Saturday Randomness

I'm laying in bed at mom and dad's, getting ready to face the day.

There is a muffin and a banana on my bedside table.  On Saturday's especially, I eat breakfast in bed.  This is solely because I don't want to get out of bed any sooner than necessary, and on Saturday's it is imperative that I eat my breakfast by a certain time.

This is because I take a "warm yoga" class.  If I haven't had an hour or so to digest before that 11 am class, or if I haven't eaten, it's not good.  Somehow, I don't think keeling over, or puking in the middle of 90 minutes of exercise would be the healthiest thing around, so I make sure I bring some breakfast downstairs with me when I go to bed on Friday nights.

And, speaking of yoga, I cracked up on Thursday night, when, just as house church was getting ready to start, my phone buzzed with an email.  I checked it quickly and had to laugh.  It was an invitation to an event from my yoga studio, a fundraiser for a woman going through cancer treatments.  An invitation to ladies only, candle-lit, naked yoga.   Umm, I'm pretty comfortable with my body, but I think I'll pass.  No one needs to see that!  And I don't need to see that either!  I'm still laughing just imagining the concept.  I don't think even candlelight could make that sexy!

Today is going to be one of those days with lots of time spent on a bus as I transit to and from appointments.  I have a book I'm hoping to finish up, and then a novel.  I think I'm very informally shooting for reading the equivalent of a book a week this year, and novels are what will help me make that goal!  They are the books I can plow through in a couple of hours instead of a couple of weeks.  The brain candy.  I had stopped reading novels for quite a while, almost two years, actually, as I began to discover some interesting effects that a steady diet of brain candy was having on my emotions.  (That, I think, is a whole separate post, for another time.)  When I finally came back to them, I tried to do it (and still try to do it) with a level of balance.  I pick up novels that still teach me something.  Or I read ones that I know are "healthier" for me.  And I make sure to balance them with books that have more edifying and challenging content.  But today, after a couple of really full and challenging weeks, I think I'm going to finish up my more edifying title, and then dive into a novel on the bus.  (And, I'll just comment that novels can also very much be edifying and uplifiting as well.)

I'm tired these days.  Sleep has been more spotted with dreaming again, and I've had more early mornings than usual as school obligations have picked up speed.  And, honestly, right now, I'm just kind of traveling from one day to the next, making lists and hoping to tackle at least a portion of what they require from me in a given day.  I'm usually multi-tasking, though I'm also discovering the beauty of single-tasking as well.  This coming Monday, night, for example, I have three hours at home slotted out for some truly brainless entertainment.  It's on my calendar.  But I also know that while that is going on, I will be doing a load of laundry, and maybe some filing, and definitely some emailing.  Yesterday, though, when I needed to study, I simply closed all the windows that would normally distract, limited my ability to "cheat" and open them again, and surrendered to the lovely beauty of letting one thing have my complete focus. 

And that singular focus is perhaps my argument for bus reading - though these days I'm not so much doing the formal "bus reading" as squeezing reading in on my multiple trips around the city by bus.  But that is working, too, for now.  And really, depending on the number of places I need to be in a given day, it's not totally uncommon for me to spend up to four hours a day on a bus as I transit from place to place.  (Audio books are also lovely for this sort of transiting, since they don't have to be stopped for transfers, walking and the other things that come with a lifestyle where city transit is your main form of transportation.)

And now, now that I've rambled lengthily, clearing my brain a little for the day ahead, I'm off to prep for yoga, and for the rest of my day!  See you tonight for the daily 5!

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 207

Today's Daily 5:

1. sweet and funny and insightful blog comments from friends
2. a flexible schedule that let me rearrange my day to make time to some extra studying
3. a moment of laughter over a bizarre comment and it's source
4. a good grade on an exam that I was really, really worried about
5. a text message comeback that literally made me laugh out loud
6. the magnetic powers of earrings strike again
7. getting through a really, really awkward encounter with some degree of poise and grace (and managing, though it took some work, for the aftershocks of that to not ruin my night)
8. the beautiful song "Here by the Water"
9. An evening of fabulous music
10. curling up in a comfy bed, ready to sleep.

Resting in Between

I'm taking an hour or so to vegetate in between obligations today.

I spent a very large chunk of the morning poring over 500 or so Greek word bases in an attempt to store them in my memory before writing a midterm.

Then I wrote the midterm (which went well!).

And now, now I'm taking an hour or so to rest, catch up with some blog reading, and the news out of Japan, and just breathe a little before heading out to my evening plans.

I'm working at a Steve Bell concert tonight.  (If you don't know his music, you should!)  I've worked for Steve every time he's been in Calgary since I was 12.  That adds up to seeing him live probably 20 to 30 times over the years.  Tonight's concert is a release concert for his new album, and I'm quite looking forward to it.  Should be a fun evening, filled with really great music!  Hooray!

And so, since I was puttering online for an hour, I thought I'd stop in and say hi!  I'll be back tonight as usual with the Daily 5!

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 206

Today's Daily 5:

1. A morning where I didn't have to set an alarm
2. A quiet, unhurried morning
3. drinking mango juice through a straw
4. magic bags across my feet while studying in the cold basement
5. wearing cute earrings I'd forgotten that I even had before sorting them all onto my new earring rack
6. managing to laugh at a ridiculous moment this afternoon
7. a really inspiring email
8. a full Thursday of earring wearing with only one blip in the magnetic attraction of unwanted attention
9. apple cinnamon muffins
10. a really good discussion that I led at house church tonight, and walking away with unexpected truths to ponder

A Quiz for Thursday

It's been a little while since I posted one of these quizzes, so here's the latest one where the results made me smile:

You Should Light a Lavender Candle

You are sensitive yet resilient. You are spiritual and emotional, but you aren't fragile. In your group of friends, you are the intuitive one. You understand and empathize with others. You're the type of person who appreciates beauty. You see can see hope and potential. You genuinely kind and nurturing. You don't like conflict or chaos. You only want peace.

What Scent Candle Should You Light?

Blogthings: We'll Tell You The Truth... Someone Has To!