Days Gone By
Haven't had much of a chance to write since last time.
Friday I went to Silky's with Mav after writing about the piercing. Just sat around for about an hour, talking just a little because it was awkward, and drinking cold water.
Took the bus to Oakland and met Marc and Lisa at Starbuck's just as they were getting ready to go, and got some more ice water to take with me. We walked up this huge hill I somehow never noticed, to I think Pitt's Trees Hall in North Hills? the Hill District? I dunno. But they took me to the building and Lisa dropped me off in the room where they spar. I dropped my shirt while walking and Marc picked it up for me, and asked if I could walk uphill in my sandals and watched me with mild concern getting down from a little wall we walked on.. There was a little setup for doing dips, chinups/pullups, and leg raises in the sparring room and I did 3 pullups, surprising the crap out of myself. I haven't done any in years. Just kept trying for the hell of it and found my chin above the bar shortly after starting. Coolness. Then I got into the ab work part, with my arms on the bars, holding the handles, and picked my legs up to 90 degrees and held them there for a bit longer than I felt like I could. This was awesome because I'd done extra in my ab workout earlier that day. Go me.
Lisa and Marc started fighting first, with these thin bamboo sticks Marc had. It was pretty scary.. I really don't understand how they can do that and not be terrified of getting poked in the eye. Then Shion and a guy named Chris who seems to think he's a boxer sparred. Other people arrived and fought and it wasn't that bad. I didn't feel like I'd be able to hold my own against anyone, but it also relieved many fears of being hurt. The only thing I'm still worried about is pride.. and apparently I'm just supposed to get over that and go get my ass kicked several times. Bleh =P.
After sparring everyone split except those of us Dima took home: Jim, Lisa, Marc, and me. I told them I was going to Joe's party and any of them could come if they wanted. Jim and Dima expressed enough interest to ask where it was, but Marc said he was gonna go home and get ready for tomorrow's class. I didn't really expect to see any of them.
I got home and tried on a couple of outfits and finally decided on the backless light blue knit top and the leather mini, with my fun new sandals and somewhat excessive sterling jewelry accents, and pinkish lip stuff. I got to Joe's and immediately felt overdressed - most other people were dressed in jeans and had no shoes on. Mathilde was wearing a sweatshirt and her cargo capris, like she did to my party. Joe laughed and said to get over it. I started with Jello, which was much better than mine: firm and cut into squares, and also not disgusting. I got a Schmirnoff Ice and attempted to eat a cookie. They were really sticky, and I couldn't use my tongue to clean my teeth. I managed to choke down 2 without hurting myself or asphyxiating, but couldn't handle the massive quantities of cookie remaining in my teeth and Joe didn't have any toothpicks, so I went upstairs and took care of it in my apartment. When I got back, Joe said my friends had arrived, so I figured he meant Dima or Jim or both, and went to say hi to Dima, who I saw first. Rounded a corner and saw Marc and Lisa and was very surprised. Marc made himself, me, and Lisa gin and tonics after the presence of Seagram's tonic water convinced him, and we toasted Tony. By that point I had more Jello and still had my Schmirnoff thing, so I had 3 drinks at once, and Joe and Justina were so amused they felt moved to take pictures. Then Jenn set up DDR again and I went to play. Everyone said I was cheating and had memorized all the dances cuz I was kicking so much butt. I even aced a bunch of the triple steps. Surprised even myself, and had a blast. But then someone banged really hard on the floor from downstairs and we had to stop the jumping. Mathilde got ridiculously high and wouldn't stop laughing for like half-hours at a time, I had a few bouts myself, and Marc entertained bunches of people making jokes and telling stories. People started leaving in droves around 2:30, I guess, and Jim, who said he'd arrived sometime during DDR, decided to stay when the rest of the kungfu people left. The party ended shortly thereafter and Jim didn't seem to want to go home, so I said he could come up to my place and talk, which we did, for a couple hours. He wound up staying and ran home to change for class in the morning, while I showered and got ready, missing ballet =(.
Class consisted of drills. Some weird but fun technique repetitions in a circle under the tree and then walking drills (same thing only travelling) in the sun across the Cathedral lawn. They were hard and it was hot. I didn't like drill and split - couldn't keep it straight, but the later ones were alright. Hard, but at least I was doing them more accurately. I was much, much slower than everyone else, and this seemed to be an issue for Marc, who made them all wait for me to finish. That had the potential to be embarrassing but they were all cool about it and mostly didn't even watch me finishing up. It was a lot like doing tan tuis or other moving drills at YMAA, or endurance training, and I really liked it. It made me feel strong, and not so wussy as to not do any work, and didn't depend so much on flexibility. My endurance was decent also. I like working hard.
