Winter Time

It's funny how lack of pictures causes me to stop blogging. I still haven't gotten that system down yet, but vow to blog a bit more. To be honest it's not so I can deliver more wonderful essays to my large viewing public (as neither terms are correct - essay, large), but frankly believe it is cathardic and fun to rediscover in years to come.



I had my birthday this month and as we appreciate the wonderful day of leap year it got me thinking and evaluating things in life. I'm much older now (it's amazing what one day can do) and I've basically boiled the results of all my musings down to two key items:



1. I'm more calm and accepting of things. This might be a bit of a stretch, and I'm not quite there, but am heading in this direction. As I'm around young ones more and more - their energy of putting right all that is wrong - from systems to the world, made me realize there is a lot of energy put into yelling the loudest. If you work with the flow and realize nothing really matters, you can focus much better on things that matter most to you (and spend some time figuring out what that exactly is - it can't be everything).



2. The other realization is that I'm old and my body is starting to break down. I'm not one to take good care of it other than to eat fairly well, not smoke or drink heavily (that's not bad), it's starting to take it's toll. I'm a stiff crinkled up person now. Mainly because I slept weird last night so have a stiff neck and can't look right. But in addition to that, my back has gotten worse over the last couple months (year). The stress in the upper back is fine. It's the lower back that has gotten so bad that when I sneeze it hurts. Also, I've never had skin issues. The teenage years had been kind to me and chocolate and I have a very friendly relationship. But the end of last year I got a skin condition and it's not gone away. So, the conclusion, I'm old. I need to pay more attention to things.



My answer to it all? After more thinking and evaluating and searching, I came up with my two quick fixes (us American's love our quick fixes). They are quite simple, harmless (hopefully) and fairly inexpensive:



1. Water. I don't drink enough. Studies show 65% of americans don't (got that one from tv). That could be the answer to everything for me - from headaches, to low energy, to skin issues, to forgetfulness, to not being able to find a mate, to conquering the world! But really, it's a good thing. The bad thing, and why I've always proclaimed that I'm not much of a drinker is simply, what goes in, must come out. I don't like the bathroom - the toilet, showering, brushing the teeth, etc. I don't mind doing it all, but if I don't have to, I'd rather not. But I'm trying. If I must pee 10 times a day to be healthy, than, so be it. There, I just picked up my water three times while writing this. I might have to take a quick bathroom break soon.



2. Yoga. Not any old normal yoga, but dahn yoga. Frankly, I thought yoga was yoga. Although I knew enough to stay away from the b.. yoga - the kind that people go to a really hot room and sweat (crazy people). This one is nicely located near home, and I was running late this week, so ended up having a nice little jog there (well, half of the way - don't forget, I'm out of shape). It ended up being perfect for what I need right now. I'm not sure if I'm up for the normal yoga. This one is more emphasis on centering the inner body and stretching. The stretching I absolutely need so that I can straighten out hte back issue without doing damage. The centering bit seems a bit far fetched. But I gave it a go. And guess what, by the end, we were doing this exercise and I could feel the magnetic repelling between my hands - and before the instructor talked about it so no sublminal message there. Even though it was so low key, I still had trouble. I have some defecency in my muscles (I'm hoping it's water), as I tend to shake. Since I'm not normally still, you (well really me) can't notice. But standing in place for a long time, I had a hard time keeping my legs from shaking. A little strange, but hoping that by doing this every week, it'll get better (I'll see a doctor if it doesn't - no worries).



So that's that. We'll see how it goes, but considering yoga was my news resolution am feeling pretty good (we won't mention that it was a 2007 resolution, water is 2008). Rereading this just now, I will mention that I've been hosting a Spelling Smackdown at work. It's great fun - we're doing one a month and I get to host since I'm such a horrible speller. However, since I put together the word lists, I'm getting better as I learn more words.



And finally, in knitting world, I'm itching to start a new sweater... of my own design. I'm still all over the place, but think it will finally happen this year. Some patterns I follow and I think, "I can't believe I paid money for this". So hopefully that's a good sign. Nothing ventured nothing gained. I've finished a few projects, some worked, some didn't, but updates on those when I have pics (this weekend?).