Bike a cold, starve a fever?

I have a stupid cold. I'm pretty sure I caught it at school as my massage swap partner from Wednesday's class was really sick on Thursday and by about Thursday night my throat started getting scratchy...ggrrrr. However, as usual, I'm sort of in denial about it and decided that "Feed a cold, starve a fever" could be replaced by "Beer a cold..." last night --i.e. 2 beers at happy hour with Anh-- and "Bike a cold..." today. I studied a bit this morning, drank tea and vitamin C stuff, and had to get out when the sun started showing up around noon. The extra volume in my head deflated in the cool fresh air and I had a really great 44 mile snot blowing ride over Mercer Island and around the south end of the lake. The fall colors are really pretty and it was great to be out in some sun. Of course, my head is expanding again now that I'm back indoors and took a shower...but it was well worth it.! I'm going to see a movie called, "Steam" with some people at the film festival in a while and will do my best not to be too disruptively sniffy...

The highlights of school yesterday included 3 of my 19-year-old classmates showing me some YouTube video of cage fighting that they really thought I would love because, well, they do (I had to say, "um, not so much..." within the first 10 seconds when there was blood and, of course, fighting) and later creating a limerick with Mari about "Strains." The class was broken up into small groups to research different pathologies and encouraged to creatively present them to the class. My rhyming was in classic form (if I say so myself) and I made up 3 verses about my hamstring and why massage would be helpful for it. I was glad we weren't assigned to research athritis like a couple of the other groups--I mean what the hell rhymes with rhumatoid or arthrits? I can't remember much of it now, but it started out with "In my hamstring I have this damn pain..." Our performance was well received.

school-induced narcolepsy

One of the best things about massage school is getting bodywork several days per week...I swear I didn't think about that little perk when I decided to do this, but it is pretty great. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, our afternoon classes usually include exchanging/practicing on a partner and today I finally found my ideal partner: Jessica, the person who prefers to receive in the first part of class, allowing whoever she's working with (I'll be fighting to be this person henceforth) to finish the day horizontal on a table as the receiver. The bummer, of course, is having to get back off the table after a full day of school and get somewhere quickly or get in a second work out...I've been a little, um, narcoleptic during practice sessions a few times this week...I've always said that they never should have phased out the afternoon nap after kindergarten and I'm happy to have a few of them back as I've been pretty beat these last few weeks. Despite being tired, though, I can say at the end of week 3 that I'm still really digging school and am learning a lot. Our Thursday afternoon teacher is a little "out there" and we love him...today he wanted to show us some tools that were a little "out of the box," and by the end of the afternoon, Jessica and I got to practice standing and kneeling on each other's hamstrings and also standing on the soles of each other's feet (i.e. one person on the table and the other one walking around on the person on the table). It was a good day. Next week I have my first 2 tests...

Squished in before and after school have been the usual workouts...well, usual except for the continued absence of running due to the damn hamstring...but swimming is great, biking has been mostly great, too, and hamstering on the elliptical machine at the gym has allowed me to pretend that I might not completely lose all my running fitness before I can run again...I think I'm going to continue on running hiatus until at least the end of this month...sigh.

The fall is flying by and I can't believe the end of October is in a week---sometimes summer seems like a minute ago and sometimes like years ago. I noticed today when I wrote down the date somewhere that it was my half birthday...after all the changes in the last year, it kinda makes me wonder how various things will look by my real birthday...hm. I damn well better have a functioning hamstring by then.

Fallin' for fall?

Last night I had a rare moment of restraint and chose not to go to Happy Hour with Anh...It was quite the dilemma and not an easy decision, but I was quite happy with my choice to re-group a little after week #2 of school and chill. I made a low budget dinner, studied a little with Jenny's dogs and then rewarded myself with 2 episodes of "Dalllas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Making the Team" on CMT. Ah, trash tv at its finest and the first 2 episodes of the new season were on (I know, how could there have been ONE season, much less 3!?) I love America. And cable. I was psyched to lounge on the couch and laughed out loud several times while texting various people to tell them they should be watching it, too. I stayed up till 10:30 before sleeping 9 good hours to start the weekend.

Today has been another gorgeous fall day...although I definitely prefer summer and 80-85 degrees, I have to admit that the fall season is growing on me. Sunshine and fall colors made for a good solo double loop bike ride around Mercer Island...got in 42 miles. One highlight of the ride was the observation of real PAVING of the chunky pavement between Leschi and Madrona...there will be some blissful smooth blacktop for the next bike ride down there and it's about time (could somebody send that crew to the Burke Gilman trail next, please?)! The next stop is the gay/lesbian film fest with Chase & Heather, then Hot Flash...and if I can stay awake, SNL!

