marzipanimal

21.  Explore the back country with a pack burro.

22.  Befriend an Alaskan malamute.

23.  Study a dying language.

24.  Extreme ironing.

25.  Volunteer at a hospice.

26.  Maintain a regular meditation practice.

27.  Weld and construct a trapeze.

28.  Cliff dance.

1.  Hitchhike across the continental U.S.

2.  Use a round-the-world plane ticket.

3.  Go on tour with a circus.

4.  Do the middle splits.

5.  Experience Holi in India.

6.  Run a marathon.

7.  Hike the Appalachian trail.

8.  Go crag climbing.

9.  Write a children’s book.

10.  Join a dance troupe.

11.  Learn Thai massage in Thailand.

12.  Master the toe climb on the corde lisse.

13.  Participate in an ayahuasca ceremony.

14.  Incorporate circus arts into my bodywork practice.

15.  Press into a handstand.

16.  Swim in the Blue Lagoon.

17.  Work abroad.

18.  Intern at Earthship and Belly Acres.

19.  Complete yoga teacher training.

20.  Fly a hot-air balloon and open the traditional bottle of champagne at the landing sight.

- I wake up flopped loosely over a deep straddle stretch, sunburnt and sprawled out in my front yard, next to a plate of eggs that I don’t remember cooking.

- I call my sister.

- I adjust all the blinds in my living room and kitchen using only my toes.

- I eat too much of my roommate’s leftover birthday cake, then feel terrible about it and make a green smoothie to void it (because that’s how nutrition works).

- I topple out of headstands.

- I do pull-ups in the doorway of my bathroom and forget that I went there to pee.

- I make appointments and neglect to write them down in my calendar.

- I do my kinesiology homework with a surprising level of mindfulness.

…I may be a bit of a lightweight.

Z-pack?  Check.
Probiotics to counter Z-pack?  Check. 
Codeine?  Check.
Albuterol inhaler?  Check.
Garlic?  Check.
Gypsy Cold Care?  Check.
Snuggly boyfriend assuring that I’m covered in blankets at all times?  Check.

Noted:  Two hours of Jen’s Power Vinyasa class followed by two more hours of ass-kickery at the climbing gym and attempting to go running the next morning is not conducive to getting over the 3-week plague.

Being simultaneously restless (must move!!) and incapaticated (can’t move!!) is terribly frustrating; taking actual sick days (as opposed to “sick days”) from school isn’t ideal either.  On the bright side, the sun is shining and I’m getting tons of reading done.

Rest rest rest… 

Boy and I are somehow managing to take 5Rhythms, my Olympia coach’s handstand and tumbling class, and corde lisse lessons in Gig Harbor, all without driving each other completely insane (knock on wood).  It probably helps that we’re both intensely focused and slightly competitive personalities?  Every relationship is a fable, and I think I’m beginning to decipher this one.

I managed to solidify pressing into elbow stands this week (yay!) and am now focusing on progressing to headstands, with proper handstands as my long-term goal.

Seeing a chiropractor to get my sacrum and lower thoracic spine adjusted has been amazingly helpful — more bendiness, less crookedness!  I celebrated yesterday by rolling around between downward dog and backbends, doing (miraculously non-crooked!) backward rolls, and working on leaning into backbends from standing.

School is school.  We’re required to complete a set of flashcards detailing all of the major muscles we work with in the massage profession; mine are all illustrations of circus artists performing various feats of strength, with each muscle of focus colored and detailed.

Colorado is looking very attractive right now — vibrant aerial community (um, International Aerial Arts Festival, anyone??), reasonable cost of living, high employment demand for my field of practice, sunshine, wilderness, New Mexico close but not too close.  Fantasizing about a not-too-distant future makes me feel slightly more secure in the present.