Okay, I can’t resist posting. Two weeks from today, Anna and I will be on our way to Mysore. I’m thinking that at exactly this time, we’ll be over the ocean, heading for Paris. A two hour layover there, then on to Bangalore and, ultimately, Mysore.
I’ll be blogging about the trip at: http://journeytomysore.wordpress.com
Me: I put a quart of cold orange juice away in the pantry once. Didn’t find it until the next day. Let’s tell each other these stories. We can watch each other grow senile. It’ll be fun!
Cousin: Okay… beat this. Running around crazy doing errands…left a store, grabbed my cell out of my pocketbook… got into the car started to drive and called Gena. I had to pick up something for her and couldn’t remember where it was… Anyway, I’m flying down the highway talking to her and suddenly I’m yelling about how I have to go back and grab my cell phone because I can’t find it.
Me: Ha! You might win with that one. But we still have plenty of time to do even dumber things. Here’s one: I put my glasses on one afternoon. Whoa — suddenly everything looked all fuzzy. Weird! Pulled them off, and I could see perfectly. “Oh my God!” I thought, “My eyes have healed themselves!” Put the glasses back on: fuzzy. Took them off: clear. A miracle! Yeah, then I realized I had my contacts on.
***
A couple of nights ago, Daisy had a run in with a coyote. We have six foot and eight foot walls around the whole yard. She was out there alone, and suddenly I heard a dog fight. Ran out, and saw her running toward me. I grabbed a flashlight and went over by the wall, could hear something in the neighbor’s yard. The only two things that could have gotten over the fence that fast are a cat or a coyote. Couldn’t have been a cat, because there were no cat noises in the scuffle.
I’m taking Daisy to obedience classes, because she doesn’t seem to like/trust other dogs (other than Waylon), and I don’t like how she growls at other animals. Yeah, you should have seen her at her obedience class the night after the coyote fight. She was super aggressive. Damn nature! It’s messing up my plans for a sedate dog.
***
While I was in Tucson, I had an Ayurvedic consultation with L. I am pitta-vata, with a bad case (thanks a lot, job!) of super-aggravated vata. Exhaustion, spaciness, etc.
Since the session, I’ve been eating more carefully and using herbs to square the vata situation away. Been going remarkably well — until a few minutes ago, when someone on my team (who knows I love candy corn) left a big handful on my desk.
Can I resist the candy corn? I cannot.
After an ugly morning of emails pouring in as I sat on con calls, helplessly watching the work pile up in my mailbox, I spent my lunch break at the eye specialist.
This all started at my annual eye check up. The doctor looked in my eyes with the bright light and asked if I’ve been experiencing any visual distortions. Negative. Still, he said he saw an abnormality in my retina and that I should book an appointment with a specialist.
So that’s where I went today. Nice office but no wireless or 4G reception. Great. Finally some time as I sat waiting for my appointment and I couldn’t even get at my emails, which were continuing to increase. Sigh.
A technician puts drops in my eyes to dilate them, and I sit there. Blurry.
Finally my eyes and the doctor are ready. She then takes a series of instruments with increasingly brighter lights and shines them directly into my eyes until I feel like she is burning a hole into the middle of my skull. Ow! I am light sensitive to begin with, so this was AWFUL. She was VERY thorough, combing my eyes over and over with the blowtorch light. I don’t complain about the dentist; I don’t complain about root canals. I am complaining about this. Seriously, it seemed like a good torture device.
She pushed her chair back after five leisurely minutes spent searing my eyes and my brain and everything that connects them. “I don’t see anything,” she announced.
Huh.
Well, that’s good news, though hard to feel really cheerful when I am blinded and teary and thinking about migraines.
I make my way through the check out process mostly by remembering where the desk is and estimating where the face of the attendant is when I smile and say “thank you.”
She says, “You had your eyes dilated. Would you like some dark glasses?”
“No, thanks,” I say breezily. “My glasses darken in the sunlight…” and then I step outside into a July Scottsdale sun and my brain screams, “…but not FAST enough! And not DARK enough!” I stumble to my car which has crazy dark tinted windows (which I usually rather hate), and yay, my eyes stop imploding.
A probably not entirely safe drive to work. And as I walk down the hall to my office, everything is lightness and blurry edges. “Like walking toward God,” I think. Yup, this is just how Hollywood would style an office building set in heaven.
Re: chimp grins and my reluctance about being photographed. A little info from the San Diego Zoo:
- Chimpanzees don’t like to be in water and usually can’t swim.
- Some observers have noted chimps feeding on medicinal plants when they are ill or injured.
- Research has shown that chimps and humans share 98 percent of their genes.
- Chimps can recognize themselves in a mirror.
- Chimpanzees make a grunting sound when they are happy.
- A toothy “grin” actually indicates fear or anxiety.
I’m not down with submissive gestures. For all of my cultivated equanimity, I’m off the charts on the D of DISC tests.
Anyhow, see the resemblance to my work photo? Really, it’s uncanny.
***
Reptile fest!
