Kickboxing

So...my brother has always been into martial arts. I remember being 4 or 5 years old and going to watch his tae kwan do class...of course, I also remember him practicing his punches and kicks...on ME. (Yeah, holding that pillow for him to kick into? doesn't provide much protection for a five-year-old against a 10-year-old! :)

Anyway, a few years ago, he found a type of martial arts that he really enjoyed (and that my sister-in-law enjoyed doing with him). In Houston, they practiced Kuk Sul Won, a Korean martial arts; upon moving to California, they found a similar martial arts called Hapkido. They are currently both purple belts and are working toward an eventual goal of being black belts. (Very proud of them! The 'Phew too is also a striped yellow belt in the Little Ninjas program...he totally loves it! Ay-yah!)

So...my brother has always been quite enthusiastic about martial arts and has always wanted me to give it a try--he thinks I would really enjoy it. (I, on the other hand, think I would feel silly, what with all the yelling and sparring and hitting of other people and whatnot.) A few years ago we made a deal--as I have been a yoga practitioner for nearly a decade, I told him that if he would try yoga, I would then try some form of martial arts. He agreed....

Suffice it to say that he has yet to attend a yoga class (I even searched online and found an Ashtanga Yoga studio in his city!) and so I have yet to attend a martial arts class. Oh well....however, I have now come closer to upholding my end of the bargain than he has!

After being here in southern California for about a week this Christmas, and eating lovely things from the bakery their friend Tara works at, I really felt a need for a good workout (gotta burn off at least a few of those calories!). Since their Hapkido studio (dojo?) was open yesterday, they decided they wanted to go to a class. My lovely sister-in-law, knowing that I was wanting a really good workout, called to see if I could get in to a Kickboxing Express class. And away we went!

For the record, I have never in my life done any kicking or boxing, especially not at a target (bag). Nor have I ever worn gloves or needed my hands/wrists wrapped prior to a workout. So even the wrapping and gloves were a unique experience, since my workout usually involves a medicine ball, running, and yoga. :)

Well, the kickboxing class totally rocked. I enjoyed the punching far more than the kicking because I felt very awkward and ungainly doing the high and low kicks--my brother tells me that improves with practice. With the punching, I found myself imagining the bag was someone I knew and I suppose maybe that's why I found myself punching a little harder than I probably should have. Sure was fun, though. And I can see why some women love it! Wow. And it was a HELL of a good workout! (and in only 30 minutes!) Whew!!

Afterward, I sat with my nephew and watched my brother and sister-in-law in their Hapkido class. (I had watched my nephew in his class the day before, by the way.) It was enjoyable to watch, but I still don't think it's something I would ever seek out to practice (tai chi, on the other hand...is a definite...maybe). However, if he should ever live up to his end of our bargain and go try a yoga class, then I will definitely find a martial arts class to try. But for now, it's not something I will actively seek out....I'll stick to my "boot camp" class and yoga. :)

But oh my Lord, I can think of certain days when a kickboxing class would have been just what the doctor ordered!!

Gotta love it! Tech vs A&M

This was just an awesome game. At least from the Red Raiders' POV! ;)

Labor Day Weekend in Cali

I took an extended Labor Day weekend and went to visit my brother and his family in sunny Southern California. They thought it was super hot, but I thought it was pretty nice--of course, having just come from super-humid Austin, "dry heat" really feels so much better.

Brad and Trisha surprised me Wednesday night with a room at the Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland. His boss had paid for two nights (for whoever wanted it...they had had a business dinner the night before at Club 33, the exclusive club that Walt Disney used to entertain at), and so they reserved a third night (Thursday) for super cheap because the hotel was apparently fairly empty. When you stay at one of the Disneyland hotels, you get "early entry" into the park (on certain days). So Thursday morning we got up early and got in to the park at 8.

There were hardly any lines all day!! Brad speculated that it was because the forecast was for 107 degrees, so everyone stayed home. The heat wasn't too bad, but I'm kinda used to it--plus it was a dry heat, which was easier to bear. The first ride we went on was Space Mountain, which was super cool and one of my favorites--Brad and I rode it twice while Trisha and Tristan got some fruit for breakfast. We got a really good picture of us---even cooler because we were the only ones on the car!

