Inhale Upward Dog, exhale Downward Dog.

This morning at yoga class I learned the my palms are very inflexible. I had a hard time being comfortable on my palms, but I learned to do a very successful shoulder stand which I may be doing around my apartment more and more now. It was a good class, but I definitely have a lot of work to do to get in best yoga form. I was next to one woman who was amazing and I could another one of the instructors doing the practice to such an advanced level that it was mind blowing. Of course if I needed to feel better about myself I just looked through my legs at the guy behind me who was struggling with the intense flexibility needed for of the poses. However when it came to head and shoulder stands I was schooled by everyone. The teacher had to come over and work my body into a strong shoulder stand. I felt amazing afterwards and now that my mom has purchased me a pretty blue mat I'm going to go to the hot yoga studio in Bala more frequently. I want a yoga body.

I'm determined to become more obsessive about my weight and exercise. I've been too comfortable about how I look and how I perform and its time for a more drastic focus on what I need to be doing. I need a new focus in my life anyways and I don't want to leave school looking the way I came in. I want to leave looking better and stronger. My mom handed over her P90X to me. She's had moderate success with the program, but she also hasn't been following the program as intensely as she needs to to see any full results. I'm taking the dvds home with me and complete the program before hockey starts. I think with this, running, and a couple of hot yoga sessions I will have something to keep me occupied for a while.

I'm also trying to get back into reading more voraciously than I have been. I've been making too many excuses not to read books and with Netflix hiking up their prices I think that this is my opportunity to cancel my subscription an go back to reading more regularly instead of watching endless SVU episodes after work. It's something to think about especially since I just scored about fifty books for almost nothing at the library book sale. I have read a few of them, but there are still dozens that I haven't so I excited to take my time and work my way through the two boxes of books that I'm bring back to Philadelphia.

Martin feels pregnant.

Crazy weekend. I'm not even sure how I managed to fit everything in that I did or that I even made it to Monday, but it happened and now it's Monday. After Thursday's adventures in eating which led to a very slow Friday morning breakfast at Yonni's with Cynthia! It was Israeli themed, very delightful assortment of foods especially the vegetable salad. Anyways after work I had double work and then went out. My night was extremely slow and I only pulled about $60 and was going to go home when Yonni asked if I wanted to go out with him and some of his friends. He caught me at just the right moment going out the door because I was all set to go home and take a shower and just go to bed, but instead I dug my other set of work clothes and drove out to meet them. While I was routing around in my car I had a nice conversation about how I'm from Vermont with our sous chef T. I don't actually know what T's real name is because it's just what everyone calls him. I should also start carrying around eyeliner with me because I didn't have a lot of makeup on at work and no one else had any with them before I left for the bar. It happened again Saturday night too when I went out again. Friday was a good night: Yonni did karaoke to Lady Gaga. I also got a chance to meet a couple of his friends. Very nice people, I particularly enjoyed his friend's girlfriend. She had a lovely personality and was incredibly funny. She also introduced Yon to Jerseylicious. He already does his own version of GTL, maybe a little Hebrew with a Jersey accent now.

Saturday I woke up early and drove out to Lancaster to see my mom who was down visiting my grandfather. It was a nice visit. We went out to breakfast at some kitschy country place. The food was good but it had a very religiously oppressed feeling to it, but you get that feeling anyways when you're in Lancaster County. There was a book rack with books for sale to keep waiting guests entertained. My two personal favorites were 52 Lies Heard in Church Every Sunday and The Big Book of Church Jokes.

There were a couple other Amish romance stories but I had to stop to eat. After breakfast we drove out to Palmyra to get Lebanon bologna for my dad. Lance only likes a very specific hard, extra dry bologna that comes in a cloth sack from a small specialty meat store with a German name where he grew up. Every time my mom goes without him she picks up the wrong one and there are only two to choose from. This time we made sure to call Lance before purchasing. She also kept picking things up and offering to buy them for me and my friends. I personally don't care for shoefly pie but if Yonni or Marg do I can give them directions to the place. After Palmyra was Lititz. Lititz is a smaller quainter version of Hershey that always smells of a better tasting chocolate due to the small factory that melts and molds chocolate almost every day of the week. We had lunch at a really charming cafe where the waitresses are dressed up as Victorian newsboys. The food was really really good and I may even drive back to visit again even though I've had more than my fair share of small yuppy towns. After lunch my mom had a strong desire to get her eyebrows waxed so she took me to get my nails done and then we did a little shopping. I've developed an obsession with the Lacie collection from Victoria's Secret and I've been trying to collect something in every color available, except for the ones with glitter. The still look a little tacky for me. I came home afterwards and then went over to Yonni's for more Israeli food.It was a nice time with Yonni, Cynthia! and Harry. Later I did the Cricket circuit with him and his sister. I didn't drink much, but when we left I got really really warm almost to the point that I thought I was going to pass out on his kitchen floor. I don't know what's going on but that's the second time that that's happened to me this summer and I'm starting to think that it's hormones from my birth control. I'm not thrilled if that's the case because the other forms out there don't look very appealing to me unless I've had three kids or want to gain three hundred pounds. I eventually fell asleep though and woke up Sunday feeling well rested and a little paranoid that I was getting sick. Summer colds are no fun.