I have to go to ballet now so will finish the past couple days later.
Friday I went to Silky's with Mav after writing about the piercing. Just sat around for about an hour, talking just a little because it was awkward, and drinking cold water.
Took the bus to Oakland and met Marc and Lisa at Starbuck's just as they were getting ready to go, and got some more ice water to take with me. We walked up this huge hill I somehow never noticed, to I think Pitt's Trees Hall in North Hills? the Hill District? I dunno. But they took me to the building and Lisa dropped me off in the room where they spar. I dropped my shirt while walking and Marc picked it up for me, and asked if I could walk uphill in my sandals and watched me with mild concern getting down from a little wall we walked on.. There was a little setup for doing dips, chinups/pullups, and leg raises in the sparring room and I did 3 pullups, surprising the crap out of myself. I haven't done any in years. Just kept trying for the hell of it and found my chin above the bar shortly after starting. Coolness. Then I got into the ab work part, with my arms on the bars, holding the handles, and picked my legs up to 90 degrees and held them there for a bit longer than I felt like I could. This was awesome because I'd done extra in my ab workout earlier that day. Go me.
Lisa and Marc started fighting first, with these thin bamboo sticks Marc had. It was pretty scary.. I really don't understand how they can do that and not be terrified of getting poked in the eye. Then Shion and a guy named Chris who seems to think he's a boxer sparred. Other people arrived and fought and it wasn't that bad. I didn't feel like I'd be able to hold my own against anyone, but it also relieved many fears of being hurt. The only thing I'm still worried about is pride.. and apparently I'm just supposed to get over that and go get my ass kicked several times. Bleh =P.
After sparring everyone split except those of us Dima took home: Jim, Lisa, Marc, and me. I told them I was going to Joe's party and any of them could come if they wanted. Jim and Dima expressed enough interest to ask where it was, but Marc said he was gonna go home and get ready for tomorrow's class. I didn't really expect to see any of them.
I got home and tried on a couple of outfits and finally decided on the backless light blue knit top and the leather mini, with my fun new sandals and somewhat excessive sterling jewelry accents, and pinkish lip stuff. I got to Joe's and immediately felt overdressed - most other people were dressed in jeans and had no shoes on. Mathilde was wearing a sweatshirt and her cargo capris, like she did to my party. Joe laughed and said to get over it. I started with Jello, which was much better than mine: firm and cut into squares, and also not disgusting. I got a Schmirnoff Ice and attempted to eat a cookie. They were really sticky, and I couldn't use my tongue to clean my teeth. I managed to choke down 2 without hurting myself or asphyxiating, but couldn't handle the massive quantities of cookie remaining in my teeth and Joe didn't have any toothpicks, so I went upstairs and took care of it in my apartment. When I got back, Joe said my friends had arrived, so I figured he meant Dima or Jim or both, and went to say hi to Dima, who I saw first. Rounded a corner and saw Marc and Lisa and was very surprised. Marc made himself, me, and Lisa gin and tonics after the presence of Seagram's tonic water convinced him, and we toasted Tony. By that point I had more Jello and still had my Schmirnoff thing, so I had 3 drinks at once, and Joe and Justina were so amused they felt moved to take pictures. Then Jenn set up DDR again and I went to play. Everyone said I was cheating and had memorized all the dances cuz I was kicking so much butt. I even aced a bunch of the triple steps. Surprised even myself, and had a blast. But then someone banged really hard on the floor from downstairs and we had to stop the jumping. Mathilde got ridiculously high and wouldn't stop laughing for like half-hours at a time, I had a few bouts myself, and Marc entertained bunches of people making jokes and telling stories. People started leaving in droves around 2:30, I guess, and Jim, who said he'd arrived sometime during DDR, decided to stay when the rest of the kungfu people left. The party ended shortly thereafter and Jim didn't seem to want to go home, so I said he could come up to my place and talk, which we did, for a couple hours. He wound up staying and ran home to change for class in the morning, while I showered and got ready, missing ballet =(.
Class consisted of drills. Some weird but fun technique repetitions in a circle under the tree and then walking drills (same thing only travelling) in the sun across the Cathedral lawn. They were hard and it was hot. I didn't like drill and split - couldn't keep it straight, but the later ones were alright. Hard, but at least I was doing them more accurately. I was much, much slower than everyone else, and this seemed to be an issue for Marc, who made them all wait for me to finish. That had the potential to be embarrassing but they were all cool about it and mostly didn't even watch me finishing up. It was a lot like doing tan tuis or other moving drills at YMAA, or endurance training, and I really liked it. It made me feel strong, and not so wussy as to not do any work, and didn't depend so much on flexibility. My endurance was decent also. I like working hard.
I have to go to ballet now so will finish the past couple days later.