We went on other rides--they have annual passes and so have a good idea of what the cooler, more fun rides are. We went on Peter Pan, then we did Star Tours--which is a Star Wars video simulator thing, and which generally make me a little carsick--we did some Thunder Mountain mine train roller coaster, which was fun except that Trisha looked down and Tristan was barely in the seat. When we went on Splash Mountain, Tristan, Trisha, and I all got soaked, and Brad was the only one who stayed dry. Gosh, I'd have to look at a map I think to remember what all we rode. We went on Pirates of the Caribbean and the Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters ride. That was fun--and don't I look all serious??
The only ride we didn't go on that was recommended was the Nemo ride--it's a submarine ride, about 11 minutes, and Brad and Trisha said it was cool but even with early entry it was going to have a long line (like 30-40 minutes). So I opted to skip that one. After a while we crossed over to the California Adventure park and went on those rides---they have an awesome roller coaster (California Screamer, I think) that goes really fast. We went on another ride where you sit and it shoots up about 500-800 feet in 2 seconds--this one had "barf racks" around each person, presumably to contain the puke. In the pictures (hopefully Brad will post them somewhere) you can tell the before and after photos--I look pretty tense before and then afterward a big smile. :) We went on the big Ferris wheel--I had a death grip because some cars swing (including ours), and it made me a little nervous.

Then sometime in the late afternoon we went back to the hotel and cooled off in the pool, got dressed and had dinner and then went back in to Disneyland for one more ride on Space Mountain (me and Brad) and then the fireworks. That was awesome! Then I bought a couple souvenir shirts and we went back to the hotel and to bed. Whew. A full day. Lots of rides, though! And Brad kept teasing me that I wasn't really getting the FULL DISNEYLAND EXPERIENCE (read: hours-long waits in lines, etc). I'm really really okay with that.

The next day we checked out and went home to unload, then we hit the beach. Which kinda sucked because it was really windy and cold. But Brad got a little surfing in anyway. That night we had sushi, and we ate at the bar (rather than at a table) and that was really fun. And yummy. The sushi chef was hitting on Trisha, and she finally told him that I was single, so he started focusing on me. It was pretty funny.

Saturday we had to get up early to go dolphin/whale watching. That was fun--we didn't really see much, just a couple of very small pods of dolphins, but it was really fun being on a catamaran and being so close to the water. Seriously, I think we could've touched the dolphins.
That night we went to their friends' house and had Greek food for dinner (and Brad's margaritas).

Sunday Brad, Tristan and I hit the beach for a couple hours while Trisha did some grocery shopping, and then that night they had a barbecue (lots of consumption of Brad's margaritas). Monday we watched the Tech game at home until halftime and then went to another friends' house to watch the rest and hang out. It was very relaxing. Tuesday morning we got up really early to take me to the airport and I came hom to Austin.

That's about it. It was really fun, which made it hard to come back. :) I got to see Tristan do all his martial arts stuff, though--it was cute, because even at the beach he was karate-chopping the sand and waves. Ay-uh! :) We briefly talked about going back to Disneyland at Christmas but we'll see.

Flugtag 2007: Hot but fun!

Yes, yes, I realize I fall behind in chronicling my numerous adventures. But seriously, I've been busy!!

Anyhoo, last month my aunt, my cousin, her hubby (my cousin-in-law?), and I went to see this very Austin-y event at Auditorium Shores on Town Lake (or Lady Bird Lake, whatever it is now)--the Red Bull Flugtag.

Let me tell you, it was freakin' HOT. And I don't mean just hellaciously hot, but the air was heavy with humidity too.

Supposedly they were to open the gates at 5 pm, but I have some friends (hi V!) that got there at 4:30 and managed to get a prime spot on the grass near the ramp. So my crew got there at about 5:40 and found what might have been a decent spot except that we wouldn't be able to actually see anything until it fell into the water. My aunt and I ultimately decided that we were also going to get stumbled on as the night wore on, so we made the command decision to move. And thank goodness we did!! We had been fairly close to the lake, and we moved back a little, kind of up the hilly part a bit, and lordy, we could feel a nice breeze!! And we had space, so all the drunk ones wouldn't stumble over us nearly as much. We ended up right near hte stage--we got to see the guy from Jane's Addiction sing the Star Spangled Banner. And we had a good view of the monitor...

And did I mention the nice breeze? Sadly the breeze wasn't enough to help any of the rigs to fly very far, not even the one that was a vacuum cleaner:
It was all fun nonetheless (beer helped) and we left shortly before it ended, crossing the very crowded bridge and heading to Magnolia Cafe for some yummy queso.

