Tuesday morning, in the maw of the machines....

Today was my first session doing a full workout at the fitness club.

It was fun.

I never, never would have believed I would ever be saying that. Or doing that. I am surprising myself.

I couldn't remember exactly which weight machines were which, and I think I used at least one that the trainer on Saturday hadn't demonstrated. Okay: a bonus. On the whole, it was easy and I wondered if I should be making the weights heavier. I could handle more. On the other hand, I probably couldn't handle more without strain, and I'd be exhausted at the end, so maybe this is better.

After doing a full set of weight machines - and forgetting to count them - 8 or 10 of them, I think, for 12 repetitions each - I went to the elliptical trainer with my comic books for 20 minutes and read an issue of X-Men (Xtreme X-Men #2 "Xpose") and an issue of Superman (#194) while doing the 'cardio' programme.

Both comics were very good. The issue of X-Men featured Gambit and Rogue, two of my favourite characters, and featured one of my favourite themes: prejudice, and how people deal with unjust aggression. The issue of Superman had Superman in a very interesting 'secret identity' role; I didn't guess who he was till halfway through the story. I liked it that the story dealt with LexCorp (which was why I bought it in the first place), and I was amused to see in X-Men that the company featured was X-Corp. Heh.

The Superman story, though punchy, was much simpler than the X-Men story, which (as I love)had complex characters in a shades-of-grey dilemma. And Gambit - using his charm while playing pool! Being sexy with Rogue! Just being the all-round devious charmer I know and love. It was another of those wonderful issues that shows Gambit and Rogue about to kiss on the cover. I love the theme.

The art was less than stunning inside, though. Not terrible, but I didn't think it did justice to the characters. Arthur Ransom was the artist.

I learned a few things about exercising in the morning. I should leave myself more time for a shower and then for walking back to work - an factoring in something to eat en route. I suppose the weight machines will become quicker when I don't have to read the instructions attached each time, and when I start remembering what weights I should use with each instead of looking it up every single time. And walking downtown will be more pleasant if I leave earlier. In July, it's stifling by 7.30 a.m.

Oh, and the real joy of the day? I lost another pound: 18 lbs. altogether since mid-March. I couldn't be happier about it.

Sightseeing....

At lunchtime I went to buy shoes because my running shoes have not been faring well lately. Four miles a day (or more) wears out shoes quickly; and besides, my doctor told me to get new shoes every six months, not to wait till they wear out. That's expensive - I have the habit of wearing shoes forever, and I'm cheap about buying new ones. But as part of my new self-improvement initiative (love that word!), I'm doing what the doctor told me to do. Enjoying it, too. There's something luxurious about buying new shoes.

Funny, I usually only buy shoes when I travel. My last pair - nice shoes, which I wear for work, not for walking - were bought in Oxnard, California, as a sort of souvenir when I went to Escapade.

I asked Lisa where she bought her running shoes, and she suggested "Sports 4" on Bank Street, a place I'd never even noticed before. She was right: they had the perfect shoes - New Balance - comfortable and green. And the salesperson took care to make sure they fit and the inserts were as they should be.

I am happy. Poor, but happy.

On Bank Street, I saw two girls walking together - in their mid-teens, one red-haired, one dark-haired. One had a Superman-logo T-shirt. The other had an X-Men logo T-shirt. I love it. Their clothes matched my reading material this morning.

But I wanted Xas...

Got this from adamlizz:


Raphael: The angel of healing. Raphael is drawn to
injured souls which cry out for kindness and
patients. You are a sweet and caring person,
and make a great friend.


Which Angel Lays Within You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I love the sentiment. I hope I can live up to this description. I'd like to be this person.

( Error: Irreparable invalid markup in entry. Raw contents behind the cut. )

Plus ca change....

Just now I was reading the preface to "Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali" by B.K.S. Iyengar. Iyengar is one of my many heroes; surely the greatest yoga expert living today. For decades I have based my yoga practice on his book "Light on Yoga". The hatha yoga class I am now taking is specifically based on his teaching style.

Patanjali is the greatest yoga expert of all time - the man who two thousand years ago or more wrote the great definitive work on yoga theory and practice.

In the preface Iyengar says, among other things, that he is no scholar and doesn't feel qualified to translate or present Patanjali to a modern audience - but that there was no one else who could do it, and it needed to be done. He asks readers with corrections or suggestions to write to him so he may improve future editions.

He finishes: "In ending this preface, I pray Patanjali to bless the readers so that the illuminative rays of yoga may penetrate and reach them, and that poise and peace may flow in them as a perennial river flows into the sea of spiritual wisdom." [Thorsons, HarperCollinsPublishers (London, 2002), p. xx].

Now, yesterday acampbell and I were talking about saints, and this struck me as a similar concept: that Patanjali is invoked as a saint might be invoked, to bless the readers in a certain way.

More, it strikes me as exactly the same sort of words and sentiments a western medieval writer would use. Giraldis Cambrensis, William of Tyre, William of Malmesbury - I'm not really thinking of anyone specific, but it's the kind of traditional tone and thought that was typical of the great historical writers of the 10th to 14th centuries: first, a polite disclaimer that they are not writing because they think they are any kind of intellectual or expert, but because the work needs to be written and they are able to do it; and then a blessing on the readers.

I don't know if this is just Iyengar's personal style, or whether it's from the Indian cultural tradition. It might even be a reflection of Patanjali himself - I'll know more about that when I've read further.

In sounding like my beloved medieval writers, Iyengar has just endeared me to him even further.

Wish list...

I was inspired by squashed's list of things she has to do before her in-laws visit.

Now, I have no in-laws. I once had a father-in-law and I once spoke to him, briefly, on the telephone. That's a close as I've ever come. But it struck me that it would be useful to have someone to need to clean up for - that way some much-needed housework might actually happen.

Now, I am always making 'to do' lists in an attempt to organize myself, and sometimes I do the things on the list and sometimes I don't. I thought I'd take a slightly different approach here and list things that I wish were done - making it a 'wish list' rather than a 'to do' list.

After all, the Bog People exhibit was all about making a wish!

This will of course be pretty boring for anyone but me so I'll put it behind a cut tag. I'll strike out items as I accomplish them.

( Things I wish were done already )