Awesome.

Everyone should see this!

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184086&title=sarah-palin-gender-card


P.S. Only 3 days left in my 60-day challenge!

23 days

Well, in case you're wondering, I've stuck with Bikram so far for 23 days. It's been much easier than I thought to stick with it so far; I've got a routine going, and just knowing that I'm already committed to doing it makes it easier. It's interesting--because I already know today that I will definitely be going to class tomorrow, I am already starting to mentally prepare for that reality. Without the challenge, I would spend a lot of time and energy waffling back and forth: "Should I go tomorrow? Do I have time? What if I don't get enough sleep? Well, maybe I'll see how tired I feel in the morning. What if I don't hydrate enough beforehand? If I don't go I'll feel guilty afterward! What if it's too difficult tomorrow? What if it makes me tired during work?" Whew! No wonder it was so hard for me to get my butt into the yoga room before! I was exhausted before I even got to class.

For the first week I alternated 1 good day (i.e. I felt pretty strong and flexible throughout class) and 1 bad day (i.e. it was all I could do to go through the motions of every pose). But I saw some really rapid progress in my flexibility, and felt really good after most days. My chest was open and relaxed, and I felt I could breathe more freely than I had in a long time. I started out with some extreme lower back pain, and avoided doing the sit ups at first, but this also largely went away during the first week or so.

Then, interestingly, I think my body started to resist all this openness and sudden flexibility. Week 2 and a little beyond was pretty much a string of bad days; my hips, which had so loosened up, seemed to get really stiff and tight again, and didn't even feel loose by the end of class. My shoulderblades and back were supertight; during any pose in which we had to clasp our palms together, arms locked and overhead, I felt as though my shoulders had rubberbands in them that were about to snap, and my arms would actually start to go numb. Yow! And my chest/solar plexus area, biceps and forearms (partially remnants of some carpel tunnel issues I've had in the past) were so tight and uncomfortable that I could barely even kick out during Standing Bow Pulling Pose, due to the intense discomfort and nausea I'd feel pulling at my chest and arms. It didn't help either that it was that time of the month...sorry if that's TMI but dude, it was really difficult.

But slowly, I've been loosening up again. The past 4 or 5 days have actually all leveled out to being pretty bearable, and while I definitely have my chronic areas of stiffness and/or achyness, I also feel more able to focus and make directed effort in the yoga poses, rather than feeling overwhelmed by discomfort, nausea, and slight panic. I've grown more accustomed to the feelings of my body loosening up gradually throughout class, and while they still often feel a little unpleasant, I don't need to dwell on them as much. I feel that I'm finally moving past my body's initial reactions, and starting--just starting--my true practice. I also notice I'm drinking even more water before and after class, which probably helps me feel less gross during class.

And while each pose varies each day, I have made some definite strides already in the postures. I can actually squat all the way down during the first part of Awkward Pose, and my balance is slowly improving. I've finally been able to kick out consistently the past few days during Standing Head To Knee, though I have yet to try bending my elbows at all. I can actually balance for a few seconds with no help from my hands, and looking forward at the mirror, during Toe Stand (one side is easier than the other, interestingly). My back is clearly getting stronger during the spine-strengthening series. And my hamstrings are slowly but surely getting more flexible during the forward bend.

Progress is definitely very gradual and incremental, but I'm excited to see where I am by the end of the challenge. And I'm feeling pretty great aside from the physical, as well--proving to myself day by day that I have discipline and stores of energy and will that I didn't know I had.

60-Day Challenge!

It's official! I've just signed up for the 60-Day Challenge at Bikram Yoga San Jose, and went to my first class today.

