Can you go any slower?

Driving in any major city is probably annoying; however, I do not live in those other major cities, so I can only make judgments on what I see every day. In general I have noticed people tend to walk the same way they drive. For example I was behind two of the slowest road hogs today. They were walking slower than anyone I know including my grandparents.

No wonder the youth of America is overweight. If these kids actually walked like they mean it a few pounds would be shed. Anyways there was absolutely no way to get around these two. I was in a hurry because I was running a bit late for class. Fortunately for me the teacher was as well. However these kids were walking side by side as slowly as possible through a narrow walk way that is regrettably the only way to the majority of the classrooms. The college is currently under construction so many of the walkways have been closed.

There were about 20 people behind me that were also trying to get to class, and also irritated by these two people. They reminded me of people who drive on the highway in different lanes, but all do the same speed. Even if you wanted to go around them you can’t. I call this the slow race. I somehow got around them and made it to class on time. It was awesome.

I have many more theories about how the way people walk corresponds to how they drive but I think I will reserve those stories for another time. I will preserve these stories for a time when I can fully commit to a long ridiculous rant concerning how people’s behaviors irritate everyone around them. When I can fully articulate types of drivers, and pair them with walking scenarios.

blah blah blah

That’s Life..
This morning I was in the crankiest of cranky moods. It was a case of getting up on the wrong side of the bed. I have no idea what provoked my bad attitude, but I ignored it and went along with my morning routine, and then straight into study mode. However nothing could get me out of my cranky pants. I showered and went to yoga where my instructor said the best thing.
She told us a story about being at a premier of a movie at the Agape Center. One of the people in the movie stated you are not responsible for the thoughts that randomly come into your head. You are only responsible for the thoughts you hold onto emotionally. I am paraphrasing of course, but either way it was exactly what I needed to hear.
I was becoming crankier, because I was letting my mind take over my emotions. Instead I let it all go while I was in practice, and lost myself for an hour. When I left the yoga class I was no longer cranky. I was in a better mood, and had a much better day because of it. Sometimes I let really insignificant things irritate me. I believe I was irritated that I was in a rather bad mood, and I let everything around me become something else that annoyed me. This included putting dishes away, folding laundry, and for the record that is what I do every Monday. I take care of chores that have to be done around the house.
Why should I let any of that annoy me? It is not like I don’t do it every Monday, and today was no exception. Anyways it made me reassess my attitude. Truthfully I am lucky I can afford to do my laundry, bend over to take the dishes out of the dishwasher, and to just be alive on a Monday. Life is short and there is no reason to be a negative Nancy about any of it.

Lead me on to let me down.

Lead me on to let me down.
I’ve never been all that great at dating. I am good at being in a relationship or being a friend, but the two kinda go hand in hand. I just started dating and I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. There is a typical “LA Guy” here in my home town that I just don’t like in general. Now I am not talking about the whole transplant trying to be cool guy. That is not the essence of what I am trying to capture. It’s more of the successful guy who does well for himself and thinks because he makes some money is entitled to an astrophysicist that looks like Niki Taylor.

In one sentence this will never exist in real life. If it did she would not be into you, she would be into another nerdy scientist that works for some nonprofit organization. I’m just saying. Most of the time women who are successful and smart don’t necessarily look like models. Models work on being fit for a living. I am not saying a model is not smart, she is just not in an astrophysicist way.

Now LA Guy just because you make 100k-300k doesn’t make you a great catch. Just because you can afford dinner doesn’t mean you should expect something in return. Also a deal breaker is not a girl being nice to you: like paying for a meal on the third date, or making you cookies just because, or calling to checking on you if she knew you were sick, or telling you she likes you. A deal breaker is when she drives by your house, and brings you cookies at 2am, because she hadn’t heard from you in six hours. This is a double red flag if you never told her where you live. That is a DEAL BREAKER!

The last date I went on was with an LA guy. We had a lot of shared experiences, and it was my favorite thing about him. We would drive down the street and have stories about local restaurants we used to go to. We could talk about how many different restaurants had been in a certain spot, and how weird it is that there is now a Bristol Farms where Chasens used to be. I actually liked this LA guy a lot. On paper LA Guy is great he is successful, owns a house, a bit of a hippy ( my second favorite thing about him), smart, sexy in his way, attractive ( to me anyways), talkative and he had many other good qualities I don’t really want to get into.

For three weeks we talked almost every other day, and I thought he may end up being my boyfriend until our second date. Our second date was one of the most uncomfortable dates I have ever been on. However, before I knew what was coming I was really excited to see him. I took two hours to get ready. I did my make up as perfectly as I could and put on my favorite dress. I wanted to look amazing for him. I wanted him to look at me and say , “THAT’S MY DATE”. Well that did not happen not even close.
We got to dinner and he was just off, he was not charming like usual, and the conversation was weird. He admitted it was him, and I could tell he was a bit tired. It was not a bad date until about 20 minutes later when he started talking about not girlfriends, but playboy models he had dated and or hooked up with. Now I am a good sport but after an hour I became uncomfortable with his hot chick rant. I had tried politely to change the subject but I finally had to just ask if he would stop talking about other women aka playboy models he had hooked up with. At that point I felt so unattractive. We drove back to my car and talked for a bit.