This morning, right before I stepped on the mat, I heard Daisy barking and barking. Nothing new. She likes to go out in the middle of the yard and bark, in hopes that the neighborhood dogs will bark back. She loves to pick fights. If she’s human in her next life, she’ll be a cage fighter for sure.
Something sounded a little different about the bark, so I looked out and noticed she was barking at something on the ground. When I went to check, I found a little (18 inch) snake coiled up & looking upset. Whoa! I grabbed Daisy, called Waylon, and retreated to the house. Where I got a camera so I could take pictures.
Here’s the picture I took to investigate its markings. You can get an idea of how little this guy is — or else those are some big grass blades.
Then I Googled to try to see if it was a rattlesnake. I figured that if I could make a positive identification, I’d need to go back and kill it. I don’t like killing stuff, but I do make exceptions for black widows and I think I’d feel the same about rattlesnakes. They’re a threat to the dogs, and I don’t think you can relocate them very easily.
Anyhow, from what I can gather, baby rattlers usually have a bud (though very small) on their tails right from the get-go. This snake had a pointy, non-rattler tail. And its marking didn’t look like what I found online. So I left it alone.
Went into the yoga room to practice and as I was pulling the curtains against the sun, I noticed that the huge lizard who hangs out on the top of the block wall was sitting on the ground next to the lawn mower! This is very weird — he ALWAYS stays on the top of the wall.
The reptiles are going berserk around here.
I tried to get a picture of the big lizard, but he took off when I opened the door to try to sneak up on him.
At this point, I am monitoring dog visits to the back yard. In fact, I am at home for lunch right now and wearing my dress along with The Cop’s muddy outdoor sneakers so I can supervise the dogs on their pee runs.
Animal kingdom. Over and out.
Great day so far — got up late (7:15!), had coffee, practiced. Went for a walk in the desert with The Cop and Waylon. Came home, had lunch, read (a great book that I read years ago & am thoroughly enjoying re-reading). Made pasta for dinner tonight. (Last night I made a chocolate bundt cake with cream cheese glaze that we’ll bring along, as well.) Just now I’m having a cup of chai and one of these. Damn, they’re good! They actually came in a basket The Cop’s parents sent. I set them aside, not too terribly interested in trying them. Finally got around to having one last night. OMG. Unbelievable.
We’ll be at my Mom and Dad’s house this evening — The Cop, My Gift, Waylon and me. My sister, her girlfriend and their dog, Wiley, are in from San Diego. Ought to be fun.
Some pics from this morning. The Cop and Way:
Lots of cholla cactus around the trail. Waylon managed to get a bit in his front left paw. The Cop got most of it out on the trail, and I just pulled the last bit out a minute ago when I saw him fussing with his paw again.
And here’s Way with an early Christmas present. Hope everyone gets everything they want in 2010!
I accomplished a lot today, seemingly without really trying. By noon, The Cop and I had spent a little time having breakfast at Starbucks with Waylon, the house was clean, clothes were ironed for the week, and all my little chores completed.
When we first arrived at Starbucks this morning, a man was sitting outside at one table talking to a young woman at another table. She had on a yellow and gold dress and looked like she’d been up all night. She was very thin and twitchy and I understood she was a meth user even before I saw The Cop’s eyes, which change a little when he sees… uh, persons of interest.
As we were sitting with our coffee, an older man dressed in golf clothes stopped to look at Waylon.
“That is a big pit bull,” he said.
We told him that Waylon is not a pit bull. He asked a few questions, then said, “He seems friendly.” When we agreed, he smiled and drew closer and spasmodically poked the air in front of Waylon’s face a few times. “Nice dog,” he said as he walked happily to his car.
I wondered what kind of animals the man usually interacts with. His gesture wouldn’t be appreciated by cats. I thought about birds, and imagined him being bitten. Reptiles? I couldn’t imagine they’d respond well, either. The Cop had wondered the same thing and come up with his own explanation: “Maybe he has a five year old at home that he likes to flick on the head.”
***
Here’s a picture of Waylon with his true love. He can only play with it when Maxine is asleep. She does not allow anyone else to play with a ball when she is awake. Seriously. I have to hide yoga balls and tennis balls because she bites and “kills” the big ones, and declares ultimate ownership (she will NOT share, but will pretty much fight to the death) over smaller ones.
I was worried at first that Waylon might swallow the tennis ball, but as it turns out, he just wants to carry it around and lie down next to it and gaze at it lovingly.
***
Nothing like a super short short story. Lydia Davis. Here’s a good story — and a link to an interview, and a link to more samples…
Leading Your Boss: The Subtle Art of Managing Up
Harvard Business IdeaCast
Dance with Chance
The Invisible Hand: Management, Economics and Strategy (Episode 85)
Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization
I listen to podcasts while I clean the house on the weekend. And then I look up books related to the podcasts. Today has been pretty entertaining. I mean, what more can I ask for: Managing up! Change management! Two of my favorite things. I am still reading last week’s find: James Austin’s Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty, which is about Chance! and Creativity! and Science! More favorite things.
Okay, so today’s podcasts. Managing up (or down, or across) can be pretty discouraging, right? I have a few burn-out bald spots on my aura ’cause of being a manager, it’s true. And effecting organizational change? Using real people? Haha! As if!
