Inn of the Wandering Dragon

It is not my imagination, I actually am walking a bit differently today. I enjoyed my third yoga class a couple nights ago and I have been stretching muscles I had no idea could be stretched. Or if I thought they could be stretched the notion of how I was going to contort myself to best effect without hurting myself had not yet materialized. Thankfully almost all of the people in my class are at the same level as myself - complete newbie! This means the instructor is taking time and care to make sure we are all learning the poses correctly. After my one attempt at a drop in class last year I definitely appreciate this pace.

To be honest I only had a passing interest in yoga in the past, although I have always enjoyed the feel of a good stretch. Last year I purchased a DVD of belly dance drills, which included a 20 minute yoga warm up. I watched through the warm up section repeatedly and I can follow reasonably well but it is made for those who know what they are doing. I always had a suspicion that I would hurt myself if I was not very careful so I have usually done my own warm up. Now that the opportunity to learn has presented itself I felt I could not pass it up. I can see and feel that yoga practice compliments my ongoing dance practice. It strengthens the core and I am learning how to really stretch out and relax those areas that do so much of the work in belly dance. Eventually I will be able to take full advantage of the DVD contents as well.

Of course, reaching that blissful feeling of relaxation after stretching out tense muscles is a great benefit no matter what your other activities are. Just be prepared to walk a little differently.

I think I am finally starting to feel human again. This past couple of weeks have been pulling at my nerves until I am snapping and snarling at just about everything. There is no major single reason for this state. Rather a bunch of little ones that have been compounded with the lack of some real decompression time. For myself I need some time completely alone to really unwind and re-charge. Given that the boyfriend had the same time off for the holidays as I did meant that I really did not get any time to myself. Yes I could relax and do stuff but it is not complete in the same way. Yesterday I enjoyed a full day of peacefull solitude and I am feeling so much better for it.

Today has been a relatively quiet day with the exception of the arrival of the newer appliances. The oven in my suite had become completely unreliable for temperature. Christmas baking gets a lot more interesting when the temperature spikes an extra 25 degrees between tray #2 and tray #3 of cookies. The landlord has brought in a stove and fridge (the existing one was pretty old) and everything has been swapped over. So now I can feel happy that I no longer have an approaching fire trap for an appliance. The kitchen is cleaned, the house is swept and vaccuumed, the laundry is done and I have had some time and space to breathe.

Life really isn't so bad.

It is officialy the eve of the new year. Reflections anyone? I am not one to make resolutions per se but I did make up my mind last year that there were a few things I wanted to work on.

Reduce clutter - has pretty much been an uphill battle all year. The boyfriend keeps bringing home more stuff - stuff from work, stuff from home, stuff from shopping. I have also contributed to the stuff collection but I appear to be the only one who is trying to weed out extra stuff. The end result is that I feel like I am drowning in clutter and just throwing a whole bunch of stuff in the dump is sounding more and more like a great idea. Allright, this one stays on the list.

Fill Sketchbooks - I have not been entirely successful with this one either. I have done a fair bit in terms of Artist Trading Cards and henna practice. I have done some drawing in my sketchbooks (I have 2 on the go right now) so I will not say it has been a total wash. This one also stays on my list for the new year.

Increase Movement - In this I have been successfull. I have regualrily attended dance classes and I have been working out at the gym. In fact I have been considering adding another dance class to the roster. I just need to decide if that will be workable schedual wise. This goal can now be re-written to Maintain Movement.

Oh yes, and if you really want to feel like you have come full circle, the boyfriend has upgraded the amp for the stereo system and is currently trying to reprogram everything. Again.

Happy New Years Everyone!

We are now well into the month of December and I can gleefully torment my boyfriend with everything Christmas! Don't get me wrong, he is not a complete Scrooge as he does grudgingly enjoy the family get-togethers. But to his mind all the trimmings are a complete waste of time.


Not suprisingly, I disagree.

Putting up the tree is an event in and of itself that is marked with the presence of family, Christmas music and good food. We are always invited over to my parents house for their tree decorating. It is concluded with turning off the house lights to sit back and enjoy the decorated tree in all of its splendor.


With the tiny space I have, my tiny Christmas tree gets put up on the book shelf, more to discourage the cat from knocking it over than anything else. The tree is out along with a few decorations, and the tree itself will be decorated sometime this week.

Wrapping the presents is typically done in one or two sittings and almost has an air of ritual present as the occasion (in my mind anyway) demands eggnog and a clear solitary work space. And of course one must always have some spare wrapping and ribbon present to satisfy the shredding needs of the cat. This way the presents are more likely to have their wrappings unscathed. This also gives me a good excuse to take a stretch break and play with the cat.

Gingerbread cookies have been baked, along with the bread loaves. There is still a little more shopping to be done - I hope to finish that this week. The cards have all been sent out and those comming in are being displayed up on the wall. I even picked up some new Christmas music to play, Loreena McKennit's A Midwinter Night's Dream, which I am looking forward to enjoying.

All in all this season is thus far turning out well.