Work was super slow Sunday morning. I made about fifty bucks for lunch and then got cut. I would have been made but there were absolutely no reservations on the books and with eleven servers on I thought it would be fair to let someone else try and make some money. I'm really excited that we have one of our old bartenders back. He's crazy but he does good bar business. After work I was maybe going to see a  movie but then when my plans got postponed I passed out. I wasn't even aware that I was tired until I laid down and then was completely shocked to wake up around 10:30pm. I only nap like that when I'm sick and my body needs extra rest so I think that I just needed some extra rest time to kick whatever I had going on. I only woke up too because I had a billion texts from my mom, Yonni and Neil. My mom just had to tell me she made it home before she went to bed and Neil wanted me to go to the bar with him and some people from work. If I hadn't already been in bed I would have considered it, but I told him that we would go out tomorrow night and play quizzo and have Ryan serve us kitchen messups. Sasha can come too! Yonni texted to tell me to blog and how he's really into Jerseylicious. I was going to write after that but then when I laid my head down again I didn't wake up until this morning.  I really needed the sleep I guess because I feel completely fine today and ready for running after work and maybe a showing of X-Men. I also need to get contact with Marg and see if she wants to go to Zavah before I head up to Vermont this weekend.

The Sedar's universal and you'll be playing the part of the evil Pharaoh.

So I've really started getting into  90s sitcoms and most recently it's been 3rd Rock from the Sun. I never got that joke for the longest time until I heard someone say it in a movie, which was also about aliens too (funny). I started watching 3rd Rock with the impression that it was going to just be something mindless and funny, but without any depth to the characters. I also started watching because I love Joseph Gordon-Levitt and I needed something to fill the void until Hesher becomes available to me. I must say I love this show. It is actual very well written (even if my writing sucks) and the plot lines are just silly enough to keep me entertain without getting bored. I was also pleasantly surprised with Kristen Johnson. I first saw her in Bride Wars and thought she was really funny and also kind of reminded me of a skinny Kirstie Alley. She really pulled the show together.

I'm looking for more 90s television shows to watch next so send me your suggestions.

Pros for tomorrow: Reading by the pool, possibly shopping at J. Crew, going for a run.

Cons for tomorrow: Not going to the beach, not making any money(?). 

She looks like someone who gives ear drops to old cats.

This morning I went and had brunch at Yonni's house with Cynthia and as a nice surprise Kyle came over and joined us. For a really long while Kyle was just Yonni's super best man friend that we would hear about at Borders and then a couple of weeks ago Cynthia and I got to hang out with him and ever since we love Kyle. It's not quite Yonni-status love, but it's getting there, though his negativity towards (500) Days of Summer and comic book movies lost him half a point. Apparently Yonni has never cooked French toast before, because he called me yesterday to ask what kind of bread to use and he even looked up a recipe online. I told him to make sure that the bread slices were thick enough that they wouldn't get too soggy and fall apart in the batter and he definitely took my words to heart because when I showed up the French toast was almost three inches thick. Kyle kept referring to it as Texas sized, they were that big. I brought over some maple syrup that I brought back from Vermont and that opened up a whole discussion on sugaring. My friends found the whole process fascinating and the fact that it takes 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of syrup. I need to take them up to Vermont in March when the sap runs and take them to Trapp Family Lodge sugaring house. I really prefer the Coty's house in Nebraska Valley, but at Trapp's you get to ski or snow shoe in, have sugar on snow while you watch the process and then after there are dill pickles and cider donuts. It's a really fun time that is a better experience than what it sounds like on the page.

It's been a slow day at work and sitting in my office chair makes me want to take a nap especially now that it is dark and raining out. I'm hoping that the rain slows before I leave here because I don't want to have to trudge through the rain and then sit in class all night all damp and uncomfortable. I really want to go for a run between work and class, but I've go to finish the readings and our first trial paper. My professor said that she isn't counting this first paper as a grade, but since I have no idea who to do the format that she wants I need to do and then have her pick it apart for me so that I know what she's is looking for for next week. This class is terrible. Usually my summer classes are fun and don't take the teacher a full three hours to teach a lesson. This professor is boring and loves to take up all of the time that she can even if she's not talking about anything class related. It's only six weeks, but  now I can't go to the Matt and Kim concert and I've had to sell my ticket on stubhub. Really really not happy about that.