Okay, so I recognize that the job of management can be unforgiving, and I recognize that people pretty much scoff at the idea that adult humans can really change, but here’s the God’s honest truth: I always feel optimistic about these things. Why? Because we can use *creativity* in the workplace, and an organization is an enormous petri dish just waiting to house new experiments! The more things seem impossible, the more I think up new ideas. I can’t help myself. I get invited to LOTS of meetings/teams/projects — it’s something my boss tries to protect me from, but it’s also something I find incredibly energizing. I think it’s a result of (and, let’s face it) a source of tapas. Yes, I think it’s intimately linked with my practice.
Yeah, I know. We’re supposed to use the energy that results from tapas to pursue spiritual enlightenment. I can’t shake the conviction, though, that we’re supposed to dig into real life, like the zen practitioner who finally rides the ox he’s tamed into the marketplace. Apparently, my ox is pointed toward a business setting. I’m as surprised about this as anyone.
Farmers market for turnips, spinach, apples, dates, bosc pears, carrots. Everything looked so good. It feels like fall. And yes, it’s a crisp 82 degrees in the desert. The season’s a’changin’.
Vanessa has mentioned dal one time too many on her blog. So now there’s a big pot of masoor dal simmering on my stove. It’ll be great later with some jasmine rice. No matter how many times I mix up Indian spices, I am always surprised at how good it smells: cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon, cayenne. It really seems like a kind of magic, the way they all work together.
It’s a double no-practice day: Saturday AND the moon day. In honor of relaxing, I am going to watch an episode of “Californication” on Netflix. My Gift turned me on to this program, and it is utterly hilarious. It makes me want to move to LA, even though I imagine once I got there, I’d be sorry…
Old refrigerator broke. New refrigerator arrived. Cop was shocked by price of refrigerators these days.
The Cop was in traffic accident. Broadsided. While in unmarked police car. Karen keeps giggling about what a drag it’d be to hit another car, only to have a uniformed cop emerge from said vehicle. (He wasn’t hurt in the crash, BTW.)
Work has been utterly crazy. So much so that The Poetess (who wanted to get in earlier to do her own practice) has been opening the door for me at 5:30 instead of 6. Yesterday I practiced until 7 AM, stepped outside the room to take a short conference call, then went back in to finish up.
Maxine is having health challenges. She’s an ancient dog! She’s hanging in. Has taken to being picky about food. I figured out how to tempt her, though. Two bacon snacks sandwiching a blob of peanut butter. I call it “The Elvis.”
I am reading Marcus Buckingham’s book, Find Your Strongest Life. I am NOT a self-help kind of reader, but I was very curious about this book. Apparently he suggests we ditch “balance” in our lives — trying to have everything and then balance it is more stressful than just figuring out what you really want/are good at and then focusing on that. That idea sounds SO appealing.
About once a year, I’ll have an extended period of criminal behavior. Generally, I avoid writing about it. Obviously, the potential for stirring up emotion about adherence to the system is pretty high. But you know, I am having such a good time that I am going to blog about my experience.
Back in the day, when I had one of these “vacations” from Ashtanga, I would be all concerned: “How can I call myself an Ashtangi? What if I never practice Ashtanga again?!” Yeah. Okay, well, here’s how it plays out: I have an alternate practice for about a month, I learn a lot, and then I miss Ashtanga so much that I can’t stand it and revert to regular practice.
It’s really not unlike times when I’d finish a book of poetry, then spend my time worrying about whether I’d ever write again. (Melodrama!) Yeah, I always write again, and so… um, whatever.
All of this started last Saturday, when I played around with a practice Linda outlined and was rewarded with an extraordinarily sweet savasana. Next day, all I wanted to do was this practice again. And then the next day. And then I spent time tormenting myself about what I should and shouldn’t be doing. And then I laughed at myself.
So this is what I’ve been up to this week:
Matthew Sweeney Simha Krama shoulder openers
Sirsasana – 3m
Marci Naujokat shoulder stretch – 1m / Backbend, at wall – 1m / Marci shoulder stretch – 5m
Pasasana – 1m / Uttanasana – 1m / Squat – 1m
Virasana – 3m / Supta Virasana – 2m
Pincha Mayurasana – 1m / Anjanayasana A – 1m
Vrischikasana A– 1m / Anjanayasana B – 1m
Vrischikasana A– 1m
Hanumanasana – 1m
Venkatesh Standing Arches
Hands on hips, feet together – 1m / 90deg bend – 1m
Hands on hips, feet hip width – 1m / 90deg bend – 1m
Straight arms up & over, feet together – 1m / Uttanasana – 1m / up & over – 1m
Straight arms up & over, feet hip width – 1m / Uttanasana – 1m / up & over – 1m
Bhujangasana – 1m / Ustrasana – 1m / Ardho Mukha Svanasana in wall ropes – 1 m
Kapotasana hangback – 1m / Kapotasana – 1m / Ardho Mukha Svanasana in wall ropes – 1 m
Urdhva dhanurasana – 1m
Dropbacks
Closing
Savasana