Hiphopopotamus vs Rhymenoceros

This is hilarious!

Enjoy!!

My tooth is finally getting better!

May you never have to have a root canal. Or, if you must (because really they're not that bad), then may you have no complications. Or extra pain. A few months ago I tried to avoid having a root canal--they're rather expensive--but alas, the problematic tooth never calmed down. So a few weeks ago I went in for my routine cleaning and told my dentist I thought I should probably go ahead and have it done after all. *sigh* The following week I had the root canal. I'd had one before and had had no problems, and I was expecting much the same from this one. Of course, it seemed like Murphy's Law was in full effect this time! Apparently generally speaking people have 3 roots in their molars. So my dentist was rather surprised to find a fourth canal in my tooth. Which means the root canal was going to take a little longer. I was sitting there in the chair listening to him work, with the mp3 player playing softly in my ear (I like to be able to hear what's going on...I ain't skeerd) and several times I heard him ask his assistant to suction up the water. Water? Huh. Interesting...he must've been rinsing or something. Right. He couldn't finish the root canal process (the filling the empty canals and all that), partly because of that fourth canal, and partly because the one sick root that had been causing me the discomfort was quite the bleeder. He told me (afterward) that as soon as he touched it, it had started "gushing" and wouldn't stop. So of course he couldn't finish. He gave me a prescription for an antibiotic and instructions to take lots of ibuprofen, and scheduled me for Part Two the following week. The girls at the front asked if I wanted a prescription for something stronger for the pain, and I told them no. "Stronger is for wusses," I said. Three days later I was calling the office again--my tooth was still quite painful. After talking to my dentist on the phone for about 10 minutes, answering his questions as truthfully as I could, and probing my gum above the tooth (and finding it painful!) I was relieved that he was going to give me something for the inflammation. Except that what he gave me was prednisone, a steroid--steroids cause water retention and weight gain. Yippee. BUT it did help clear up the inflammation in the tooth (and the pain thereof). The following week I went in for Part Two. Things went much much better, according to my dentist. The root had stopped bleeding, and he was able to fill it and everything. But then toward the end, I started feeling really...uncomfortable. Everytime he pressed on that tooth, it HURT. Even when the assistant was cleaning it to remove the excess adhesive, that hurt like you wouldn't believe. He couldn't think why it would be hurting like that, but he told me to go ahead and take ibuprofen and if it wasn't significantly better the next day to give him a call. Fortunately, it was. Even today, it's so much better than it was last week...but there's still some mild discomfort. But since it seems to be sssslllloooooowwwwllllyyyy getting better, I'll just keep an eye on it.

Holiday Weekend Do-Overs

So my friends invited me and the Bratdog back to their lake house, this time to have a much more relaxing weekend---the one we were supposed to have over Memorial weekend. They put up a small, plastic-y fence, about 2 feet tall, so that hopefully my stupid dog wouldn't get loose again. Just to make sure, I took her 12-foot tie-out and her retractable leash.

Wouldn't you know it, Hannah sometimes would just sit and watch the deer come up...but then other times she would take off trying to chase them, only to be foiled by the little fence. And the leash/tieout, of course. I don't trust her nearly as far as I could throw her! Little brat! The type of fence they put up requires staking down the bottom edge; Hannah made sure to quickly find the areas that still needed stakes.

Occasionally she'd bite the fence in her frustration, and at least once she had her paws on the top edge, ready to take off and get her some deer! Obviously she learned nothing from her Memorial weekend overnight adventure. Sheesh.

It took a couple weeks for me to have the time, but I finally went to the Williamson County Humane Society and got Hannah microchipped for $15. Which won't help her much if she runs off into the wilderness again and gets bitten by a snake or something, but it would help if she got picked up and taken to animal control or a vet or something. (Assuming someone could move fast enough to catch her!)

Eventful holiday weekend

Whew, and when I say eventful, I mean it! I went to visit some friends at their lake house on Canyon Lake. It was gorgeous! (I mean, except for the rain..though even that was beautiful!) I drove the Devil's Backbone on my way there--an awesome drive, which I had never done with the Miata club (my own fault). Though I did take a little side trip through Wimberley, almost to Driftwood--I forgot that I wasn't supposed to turn off right there.

