Tuesday, October 19, 2004
La Vida Yoga: UPDATED
Tuesday, right? Dang it’s dark and wet outside, time to recall the weekend past and remind myself how much fun I can really have:
Friday night was dedicated to strangely coincident New York stories. First, we caught up with the Apprentice (thanks, TiVo!) (last week’s lesson: boys, keep your eye on the bottom line, not the boobies), and then we popped Taxi Driver into the ol’ DVD player and relaxed with the soothing saxaphones and paranoid mutterings that have made this movie a favorite of child-sex advocates for nigh on 30 years. I’d never seen it before and was impressed with its sophistication as cinema - definitely a different animal than movies coming out today in terms of pacing, shot selection, color saturation, most everything. Very sparse, very deliberate. Also, an amazing cast, including Everybody Humps Raymond‘s own Peter Boyle, whose participation in that televised execration I can forgive only because he was so good in Young Frokenshteen. But here’s the weird thing: near the end of Taxi Driver, Boyle is talking to DeNiro in front of the St Regis hotel in New York, where DeNiro then picks up Cybill Shepherd in his cab. Okay. BUT: in The Apprentice, wasn’t the fashion show featuring the contestents’ ugly clothes also held at the St Regis? For a city that never sleeps, NYC has a fair share of hotels - so what are the odds of this coincidence? Too low for it to be coincidence. This is a message of some sort; I’m just not psychotic and obsessive enough to figure it out.
Moving right along then, on Saturday I had a lovely time at D&K’s bagelrama and gorgefest, held in honor of Nool and Deb’s visit to the far side. Highlights surviving my stupor include:
* Standing at the table with everybody, all of us working the two-handed scarf-n-chat. Me: “This is a good biscotti. What’s the singular of biscotti? It sounds plural. This is a good biscottum.” N: “Biscotto.” J: “Yeah, it’s like how one broccoli is a broccolus.”
* Chatting with Deb is always a delight and she was particularly on her game Saturday. She’s a woman of worldly sophistication who lives in the pulsing midtown heart of Apple City; she knows quality when she sees it. And she - yea, even she - complimented my wristwatch. I’ve received many compliments, from many wise and well-appointed people, on that item since I got it AT THE BIG FIVE SPORTING GOODS STORE FOR $18. It was listed for $20 but I got a discount for buying the display model. This watch is comfortable, accurate, well-coordinated with my wardrobe - and people sometimes just walk up to me on the street to tell me they like it. Nothing makes a good thing better more than a big fat bargain. Thanks, Deb - it was good to see you and I’m glad you like my bling.
Then, Sunday: A day of many accomplishments. I cleaned, pulled down ancient filthy drapes and replaced them with clean little blinds; I cooked and read and laundered, walked and groomed the pets, and attended to all manner of important personal matters of a nature too intimate to be divulged in this undiscriminating forum… and then Ralph came over to join us for yoga. He’s a bikram practitioner, which is a school of yoga that uses a strict, unchanging timed series of postures, performed in a sauna. He’d never tried anything else and we hoped he’d like the power yoga series we attend at the Y. I think he did, too, and it was fun to work out with him, both of us dripping sweat in the cool room surrounded by mirrors and cypress trees. Afterwards he took us out for a big sushi dinner, which was a perfect way to close out the weekend for me. He asked about our instructor, Steve; we mentioned he had a home in the Presidio and one up in north Sonoma off of the Dry Creek vinicultural appellation. “What’s he do up there?,” Ralph asked. “Oh, he teaches yoga there too. He’s living the life,” said Kel. “Living la vida yoga,” Ralph replied.
Well, I’d never heard that one before anyway, and I giggled. That’s the giggle I’m holding onto this dark and stormy Tuesday morning. It’s time to walk the dog again, who hates the rain but thankfully prefers it to soiling his home, and then I’ll make a magnificently productive day of whatever is going on now. Catch y’all later, if the crick don’t rise…
UPDATED because I left out the most important part: Dave’s comment there reminds me that his and kim’s brunch featured PIE. Big sweet creamy coconut cream pie; big sweet tart mouthwatering strawberry rhubarb pie. Then yesterday the woman kel’s carpooling with gave us a minipie, a tiny baked bijoux that we are munching with glee. What I’m saying is that pie is happening, folks. And when pie happens, good things follow. Now be careful out there and drive friendly.
