Bionic Teutonic

Yikes. We leave for Bali tomorrow. That crept up fast. I’m excited, but have that feeling you get the evening before travel where you never feel like you have covered all your bases. I’ve been trying to get all my stuff together, making to-do lists and checklists of all the essentials. I always feel like I’m forgetting something important, but I need to remember that as long as I have my passport and some way to access money, I’ll be fine. Everything else is replacable.

Last night Lily and I had our closed water scuba session. It felt like I was being truly bionic. You can breath underwater! Who knew? We got there a little early so that Lily could buy a mask and snorkel, and also just because I was a little nervous about it. I really didn’t know what to expect, although the whole dive shop scene was every bit as cheesy as the videos were. When we walked in, they asked if we were there for the “ballet lessons”. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge - see, we’re funny and cool! this is going to be a blast) They repeated this joke with multiple people who walked in the door. We had to take a little test, go over the things we missed, and then listen to a little song and dance about how we could get stuff at the shop for cheap. Alright already, can we get on with it?

So, the thing about scuba diving is that it’s not really hard. As long as you don’t panic, all you have to do is stick the air hose (technical term) in your mouth, equalize your ears, and make sure you have the right amount of air in your vest so you don’t sink or float too much (this was difficult, because my vest had a leak, so I pretty much could only sink). Other than that, the entire session consisted of going over the various scenarios and making sure you know what to do if this happens, or if that happens. Of course, since it’s only the equipment that is keeping you alive, you want to be sure you know what to do in these various scenarios, but really, it’s pretty straightforward. We were there until very late, which sucked because a) I was beginning to lose my patience with the repeated assertions that “we only have one more thing to do”, and b) because Ariel, sick as she was, was picking me up and somehow logistics got all confused and she sat around waiting in Freemont for 45 minutes before I was actually done (sorry, my love!). Finally got home and into bed by about 12:30. Ugh. Anyway, I’m very much looking forward to the open water portion of the class while in Bali.

I just joined a gym over the weekend. Through work I get a discount so that it works out to roughly $20 per month, which is pretty good I think. They have yoga both in the mornings and a quick half-hour session at lunch, which is perfect for me. This is the first time I’ve ever actually joined a gym. It’s a little odd for some reason. I’ve thought about it before, but have always been given such a hard sell, that I’ve been scared away. The guy I talked to yesterday though was very respectful and encouraged me to take my time checking it out, which I took as a good sign. My only hesitation in the gym thing is that I feel like I’m becoming a little workout obsessed and I don’t want to burn myself out. I think my current workout obsession is just an ersatz way of feeling like I’m able to do more to further my aerial practice even though I can only do it 2 hours a week. Oh, well. I totally believe in the healthy body, health mind thing, so if it helps me to be healthier, then cool. However, if I start wearing too much spandex and you catch me flexing in the mirror, please feel free to slap me.

My trip to Bali is coming up fast. I am so excited I can’t tell you. As part of the trip, I’m getting my scuba certification with my friend Lily so we can go (along with other friends who are already certified) while we are there. I signed up a week and a half ago for a pool diving session on the 22nd, but just really started to dig in two days ago. Holy crap there is a lot of material! I should have started this much sooner. I think I’m going to be spending pretty much every evening for the next week studying this. I had a little bit of a panic when I realized that the single PDF I have to study contains 5 lessons of around 65 pages each, plus quizzes and video to watch. The videos are funny as hell, because they were made at some point in the 80s and dear lord, I hope scuba fashion has gotten better. They keep mentioning the fashionable style options you have (they appear to be really proud of this), while showing pictures of dayglow wetsuits with clam/seashell prints on them. I mean, wow. I’m doing the pool dives here and the open water portion of the course in Bali. I’m kind of afraid I’m going to be completely spoiled by my first diving experience however. Making the transition from warm Balinesian waters to the cold as hell puget sound might be a little difficult to stomach.

For the past two days, I’ve been smelling weed everywhere I go. At work, in the car, walking to the bus stop, etc. I had to go into the bathroom at work and check to see if I had somehow managed to aquire some marijuana on my clothing (I didn’t) and at lunch yesterday I asked some friends if they could smell it and nobody could. Thing is: I don’t SMOKE pot. I think I’m having an olfactory malfunction. Not that I’m complaining. It smells like some quality shit.

Whew! Full weekend. I managed to cram in a lot into two days. Friday I did yoga and went out for amazing dinner at the heathly hedon with friends. Food at that place is heaven. Seriously some of the best vegetarian food I’ve ever had. If you are in Seattle, and haven’t checked it out, do. It’s amazing.

Saturday I went rock climbing for the first time in well over a year, which was a lot of fun although my arms are killing me right now. I also went and got my bike back from the shop, where it has been sitting for the last 6 months since my accident. It feels good to have it back, even if the experience with the shop was less than ideal. I want the weather to turn warm again so I can ride to work without freezing.

Sunday, I went to my yoga class, which is really becoming like going to church for me.  We do the ashtanga primary series, which is an almost 2 hour long class where the sequence is always the same. While I like having variety in my yoga, there is also something comforting about doing the same moves every Sunday. It allows you to inhabit the breath and the rhythm of the practice a little bit more fully because you don’t have to figure out new poses. After yoga, it was back to the healthy hedon to meet up with some folks, then off to watch the super bowl. Yes, I did go watch the super bowl. I seem to do this every year, and every year I realize that I don’t really like football. It does nothing for me, yet somehow I feel like it’s something that I do every year. I think this may be my last year though. The strange overt christian call outs at the end sealed the deal for me. Last night I also went to Zen Circus with some folks, which is kind of an open performance night down in Belltown. Ariel got her hoop on for a bit, and our friend Osiris played some good breaks. Then back home so I could fall into a deep sleep. I need a weekend to recover from my weekend.