Spilled Milk Sucks

Let’s see….on Monday I went to another grueling session of Bikram yoga and I was able to get into some poses better this time around. The heat helps loosen up the tight muscles but a side effect of this class is my stomach seems to now hate food. Ergh. I’ve been trying to eat smaller meals and drink more water throughout the day to offset the upset tummy. My plan is to take another class on Thursday after work. We shall see how that pans out. If that doesn’t work then I can hold off until Saturday and Sunday mornings.

With my temp job coming to end on Thursday, I’ll have some time next week to go more consistently. I would like to buy a set or two of workout clothes that wick the moisture from my body. It will be better than wearing cotton clothing ‘cause that doesn’t seem to work very well in there. Hmmm. I need to go visit a sports store to decide.

So yesterday I discovered that my last three chapters, the pages I finished last month are nowhere to be found. Ergh! Frustrating. Yesterday I was fit to be tied over it but I realized that I’ve just been careless with my work. I work on this novel in three different computers and I have not backed up my work very consistently. I usually print out the pages to have a hard copy of the new material but this time I did not. So here I go again, I need to re-write 45+ pages of material again. Where is my brain? I remember thinking that I need to email myself a copy of the pages but then I forgot to actually do it. *sigh* Well, I guess I have time this week to finish off these pages. What a crap thing for me to do. I’d be more upset over this but I talked to my writing buddy Christine and she just encouraged me to write the pages again. Thanks goodness for good friends.

Okay, I think that’s all I have for today. My stomach sounds like an alien baby is about to emerge through my navel. Haha!!
All for now,

L~

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2013 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

A Hot Sweaty Mess

This past weekend I tried something new. Bikram Yoga. Eeek! It’s an intense yoga done in a very hot room. Now I’ve been practicing yoga on and off for the past ten years. Mostly Hatha and Sivananda. Those two practices did not prepare me for Bikram. I sat in the hot room before class to get myself acclimated to the heat. I made the mistake of not bringing a water bottle in with me. I also made the mistake of not drinking much water before I took the class. The teacher who taught said at the beginning of the class for all the newbies to stay in the room even if you felt dizzy. Hmmm. Now for those of you who know me well, I’m a bit on the heavy side and being overly hot isn’t my favorite thing, but I thought I would try this type of yoga to help my very tight muscles loosen up a bit. We, humans, are not meant to sit at a desk for 8.5 hours a day without our bodies tightening up. So I bought this month long voucher back in January. I meant to go. I really did but my chattering monkey brain got in the way. I talked myself out of going to yoga because I was anticipating a class full of hard bodies while I tried to slog through the poses. Hehehe. I know now that I was just getting in my own way. I finally went Saturday morning full of vim and vigor. I seem to be telling this story in a circular way.

I went through the most intensive 90 minute yoga class in my life. Every inch of my body was covered in sweat. It was not a pretty sight but everyone in that room looked the same on that count. I did have to take a few sitting breaks from time to time because the heat and the poses made me cramp up or made me want to throw up. And yes, I did feel faint a few times. * note to self – bring a water bottle next time. Essentially this particular class focused on standing / balancing poses. I have one bad knee that had me all out of whack…but I hung in there. I think this type of yoga will be beneficial to my crazy bad knees because they focus on strengthening the quad muscles. And good lord, mine have atrophied since I blew out my knee, so I spent a good deal of time shaking through my poses trying to get my quad muscle to fire up and hold still. When I came out of class I was trembling probably from dehydration but mostly from the effort. I stayed in the class the whole time, I did not pass out, I tried for the poses and even when I definitely didn’t have the flexibility or the stamina for them I did my best and I’m really proud of that fact.