That means I'm committing to taking a bikram class every day for 60 consecutive days. It may be tough, but I'm very motivated to see it through, and to discover what benefits it can have on my health and well-being. The benefits it claims to offer are very, very many. And I've got a big laundry list of little aches and pains to work on, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

I've done bikram yoga before, but never so consistently. The few times I've stuck to it for more than a couple days at a time, I've definitely noticed significant changes to my body and my mental state--though I've occasionally found that it makes me have too much energy to sleep at night. Well, we'll see what will happen in 60 days...in any case, today's class felt great. I had a neck injury a few weeks ago, so I'm taking it a little easy on the Rabbit pose--but I had no problems today (aside from the usual back/rib aches, lack of flexibility, etc., of course).

Wish me luck!

How many of these do you remember?

This should be a little walk down memory lane for you, if you're tapped into internet culture:

http://www.cracked.com/article_16248_9-most-obnoxious-memes-ever-escape-web.html

While I had to raise my eyebrow at the occasional female-objectifying comments slipped into the article (seems to be pretty typical of cracked.com), I appreciated being able to get more context around some of the internet phenomena I already remembered seeing before.

I remembered the Hamster Dance from my days as a prefrosh; visiting and staying at a college dorm (can't remember which), some guy sneaked into someone else's dorm room while they were sleeping, went to the hamsterdance website, turned the volume way up and ran out. Totally obnoxious...and hilarious.

The annoying motorcycle frog dude brought me back to the early days of my relationship with Catherine; true to form, she thought the frog was super cute. ;)

Of course, All Your Base also made it onto the list. I can't believe they reported about it on national television; hearing the anchorwoman repeat the phrase (not once, but twice) in her anchorperson voice was highly distressing and may have caused me actual physical pain.

And my favorite item on the list that I'd never actually heard of before: Rickrolling. The pop-up video is...awesome.

know thy seafood

I just read a very interesting and informative interview article from Salon about the sustainability of seafood. It includes some basic info about some types of seafood to prefer and to avoid.

Like the writer of the article states about herself in the intro, I too have been rather ignorant of the issues surrounding the seafood industry. I'm tempted to read the book described in the article. In the meantime, I'm probably going to hold off on ordering salmon from my work cafeteria...but supposedly canned Alaskan salmon is okay, so I can still make my beloved salmon cake salad recipe by Rachael Ray!

love it.

Animator vs. Animation

some kickin' shows coming up...

Hey guess what? :D

My group gets to perform with Sweet Honey in the Rock in less than 2 weeks. For those of you who don't know them, here's the obligatory Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Honey_in_the_Rock

I first heard about them in my Feminist Studies 101 course at Stanford; their music often speaks to issues of race and gender. I never guessed I'd get to sing with them in the future! The music relates to ties and communication across generations; there's also a youth choir collaborating that is supposed to be off the hook as well. I guess I'm not "youth" anymore; I'm now supposed to be passing my wisdom on to the young ones. :)

Up until now PME has only rehearsed alone, but starting next week we'll start rehearsing together with the other performers. The music is very rhythmic, with an easy groove. I know it will be a blast to perform once we put the pieces together.

And then the week after this awesome show, we get to do a complete 180 and go up to perform the finale of Beethoven's 9th with the Napa Valley Symphony. Given how much I thoroughly enjoyed performing with and listening to Quartet San Francisco when we collaborated with them at our holiday concert, I am really beside myself to get to perform with an entire symphony. The last thing I did that even came close was singing in the All-State choir with the All-State orchestra in high school. Methinks this performance will be a whole different ballgame. So excited.

Oh, and I will also very soon be a first-time homeowner. More on that later, I suppose. Now I'm off to bed.

monopoly wars

I first heard about this on KQED; thought it was kinda funny, kinda stupid, and kinda sad.

Here's the CNN article on it.


Interesting how FOXNews spins it slightly. No mention of the pro-Israel group's involvement to get "Jerusalem, Israel" on the list. I'm just sayin....

It's all in your mind

Hey, wow, no activity for months and then 2 posts in a day! I shock myself sometimes.

