January 31st, 2012
kicking athletic ass / this weekend in January
“Squint your eyes and look closer / I’m not between you and your ambition”
—32 Flavors, Alana Davis(?)
“Shit, Dottie, if you want to go back to Oregon and make a hundred babies, great, I’m in no position to tell anyone how to live. But sneaking out like this, quitting, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. Baseball is what gets inside you. It’s what lights you up, you can’t deny that.”
—Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks), A League of Their Own…I have no shame
GOD I forgot how often I kick SO MUCH ASS this particular weekend in January!! Generally athletic ass (which = true), but historically I kind of forgot that I’ve had some really good times the last weekend in January. (This also used to coincide w/ Superbowl weekend, NOT THAT I CARED but just that it meant my gymnastics meets were themed as such…quite stupidly IMHO.) Seriously, awesome Level 8 meet in 1998 and awesome Level 9 meet in 2000, BOTH w/ career highs/9.0s…WHAT UP January-o/Enero.
AND it continues! As I mentioned, the SUPER GREAT skating, the new yoga stuff, and then LAST NIGHT the piece d’resistance (or…whatever you say it) which was kicking ass at my first time back in a gymnastics gym in almost a year! I did a few things I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do at 30…guess all that strength obsession pays off SOMEwhere. Aerials, get at me (and to think last time I did those back in March my knee was in SO MUCH PAIN I thought I’d have to retire?!). Switchleap-straddle jump on beam? Oh yeah. Kips, NBD. Cast handstand, NBD. Oh giants…OH YEAH I can still do THOSE TOO. HOT. WITH a layout flyaway. AW YEAH! And BHS, and RO BHS, and back tucks on tramp, etc. GOOD, GOOD, GOOD! I mean, these are all basic things, but it’s really cool to be able to come back after 10+ months away and STILL ‘have it’, at least a little bit. Especially for a terrible, not-naturally-talented athlete like moi…ha.
AND of course the thing that makes me most happy is that I did FRONT HANDSPRING FRONT TUCKS on rod floor…HOLLA!!! I never know when I might be able to pull those things out but it is such an awesome feeling when I can! Tricky brain. Love it!
…GOD it is embarrassing/yet amusing that gymnastics, and simple skills at that, can STILL give me such a high…HAHAHAHAHA. Wow. I amaze myself. It was really fun though and I hope to go back soon. Thank you Kelly for inviting me/getting me to get out there. YEAH!
…I am sure I will pay for this gymnastics excursion with _massive_ muscular soreness/pain very, very soon. Oh but yeah – WORTH IT.
So yeah. Went to HITF today to do a little tour with my student-mentee gal (she’s a doll, however, I think she thinks I’m a corporate dork, note, mostly right, alas). Great new space. Good times. They were so helpful and chatty and I REALLY appreciate that – always so nice to me. I am always a bit sad to be gone. We spent a little while identifying all of the players in our HAMJAM09(? or 08?) poster. Honestly so much of my time there seems mystical, unreal, more of a story than actual truth, more characters than actual people? I can’t explain it. But many of the people are my friends, and 2006-2009 happened, so…there ya go. Mysteries and make-believe. Weirdly a little like HS, somehow.
And TIME GOES BY.
And time goes by.
And then tomorrow is February. And March, April, May, June. And then before you know it it’s 2013. And then all of a sudden you’re 38 and then you’re plotting other futures and then there’s 40th birthday parties in Vegas instead and then it’s Olympicsanddropoffsandmealplanningandcalendarsandcraftsand datenightsandrushingandmovingaheadandandnandandandas ldfhpoawiefzkxf and then you’re dead.
Happy 2/1/12, in advance. Seeya.
ETA, later: I FORGOT. When we were at aunts/cousins lunch Saturday, at some point while she was talking (if I am not mistaken, C??) my cousin Christie actually WINKED mid-sentence. This made me very very happy as sometimes I do this and then think “what kind of weirdo DOES that?!”
And there you have it. Pieow!
February 1st, 2012 at 4:24 pm
Oh, weird. I did not intentionally wink. Eye spasm? Or maybe I did but you’d have to remind me in what context.
The 32 Flavors song is either/both Alana Davis and Ani DiFranco, I think. I have the cd with the Alana Davis version. I love it but frequently hear it at the grocery store and it makes me feel old/unhip that a song I like qualifies as “background shopping music.” Sigh.