After class, I bought a ridiculously overpriced coconut water which help with the dehydration. Then I went to get a mani/pedi ‘cause the one thing I noticed while doing those poses was the fact that my feet were jacked up. So yes, pedicure was needed. I bought myself a fruit blend made from bananas, strawberry and apple and headed for a little pampering. Then I went straight home where my body was naturally detoxing. I took a long hot shower and gradually a migraine started to bloom. I went to lie down for a short nap and 12 hours later I awoke. My intention was go to another morning class on Sunday but my body was on fire. I was very sore…there are part of my body that I never knew could get sore, like the muscles around my rib cage. Who knew? Anyway, I opted to do an hour long session of Sivananda yoga instead. The gentle approach helped break up some of the crazy soreness I was feeling and afterwards I treated myself to some berries and cereal. Yay!!
All for now,
L~
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2013 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Tegan & Sara - Now I'm All Messed Up

I’m still wiggling in the world of being uncomfortable right now. I dreamt last night that I was invited to live with my sister and my three nieces in Soho and I was scrubbing her apartment clean before I would consider moving in. Hehehe. She has two little ones that make keeping a clean apt. almost impossible. She begs to differ.

This morning on my way through the apartment complex Crow flew straight across my line of vision and called out. My first good omen of the day. When I got to Times Square, someone had drawn purple hearts in chalk across a few sidewalks. Awww how sweet is that!! It totally made me go all mush.
I’ve been in such a foul mood all week that it’s cool to allow a little ray of sunlight in.

Okay, I've been on such a Tegan & Sara kick that I'm putting up "Now I'm All Messed Up."  I love Sara's high pleading voice in this tune. If I've put this audio up once before...oh well...you're going to have to ride along on my Tegan & Sara trip.  Sweet!! 

Peace, L~ All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2013 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Iyeoka--Simply Falling

It’s a wet slushy Tuesday and I just realized this morning that I have a hole in my snow boots. So side stepping one slushy crater I accidently stepped into another puddle only to have water seep into my boot. Booooooo!! I didn’t let that deter me since I was running late this morning. Then I raced up the escalators to try to catch my train only to have the doors close right before I got there. * grumble, grumble * Missing the train is usually not a big deal, but today there were signal problems so the next train sat in the station for 20 minutes. * sigh * When we finally got moving, my express train turned local. * ergh * By this time, I was wishing I had taken the day off. No such luck. I thought as long as the train is moving, we’re good right? We made it to 125th street where I decided to transfer over to an actual express train. Managed to make it onto the train but we were packed in like sardines. I only had three stops surely I could manage tight quarters for three express stops. The lady behind me with three large totes made it difficult to stand up right because she kept pushing around to make room for herself and her carry on luggage (I mean purses). Fine. She won that round but with each new stop as more people crowded in I was holding down the panic that was starting to rise. I really hate being squished in. Twelve minutes of that confined space was all I could manage, thank goodness my stop came up before I lost my damned mind. I could barely squeeze out of the train, it was so packed and the people who wanted to get on were blocking my way out. I did what any self-respecting New Yorker could do, I pushed hard out of the train. It was like a re-birthing exercise. Hahaha! Once out, I could breathe again and I walked to catch the shuttle cross town (I was already so late) and the shuttle was just as bad. Tight as sardines. Ergh!! I really hate my morning commute today. I decided to go get some breakfast, there is no way that I am going to rush up to the office without getting my favorite ham and egg sandwich and a large tea with milk. Yum!! After all that trying to race in, I just stopped caring after the shuttle train. Now I am sitting at my desk unable to get my day started.

Anyway, I came across this singer just now and loved her vibe. I know one or two people out there will dig her voice. Iyeoka-Simply Falling

 

Enjoy!!

L~

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2013 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Alien Like You

I’ve been in such a grumpy mood today. And then I remembered the song, Alien Like You from Being Erica and I looked it up on YouTube. This song turned my day around. I listened to it over and over again and it made me go all mush. Partly because of the story arc attached to the series and partly because I always loved the way Sebastian Pigott sings it. Anyway, it lifted my spirits.

Enjoy!!

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2013 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Oh What Fresh Hell Is This?

