronounce half the common french name? I don't get it. But it's funny and bewildering to watch other colleagues reactions. People are so sensitive to names! |
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| exercise for grownups? |
[Jul. 21st, 2008|07:55 am] |
Ashtanga class yesterday was hard. The teacher gently but firmly kept the pace at what seemed (to me) an intermediate level. The vinyasa continued pretty much throughout the 90 minutes, and it was up to each student to be aware of their own limits and allow themselves to rest through a vinyasa (chain of movement) or particular asana (pose) when it was too much.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles as much with allowing myself not to do a pose as I do with pushing myself through a pose. Forgiving myself my limits and committing to improve upon those limits is a thousand times more difficult than trying to pretend that I'm superhuman and just going until I hurt myself.
Yesterday I think I did well. I pushed, but when my legs started to give out, I stopped. I stopped just early enough that I still had the composure to pull myself into a resting pose (child's pose for downward dog, utanasana for the standing poses) for a few breaths.
I did well in my head, too. There were several moments where I had the urge to peer around me at other students and compare how I was doing, the urge to push myself harder because so-and-so who has been doing asthanga for over a year could do X so well. I gave in to the urge a couple of times, but managed to stay focused on my own practice most of the time.
I'm amazed at just how much emotional discipline is required for yoga, as much as the physical. I wonder if that is what draws me to it, the fact that the challenge isn't just the meat, but the spirit.
And with that, my kookymeter just went off so it's clearly time to start the laundry. |
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| green smoofies |
[Jul. 11th, 2008|08:21 am] |
Today's green smoothie is divine. Well, at least to me. Dave wasn't such a big fan.
I added some avocado and it's WAY smoother in taste and texture despite my lack of fancy blender. ($500 for a Vitamix is NOT worth it unless this really really becomes a habit rather than a phase.) It's a bit thick, despite adding some water, but that's okay. It's more like a milkshake than a drink. An obscenely healthy milkshake.
The other thing that helped was adding younger greens. The initial problem was the foot long dandelion greens that I bought last weekend. The more mature the greens, the more bitter they are. This weekend I'm going to hunt down some wee delicate kale and other younger greens and see if I can get away with a bit less than half an avocado. It's the best fat that I eat, but I still don't need to be consuming half an avocado a day.
The other thing that helped was tasting it here and there. I'd add some greens, then some avocado, then some water, then blend for a bit, then taste, then adjust.
I realize that sounds like it should be pretty self-evident, and I do do it when cooking, but this whole smoothie / raw food thing is SO NEW to me that it doesn't really FEEL like a culinary activity yet. I'm still looking at it from the point of view of raw numbers and chemical content -- the whole "playing" and wanting to have fun with it hasn't kicked in yet. |
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| part of me is laughing uproariously |
[Jul. 7th, 2008|08:26 am] |
I made my first green smoothie this morning. In it: 2 cups raw dandelion, 1 cup raw kale, 1 cup cilantro, 1 cup broccoli sprouts, 1 pear for sweetness. I would have added dulse (raw seaweed) but I don't have any.
Fitday claims the following about the nutritional content:
2285.6 mcg of Vitamin A (285% RDA)
5.24 mg Vitamin E (66% RDA)
592.83 mcg of Vitamin K (912% RDA)
149.5 mg of Vitamin C (249% RDA)
0.427 mg Thiaming (39% RDA)
0.665 mg Riboflavin (60% RDA)
0.647 ng B-6 (50% RDA)
3.6 mg Niacin (26% RDA)
100 mcg Folate (25% RDA)
6 mg Iron (40% RDA)
1.5 mg Zing (12%)
4.25 mg Selenium (8%)
350 mg Calcium (35%)
188 mg Phosphorus (27%)
114 mg Magnesium (35%)
130 mg Sodium
1472 mg Potassium
9.5g Protein
13 g Fiber / 64 g Carbs
3g Fat
207 Calories
Holy motherfucking shit, I just drank my multivitamin, with fibre.
It tasted a bit more bitter than the stuff my boss was making for us, and it's a much darker colour. I'm wondering if she adds a bit of yogurt or almond milk to soften it up. Websites I've been looking at suggest adding A LOT more fruit until you get used to the taste of greens, but I'm cagey about doing that. Other sites suggest also adding avocado to aid in the vitamin absorption, which I might do one day.