I'm thinking I might go running after class. It will most likely be an inside run, but that means I can work on my pace today. I also want to get to bed early tonight or at least be inside earlyish tonight so that I remember to wake up in time for breakfast at work tomorrow. That's the only plus about the office on Friday's - graduate food. I'm also going out after work. I don't care if I'm super hungover Saturday morning, I just have to sit in a chair and I get to wear jeans. I asked Merrie what she's up to, but for someone who has been waiting three years to finally go out, she most often sits at home so it will probably be Anna who comes with me and it will most likely be late which means little sleep for Sidney so by the time Saturday night roles around there is a good chance that I will be passed out on Yonni's porch and Kyle will draw marker pictures on my face. Yonni intervene to God that I make money this weekend and make sure you eat that fruit. It will boost your immune system so that you don't have to take the cough medicine that your mummy probably hid from you. Also Cynthia, let's go dancing next week.

Kind of an Eeyore day.

Today was kind of a lame day. Maybe it was the weather, coming from total sunshine to total grey can be hard on a person, but I just haven't been able to get excited to about anything or the urge to actually get anything done. In fact I'm only writing out of boredom and desperation. The morning started out okay, I got up at a decent hour and drove to school. I got lucky with parking on Old Lanc and went for a run around Lower Merion before class. I like running in that area; I can look at the old houses and it's very quiet at that time of day.

American Lit. was boring as usual. You could literally hear students drift off. The class wouldn't be so terrible except that the teacher speaks in the most monotonous voice and goes off on tangents that are not related to what is going on in the class. And then of course there's That Guy. That Guy likes to talk, a lot. And he has one of those pretentious voices that everyone hates to listen too. After class when I was walking back to my car alone, a car full of guy yelled "SLUT" at me while they drove past. That's where the day went downhill for me. There was no one around me so they were obviously talking about me, but I had no idea who they were or what they were even talking about. It's not like I was dressed provocatively: sweatshirt, running pants, and sneakers. I was sweaty and my glasses were sliding off my face. I was so taken back that my mouth hit the ground and I couldn't move for a minute while I tried to comprehend what happened. Who yells stuff like that at people? What are you, eleven? Anyways I wanted to tell a friend about it since he usually has smart opinions and is a guy, but I've been getting a weird feeling about him (probably just the day and I'm probably reading too much into his writing tone. I need to stop listening to the Ballerina when she talks about him) so I texted Marg instead who insisted they were just being plain RUDE. Still I'm feeling really mad about it and all I want to do is go to sleep and wake up  ready to go running for BOMF.

I also have a giant know feeling in my stomach area and it's making me feel worse about the day. I just feel so crummy and I want to cry, but everything seems too silly to cry about and I feel like I shouldn't waste tears on such silly things. It's just the day after all. Tomorrow will be something new and all the silly feelings I have about school and work and my friends will be gone. I'm just really smad about how the day is going.

There were two spots of silver in my dark cloud: Jon is excited about going to see Matt & Kim (now we just need to raise some funds to get tickets and get more people to go with us) and I got a second interview. 

Fantastic Day

Today was the best day in a while. It started out super rough, I had intended to stay up all night but then I passed out around 4am and woke up at 7:30 and then fell asleep until 8:40am, way past when I was supposed to get up. I eventually made it to school, got all of my homework done before each class without falling asleep. I even got a chance to exercise, do my laundry, make a real dinner, and give myself a pedicure. I haven't done it in a while, but my brush skills are still pretty intact. I've finished the fifth season of Weeds and will be in bed by 10pm. I haven't done that since last year. Amazing.

Tomorrow I'm thinking if I can get up in time I may go down to Penn and skate during their open freestyle time. I already skate there on Thursday morning for hockey and the rink is not bad at all. I will have to make a trip down to Aston to get my skates cleaned up and get some new hard guards and soakers. I miss figure skating and I haven't been since early high school. It should be interesting to see how bad my flexibility has changed and whether or not my leg muscles can stand up against jumping.

Tomorrow I also get done with class at 11am and intend to go running do some homework and catch up on all of the television that I didn't watch last week. I fully intend to finish season six of Weeds by Wednesday and have all of my homework for Friday completed. This week is going to be a good week ending with me getting paid twice and a super awesome weekend! Plans have yet to be made but I'm just going to go with it. Seven days till Marg's 21st!