Tubercles, condyles and fossas, oh my!

The last time I took anatomy and kinesiology was...um...about 22 years ago (yes, more years ago than the age of several of my classmates). I've been forced to admit that I may have forgotten a few things since then. Today in our kines class we had to locate a whole bunch of bones (like almost all of 'em) and boney landmarks. A lot of things sounded familiar, but I needed all the book photos and the help of my group-mates playing with a big skeleton to find it all. Fortunately, we had a few breaks in the middle as my head got a bit full and walking around the block seemed like a really good idea. It was another really good day, though, and the practical sessions yesterday and today were awesome...I even got some nice positive feedback from the instructors this afternoon about my body mechanics. I feel like there's a LOT to learn, but a lot has happened already and I'm looking forward to working on my friends soon. I'm really impressed with our instructors and the way everything is wholistic and integrated...it's really cool and I'm totally digging it. and liking my classmates more and more, too.

I'm hanging with Jenny's dogs and cat till next Tuesday and have been rallying them for kibble and a quick game of fetch-in-the-dark every day at 5:30 a.m. so I can rush off to work out. They are more reliable than the U.S. Postal service in their enthusiasm for fetching (cold, rain, dark...they beg for more) and they could go on and on and on...I play with them twice a day and am starting to fear for my rotator cuff! One of the dogs, Ruby, has been sleeping with me (for some reason I've been spared of them both being in my bed and actually have a little bed space) and I've slept like a rock every night, dreaming a lot of wacky busy stuff...I think it's just my subconscious taking a big burp with all the new stuff happening and settling in to school life. I've been in bed before 9:30 every night, but have craved a bit more sleep and recovery than I've been getting. I keep thinking I'll catch up over the weekend, but then I realize that I have a shitload of stuff going on this weekend, too...

This morning I went home to the Shoebox for a morning spin on the trainer and got in a short hamster session after school. Not so easy to do a late afternoon workout after a busy day, especially after swapping massage practice and feeling much more like a nap than a second workout...I was proud of myself for dragging my butt into the gym!

Tomorrow is Friday...sweet.

School is cool

It's week #2 of school and I'm still really liking it...I had a great day at school today (my Ethics Class and the teacher rocks) and also managed to get in a hamster session at the gym before school and a short (brisk, brr!) bike ride after. We learned petrissage today in the afternoon class and I volunteered to be the demo person... which meant that I got to be worked on by an instructor and then again by my swap partner of the day, Mari. Sweet! It was a really great deal, but meant I didn't get to SEE the demo that had been done on me by the teacher...and I've recently discovered (via a learning styles test we are taking) that I'm a visual more than a kinesthetic learner, so I might not try to be the first volunteer to be the demo in the future.

Anyway, I've learned effleurage and petrissage and tomorrow is friction. Bring it! I have planned practice sessions for this coming weekend to work on Tatyana and Liz...hopefully, I can put enough of this stuff together to imitate an actual massage. Yea for willing guinea pigs!

I'm still feeling like I have a lot of plates spinning and adjusments happening, especially with dog/house-sitting this week, but it's possible I'll get them spinning in synch...well, maybe.

Brain out of retirement

If chasing one's tail were an Olympic event, I'd have medalled this week...gold. Between a new schedule, bringing my brain out of retirement and into school mode, beagle and house-sitting, work outs, and some social stuff (somehow I managed to have plans every night but one this past week), I was pretty dang frazzled. Let's just say I'm reviewing my time management skills and next week will be (must be) different... I haven't NEEDED a weekend as much as I did yesterday in a loooonnnnggg time. But it feels great to have my head and energy wrapped around something new and very cool...I'm totally digging school! There are about 18 people in my class and, thank god(dess), I'm not the only one in my age group...there are about 3 of us. Of course, I'm old enough to be the parent of several (ok most) of my classmates, but it kind of keeps things interesting. One cool thing I noticed this week was that I was in tornado mode during almost all parts of every single day EXCEPT when I was actually in class at school...the place and the people have good energy and I was able to "land" and engage when I was in class.

It appears that I've started a house and dog sitting business on the side without really trying...I've had 3 dog-sit gigs back to back and just got another one starting tomorrow which will go for about 8 days. I'm pretty psyched to be re-locating up to Jenny P's house to hang out with her 2 cool dogs, Ruby and Rafiki and Noodle, the cat. These little gigs are helping to offset the financial crunch of school and things like, oh, spending $103 at Office Depot today for school supplies (a girl NEEDS colored pencils for the anatomy books, you know, but holy crap that stuff is expensive).

