yogic thinking

So besides the benefits of increased flexibility and strength that I have gained from my yoga practice, probably the most significant influence that it has had in my life is the introduction of yogic thinking. My frame of mind is so clear and focused and positive now, that my life is just so much better. For instance, Friday morning i woke up to an e-mail from Bank of America saying that they put a hold on my credit card due to some suspicious charges. Sure enough, they were right. Last year, I would have freaked out upon receipt of this e-mail. But now, it just rolls off of me. Sunday night when i flew into Cleveland - plane was delayed of course, I got in at 11:00 PM. and then waited at the baggage claim for 20 minutes, but no baggage. So I had to go to NorthWest office and wait in line there and fill out the forms and everything. And it didn't really didn't faze me. not one bit. Once again, it just rolled right off of me. Everything will work itself out. and i was right. when i got home Monday after work, my luggage was waiting for me on my front porch :)

I haven't turned into some hippie who is all peace and love and whatnot, but I just feel that I have come into a better peace of mind and a better way of living. If you put out positive energy, the world is so much better. There are things you just can't control. And there's no sense in getting angry or agitated over it. So with yogic thinking, you just remain calm, put forth a positive energy, takes actions to remove the negative energy that's around you and let the world balance itself and yourself out :)

crazy/healthy

so i had my physical on Tuesday, and i totally killed it. I went into my doctor's office wanting to ask him if he knew anybody good in Akron (my doctor is in Cleveland) but then during the physical, i remembered how funny he was and how much i liked his personality, so i decided to forego the question. So anyway, after entering the room, he looked at me and said "so why are you here?" and i explained that i thought i should have a physical/annual exam since i really hadn't had one ever and thought i should know some numbers like cholesterol and blood pressure and whatnot. Before he came in i got weighed and my weight was a lot less than normal (i think it was on account of the fact that i had been out of town the past two weeks prior to my visit, so i hadn't been working out nor had i been on my high calorie eating regimen, not to mention that i had to fast for the past 14 hours (see previous blog)). I told him that i wanted to gain weight and explained to him my eating regimen and workout/yoga schedule and he like everyone else was confused/irritated. He said "everyone comes in here telling me they want to lose weight, but you come in here telling me the opposite! there's nothing wrong with you. You eat well, you exercise. You are perfectly healthy." Then he took a look at my EKG and said it was perfect. He then did my reflexes and heartbeat stuff (both were good) and then he was slapping my stomach (which since i was lying inclined on the table, it was flexed a little and hence a little flatter and harder than normal) with his hand and said "look at that. just look at that...." I still tried tell him how i needed to gain weight, but he refused to have it. He said "you are young, you are healthy, you are handsome, you are in shape, there's nothing wrong with you." Then i told him to check my blood pressure. which he did and then he noticeably sighed. "what?"
"100/60"
"is that good?"
"yes, it's very good."
"what's the best?"
"80"
"oh, i have work to do then..."
"you are perfectly healthy."
then he checked my manstuff and sent me to get my bloodwork done. he said he didn't want to see me back (unless for something serious) for 3 years, when i needed to get a tetanus shot.
I liked how he was irritated at how healthy i was. it was funny.

i got my bloodwork back on Thursday, and the nurse was very pleased with the results.
cell counts and thyroid were both good
cholesterol was 124 (normal range 100-200)
HDL was 45 (normal range 40-60)
LDL was 70 (normal range 60-130)
triglycerides were 46 (normal range 30-150)

so it looks like i AM perfectly healthy. stress on healthy....and perfect.

but not being content with that, i did a lot of investigating about diet nutrition over this past week and made some changes to my eating regimen. My new daily diet includes things that everyone should eat daily: 1 oz nuts, and 1 oz dark chocolate. (got to get those omega-3s and antioxidants!) I added raisins into the mix to make it into a healthy trial mix snack! I still need to incorporate drinking a little red wine every day, but i'll start slow and make it once or twice a week probably. My new diet tallies up to 4100 calories per day! Only 22% of those calories are from fat. and only 34% of that 22% is from the bad fats (saturated) and i have no trans fats in my diet at all. I also get 260 grams of protein per day and 45 grams of fiber! I also drink at least 5 bottles of water per day.

I'm not crazy.

And even if i am, i don't care, because i'm healthy :)

making cents

So i've been spring cleaning and in the process, purging my condo of all things high school. I don't know why it took me so long to get rid of a bunch of crap that for some reason i felt that i either needed to save, or thought it was cool or were memories i didn't want to let go of. The only thing i did save though, was some Royal News stuff that is just too good to ever let go of because every now and then, i'll pull out a copy of the Chromosome Chronicle (the fake school paper) and just laugh for hours while reading it. I also kept my MLK Jr. paper aptly titled, "He Had a Dream," for which I received a "D."

