Ravings of a Textual Deviant

“Some days you just don’t feel like wearing pants.” —Ed’s coworker, when asked why he came to work in shorts in a direct violation of the dress code.

A little background info—Ed’s slowly been venturing into the kitchen to cook, rather than just heat water for coffee. The learning process is fascinating to watch.

Ed: Pasta’s easy. I’ve come to the conclusion that monkeys can make pasta.
Li: But they rarely do so in the wild.

I spent last weekend up in Warsaw, Indiana at a yoga teacher training seminar. It was a great experience, not diminished even by the loud parties in the hotel room next to mine…both nights. I went there not even sure I’d want to teach professionally, and came back thinking that the 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher program had a lot of appeal.

The quality of the training was excellent; the organization with which I was studying is very conscientious about safety, and makes a point of keeping up with exercise physiology research. It’s a highly reputable program, and although my technical writer’s eye cringed at the formatting in teacher training manual in places, the content was very good. I was also very happy with the master classes. We were in a room that was neither especially well-ventilated nor quite large enough for twenty-two people, and by the end of the Saturday class, everyone was exhausted and dripping. (A couple of degrees warmer, we joked, and we could’ve done Bikram yoga.) I was very happy that even with my gym attendance having been sketchy at best the past couple of months, and my shoulder acting up, I was able to keep up. The class didn’t kick my butt…but it did kick my triceps and quadruceps hard enough for me to still feel it today. We spent a good part of one day examining the Level-1 poses in detail, analyzing proper alignment and technique, and discussing good verbal and visual cues for students. The school also emphasizes using inclusive language and positive feedback techniques, so that was a substantial part of the training as well. The last half-day or so was spent on practice teaching in small groups, and I found it very interesting to see how people put their series together.

However, it was the people who really made the weekend such a wonderful experience. The instructor was wonderfully confident, accessible, and competent, without being the least bit intimidating. The two women who were our hosts at the Kosciusko Community YMCA could not possibly have been more nicer. There were twenty-one students, most of whom were either professional trainers and group fitness instructors (some of whom had no experience with yoga) or were already teaching yoga, but wanted actual credentials. (I think it speaks to the demand that there are places that will take uncertified yoga teachers in the first place. Of course, some of that had to do with the fact that the facilites in small towns are happy to find anyone willing to teach yoga, period, but even in larger places like Fort Wayne and Indy, there appears to be plenty of work available.) I’m now convinced that as a group, yoga teachers are some of the kindest, most supportive, most helpful people out there. There was an incredible feeling of cooperation the entire weekend, and I’d happily drive to Warsaw for more training any time if I knew any of the other women from this session were going to be there.

When I got back, I even found myself talking to Ed about teaching yoga at the dojo where he studies, and brainstorming other places where I could teach. First things first, though. I need to get some liability insurance so that I can do my practice teaching.

“I hope she’s having a good war.”—referring to a friend who is taking her vacation at Pennsic.

“People might cite George Bush as proof that you can be totally impervious to the effects of Harvard and Yale education.”—Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass) on Bush’s endorsement of teaching intelligent design.

Ed noticed the other night that the cat we’re looking after, Minx, probably has fleas. After consultation with the cat’s permanent housemonkey, Minx got his flea treatment last night, and he most certainly did not enjoy it—I’ve got a scratch or two to prove it. I’m sure that our inexpert attempts would’ve been highly entertaining to watch, at least. My brother called shortly afterwards, and he says that the foolproof method is to wrap up the cat in a couple of layers of towel, like a kitty burrito.

I’m sure that will be fun to watch when we try it next week.

In order to compensate for the indignity, Ed brought home some glow-in-the-dark catnip puffs. We put one down right in front of Minx, but he ignored it entirely so long as we were watching. However, when I got up this morning, the bag was empty and the puffs were scattered all over the house, so I suspect someone went on an all-night kitty bender.

ADDENDUM

Li: How often are we supposed to feed the cat, anyway? If we just refill the bowl every time he empties it, he’ll end up a fat kitty.

Ed: I have no idea. Remember, all my pets (except for the dog I had when I was 6) died because they wouldn’t eat.

So for the weird question, when are you coming to Hawaii? asked a longtime friend of mine who lives there.

Well, the answer is a little more complicated than it first appears.

I’ve been saying to Alisa for weeks now that there’s very little wrong with me that two weeks in a spa in Hawaii wouldn’t cure. And coincidentally enough, my hairdresser—who’s a remarkably well-informed person—told me last time I was in that there’s such demand for yoga teachers at spas and resorts that many of them will put you up for free if you’re willing to teach a few classes a day. As it happens, my yoga teacher training is this coming weekend, and while I’ll have to do some volunteer work and deal with some administratrivia, I hope to be certified before year’s end.

I explained all of this to my friend and asked him if he knew anyone who had connections at local (to him) spas and resorts. So, the when of it depends on my teacher training and the cost of airfare and the demand for yoga teachers…but it’s looking a lot more possible than I’d have thought a few months ago.

The annual Bulwer-Lytton contest results are now available to the masochistic Reading Public. On a personal note, I am hardly surprised that a Microsoft employee won top dishonors.

“Just because I have no power or authority doesn’t mean I’m expendable.”

Cable TV (which, to be honest, I hadn’t noticed was missing) and cable modem (which I had missed dearly) are both back online after being out for well over a week. We’ll see if the long-term outage is reflected in our bill. For the sake of the cable company’s CSRs, I hope so. To say that Ed was Not Happy with the cable provider is an understatement. Especially when the service was still out two days after we got an automated message from the cable company telling us that service had been restored.