But you know, on day 5 of working from home -- I finally started what I'm hoping will become a good habit.
In other news, my hamstrings are killing me. Dave and I tried a new type of yoga (Asthanga-ish) with ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) __flatline__ and gothjen at the Dynamic Conditioning Centre where __flatline__ tortures himself for Aussie rules football.
Let me say that after so many months of getting what I consider to be pretty strong at Iyengar, Ashtanga kicked my ass. I went in with sore legs from Thursday's standing poses, but even without that excuse it would have kicked my ass. I was sweating, sliding, falling all over the place. About 75% were familiar poses that I think I did relatively correctly despite the speed we were doing them at, and then some of them were just WEIRD, like the eagle pose and the whole doing twists lying down. I liked some of it, felt uncomfortable with some (the bits where we did unfamiliar poses quickly, without time to understand how to do them properly) and overall felt pretty beat up afterwards -- one of my favourite feelings.
Dave liked it well enough to want to do it again, so we did the ultimate of yuppie couple things -- we bought a pass to do more yoga together. Out of the joint account that we use to pay things like electricity bills.
So -- quitting smoking, yoga three times a week, and now green smoothies. If THIS doesn't drive my IQ up 10 more points, NOTHING WILL. |
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| the dark side of yoga |
[Jun. 19th, 2008|10:37 am] |
When I signed up for this yoga business, NOBODY told me that there would be push-ups involved. PUSH-UPS.
And HOMEWORK.
PUSH-UPs for HOMEWORK.
I am not impressed. I ALSO have homework to "build up my neck muscles" because I'm starting to struggle with some of the weirder, standing, backbends. How the hell do you build up your neck muscles? My brain hasn't quite grokked that one yet -- moving my butt muscles sideways and back and forth like geisha balls, was easier. Hey __flatline__, or any of you other exercise fanatics -- how the hell do I (safely) build up the muscles along the sides of my neck?
In more serious yoga explorations, I had firstand experience with just how dramatically yoga affects physical energy levels yesterday. I've been slowly learning that in theory, shoulderstands even out your energy, shivasana and child's pose mellow your energy, backbends give a positive glow to your energy and (I find) improve my creative juices, twists make you feel lighter and make difficult tasks less exhausting, and handstands and headstands and other inversions just INCREASE your energy -- like a bolt of stupidly strong coffee.
So last night when loftwyr asked to see a headstand (and I DID IT!!!), I got all excited and cheery and bounced around afterwards, babbling about yoga and stuff and bum muscles and all sorts of things. Then we went to bed. And I lay there, WIRED, dreaming intense and chaotic dreams about work and play and people and all sorts of madness.
When I mentioned it to Mieko this morning I got the lecture I expected (and abashedly accepted) about not being ready to do headstands without supervision (it's true, I'll stick with the prep poses for my home practice for a few months or years more) but I also got a lecture about energy levels -- doing headstands without recovery poses like shoulderstands and forward bends and shivasana to even me out could spiral out of control -- listening to her describe it in layman's terms I got the clear impression of manic, hyperactive, hopped-up-on-sugar behaviour. Here I am killing myself to avoid sugar because so many people (at work) depend on me to be the even-keeled, balanced one (yeah yeah, laugh it up funboys) and at the same time I'm fucking with my composure in other ways.
It was a fascinating lesson learned. As with so many things -- I'm only now starting to realize how truly little I know, and how much I have to learn. |
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| there's hope yet. |
[Jun. 12th, 2008|10:59 am] |
I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand.
By myself. Got my ass up there and stayed there.
I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand.
I've been working towards this for months. Only half believed it would happen. For sure not this soon.
I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand. I did a headstand.
When I tried it a second and third time, I was so excited I didn't have my shoulders balanced so I slid down to the left. But it doesn't matter. I DID A FUCKING HEADSTAND!!!!
If I can do that, we can do ANYTHING. |
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| It's official. I don't talk about poo enough. |
[Jun. 11th, 2008|10:31 am] |
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| WTF? Re-posted from geekwitch (I think) |
[Jun. 6th, 2008|07:53 pm] |
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Does anyone know if this Neurolink thing is a hoax? It reads like Seedie.org or an Onion article, but I can't find the telltale hoax holes. |
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| ow ow motherfucking ow |
[Jun. 5th, 2008|05:16 pm] |
My quads and adductors just realized what I did to them in yoga this morning.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW.
