Optimism and Joy

[tesla]

It must be spring: my optimism and joy are back in force!

Who's up for a trip to the Minnesota History Center on Saturday? Their current exhibit is "The Enemy Within: Terror in America 1776 to Today." I've been wanting to experience it since I heard of it, and it only runs through May 4.


Unrelated thoughts:

I'm taking community education yoga classes two nights a week. Both of them are labeled "fitness yoga," but one is very meditative and eastern whereas the other is more dynamic and athletic. It's neat to see the two instructors' different styles of teaching as well as their different takes on yoga. I've never done yoga before and so far I'm enjoying it very, very much. (One friend asked why I wanted to be a short old green guy with big ears, but I think he must've misheard me.)

I'm also taking ballroom dancing. I found a class that didn't require signing up as a couple. Even so, I'm the only "single" taking it. It turns out that this works to my advantage; I get to dance with the instructor, which appears to be incredibly easy compared with dancing with someone who's just learning. So far we've had just the one class and by the end of it I actually felt as though I was dancing rather than just rhythmically putting my feet where they were supposed to go.

Yesterday morning I went to put my boot on and found that my foot wouldn't go all the way in due to something soft but firm in the toe. I pulled out first my foot and then a purple fuzzy sparkly ball. (I found this greatly preferable to a mouse, which is what Marble used to leave in my slippers.)

My house is completely infested with its multicolored fuzzy sparkly relatives. Some of them have migrated upstairs. One very persistent red one leaped on to my bed (possibly with help of a symbiotic kitten) no fewer than three times during the course of the night. For some reason the kittens seem to feel that it's very important that these F.S. balls are well taken care of, and even go so far as to pick them up like tiny kittens and carry them around.

Work is odd: If you ever want somebody to cook the books, I'm not the right person to ask. If you pressure me enough I'll make up the numbers that you want out of thin air, but then I'll remind you of it every time we speak until the project has died a violent death. Also, the phrase "business justification" is NOT synonymous with, "Here's our arbitrary decision. Now, come up with something with which we can rationalize it."

I do, however, cook a mean rack of ribs. I've never tried doing barbequed ribs in the oven before tonight. It worked remarkably well. Just rub the things with a nice spice mixture, keep the heat down low and keep draining the fat off, and you end up with tender, delicious, fall-to-pieces "dry" spareribs. Nom, nom, nom!

Now I'm off to play my guitar - something which I've been doing again just recently, much to my delight.


Good night, my friends! (Or, in Shadow's words, "Rrrrrrr-meow!")

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I'm saving that exhibit to do with B., who will be available in the last week of the month.

K.

[tesla-aldrich.livejournal.com]

Hmmm - if you'd like to make it a group endeavor I could do Friday 4/25 (day or eve) or Saturday 4/26 instead.

That weekend is also the Mpls-St. Paul Home Tour and the Art Crawl, so I'm having a little trouble juggling.

[jbru.livejournal.com]

I've been looking at that exhibit too, but do not think I'll be available Saturday. I'll give a ring, though, if things open up.

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

It seems like something to wait for minnehaha B to go with, but I'm up for it if you're unwilling to wait.

[daedala.livejournal.com]

Ooh, what kind of ballroom dancing? I do swing, and tend to go alone.

I love the little fuzzy sparkly balls.

[tesla-aldrich.livejournal.com]

In the two hour class we learned the most basic bits of two-step, foxtrot, waltz, and swing. I'd love to find someplace to go out and dance (in a perfect world I'd also find someone with whom to dance).

[daedala.livejournal.com]

Tapestry (38th & Minnehaha) has swing dance lessons that do not require a partner in reality, as well as on paper -- the leads make a bigcircle and the follows all rotate, so you dance with lots of people and don't get set into mutual bad habits with one partner. If you like the swing (East Coast, I assume, if you're learning it in that little time...), the Tapestry lessons on Thursdays are fun. The first Thursday of every month is basics night, and then the rest of the month they do non-basic steps. There's an East Coast lesson, a Lindy Hop lesson, and then a social dance.

I like Tapestry swing. :) I dunno how other lessons there work; the ballroom might be good, too. If you want someone you know to be there (even if someone you can't dance with; I'm assuming you follow, as I do) I can be talked into going very easily.

[guppiecat]

I'd be interested in the terror exhibit, but I will not be in your area this Saturday... perhaps another day?

It sounds like your ballroom dancing experience is starting out "on a better foot" than mine. My instructor didn't dance with anyone other than the demos, so I was passed around to various women, with whom I had to be extremely careful to avoid breaking hips. I'll be interested in hearing if you have the same problem I did later on, as the lack of a partner made it very difficult to practice and I fell behind the rest of the class. (The cats tried, but couldn't seem to get the steps correctly.)

Ah yes, I had forgotten to warn you. The Little Fuzzy Sparkly Balls are a lower-order mammal, and have difficulty regulating their body temperature. Thus, they occasionally take shelter in the toes of slippers and boots for warmth (and vacuum avoidance).

Interesting you bring up "cooking the books", as it's been appearing in my life with increasing frequency. One I am not at liberty to mention (dealing with that situation currently), the other one is fascinating. For the last few years, Quicken has been pushing a form of web-based hosted book keeping. I had been excited, as it meant that the Quicken dependency forcing people to Windows-based servers was finally gone, and was puzzled as to why people weren't flocking to it...

Then I realized that, if the data resides on Intuit's servers, they're more likely to release it to the IRS. Keeping two sets of books with a hosted service is much riskier.

Glad to hear you're feeling happier, a most pleasant rrrrrrr-meow to you as well. :)

Re: Yoda

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

I'm taking community education yoga classes two nights a week. Both of them are labeled "fitness yoga," but one is very meditative and eastern whereas the other is more dynamic and athletic. It's neat to see the two instructors' different styles of teaching as well as their different takes on yoga. I've never done yoga before and so far I'm enjoying it very, very much.

I'm now thinking I was very lucky in my first set of Yoga classes. It was labeled High Energy Yoga, and was actually a pretty intensive workout. And it always ended with the class in corpse pose for some "guided meditation". The original instructor stopped teaching Yoga and started doing Shiatsu Massage. Her replacement, Becky Fromberg, was just as good. Unfortunately, I think she only teaches south of the river. I've seen her at the Winnipeg Folk Festival a couple of times - her SO has the habit of bicycling to Winnipeg for the festival.

Yoga is another bit of exercise I should try to make a habit.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear that you're liking yoga. It is interesting to get the perspectives of different teacherrs. My favorite teacher is the one who infused a lot of meditation/pranayama into the physical aspect of it. The breathing exercises especially are vital to the goal of unifying body and mind. The physical movements are only one of the eight limbs of yoga. (Don't get me going on this!) *Grin*

[chadvalentine.livejournal.com]

We SO meant to come by on Sunday, but I was in a Vicious and Despairing Condition.