Blog Things

Is blogging still a thing?

It's been a long time since I've read anyone's blog, let alone written one of my own. Funny how different forms of social media take over and leave other formats in the digital dust.

I get into routines with work, activities, etc, and tend to think that I have nothing interesting or new to report. But then I realize that it's been so long since I've blogged that no one even knows what my routine is. I've only managed a couple of posts in the same number of years.

So here's my slightly ahead of schedule yearly blog post with the intention of blogging more but no actual accountability to make more frequent posts happen. You're welcome?

I still teach aerial arts. I teach quite a lot - approximately 13 classes a week. Currently I'm at 3 studios on a regular basis, and get asked to sub or teach summer programs at 3 more. I still drive a lot to make this happen, but have occasionally taken my bike and the train to the studio in Long Beach to avoid traffic and get a little more exercise. It's nice to be able to read during my commute when I do this, but returning home when it's dark and late exposes me to the shadier side of public transit and ends up taking longer to get home than it would if I drove - because there is usually no traffic at that time of night. I keep debating whether or not I should make this a more regular thing since my car just hit 140,000 miles this week; I don't have the budget for any major repairs or a new car should I start having problems (knock on wood!).

Because I teach so often I hadn't taken aerial classes to improve my own skill set for some time. To be honest, classes are expensive, and teachers don't get paid what they used to thanks to a saturated industry that's willing to hire instructors with little to no experience who will take maybe a third of what the rate used to be. Frustrating, to say the least. Two of my studios however offer free classes for their own instructors, so feeling like I've been stuck in a bit of a rut with my strength and creativity I got up this morning and attended a hoop (lyra) class to get my butt kicked. I told my instructor/friend/coworker why I was there (she has been in the industry longer than I have), and she said she's had several other instructors come to her classes recently that have been feeling similar to myself. It was sweaty. And just what I needed. She pushed me to clean up my movement, incorporated a lot of conditioning, and challenged me with a pose I hadn't seen and that my body can't do. Yet. It's refreshing to just be a student again - I'm going to try and make her class part of my regular routine.

As another way to make the aerial world more interesting to me lately I've been working on handstands semi-regularly, and am happy to see the progress. It may not sound like much, but my personal record a few weeks ago was a 19 second handstand. I have a student who will make me do them with her between classes - some days we manage to do many good ones, and some days we can't get them to work at all, but the constant effort is paying off over all.

I still live in the same house in SoCal and throughout the 5(!) years I've rented here I have seen several roommates come and go. Our contract renews at the end of the month, so once again another one has decided to move and we begin the hunt for someone who can get along well with 4 other people. The drama isn't as prevalent with roommates in your 30s, but it's never completely gone. Wish us luck. Also, I've been in California now for 8 and a half years. Crazy!

The rest of my life this year has been filled with outdoor adventures, a couple of trips, and work assignments with church, as well as a lot of reading and watching Netflix.

I went to Colorado in January to take care of my mom for her first week home after having a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery; I was able to organize and track all of her medications, help her move around the house, be a gopher for anything she needed, and just be a support to her and my dad. Her bruises from vein harvesting and IVs were VERY impressive, she bruises easily so she had several limbs that were almost completely black and purple. The recovery process was painful for her, but she is back to full speed and says she feels great. Definitely not something we'd like to go through again.

There's plenty more I'd like to write about but I know how annoying long blog posts get and I feel as though I'm already reaching the "I'll-just-skim-the-rest-of-it" length. Please, if you do read this, will you leave a little comment saying hello? It would be nice to know if blogging is indeed still a thing, or if I should take a crack at handwriting in a journal again. Ha.