The date did get better, but I never thought I would hear from him again. So you can imagine my surprise when he texted me, “I cannot wait to see you again, and I am sorry for being a bit off this evening” that night, and then called a day and a half later to talk. We talked for a while and he made it clear he was going to call me in the next day or two to set up another date. Typically this was how we set up our dates he would call from home, and then the next day check his schedule at the office, and call back with options for date night. Lucky for me he lead me on to let me down. He never called to make that date, and it annoyed me.

There is something about you!!!

There is something about you!!!
Saturday I went to a yoga class at Rising Lotus. I was supposed to meet a friend there, but she sent me an email after I had left my home telling me she could not make the class. I did also figure it out when she did not show up. Either way I was going to take the class. I don’t get to the studio often, because it’s just a bit out of the way for me. Any excuse to go over there is a good excuse. It did not even bother me that my friend flaked. The studio gets busy on Saturday mornings, and this specific class usually has 30 people in attendance.
During my teacher training at the studio I went to this same class sometimes, but on Wednesday morning the level 2/3 was easier to go to. Saturday at a studio is for weekend warriors a term for weekend only yogis. As a teacher I can pick these students out of a line up any Saturday or Sunday. It is as if yoga on the weekends is not a chore, but something on a list of “things to do” that has to get crossed off. Before my teacher training I would never even notice, but once I was blind and now I can see. It changes the dynamic of the class completely.
However this Saturday class was such a good experience. I was sandwiched between Adam and Miki. Miki is a really awesome yogi. She is so graceful when she moves, and so strong. Miki was in the teacher training program the year before me. To my right was Adam, and he went through the teacher training with me. Adam is a riot t in class. He chants louder than anyone in the room, and he makes horse noises with his lips when he exhales after a long strenuous sequence. He also has “Adam” movements he makes that only he can pull off.
Adam started to chant as the instructor started to sing, and I felt whole in the strangest way. I realized through the bond of teacher training I would always be connected to that room, the people next to me, and probably always associate Adam with chanting, (sometimes off key, but in the cutest way) and kirtan. Mostly I felt as if I belonged there in that room, as if I was part of everything that was around me, and I wondered what I would be contributing to the yoga community in the future. I also realized in less than two weeks the next teacher training would start.
I wonder how this next class of teachers will interpret the philosophy, the people, poses, meditation, and what it would mean to these new trainees. Will they feel connected to the studio the way I do, the way Miki does, or how Adam does? Will they long for the experience after it is over? Who knows? I am not even sure why I think about any of this, but I do.

Sleeping next to a dead woman for 5 weeks.

Sleeping next to a dead woman for 5 weeks.
How to begin? Our previous neighbor shared a wall with my bedroom. I could hear her from time to time, but she was a bit of a recluse in general. She never had guests, and she only talked to my father or brother to start arguments with them, and she could never look at me ever. Our condo community is a small one, so we did know a bit about her from our neighbors in the complex. In general she was not the nicest person.
Once she sprayed my father with the hose while she was watering her plants, because she did not like how he was using our BBQ on our balcony. She screamed at my brother for smoking in the parking lot behind the building, and later my mom joined in on the screaming match. Needles to say nasty neighbor lost the argument. Other than that we have had no contact with her in the past year.

A couple weeks back there was a rat that got into the attic above my room, and my dad went up into the attic to fill in the hole where the rodent kept getting in. A week after the repair I could smell a rodent decaying in the attic, or so I thought. The smell dissipated, but came back again. Then for a week or two my mother and I thought maybe the sewage was backing up. We could not figure out what the weird smell was. We even wondered if the lady that lived next to us had passed away, but thought there was no way, because we could hear her television through the wall. Our banter about the smell had gone back and forth for a while.

About three weeks ago the owner of the unit where the nasty old lady lived knocked on my door, and asked if I had seen or heard from her. She happened to be late on rent, and he could not get hold of her. He thought she may have abandoned the unit. While she was an angry nasty old lady I would not put it passed her, but no moving trucks had been at her unit. I told him to call the police, because she could be dead inside the condo. Well it turns out I was right.

For the last five weeks the nasty lady from next door was dead in her bead with the television on. The owner of the unit finally called the police, and had them check into it. The fire department came, broke into the unit, and immediately called the corners office. The corner came, and they had to open all the windows to air out the nasty smell of decaying flesh from the house. Wait there is more. Her body was so decayed that the enzymes, and bacteria that eat away of the flesh had turned her into liquid, and all the carpeting, drapery, and furniture cannot be salvaged. It all has to be replaced.

The worst part was for five weeks no one knew she was dead. You always hear stories about this, but never experience it firsthand. Well now you have a firsthand account of an old single lady dying alone with no friends or family that even noticed she was gone. What disturbs me more is I shared a wall with the decaying woman and had no idea she was dead. I am not too traumatized from this experience, but I am grateful the weird heavy smell of sewage is gone.