Changes
Hey guys, I know I have not kept up here, but I have some updates! Now, hopefully this won't bore the piss out of many of you, but lately, I've been working out as part of Getting My Health In Line/Ass In Gear/Unfucking My Life (as the awesome yuki_onna would say and so far, so good
( Read more... )
Anyway, YES! Dance your brains out, woohoo! With due care for your knees and other joints, of course; no need to go at it like gangbusters - your knees will feel better as they get stronger and the rest of you gets lighter.
Something that will help with that, weird as it sounds, is eating jello made with Knox gelatine and 100% fruit juice, which is also great for your hair, skin and nails - cranberry/pomegranate is my current favorite flavor; good balance of sweet and tart. The beauty of Knox jello is that you can eat as much of it as you please, have it for breakfast even, because gelatine is nothing but collagen protein. LOL, just don't put Cool Whip on it; if you want to make parfaits, use Greek yogurt instead. Mmmm, parfait....
Sounds to me like you don't hate exercise at all; you just hated gym class, which is perfectly understandable; I think the horrible boot-camp abuse and vicious competitiveness that calls itself "Physical Education" is largely responsible for the 'epidemic of obesity' in this country. It's like that part in Brave New World where the children are aversively conditioned to hate books and flowers - most people come out of school with such resentment of the way they were treated that for the rest of their lives, they're aversive to the very word 'exercise' and tend to avoid anything that might involve it.
I love to move; I need to move; I just don't like groups, schedules, competition, evaluation - gah, no, fuck that shit; it's nobody else's business to criticize my body or my effort. I also have a lot more 'hidden disabilities' than I am willing to admit to strangers for the sake of trying to get accommodations that they're not likely to give me anyway, or even to believe I really need - that's just humiliating. If my disabilities can't stay decently hidden, or (preferably) be quietly accommodated without making a 'thing' about it, then I don't need to be there. But there are lots of activities that don't require a leader or a group, and plenty of books and videos to learn from.
Have you ever seen Neena and Veena? They've got a number of excellent belly-dance videos out; running through a workout with them a few times a week will sharpen you up for the class and help you feel more confident.
In the book Assassin of Gor, the trainer tells her girls, "Know you are beautiful. Now I will teach you to dance." Says it all, really.
*hugs hugs* You are beautiful!
Reply
My articulation flies out the window to a big naughty grin plastered across my face, and I'll just say, "Yup. That's it. " *GRIN*
I actually think I have one of N&V's videos, actually, as well as some other cds and DVDs a good friend of mine gifted me, which I need to break out and dive into.
I also need some more dance/workout clothes, but I am still working out what I want for that. Also the trauma of shopping for clothes is sometimes full of suck and fail. But I am a little more optimistic, as I found a great skirt over the weekend-that fit. (Thank you hippie shop at the beach. :))
Oh, and the fruit juice with jello idea is great! I am going to steal that. I am perhaps weird cause I do like jello. Um, and pudding. Lots of pudding.
Reply
I've even actually taught a little white-silk kajira to pole-dance - tell you what, I'd have taught her ever so much better if I'd seen Jenyne Butterfly''s videos, but this was many years ago.. The best Gorean dancer I know is Na'Tea of the Jewel of Gleaming Thassa - if you ever go there, tell her Mistress Jess sends love. ^^
So many people just don't get it about Gor. You have to have been there, I guess. You can take the Gorean out of Gor, but you'll never take Gor out of the Gorean, despite the preposterous absurdity of the entire premise.
Yay, hippie shop at the beach! Alas, the current fashions are MADE of Suck and Fail; the only decent clothes these days are in thrift stores and consignment shops. Good prices, too, but the downside is that one has to shop regularly to pick out the good pieces from the mountains of tacky crap. Shopping doesn't hold my interest, especially when I'm having to dress and undress every 3 items - it doesn't take long before I'm So Done With That, and thus too cranky to like anything I try on, because I just want my own clothes. Thus, I go to Goodwill to look for pants, and come home with six books instead: oh well!
It's not weird to like jello - I think most people like it, except when it's made with, like, grated carrots and canned peaches floating in it, and smothered in a fluffy cloud of hydrogenated oil and corn-syrup solids. I even like plain old packaged Jell-o, but the Knox is just as easy, and then there's no guilt at all.
