In 2010 I read some books, saw a few terrible movies, and watched a crapload of TV. And I also managed to experience some firsts.
First Earthquake. It was a small one, but incredibly freaky since I’ve never experienced anything like it before. One minute, I was sitting with my coffee, the next the table started shaking. I ran into the next room, where MB jumped out of bed, and like native Californians, we stood under a doorframe. We’ve experienced a couple of additional skakers since then, though again nothing big, and nothing like the first time.
First Yoga Class. My health was mostly good this year, except for a couple of bouts of vertigo and finding out that I have high cholesterol. But after some at-home exercises, the vertigo went away, and I was able to vanquish my high cholesterol by adhering to a pretty strict low-fat diet (from which I’ve deviated PLENTY of times in recent months).
But the biggest change I made this year was getting more serious about yoga. I’ve dabbled with it for about ten years, just teaching myself out of a book, but January was the first time I took a class. And what a difference it made. New poses, more effective positioning, and doing things I didn’t think I could ever do. For instance, when I first started I could NOT do the Bound Extended Side Angle pose, and while it’s still a struggle, now I can actual connect my hands. AND I can even do the bird of paradise! I mean, I look nothing like the people in the pictures – my leg is still bent and I’m all hunched over – but I can actually stand on one foot with my hands still connected. Progress!
And today I took an extra step and bought a proper yoga top (on sale of course). It’ll be nice not having the collar of my sweaty shirt fall over my mouth during downward dog.
First Time Working for a Place I’m Not Ashamed Of. While working for a big corporation has its benefits (like, um, benefits, an on-site gym, being able to hide out for years in mediocrity), it’s also really cool to be able to talk about my workplace enthusiastically, to actually think it’s awesome and not just pretend it’s awesome. To not have to be ready to defend what my company does. And to have a job that’s actually related to writing. It’s a miracle!
First Time in Seattle. An airline was having a sale, MB used to live there, and I’ve never been so we said what the heck? Of course it rained a lot, but we had fun eating cheap and delicious food, seeing MB’s old haunts, and hanging out with my friend from college, along with her husband and baby son, who I met for the first time. The highlight? The Seattle Underground Tour. Dank!
First Time Having all of My Maternal Family Together. Back in November, my grandmother – or Puo-puo as I called her – passed away. She was almost 95 and had been ill for some time, but of course it was still difficult to deal with.
After flying down to LA, dealing with the funeral, flying back, then getting out to Palo Alto for the burial, we all headed to my aunt’s house nearby. Now that everything was over, we could relax, and realized it was the first time that the entire family on Puo-puo’s side was all together – all her kids and their spouses, all the grandkids and their spouses and significant others, even the two little great-grandkids. It was so nice hanging out with everyone, laughing at the baby, and stuffing our faces with barbecue.
Puo-puo would have loved it.
~ ~ ~
As for goals or resolutions for next year, I have none. Or rather I have short terms goals, month by month. I’ll talk about how that’s going in another post.