the girly who shall end all girls

had a conversation today about how i think this applies to re-engineering yourself in order to satisfy a goal. like losing weight, or fighting depression, or meeting more people, or whatever.

or it's just a wistful show 'em all fantasy. but there's a solid place for that.

The Future Soon

somewhere i lost count. but Saturday was definitely at least 21 kung fu classes.

i lost count because i'm having a great time. i commented to mimerki that i want to keep at it at least until i get to the butterfly knives. that's years away, and right now i'm fine with that.

i appreciate the way things have cascaded from the class. the lion dance pictures led me into learning more about photoshop and about my camera. to take care of my knees i'm going to the gym regularly, used a trainer. we're talking about going to a hip opening yoga workshop (that i've looked at for years) to make wide stances and kicks easier. i'm getting to know coworker F, who i never would have encountered in my daily routine. i'm reading more about China. i'm standing up straighter. i can run to catch the bus without getting winded.

currently i'm up to "one step" sparring, which is a very controlled contact exercise that teaches distance and timing. (punch-block-punch with step to right, return to center, punch-block-punch with step to left, return to center, repeat many times, change up the block type, change who punches first.) the first time i did it i needed frequent breaks to shake out my legs. most recently we lost track of time before we had to move on to the next part of class.

"fatty necrosis" is my Achilles' heel. (not actual fatty necrosis, thank goodness. that would mean that i had ruptured fat cells in my breasts from impact. classmate M, training-to-be-a-physical-therapist-with-an-interest-in-forensics, knows how to destroy me. if you were to say "fatty necrosis" while sparring with me, i would burst into laughter and fail to block you.)



my waist is two inches smaller than when i started. my hip is larger. hung gar kuen, bringing the Oakland Booty for 3000 years.

oh, that was awesome.

we met markbourne and e_bourne for dinner and the first night of Jonathan Coulton's sold out two nights at the Triple Door. the food was lovely, the drinks were full of life-giving alcohol, and the audience was (in the words of openers Paul and Storm) "off their Adderall".

antics ensued: someone threw a package of unworn panties, there was a pirate hat, and there was a banana (with a flavor-ring). Coulton is still oddly attractive and somewhat resembles buhrger. (if buhrger trimmed his beard and took several inches off his hair and got new glasses and highlights...)

Paul and Storm back JoCo for part of his show. this time there was also special guest Molly, aka sweetafton23 on YouTube, a talented ukulele cover artist who joined in on several numbers as well as getting a moment to sing her own "Roadtrip".

all the performers got together to do a ( very special number - cut to not spoil Sunday attendees ) which i had never heard performed live.*

watching our friends see their first JoCo with Paul and Storm show was an added delight. we laughed till we hurt, we arr-ed, we sang on cue. it was a goodness.

we saw the best license plate in the parking garage (as seen in my previous post).

we hit every light green once we were on fourth avenue, and we rolled down the windows and sang along with INXS all the way home. (our car still has a cassette player, which means that the music selection is mostly frozen in time. Kick is an enduring classic in my household.) sometimes (especially after an evening out) there really is nothing better than crossing the ship canal with the wind in your hair and the lights sparkling on the water.

*ETA: i am not being a bitch. they did a live Rickroll - the patter was that they were going to do a cover, so we were all primed for Baby Got Back. they played enough of Never Gonna Give You Up for everyone to get it, then segued into Baby Got Back. i think this is the official end of the meme.