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April 6, 2005
manta del tigre 
You might be thinking, okay, VJ's really lost it now. Race car quotes. What's that about?
In motorcycle training, we learned that we needed to look where we wanted to go. That sounds really simple, right? But I found if I watched the instructor (being a sucker for positive reinforcement), I'd come awfully close to hitting him. If I looked at the cones I was trying not to drive over, I'd drive right over them. You have to look through the turn to where you want to go.
I suddenly realized that this could be a metaphor when I read the race car quote this morning. You have choices. You can focus on the obstacle—or you can focus on where you want to be, being aware of the obstacle. Just a thought.
This morning, I wanted to get in to work early, since I was only working a half day (okay, a 2/3rds day) and I had a training eating a couple hours of that. So I got myself out early and walked up MLK to meet the bus. I spotted the bus right before I got to the stop in front of a junk store, so I ambled up there tout suite. Two people were already standing at the stop, chatting in Spanish, and suddenly I understood that they were talking about the junk shop. In fact, the junk shop window, which had been smashed.
I wondered aloud when it had happened, and there was some discussion as to if it had happened yesterday, or this morning. The funniest thing was that the "hole" just wasn't that big, and that nothing really seemed amiss in the shop. Except some of the heinous blankets and sheet sets were no longer in the window. "Yeah, somebody really needed that tiger-striped blanket", the guy said, and we all laughed.
My training was great—the best kind, where you get excited about going to apply what you learned. After that, I went to allegro, my first real allegro workout, where I got really sweaty and worked very hard. I mentioned to my instructor that after about 20 or 30 minutes, I could no longer find my abdominal muscles, and I had to go on faith that I was actually "activating" them, and she said that she thought it was good that I recognized that, and that I was probably getting stronger, and not noticing that part, just the part where the stomach goes, dude, I'm tired and I don't feel like doing anymore.
It's clear to me, already, that the allegro workout is worth every penny of its $21 an hour charge, as I am getting personal attention from someone who is not afraid to call me on my lack of ab activation (though overall, she seemed pleased about my progress). It's hard enough that I have to just keep my mouth shut (and frequently, shut my eyes too) and do the exercises. It's hard because my mouth would like to go nonstop, trying to make connections, trying to be the class clown, etc. Shut up and do it, Veej.
Next stop, the chiropractor. It's strange now having two, and I thought while I was in the waiting room of today's chiropractor, eg, the chiropractor I've been seeing since I was in a huge car accident 10 years ago, that maybe I should be at the sports chiropractor, since my shoulder ffffock-up happened in cardio boxing. Oh well. It's nice to hear my chiro say that I'm solid muscle, and that my whole body has changed in the last couple months. Is that from pilates? What the hell else would it be from, I wonder? Nice.
To do:
— Do your damn taxes
Posted at April 6, 2005
Comments
Hmmm, that sounds like a good thought for me this weekend. Thanks!
Posted by: susan at April 7, 2005 3:34 AM