Swing...., and a Miss

I knew that, after bragging about how consistently I have been practicing for the previous two weeks, I was due for a correction. Every possible opportunity has been pulled out from under me lately. The schedule change for the OR wiped out Friday morning. Had to miss Friday evening class for kid issues. Same for Sunday morning and afternoon classes. But, today was a lock. Today, I knew I could practice. I worked last night. I was totally off today. Mysore didn't start until 9:00. Today was my day to get it back. Despite not getting away from work until 8:25 for what is usually a 45 minute drive, I got up there before the 7:00 class had even let out. The best of omens walking up to the studio: I couldn't see inside because the windows were all fogged up. It was was going to be hot and sweaty today. Booo-yah. I walked in the studio entryway, packed with people waiting to set up for the 9:00 class (how much better can this get?) and saw my wife and.... my son? It's a school day, What? "Hi dad, my shoulder still hurts, so I'm going to do yoga today." Uh, okay buddy. We went in and set up our mats up three across, family style. "You're going to do first series today, right?" my wife asked. Sure. Meaning, I guide my son thru what portion of the practice he can do. Surprisingly, I didn't mind, because for once he seemed motivated to try doing the poses correctly. Well, many of them. Some of them.

We did the suryas, which is what he had the most trouble with. Somehow, he hurt his left pectoral area while dancing at Jason and Tara's wedding. "Dancing?" I asked, uncomprehendingly. "Well, freaking", he said. Oh, I nodded, uncomprehendingly. He added that he did do the worm once, so maybe that was what did it. At any rate, he had a hard time lowering down to or holding chaturanga. I told him to just go down to his belly and to do cobra instead of a full up dog, using his back to lift rather than push with his hands. I think it helped gradually.

He has always sucked at most of the standing poses. He usually loses all motivation to do things well in this section. I think his native hamstring and adductor stiffness make this section painful and unrewarding. He knows he's not doing the poses well. He only wants to do the things that he can do well. We're in revolved triangle, struggling to get his hand down onto a block and he looks over at Tara doing Pasasana or something and tells me, "I can do that one easy." He did okay today though. He tried to do most of them. I think he didn't want to do Prasarita C but he did everything else. Later, in the seated poses, the monotony of the forward bends began to get to him. What kept him going was the fact that he can smoke me doing jump backs. I decided we'd stop after Navasana. He did all the closing poses fine, including a reasonable headstand, with assistance.

I apologize to anyone who was near us today who might read this. We made so much noise telling him what to do and what to stop doing, it had to be distracting.

God, there was all kinds of people there today. Jason and Tara right in front of us, (honeymooning?), Casey and Charisse just across the room, Andrew and Jessica two mats down, Julie over in the Shakti side of the room, bunches of people I'd never seen before. And the glorious heat. Oh well. Next time.

After class, Jake and I went to the pancake house. He made me eat a waffle and a side of bacon, and further, he also made me eat the uneaten pieces from his side of bacon. I think he was full from all the whipped cream that came with his chocolate chip pancakes. I should have brought it home to the dog or something, but it was bacon.

I've got to decide what to do about the hair. I've been informed by the style police (the person who asked me to grow it long in the first place) that I look stupid. Great. I don't seek to look fashionable or stylish or all done up. My only goal with regards to looks is to not look stupid. My hair has some natural curl or wave or whatever it's called. I normally keep it tied up in a ponytail most of the day. The simplicity of that is that I only have to brush my hair once a day: shower, brush, ponytail, done. The downside is that the part that is past the hairtie thingie stays all curly, kind of a shirley temple coiling up thing. The part closest to me gets straightened out by being on stretch all day with the hair tie. So, when I go with my hair down after it's been up for a while, half of my hair is straight and half is all curly. But, when i brush it out, it's not just curly. Instead of being all coiled up in one collective ringletted ponytail, when it's brushed out, it becomes this mass of frizzy looking chaos at the ends. I'm sure that does look stupid. But it's taken me too long to grow it out just whack it off. I don't like to keep it up all the time, it gives me headaches sometimes. I'd rather let it stay down all the time, but that's hard to do with the car top being down. It doesn't work that well at work either. At work, I can keep a ponytail fairly discretely tucked away under one of those bouffant-ey OR caps. If it's not tied up, it's hard to pack it all away. And it's noticeable. I'd rather my hair not be that noticeable at work. Not everybody wants a doctor with long hair. It can rub some people the wrong way. Maybe I can try keeping it up with those sticks the Japanese samurai guys used to use. Plus, I'm starting to get those bands of grey along the sides of my head like the Paulie guy on the Sopranos. Free streaks. The longer hair is like the rings of a tree. "See way back here at the ends, my hair is still all brown. But over here, notice that gradual onset of grey maturity. And up close, silver baby, pure silver." For now, I'll do nothing. It's not that often that anyone sees it anyway. Once I get to where I've got the longest hair of anyone I know, then I'll cut it. It's no fun if you can't make a game out of it.

Time to get ready to do the afternoon kid chauffeur thing.