Mmm, you like pudding; try the Dannon Oikos Greek key lime yogurt - ohmy, that's the stuff! I think it would make truly world-class parfait with Knudsen's pineapple-coconut juice gelatine, but I haven't tried it yet.
I make a lot of garlic-dill dip by the simple expedient of taking a big container of Mountain High plain yogurt, crushing up a bunch of garlic, and mixing it in with a lot of dried dill weed and a little salt. It makes a great dip for raw veggies, baked-potato topping, topping for tabouleh salad, or on tacos or burritos - another way to get better flavor and better nutrition at the same time.
I think that's the real key to losing weight and building muscle: it's got to feel better, got to taste better, than the alternative. Dancing is way more fun than sitting around; healthy food is far more delectable than junk food - pleasure in the moment, with the additional pleasure of doing one's Will in terms of long-range goals; what's not to like?
Reply
I am so trying the Knox jello. Yogurt is...well..vile, sadly. Unless it's a dill and garlic based sauce, then it's awesome. :)
Oh, also at the head shop hippie store, I got THE BEST PATCHWORK BAG EVAR. EVAR. 10+ pockets of lovely color and patches and it's wonderful. I will use it until it falls apart into dust.
You know, we should meet sometime. :) laurelindel has a lot of good to say about you. :)
Reply
Really, what I'd love is if circumstances allowed me to make it to Walking the Threshholds some time, and then I could meet all y'all at once, when we could just kick back. That's not too likely in the near future, but maybe you'll be out to Seattle one of these days.
I look on Gor as more of a literary thing than a kink thing, though certainly the general air of high kinkiness is inescapable, and adds a lot of charm to the place. Realtime Goreans overlap with the SCA, martial arts and biker communities as well as the D/s folk, so not everybody's there for the same reasons. In a lot of ways, Gor healed my broken heart after my divorce
The books are a trip - I would say, read the first ten; after that, both the plots and the writing go right downhill. My favorites are Nomads, Assassins, Raiders and Marauders. More about my adventures in Gor here and here - LOL, what a wacky place.
Yay, patchwork bag! I just recently got one too, salvaged in the cleaning of my friend's mother's hoarder-house full of Stuff - it looks almost like one I had back in 8th grade, when hippie styles were still new. Would be so great if all those styles came back; they were a lot of fun.
Reply
YES THIS. It took me years to think of myself as an athlete despite everyone and their brother telling me that this was ridiculous. But I hated gym class for very similar reasons. I just happen to love kayaking and hiking and martial arts and weightlifting is actually pretty cool and dance is a path to divinity and and and. Oh. Right.
So, fuck it, don't let the ghosts of some moldy old gymnasium get you down. Love what you love, including your body and what it can do.
Reply
("I looked in the trap, Ray....")
My first day at practice was deceptively easy. I note that we did start 20 mins after meet-and-greet/admin stuff, so I may have gotten off easy. Or the intense workouts these past two weeks have me right on schedule.
It is always a little uncomfortable for me, facing the big mirror, but it's necessary to correct and note my form, especially as I have no mirror in place at home. (Need to get something). Gah, facing the mirror...but I did it! I am kinda wishing I had signed up for two days a week of class...but I guess we can start out slowly, even as I know some of the basics already. (WHEN DO WE LEARN THE PRETTEH ARMS?!? I FORGOT ALL THE PRETTEH ARM MOVEMENT THINGS?!)
My perception of self is shifting. Tonight, I was very, very happy with and in my body. That in itself is kinda awe inspiring.
You know, kayaking looks interesting, and if I knew I could roll and not die, I think I'd definitely be inclined to try it. I have, ah, a bit of that Tolkien elvish sea-longing thing going on that extends to pretty much all bodies of water. Um, and we won't talk abt my trips to Mystic Seaport. Would you ever consider stealing the Charles Morgan with me and taking to the high seas? Pleaseohplease?
See, you want me for the Duck stuff. Really. :) I am ready for my life of piracy now!!!
Also, I need a good dancer icon or three.
Reply
Leave a comment