I can't stand up OR push myself around in my little rolly chair. My team has officially been notified to bring all their questions over to my desk because there is NO WAY I'm walking over to their desk to look at their stuff today.
OW.
Thisisgoodformethisisgoodformethisisgoodforme... |
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| I told myself I wasn't going to babble about yoga again. |
[Jun. 5th, 2008|10:04 am] |
I'm cognizant that at some point I should really stop babbling about yoga. I told myself that this whole posting-every-single-tuesday-and-thursday about something that really should be an internal, personal journey is perhaps not necessarily productive.
( But I can't help it! )
One day, not too many years from now, I'll be able to do what the girl in this icon is doing.
One day. |
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| a tantric experience? |
[May. 13th, 2008|10:06 am] |
I had a breakthrough in yoga class this morning (I will never, ever tire of beginning a sentence that way). After three weeks off -- two weeks where the teacher was travelling, and one week for me, I expected to be stiff in places and worried that I would be back to struggling with downward dog again.
I tried to keep up my practice during the off-time, mindfully focusing on my hips and spine (too flexible) and hamstrings (too tight) and also maintaining some work on my arms and back (too weak).
In Yuma, whilst toying with the idea of going on a yoga retreat while everyone is at Eclipse (imagine a week of rejuvenating my strength and nourishment AND my mind), emerlion mentioned Kundalini (and Krepalu too, I think) and that led me to start reading.
I did some reading online (ugh, hard to find worthwhile stuff) and in a yoga journal that I picked up at the airport (surprisingly free of drug and cosmetic adverts, unlike Fitness magazine). That led me to more articles on how to be more mindful during my yoga practice (when to focus on which breath, when to focus on hips vs pelvis vs sacrum) and despite totally slacking on Sunday and yesterday -- this morning's class was as emotional and loving an experience as it was physically challenging (and successful). (plus we joked about rope bondage costing extra, how can you go wrong with that?)
Remember a few months back when I fell on my head attempting a twist? Since then I've been building up towards that pose and this morning I thought, what the hell, my hips feel right and I can feel my organs moving to the left like they're supposed to, I'm going to try to cross over instead of stopping short.
And I did.
And I held it. Head back and heart open and every piece in place. At the pinnacle of the 60 or so seconds that I managed to hold the pose, I felt something in my gut open and all this strength just poured out of me.
I didn't manage the full pose again this morning, but I'm still holding on to that feeling and it's pushing me through the toughest parts of today.
An article I read spoke of the tantric quality in Yoga. I wonder if that is where I started to touch, today. |
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| The dirty, dirty PLAN |
[Apr. 18th, 2008|09:22 am] |
So the plan is for digging in the dirt and gorging on champignons-sauvages stuffed crepes on SATURDAY.
Drop by anytime after 3pm, and we'll have a driveway full of compost ready to be worked into the veggie patch. Considerung the 8 or so folks it looks like I'll be cooking for (but if you haven't weighed in yet, more is always merrier!) we may not have more than an hour's worth of work, including beer breaks.
Aside from the peanut allergy, do any of the folks who can make it on Saturday have any food issues? The traditional mushroom sauce has chicken stock, cream and nutmeg in it so let me know if you have issues with any of those. (and the crepes have eggs, wheat flour, and likely beer instead of milk)
If you haven't called me or posted that you can make Saturday in the last message, let me know if you plan to make it so I can make sure I hunt down sufficient mushrooms (they're elusive little buggers!)
See you tomorrow! |
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| Anyone up for some shovelling this weekend? |
[Apr. 17th, 2008|05:21 pm] |
So this Saturday is pick-up-compost-from-the-city day and since our own compost bin is a bit low for the size of area we want to cover this year, we're thinking of renting a truck and picking some up.
It's too early to be planting anything but maybe carrot and kale seeds, but considering our travel schedules straight through to mid-may this garden prep had better happen this weekend or it's not getting done this spring at all.