I just read this blog entry that totally, totally resonated with me, about weight loss being a very psychological and emotional issue:

http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/02/overcoming-weight-loss-bs.html

I was so inspired that I ended up writing an obnoxiously long comment on it, which I'm pasting here:

"Thanks for this straightforward post. Up until the past year or 2, I
always had an unhealthy relationship with food. Sure, I "enjoyed" the
way the food tasted, but it was all mixed up in guilt and the feeling
of binging, discomfort, self-hatred. Each choice I made to eat bad food
almost felt like a reaffirmation of my inability to change, like "so
there, I'm eating bad food again and I don't care!" But oh, did I care.


I'd tried diets, exercise, including the Body For Life
program, but all of those things involved this level of overhead that
didn't seem sustainable. It took some continual, gentle prodding by my
significant other to convince me that perhaps it didn't have to be so
difficult. She always ate more salads and lower-fat foods than me, and
I used to interpret that as her being on a constant diet, and that she
must have just been better at depriving herself from the really yummy
foods than I was. Finally, she convinced me to try eating one
"healthier" meal per day, and allowing myself to eat a meal I liked for
the other meal(s). This was already a mental shift for me, because
before that point I had always felt that I had to be either "on the
wagon"--depriving myself of all fatty foods-- or "off the
wagon"--completely out of control of what I was eating. The idea that
what I ate could be negotiated on a per-meal or per-day basis was a key
shift. Anyway, I did this for a couple weeks, and was shocked to find
that I not only started to lose weight, but started to develop more of
a taste for healthier foods. I started getting more creative with what
the "healthier" meal consisted of, and found that there was much more
variety beyond "tasteless salad" or "turkey breast sandwich."
Eventually, the very nature of my relationship with food had changed. I
was no longer falling on and off of diets, and riding rollercoasters of
self-worth, but was negotiating the balance between feeling good,
feeling light, feeling healthy and energetic, versus fulfilling
cravings and occasionally giving myself some well-deserved indulgences.


On a side note, one thing that was surprisingly helpful to me
was buying a weight scale and weighing myself every morning. It sounds
obsessive, but it's just a simple way of playing this negotiation game.
Some days, I'll have eaten really healthily for several days at a time,
and stepping on the scale is some great positive affirmation that I'm
taking good care of myself. Other days, I'll have indulged in some less
healthy foods, and will notice that I've gained a pound or 2, or even
3. At that point, I can scale down the fatty foods for a bit and get
back to my normal weight. This is much better for me than my previous
behavior--I'd do a weight loss program like BFL, obsessing over my
weight all the time. Then, when the program ended, I'd be completely
sick of the whole thing, and just coast along, eating what I liked,
until before I knew it I had gained 10 pounds back! It's much easier
and quicker to intervene with 1 or 2 pounds than with 10. Works for me,
maybe it will help someone else too.

Anyway, after I simply
changed my mentality, I lost 20 pounds (which I'd never done before)
and have kept them off consistently ever since. I know I'll never need
those extra pounds again."

Words from the heart, for real.

Why we should stop drinking bottled water

My favorite local public radio show, Forum, on my favorite local public radio station, KQED, just aired an episode interviewing the author of "Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water." You can listen to it online here.

It's an hour-long show, but I *highly* recommend you listen to it. Great show in general, the host Michael Krasny is a really great interviewer and discussion leader.

Anyway, the show really sheds light on some fundamental issues relating to the water crisis and how it relates to the environment as a whole. And, it puts the whole water industry into perspective. The recent news about Pepsi, Nestle, and Coca Cola's bottled water coming straight from tap was a shock to me. We tend to make assumptions that things that are packaged with brands we recognize are of a higher "quality," and I agree with Maude, it's elitist. I hope that bottled water becomes uncool at some point in the future. As for me, I've just ordered some nice Camelbak reusable water bottles for my own use.

Also, if you're unsure of the quality of your tap water, you should do some digging online. I found out a whole lot about the water in my neighborhood and the neighborhoods around it, including why the water is so hard, and the implications of that. The filter in my freezer's water dispenser is sufficient to remove the chlorine used to treat it.

Alright, back to being busy....