Saturday night was an awesome lightning storm that woke everyone up, including and especially the dogs. I had taken Hannah's collar off so she wouldn't wake everyone up all night, but I needn't have worried since the storm took care of that. The following morning, we let the dogs out to pee, and lo and behold Hannah found some deer to chase!

That little dog of mine can run fast!!! We hollered at her to come, but she was so focused and having so much fun that she of course ignored us. Unfortunately in her fun she managed to get lost. I have never been so...scared...for another being in my life, I think. How could a five-pound dog survive living in the wild? We kept searching for her, combing the woods, checking the campgrounds, walking the neighborhood. The neighbors all knew we were looking for a little black dog, as did the owner of the beer and bait store up the road. We kept calling for her, we put food out on the front and back porches, and we kept an eye out for her. At some point we tried calling animal control (closed until Tuesday, it would be a $500 fine if they had her) and I dug out the phone book and started leaving messages with area vet clinics.

Sunday night there was another storm, not as scary as Saturday night's but still a big one. We all hoped that Hannah had been taken in by someone so she could at least have a warm, dry place to sleep.

Monday morning I was wide awake at 6, and praying that my little dog would be returned to me...after all, she is rather indestructible! Finally at about 9:30, the guy at the store called--a lady had found my dog but couldn't catch her! We hauled ass to the store, getting there in about five seconds (seriously!) and she said to follow her and she'd take us to where the dog was. Sure enough, Hannah had apparently found some houses and was basking in the sun on the concrete driveway, seemingly none the worse for wear. We profusely thanked the kind soul who had found her and had asked at the store. Bless her!

I don't think I have ever been so happy to see my little Hannah bug. After drinking lots of water and snoozing even more, I think today she is back to normal. Whew!

Above pics are of my friend Pat reassuring my parents' dog Bo, and of Pat and Amy's dogs Tara and Bean recovering from the stress of missing Hannah. :)

P.S. I did call back all those vet clinics Monday night to leave messages that my baby had been found.

Body Worlds

I went to Fort Worth a couple weeks ago to visit some friends and meet their 3-month-old baby girl, and somehow I managed to talk them in to going to the Body Worlds exhibit in Dallas. Wow! I totally recommend going to see it. Everything has been "plasticized", so it all looks a little unreal and is easy to forget that these were once-living people who donated their bodies to science and education. Except some of the bodies still had hair. But one of my friends managed to make it through--I was so proud, because she's not a scientist but an accountant. Then she told me that she had been expecting to see body parts in JARS, entire bodies in big windowed freezers, and other such things. Whoa! That would've been a totally different experience, indeed!

It was a very interesting exhibit, and one that we were all glad to have gone to. They had healthy organs alongside unhealthy ones: smokers lungs next to nonsmoker lungs, cancerous organs next to healthy ones, etc. It was amazing to be able to see what a difference disease really causes. I mean, I can look at diagrams and stuff all day (and have, in fact), but to see these, and to know they are real, is fantastically educational. Amazing, really. I highly recommend it!

(And, for the record, my friends' baby was beautiful and adorable! And my friend even cooked while I was there! ) We also went on a mad dash one evening to find the Grey's Anatomy Trivia Game, but we couldn't remember what store's ad we had seen it in, so we rushed to 3 or 4 different stores before we finally found it, right before they closed. Whew! Then, of course, we stayed up playing a few games of it, and even my friend's husband won a game! (he's not a fan...)

I need another vacation!

Every time I go back and look at the pictures from France, I really really want to go back. Or at least somewhere that I don't have to work and don't have to worry. :) A beach vacation would be nice to do again. These pictures are from my trip to Puerto Vallarta in 2005, for my 30th birthday. My friend Christy took the picture above, but she hadn't yet figured out all the particulars of her new camera. So, if you look really closely, you might be able to make me out posing on the rocks. ;) It was a fun trip, for all the things that went wrong (neither of us will ever make travel arrangements through Travelocity ever again, gnome guarantee or not!). We went swimming with dolphins, we went on a zipline canopy tour, we shopped, and of course we laid on the beach and by the pool and had tasty pina coladas.

We totally need to go again. Not necessarily to Puerto Vallarta, not necessarily even to Mexico, but definitely to a beach. Another sun and sandy beach vacation is most definitely in the plans.....even if it ends up only being a long weekend at Padre or some other Texas beach.