Last week I was given notice, which means that at the end of this month (March) my time with my current employer will be done. Let’s see I’ve had a big bag of mixed feelings about all this but at the end of the day it was always just a matter of time. I’ve had a good run and my agency is looking to set me up with a new gig shortly thereafter. In the meantime, I’ve been sending out resumes and trying to recover from a bout of bronchitis. Ergh!! I’m also looking at some writing residencies in Vermont and in Paris.

I have moments where I am really positive and enthusiastic about what’s coming up next and I have moments when it turns on a dime. Today, I’m feeling positive which is why I’m writing about it.

As I go through the job listings, I try to imagine what I’d like to be doing next. I’ve worked in several industries, a Jackie-of-all-trades with plenty of skills to boot. Part of me wants to work alone, staring at spreadsheets and crunching numbers all day, listening to music and just getting work done, leaving at 5 pm and leaving the work at the office. The creative part of me wants something collaborative, working on a team, bringing my A-game every day and being part of something that contributes to this world in a positive way.

Then the greedy scrumptious part of me wants to WRITE, WRITE, WRITE. I’ve been revising my novel. Next month is my turn to present work to my writing group so I have four weeks to get the second half of the novel in working condition to send to them. I may send it at the end of the month, just so they have some time to actually read it.

Let’s see….then there are a host of things that I haven’t even thought to try out for yet. I may just do a search for oddball jobs…that might fit my personality better. Personal Organizer. Or a part-time office manager. Or..or..or? I’ve put some applications in for teaching but those gigs don’t start until next semester. I could go back to technical writing but that job bored me to tears and not in a small way either. It always felt like I was trying to burrow through a mountain of technical jargon with a teaspoon.

Anyway, I think it’s time to start building some Venn Diagrams to think this through. I need some new ideas because the old ones are nice and stale, leaving behind a dusty taste in my mouth. Hehehe.


Anyway, that’s all I have for now.

Peace,

L~


All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2013 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Sleeping in Flame passage

As promised,

“Twenty-four carat love. I think it’s easy to find the ingredients for love, but then it depends on how you mix them. There’s so much work involved…First you have to understand and accept. Then, you have to be best friends, always. Work on overcoming what they don’t like in you. Be bighearted when it’s so much easier to be small… Sometimes the spark for real love is there from the beginning. But too many people mistake that spark for a flame they think will last a long time. That’s why so many human fires go out. You have to work so hard at real love.”

Jonathan Carroll
Sleeping in Flame

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2013 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Bury Me Monday

This morning I woke up to a paw smack to my face, I have a slight scratch over my lip as evidence. My cat Pandora was impatient for me to wake up. She made it a point to wake me up. And after her vet visit on Saturday morning, she was still “getting me back.” After I fed her at some ungodly hour, I went back to bed. I was in the in-between state of sleeping and waking and I just really didn’t want to get up to go to work. The shades were drawn and my bed was warm and I just wanted to bury myself under my duvet.

On Saturday, I managed to meet my sister to see the movie, Stoker. It was intense but really well done. Mia Wasikowska is amazing in it. This young woman is captivating. I loved her as Helen in Albert Nobbs, she was haunting in Jane Eyre, and now as India Stoker…well she gave me creepy chills. There is something unsettling about her steady gaze. I have yet to see her in Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp. Nicole Kidman and Matthew Goode are both eerily disturbing as well and you can’t help watch the story unfold. Stoker is definitely worth seeing.

I’ve also finished reading Jonathan Carroll’s Sleeping in Flames this morning. Oh man, his writing is delicious. He has this passage on love that I want to share but I’ve been having a hell of time finding it again. I keep looking for the passage and I must skim right by them over and over again because I've come up empty. When I do, I’ll copy it line by line and put it up on this blog as a separate entry. Reading his work, makes me want to write more stories. His work inspires me to better at my craft. I’ve only just begun. Must read more by him.
Peace,
L~
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2013 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.