So who wants to pitch in and get dirty? Our dirt is your dirt! Our shovels your shovels! Our beer-batter-crepes-with-mushroom-cognac-sauce your crepes-with-mushroom-cognac-sauce! (or pizza, depending on how exhausted we get)
Respond to the poll below to note which day you prefer this weekend (I'm still undecided) IF you want to participate. (you can also pick a day if you want to come over and help with the crepe part instead of the dirt part)
Poll #1172851 Mulchextravaganza!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllWould you rather c'mon over for an afternoon of mucking around in the backyard and savoury crepes on: |
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| Walking this morning, I thought... |
[Mar. 18th, 2008|08:04 am] |
Sunrise against snow
and I suddenly remember
What all this is for. |
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| plastic bags? |
[Mar. 17th, 2008|10:11 am] |
So the upshot is that Dave and I have been doing pretty well at cutting down on the number of plastic bags that we come home with. Most of our groceries come home in re-used cardboard boxes or re-usable grocery bags, and we just don't do very much shopping outside of that.
Thing is, we have a dog which means that we use plastic bags twice a day, every day, for poop-scooping. Last summer gothjenn and __flatline__ gave us an unholy quantity of plastic bags and we've finally pooped our way through those, our own backlog, as well as the neighbours' backlog of plastic bags.
So, afore we start accumulating plastic bags again, does anyone have a backlog they'd like to donate to the keep-poo-out-of-the-grass fund?
(err, folks not in Toronto or easy-pick-up distance need not apply...) |
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| Adventures in music, a continuing saga |
[Mar. 13th, 2008|09:54 am] |
I owe some significant thanks to akujin00 and naz_toronto for my current source of mental stimulation.
I finally got my hands on some Ensiferum (the Viking Songs album, anyone want to recommend which one I should get next?) a few weeks back and filled my mp3 player and my car with it.
I have to say, "Viking Metal" is an uncannily perfect name for it. Left to my own devices I might have dubbed it "Celtic hardcore" or perhaps "Sidhe Rock", but really it IS VIking metal. And BRILLIANT. It appeals to pretty much all aspects of what I like in music: it's melodic and haunting and sincere and well-written and powerful and METAL!!!!!
Loving it.
It's also contributing to a rather odd drive in in the mornings. I'm getting tired of the CBC reporting that I usually hear (I like the environmental stuff since I don't exposed to that much but I can't handle the extent of the spin-doctoring of the medical stuff they've been going on and on and on about lately) so I made myself a CD (hybrids can play MP3 discs, dontcha know!) with a very odd mix of several hundred songs to drive to. The intention was to make a disc of songs that I could sing along to but since my musical tastes are so odd and outdated (and I no longer can find any of the stuff I used to DJ) it's basically composed of:
- Mozart
- Bizet
- Ani DiFranco (older stuff)
- Tori Amos (older stuff)
- Frou Frou (the album with "Let Go" on it)
- The Tragically Hip
- Sass Jordan (totally Kitty's fault)
- Lots of Ensiferum
- TONS of Squirrel Nut Zippers
- LOADS of Mighty Mighty Bosstones
- some french stuff like Edith Piaf and Aznavour and Brassens
- A bunch of Me First/Pennywize stuff (punky Phantom of the Opera is WAY less whiny)
Which makes for a bopping ride.
SO -- does anybody have any recommendations for upbeat, poetic, fun-to-singalong-to stuff I can add to my ride in?*
Based on some recommendations last time I finally tried listening to Sara McLaclan (sp?) and for some reason I CAN NOT STAND her music. I'm a fan of Great Big Sea but have overdosed on it lately. I'm currently discovering Evanescence thanks to a certain NYE Karaoke party.
*Uhhh... Anything techno-y need not apply. Sorry, I keep trying but I just can't handle anything more synthesized than VNV Nation. |
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| For akujin00, from glenmarshal. |
[Feb. 29th, 2008|04:47 pm] |
Hey M, my friend Glen (glenmarshall on lj) sent this comic around and I COULDN'T HELP thinking of you when I read it.
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| Poetry spam? |
[Feb. 21st, 2008|12:08 pm] |
Damnit, the war has finally come to my front door.
All those spam messages about penises, luxury watches, free money, online pharmaceuticals, and utterly random things are happily landing right in my garbage folder where I can glance over them quickly and delete them without a care or concern that I may be missing something interesting and/or important.
Today, I got my first spam with the first line from a poem (that I happen to love) in the subject.
It gave me pause.
It made me stop and remember the poem, and until I saw the long string of random-seeming characters in the "from" header, I almost opened it to go read the rest of the poem.
Fortunately, my delete-trigger-finder kicked in, but they almost had me.
I almost read a spam message.
Bastards, hitting me in the poetry chapbook. Will they stop at nothing? ;) |
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