Death Raven

In our district it's the first day. The kids are loaded up with supplies, both for themselves and the classroom. I feel like I should send a therapy-box of chocolates to each teacher along with a Costco sized bottle/jar of ibuprofen and a meditation CD.

Or just a bottle of Jack?

Anyway, heartfelt sympathy to all the teachers who are wrangling kids after a long summer break.

Habits... how much of our relationships are built on habits? Do we always pick on the same person? treat certain people with admiration? fear the same people? label the same people as cool? uncool? geek? clown? intellectual? How many of our interactions are based on a history that turns perception into assumption and then expectation.

I think humans are only human. We get used to treating someone a certain way and don't understand a shift in dynamics when it occurs. We see the the kid that always gets picked who later seems to attract mockery. Or how we identify the "smart kid" and even if they are spouting average information, we are inclined to think that they are smart.

At what point do we internalize the external perception placed on us by others? Do we rise and/or fall to fullfill expectations? What do we have to go through to change the internalized belief? What if I don't want to be the class clown? or the "bad influence"?

And once we change on the inside, how do we change the perception of others?

What changes us? An awakening. A life changing event. And how do we recognize it in someone else? Especially since as adults we tend to think we are wiser, but maybe we are really just more set in our ways and less likely to recognize change when it's in our faces.

Suppose the class wimp becomes, like the Karate Kid, an ass-kicking superstar? What if you don't do karate and didn't know there was a tournament, how will you recognize the change? You won't unless you were the one stealing his lunch money and then it will be when your face connects with the ground and you don't remember being thrown to the floor. That would be a clue. And if you were nearby when the lunch money was being taken and see the ass-kicking, that would be a clue. Other than that, your chance to change your perception might only happen if you heard about the tournament or the bully smack-down.

Change is good. We should reinvent ourselves every so often. My dusty memory seems to recall that Ben Franklin (or some other intellectual who was important) indicated that we should have a revolution in the US on some routine basis. (Was it every 100 years?) I don't recall the details with my Swiss cheese memory, but conceptually it's good to shake up expectations and juice the brain into thinking new thoughts and questioning perceptions.

In other words, suck it up, Cupcake. Buy a clue or your face will meet the pavement.

I've been slacking. I haven't gained any weight (well, maybe 2 lb, but I'm so used to shooting up 5-10 lb, 2 feels super-manageble. I can cut out wheat and lose that 2 lb.)

So...

Monday, Gym; sprint intervals and upper body
Tuesday, Day of Rest
Wednesday, slow work before fighter practice, then fighter practice (Hello Bruise-a-palooza!)
Thursday, Training Session with Captain Optimism. We did max reps on my upper body. My chest hurts like I've got a super duper squeezy sport bra on. I don't, it's just the pain.
Today... well, I slept through my morning window, but I have kids tonight, so maybe we go to the gym on our way home and they play in Kids club while I hit the weights and do Core.
Saturday, long run
Sunday, short run, Core

I feel great. Walking outside has been fabulous in this weather.

Fast food doesn't have to mean Junk food.

Sitting through a meeting yesterday, two of us brought our "fast food lunches". My friend Mike had left work to drive through a McD and get burger and fries. MY fast food was a yougurt, 2 cuties, an apple,a cheese stick and a low fat granola bar (I pack the bars for "just in case"; they are the optional item I leave off if my body isn't that hungry). I think my body loves me more than Mike's body loves him!

When I'm thinking fast food, I walk through the grocery fruit stand and dairy section grabbing ready to eat stuff. IMO, it may take a few more minutes than sitting in line at a burger joint, but if that's the difference between hardening an artery and how healthy I feel after eating well, then I'm in! Sometimes there aren't enough calories for me in that so I grab a can of soup (I like zesty gumbo stuff) or a lemon and some fake crab from the meat counter. A disposable zip lock container can be used to toss, store and eat from plus I keep a box of disposable spoons in the front of my car. (Everyone who gets in my car sees the spoons and gives me a "look" and says, 'Spoons?' LOL. But it works for my on-the-go lifestyle).

This is the easiest season to avoid junk food. Strawberries are in season. That's my impulse buy at the check out. Cuties are in, too, and I slip a few of those in my coat pocket for when the urge strikes. Strawberries and cuties are so much yummier than candy bars, have no fat, and their sugar boost isn't followed by the same kind of crash as a candy bar.

I love living in the Bay Area. So many healthy options all year round. Yay Nutrition.

Getting into a training groove. In July the swim and run legs of my race are longer than a half-iron man. Guess what this means?

- I've got to actually get serious about training
- If I survive (heavy on the "if"), I'm doing a half-iron next year.

Death Raven is either burying herself or kicking it up a notch, baby.
( training for this week )

It was a fire alarm with dying battery. Ha! So much for sticking my head in all sorts of corners of the office trying to pin point the noise. Go me!

Super N's basket ball team won another playoff game. It was thrilling to watch.

Go Saints!

Tomorrow Miss E's team plays. Fingers crossed that the scrappy "bad news bears" do well.

Sunday: we sign up for track and field. I'm volunteering to coach. Very excited.

Go Saints!

Open house sales on 1/1/2011 and 1/15/2011. I'm going to take stuff to Ysa's practice as well.

My website is as "updated" as it's going to be for the next few weeks. I still have at least 6 bins of fabric and stuff in the Corbie Cave to go through and measure, so the comment "and more" means more silks, wools and brocades. I just need to focus on measuring and sorting, the photography and webbing is fun, but the photos aren't doing some of this fabric justice.

I also have a box of "pieces", like large cabbage. That's for the taking. Just too big or too nice to throw away, but I have no use for it.

I have a bolt of (no kidding) pylon orange "poodle". It feels amazingly soft and looks scary oragne. I think I was going to make a Renaissance coat and line it with this stuff. I just want to give it a good home. There's 8-10 yards of it.

If you see something on the website that you like, tell me specifically that you want it and when/how you want to get it from me (i.e. come to my house, meet somewhere like Ysa's etc). I don't really know how to interpret "I like X" so please be specific. I will pull it aside and put your name on it.

Right now I'm holding stuff for:

Cordelia
Rose
Trystan

I put a link from main page to fabric sale. Yay. Www.threadwalker.net

And went through 2 more large boxes today. I have a lot of wool. A LOT!!!!

Tromping onwards into more boxes. If you see something you like, let me know.

2011 is going to fucking rock. I am Athena and my army is massing.

My mom is still a crazy bitch. Why do I let myself believe her? Because, to quote one wise friend, I keep hoping she'll become the mother I wish she were. Whatever, right? So she bailed on me in a key crisis moment. I cried. I gnashed my teeth. I felt my world fall in on me. Then I stood up, wiped my face, fixed my make-up and made a plan. I'm Athena, my army is massing..

I am rendesvousing in Las Vegas with my sister for my birthday. I have a plane ticket. I am so freaking excited, I feel like my chest is going to burst.

VEGAS BABY! FTW!

By the time I go to bed tonight (midnight-ish) I should have the starts of my fabric-sale webbed. I had so many boxes in the garage, I couldn't bring it all in the house. So I'm starting with one-box at a time. You want some fabric? Shoot me a message. I'm dumping it as fast as I can starting this weekend. Got nothing to do on New Years Day? Come paw through my fabric.

www.threadwalker.net/fabric-sale.html

I am Athena, my army is massing.

I feel like I'm shedding a skin that no longer fits. I am totally addicted to down-sizing ( read at your own peril )