My stupid freakin' hamstring is still not 100% functional, not even close. I ran 4 miles on Tuesday (my only run in 5 weeks) and it got all mad again. I went to PT yesterday and Kristen gave me the "no go" for running for at least a week again and, of course, she found something else I'm doing mechanically wrong and gave me some exercises for my iliopsoas...augh.

After the deluge of week #1, I have a substantial to-do list this weekend. I knocked out a few things so far, but what I knew I needed most and first was a good long bike ride. Today was a cool but gorgeous sunny fall day and I went around the north end of Lake Washington...got in 50 miles and it was exactly perfect. I now feel more like myself again and ready to tackle a few more things...tomorrow...cause there's a Libra-palooza party tonight!

Beagle in da house!

This week I'm dog-sitting my favorite beagle, Rosie...it's my 3rd week in a row with a dog/house-sitting gig (thank you, universe, for throwing these my way as the starving student chapter is beginning) and it's been great to be around so much dog energy. I had a blast with Roxy, the little football impersonator chihuahua (pick her up and run), had fun with Kirby & Nacho while my pal, Stacia was off winning the national Tennis Championships this past weekend in Tucson (go Staishe!), and I'm really digging having "the little potato" beagle this week. I love love love love LOVE this beagle and haven't gotten to hang out with her in several months, so I was psyched when her humans got a hold of me the other day. We're doing the stealth beagle-in-the-Shoebox routine like we did last spring and I'm hoping it'll fly again. I'm not exactly allowed to have a dog in the Shoebox, but the Potato never (and I mean NEVER) barks, so I'm hopeful. I'm visiting her cat friend, Tink (yeah, another cat, WHATever) at their house every day, but we're shacking up at my place until Saturday unless we get busted.

I'm getting in my workouts, but the weather has gone completely to CRAP and the Rosie triathlon of sleeping, reclining restfully with eyes at half-mast, and walking leisurely if necessary seems like a good idea as the season is gets increasingly more cold, dark, wet, and windy (augh, shoot me now). She slept while I went to the pool for swim team this morning and napped while I was on the bike trainer this evening...and, from the looks of things every time I come home, she pretty much sleeps in between napping!

I was going to try running around greenlake today (PT gave permission last week), but it was so lousy outside, I opted for watching the news with the dog on the bike trainer. I'm thinking that my aspirations of being a golden retriever in my next life could possibly be replaced by being a beagle. Seems neither would suck if you have the right humans looking out for you.

Tomorrow is my first day of school and I'm really looking forward to starting the new chapter...my brain is pretty hungry and it will be fun to get things going!

What me, competitive?

Today was orientation day for massage school...don't think I've blogged about this, but I'm making a major life change and going to school full time to become a massage therapist. I'm totally psyched and school starts on Tuesday. I spent several hours yesterday working on a scholarship application essay and e-mailing it back and forth to my pal, Carie, in Colorado who is a great writer and editor to fine tune it (we ended up with 496 words on a 500 word limit). Between the 2 of us and our bantering back and forth online, I've been feeling more and more competitive and really want to (kick some ass and) win the scholarship...So that may have colored my mood today going into orientation.

Of course, as soon as I got there this morning I started sizing everyone up immediately (just like in the transition area when I get to a race...) and trying to figure out who could have possibly written an essay as good as mine. After the initial introductions (which included everyone answering the question of "What movie would you BE today?" I chose Thelma & Louise), we played an icebreaker "human bingo" game. As soon as they said that there were prizes, I went right to task. I'm happy to report that not only was I one of 4 winners, I was the FIRST winner to get a bingo. Hey, it was worth a $5 gift card to Taco del Mar, so I'm calling it a success and the starving student fund can certainly use some free food! Today a burrito, next may be the $2,000 scholarship!!

My last week before school starts seems to be flying by...I'm dog sitting again, this time for Stacia's dogs, and the last couple of days were still sunny so I was outdoors as much as possible. I played with Ja'Narah at Alki on Tuesday and yesterday I went out to St. Ed's Park to mountain bike with Jenny and Nicole...except both of them had to cancel. As soon as I got out there, I got text messages from both of them saying were stuck at work and couldn't get out to play with me. The perils of having real and important jobs, I guess. I was bummed, but was already out there and it was a really great evening so I did my first solo mountain bike ride. I managed not to kill myself or get lost...it was actually a really great ride--I had a blast!