izzyblog

I woke up this morning to the pinpricks of tiny claws on my back.  Mama Cat, our token front-door stray, finally brought her kittens up from wherever they'd been hiding, and Jesse brought one inside to wake me up.  I scrambled awake and made my way outside to see them.  Oh, they're so beautiful!  One black and white, one Siamese and one solid black.  I'm smitten!

So we hung out, Friday actually being a relatively good day to be distracted, and I watched the tribe of them interact.  Poor Mama.  She looks so tired, and she resists nursing till her babies shove and shove their way to her teats.  She sits in a tight ball, trying to resist their pushing, but the hunger always wins.  Her eyes narrow and her ears fold back, and I wonder if she's tired of being a mama, if this morning she simply got completely fed up and decided to drop the kids off with me.  This suspicion is only fueled by the fact that she's now run off to someplace else, leaving her kittens behind on my front patio area.  And the little dears, they're so fiery.  Ten minutes of my being inside, and they've forgotten me.  I open my door to say hello to them, and the black one hisses and spits like a firecracker, his legs sprawled open with all the piss and vinegar he can muster.  I'm not sure what to do with them.  Taking them inside would throw Duncan back into a mewling mess of despair -- I've been through that -- kittens make him throw up.  So for now, I've set out a soft towel and some food and some hope that Mama isn't completely done with them just yet.

Okay, so when *did* all my friends become teachers??  I mean, sure, this happened a long time ago, and on some level I think that I knew about this odd warp, but wow....  So yeah, a very *large* majority of my friends are teachers.  Egads, the damned!  That's way too many gifted minds working in servitude.

Well, I'm taking a yoga vacation starting tomorrow.  An immersion with John Friend in Atlanta.  Should be of terrific interest.  Today was the yoga demo at Whole Foods.  Lots of fun.  I even did a fabulous version of tittibasana (which is even more fun to say as pincymayurasana).

I think I am developing an anger problem.  Please tell me why, why, when I request 4 to 6 pages of writing from my students -- why does over half the class give me just over 3 pages?  I mean, I've taught lazy students before, but this is quite different from any experience I remember having had as a teacher.  Over half these kids....  Sheesh.

I think I need to develop an inner gangsta.  Some way to enforce da rules.  Ya got dat, kid?  4 pages means 4 pages.  It don't mean 2, it don't mean 3 1/2.  It means 4.  You hearin what I'm saying?  Next time, I'm take ya ass out.  For now, though, you gonna walk away with a very low grade.

Bleh.

What a weekend.  It's been awhile since Monday felt like a drag -- I've felt pretty optimistic about Mondays as of late -- but it was just such a nice ride.  Considering that I'd been looking to October 1st as my first real day off (yeah, so I had a couple of days that were lazy in between there), October 2nd feels like a bit of a grind.

Anyway.  We had the Yogathon on Saturday.  Good turnout, mostly new folks.  I think we could do better, but it wasn't bad.  I got an interview on our PBS station for it, but I was told the wrong night and ended up missing myself on tv.  But we also got some sponsors -- a donation from Whole Foods -- and I met a fair number of new people and gave away some yoga.  I wish we'd collected more donations for our charities, but I'll leave a donation jar out this week and see if we can drum up some more funds.  Otherwise, Tapas will make up what I feel is missing, and that's fine.  The best press ended up happening at the end, when the guys from the Times-Picayune showed up and took our pictures.  Looks like we may very well end up on the "Partying shots in the Big Easy" page of the Living section next Sunday.  Very nice indeed.  The bellydancers were still in full regalia when the photographer arrived, so I'm hoping that they make their way into print too.  It will be great for growth for all of us.

Coasting on that high, I was riding around with Jesse looking for food when we happened to catch Prairie Home Companion on NPR.  Oh, so nice -- they were broadcasting from Missoula, and I was deliriously happy to hear all the place names mentioned.  And Garrison Keillor made so many references to the literary community -- even the MFA program -- at school  I was totally flipping out with sheer joy. 

Jesse eventually got us out for dinner -- at a place called Mosca's, which serves some of the most autentic-tasting -- to me, at least -- Italian food I've had in a restaurant.  The sauce on the spaghetti and the baked oyster dish (consisting mostly of breadcrumbs and olive oil and butter) just tasted so much like home home home.  I teared up, just missing my grandma -- I haven't tasted anything that close to her cooking since she died on Mardi Gras of this year. 

What a day.

Yesterday the fam came in -- my parents and brother & tribe -- and we went to the zoo, got the backstage reptile tour with Nick -- I love that tour.  Again, just a solidly good day.  I BBQed for my family, and the best part was just finally getting to see them.  I'm so busy lately between these two jobs.

Today Jesse leaves for a week in Atlanta.  What looked like an easy month just a couple of weeks ago seems harder now.  Jesse goes for a week, then is home for a week.  Then I go for a week for Anusara training with John Friend.  Then I'm home, but Jesse leaves the next week again (for a week).  During my favorite month of the year.  Bummer.  Perhaps that most of all accounts for the Monday blahs.  Bleh.