So as I was getting rid of 99% of my high school crap, some of my college coursework (it was sad throwing away my EALL stuff....) and just random other stuff that i have amassed throughout the years, I came upon my shoebox of change. I've been keeping my spare change and rolling it up periodically for maybe about 10 years now. And when i roll it up, i just put it in the shoebox. Well, i finally got to the point where I told myself that i should probably take it to the bank. All in all, i had 47 penny rolls, 17 nickel rolls, 22 dime rolls and 36 quarter rolls, which sums up to $527.50. Isn't that crazy!

When i got to the bank, i saw a lot of nervous eyes from the tellers as they gazed upon the shoebox. I know what they were thinking. I remember when I went to the bank to get my mortgage, and in the cubicle next to me, there was a man and lady who were opening up their first bank account and they brought in boxes and boxes and bags and shoeboxes and more bags of straight up cash. It was so crazy. Now, I don't know if it's smart or dumb to trust the bank with all your money like almost everyone else does, but on the flip side, it also seems crazy to just store mad amounts of cash around your house.

So anyway, I felt bad for the teller, because i thought she was going to have to count all the coins and make sure it was all there, but in the end, she did no such thing. She counted the rolls up and traded me dollar bills for them and i left. What happens if the coin rolls were full of lead or something else. It's not like the rolls are translucent or anything, there could have been anything in there. Or what happens if a few of the rolls were a coin or two short? Do they not care? She didn't ask me my account number, or my name or anything. How would they get compensated? I was kinda baffled by it. I almost asked her about the procedure for something like this, but instead i just took the money and left. oh well. not my problem if you can't do your job.

dying

so i'm getting bloodwork done tomorrow at 8:00 AM and you have to fast 14 hours before. So i ate my dinner at 5:30 PM and loaded up on food. But after going to the gym and working out for an hour and then doing yoga for an hour, i am sooooooooo hungry. i'm dying. i'm only 3 1/2 hours into my fast and i don't think i can make it. Thank Cassia's God that i'm not religious anymore, because religious people love their fastings and i simply do not have the ability to not eat for long periods of time anymore (i think my record is near 26-28 hours back in the day when i was manorexic. I have trained my body to need nutrients every 3 hours. i am very scheduled and my stomach likes routine feedings. I think i will die from hunger in my sleep tonight. i'd say pray for me, but once again, i'm not religious, even more so after witnessing the horrors of the Creation Museum.

Sneer

So today i was running around trying to find white seat cushions/pads for my wooden chairs in my kitchen. Apparently no place sells white cushions. I get the fact that white = shows dirt easily, but you'd think some store somewhere would have them. Well, not at Target, Kohl's, HomeGoods, Bed Bath and Beyond, JCPenney's, and anywhere else I may have gone. So unfortunately my never ending quest led me to KMart (last resort). While at KMart I saw this family that were typical KMart shoppers and they had something big in their cart (i think it was a desk or cabinet or something that they had to put together) and I overheard the younger son, who had to have been no older than 10, say "This is perfect. Too bad it was made in China." I suppose this is a typical WT Mid-American thing to say and the paradigm of dialogue in a store like KMart, but the whole incident made me kind of angry/sad about the world. Part of it has to do with how young the kid was. Kids that age learn that crap from their parents, not TV.

Oh well, I hope they get lead-poisoning from whatever they bought, which is a high-possibility, seeing as it is from China and all......

So Retarded

Question: What do you do if you were mid-90's blonde bombshell who failed at transforming her initial momentum into primetime TV success or blockbuster Hollywood films?

Answer: Have a retarded son and exploit him everywhere in order to get the most media coverage you've had since 1995's Singled Out.

Congratulations Jenny McCarthy. Now shut the fuck up and go back to being insignifiCUNT.

Regressive Field

The Tribe won their home opener 10 to 8 last night! Honk if you love that tribe!
But Cleveland was the ultimate loser regardless of the outcome, since the baseball park is now called "Progressive Field" instead of Jacob's Field or its better moniker "The Jake!" What a horrible name. definitely a downgrade. A similar pitfall afflicted the former Gund Arena. Now it's Quicken Loans Arena, which equals Progressive Field in the magnitude of retardation. Why does Cleveland's sports arenas names suck? The only thing that could make things better is if the Cleveland Rockers came back! The Rockers ruled! j/k, April Fools'!