January 13, 2008
a message from apple yogurt
1/13/08
Three Things I Tried for the Very First Time This Weekend:
Yoga - Well, that's not entirely true. Chip signed me up for this "Beginning Ashtanga" seminar in 2002 that consisted of 45 chicks who knew what they were doing, and me and Chip trying desperately to follow a super-annoying teacher who gave us indescribable back spasms. Plus, it was hot.
After that experience, I've shied away from the subject, even though everyone I know - including dudes - have been into it, or are doing it still. But when Tessa pointed me to an "Absolute Beginners" program a few blocks away at Exhale, I decided to sign up for the weekend introduction, mostly because I want this year to be a "yes" year. The teacher was awesome, she explained everything slowly, no expectations were forced on us, and I thought it was kind of awesome. Even though it was hot too. What is with yoga having to be hot all the time?
One thing that stuck with me - besides the inner sense of peace and the feeling of conquering an old bias - is how weird everyone's toes are. There were probably fifty people in there, and every one of them had bizarre toes. Except this one woman who was a foot model.
Deep-tissue massage - I am very late to the massage game. I still keep accidentally calling them "backrubs" which makes Tessa look at me like I'm seven years old. I'm still fascinated that you can actually pay someone you don't know to touch your body, let alone do so with no inherent intimacy. I don't think I ever lived anywhere that offered actual massages, and certainly all of us were afraid to try University Massage in Chapel Hill lest we end up with gonorrhea and a tapeworm.
Miracle of miracles, there's a chain here in LA that offers $44 massages in these delightful little rooms, so I called. The only time they could see me yesterday was at 4:15, with a "therapist" named Ort, who specialized in Extra Deep Tissue Massage. I told the receptionist my back issues were too numerous to mention and what "Extra Deep Tissue" meant.
"Well," she said, "It's really for people who can't find anyone else to go as deep as they want."
"But can... Ort... be a little more gentle?"
"Apparently he's gotten better at not being so intense."
The whole thing sounded like Hagrid softpedaling one of his magical creatures in the Forbidden Forest ("Really, Hermione - Grawp is just being playful!") and that turned out to be the case. Ort looks half-German, half-sumo wrestler, and when he touches your back, it's like a bear reaching into the still waters of a pond. He takes your shoulder muscles and plucks them like cello strings.
Was it painful? Yes. Excruciating? Yes. Glorious? Absolutely.
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard - You'll never meet a bigger Mac fanboy than yours truly - I got my first one in 1986, defended them all through the early '90s, saved up for the awesome tangerine toilet seat iBook in 2000, and stood in line for the iPhone last year. I've had extensive dealings with PCs for work over the years, and I just don't see how the two can be compared with a straight face.
That said, what is up with Leopard, the new OS? Sure, it's slightly faster, and has a couple of cool features, but I don't see how it's substantially better than what we had before. It was supposed to take advantage of the new Intel chips with 64-bit addressing (or whatever) but I don't notice any huge speed gains working in Photoshop or much of anything else. Apple's software/hardware has always managed to be even cooler than the hype - and apparently the update of 10.5.2 is supposed to be the biggest leap forward since the abacus - but can anyone out there tell me what Leopard brings to the table?
So how about all y'all? Tried anything for the first time lately?
I tried sushi for the first time last year and can't say I'm lining up to have it again anytime soon. I'm told by my wife we'll be having tofu for dinner at some point this week which will also be a first. While I didn't know it at the time (due to the language barrier) I had foie gras and wild boar during the same meal in Italy last fall. Both were delicious, though I'll skip foie gras in the future for moral reasons.
I've still never had a professional massage but still get the willies about trying it. I keep hearing from everyone who's had them that they're amazing but I'll never find out. Too weird.
I will likely try yoga for the first time this year as well, not the hot (bikram?) kind though.
Most importantly, I'll try to keep my (14 days and counting) streak of not smoking cigarettes going all year long.
Congrats to you Ian for trying new stuff and to you Ken for no cigarettes (that's a biggie!).
I've recently tried pilates on machines. I had done the mat kind before but these machines are amazing even if they do look like torture racks!
I can highly recommend it to folks with back troubles or weak abs. Great core strengthening as well as incorporating a lot of the breathing you learn in yoga.Also, I've recently learned a new professional skill (a took a 12 week course to become a facilitator of non-diet weight management groups) which entailed learning a lot of cognitive behavioral techniques and things they don't teach us in med school. I am really psyched to be start teaching my first small group course next week.
Old dogs can learn new tricks after all!
Leopard isn't that big of a deal. We haven't put it on our work Macs yet. The 'stacks' thing seems like it would be marginally useful. There are some under the hood changes to how file sharing works. The 'spaces' thing allows you to flip between different desktops, meaning you can have more programs open without having the windows get all cluttered. Mostly, though it means you just gave them another 100 odd bucks.
I've been racking my brain and concluding I live a boringly safe life.
One new thing I tried was a product called "Yogi Tea" that my stepdaughter gave me for Christmas. It's supposed to ward off colds. The tea has an odd herbal-medicinal taste, but damn if I didn't get the really bad head/chest cold that went through our family a few weeks back. Hmmmmmm.
Oh! And I made lasagna in a slow-cooker (crockpot)for the first time. I was skeptical, but it was delicious. (Recipes are all over the Google-able universe.)
