Also, I’m coming down with a bit of a sore throat, which may or may
not mean being antisocial today. But I was so looking forward to
baking cookies!

(Catching up on a lot of unblogged events! =) )

Last Friday, I attended another session of krav maga, the Israeli
self-defense martial art.

I have had _far_ too little practice throwing punches. I had to keep
getting reminded to keep my thumb tucked in and my first two knuckles
forward. The fighting stance was also difficult

I have the habit of biting my lip when I’m concentrating, which is not
good in a fight. How can I avoid biting my lip? The easiest way, I’ve
found, is to smile. Evilly.

I have a growing collection of bruises, too. Good thing I’m starting
this in winter, when everyone’s covering up in long sweaters as well.

So if I smile before I hit someone, you know why.

I’m thinking of getting into it. The class is a great aerobic workout,
and someday I’m going to figure out how to do a full pushup instead of
the half-pushups I’ve been doing. I don’t feel dreadfully out of
shape, just a little bit so, and I’m sure that’ll improve over the
next month.

How am I going to make the time for this, considering my schedule?
<laugh> It’s a good investment of time: exercise gives me more
time and strength to deal with other things. Mens sana in corpore
sano, too.

Budget? It’s $100 per month, which I should actually still be able to
squeeze into my budget if I take it from other things. I was thinking
of taking a month to figure out my post-apartment budget, but momentum
is important when it comes to physical exercise and other things that
I’d like to make into habits.

I can do a lot of other things for exercise, but this one seems to fit
the best. The instructor is good, too. I enjoy observing the way he
teaches with encouragement. The class is small but friendly. The
lessons are practical. And yeah, I want self-defense training and
aerobic exercise more than I want tango…

I’ll need to practice a lot in order to make things more instinctive,
and I’ve got such a long way to go in order to catch up. I’ll figure
out how to get there by TTC and I’ll give it a month or two to see if
I can make it part of my schedule and what effect it has on everything
else. =)

But it’s so much fun… <laugh>

Random Emacs symbol: clear-abbrev-table – Function: Undefine all abbrevs in abbrev table TABLE, leaving it empty.

One of the things my mom occasionally reminds me about is the need for
self-defense classes. Yes, even in Toronto. Not only is it important,
but it’d also be a good workout and confidence-booster. Finding a
self-defense class was on my list of goals for 2007.

I attended a free Krav Maga seminar last Sunday on W-‘s
recommendation. It’s a form of self-defense developed for the Israeli
army. Quite a workout, too. I have a small bruise and my shoulders are
sore, but if I keep at it, maybe I’ll get better at dealing with
things like that. It was fun, although I kept apologizing after
hitting my partner.

I’ll settle into my life here and get that sorted out first, but if
there are more free (or inexpensive) seminars, or self-defense
seminars particularly for women, I might try to figure out how to fit
those into my schedule and budget. =)

Worth doing again.

I haven’t danced tango in a year. Hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it until today, when I decided to show up at the loonie tango milonga of the U of T Argentine Tango Club. I dug my shoes out of a bin and threw them in a bag, then headed to the party in jeans and a T-shirt. No wearing a flowy skirt in this weather!

The people I used to dance with have improved so much. I’m envious! What have I been doing with my life? Hmph. I danced with a few new faces as well, and I managed to follow decently.

Love it. Will definitely drop in for at least one class. I wonder if I can drag anyone along, actually.

Oh goodness I can feel my feet… And my shoulders, too, but that’s krav’s fault (and another story).

Two days of lots of activity and exercise. I definitely deserve some downtime for blogging and doing chores…

Kensington Market – the downtown center of hippie/street culture – has
monthly Pedestrian Sundays, and one of the things I try to catch is
the tango practica on the streets. I like tango, and I should get back
to doing that. There's something about being able to listen to
someone's movements and finding myself moving to the right spot. I
haven't danced in a while, so I'm rather rusty. Still, it's tons of
fun!

Peer Flach just posted pictures of the last time we danced in Kensington Market. Check them out!

My sister Kathy taught me how to do poi for fun. =) It's a nifty hobby, and one I always joke about as an alternative career. I like being able to delight people with it, and it's also nice losing myself in the music's rhythm… Poi is quite a workout, too!

If you want to learn more about poi, check out Home of Poi. Have fun!

Whew. Bushed. I’ve taken all my cold-weather clothes out of
vacuum-packed bags and hung them up neatly. I washed all my covers and
clothes. (More than half of my clothes are hand-wash only, but I’ve
figured out a neat trick for doing those quickly.) I’ve even
reorganized my drawers, adding canvas-and-masking-tape separators.

I wonder what the calorie burn rate for laundry is, and whether I can
do it fast enough to make it equivalent to cardio training… ;)