Man, this sounds tame. 8-/
welcome back to the left coast, ian!
and, this weekend, i tried out being auntie kazoo - got to hold my 5 day old niece, spend some time watching her new parents being new parents, and knowing that i will get to see her grow up, as i'm the relative living closest to the munchkin.
it was amazing. she's so tiny but so formed already. and i can't wait to see her again!
I tried something new this morning -- skating on hockey skates for the first time. I can figure skate quite well but what with the different shaped blade it is a whole new way of gliding and stopping; I was as wobbly as the kindergarten class with me. My goal is get strong enough to play hockey in the Mommy League by next Fall. My daughter's response to my attempt was "really good try mommy, but maybe you should stick to squash -- I'll take you skating again so we can practice a bit more"
Best of luck Ken on the smoke free zone, awesome.
I tried "gypsy pasta" for the first time last week.. which I can recommend, especially if you like the German käse spätzle. I tried biking in Paris.. which i also recommend though be careful! I tried Vicks Vapor Rub on my nose and chest for the first time in 30 years - and it's as good as i remember it! And.. I am trying something totally new starting tomorrow - a full time job in Germany - in GERMAN. Not sure if I can recommend that, however...
KB: W00T to you for switching to hockey skates! As someone who skated for the first women's college team in the US way back in the day, I advise that you shift your weight so you no longer use your toes for pushing off (your thigh and butt muscles become really important here); bend your knees a lot more and lean more forward than on figure skates (forget about looking graceful; you want to get the center of gravity low for stability); and practice "scrambling" (again, lower position; faster and more choppy motion) when doing forward crossovers. I can almost guarantee that playing ice hockey will be one of the most fun things you'll ever do!
for xmas this year our family tried the "draw a name" approach instead of everyone buying a gift for everyone else. it went great. everyone saved a bunch of $ and no one ended up with a bunch of shit they didn't need. we also all discovered that the one gift you gave/received was generally a lot cooler that the combined 15 from xmas' past.
Well, I'm trying a new job. Same company, but new position, and I love, love, love it. It's like drinking from a fire hose, though. So much to learn, but I'm actually getting up in the morning with a new perspective and new enthusiasm. Does a body good. Speaking of bodies, I also tried Yoga for the first time in the fall. But then my pregnant belly started messing with my center of gravity, and now I'm eyeing a "Prenatal Yoga" DVD that my friend sent me. We'll see how that goes. The doc just told me to take it easy on exercise from here on out (high risk for pre-term labor), so I don't know if Yoga is off limits, too...?
New things? Chopping wood and making risotto. Risotto's a LOT easier. heh.
Thanks for posting about leopard. I've been wondering and now will likely not spring for it.
learning to be really me.. without ego catching the ball, has been a first.I highly recommend it, but it is a bit weird.....don't do it at home kids, unless you are best mates with honesty.
Remember when I had that rib removed?
Oddly enough, I'm thinking of trying yoga for the first time. As soon as I find a place in Park Slope that doesn't seem too intimidating, I'm going to get started.
This past weekend I also tried on food poisoning for the first time ever. yikes. I hope that was a first and a last.
For the first time in years, I did not watch the Golden Globes.
Turns out I was not missing much.
Over Christmas, I was in Pittsburgh and tried ice skating for the first time. I might have fallen once. Or twice. Early estimates place January 2010 as the approximate time that my ass will stop hurting from said fall(s).
Ian, it's so weird to me that there things I do regularly that you've never tried. I don't know why. Anyway, here's the thing: yoga is necessarily hot, because only by getting your muscles super warm can you have a really deep practice. I don't do Bikram/hot yoga because it's so hot I want to throw up (sort of how I feel about steam rooms) but you really should embrace the warm. Your body will go great places and it's super cleansing for your skin. Seriously.
Second, if could pay someone to massage most every inch of my body at least twice a week, I would. It is one of the most delicious experiences I know, even when it's deep tissue and somewhat painful. I think you just have to get over that it's a stranger rubbing all over you, and simply see it as an incredible indulgence, entirely for you, that promotes excellent health. I sound sort of ridiculous in all of this, but it's all true. I also find it kind of boring that so many men insist they can only be massaged by women, that it's creepy to be massaged by other men. Yawn. Get over it.
Finally, I'm a big fan of Leopard. It has numerous gadgets and shortcuts that I find really useful in a work setting. I upgraded all of the computers in my office the day after it came out and it was totally worth it.
Something new I'm attempting every day? Patience. That's about all I got. Oh, and I made my first orange rolls from scratch over the holidays. Deeeeelicious.
Horseback riding! My 7 year old niece and her 8 year old cousin taught me how. I got over my fear of horses and they felt pretty cool teaching a 31 year old woman something.
Anne, that's INCREDIBLY cool that you were on that first hockey team. Wow. Thank you for the advice! This is exactly what I was wondering...how to power off the blade to get some speed. I kept stumbling each time on the push off because I was expecting picks to propel me. I was asked to come to a try out for the league this past Fall, some people organizing it figured I'd be up to try it. I geared up and got on the ice, YES, with figure skates, felt like a dope but didn't want to miss practice. The feeling of chasing that puck down the ice was exhilarating, like running down a soccer ball or going for a break away on the court. So, for trying something new, I am going to try to play organized team sports again, but for the first time as an adult. Soccer, here I come this Spring! :)
This is so weird that I came across your blog via a Google image query, and you went to Chapel Hill. The massage parlor really does seem like a place where you can get a happy ending and gonorrhea.