All I wanna do is zum-a zum, zum-ba.

So a small throw back to the origins of this blog and my battle with (surrender of) weight loss.  I started doing Zumba.  Holy crap it is exactly as all the hype describes.  It is high intensity, high cardio, high energy, and so much fun you can't even believe you're working out.  (Not entirely true, there were a few times I definitely knew I was using some serious muscles.)  My favorite part is I was not the tallest, shortest, fattest, thinnest, oldest, youngest, most coordinated, least coordinated, most advanced or most modified person there.  If you have enough energy to do the moves, rock them perfectly, AND pay attention to what other people are doing in order to judge them, you don't need Zumba.  (Really, those people don't go.)  What I'm getting at is it really is a comfortable and welcoming environment to get your groove on.  That is, until you fall over.  Then it's less fun.

I was attending my second Zumba class ever and was so super excited for getting into a routine and getting back on track with some exercise and weight loss.  If I liked this class I was going to buy their special that included unlimited Zumba for the rest of 2012.  A lot of the women there have been to tons of classes so they know all the steps.  They were even leading when Patrick (our Zumba jedi) was fixing a speaker 2 songs in.  So we're rocking out and I'm loving it again and I was learning as we went so when we did a "walk, walk, walk, turn, jump, kick!" I thought "I can do that." and joined in as we did the same move in the opposite direction.  What happened next gets fuzzy.  In my estimation, I tried to turn, jump, and kick all at the same time.  As you can guess, this did not end well for me.  I rolled right over my right ankle and landed on the floor.  All things considered, 'twas a very graceful fall.  This woman behind me lifted me up with one arm (crap she was strong.  I'm attributing that to all her crazy Zumba-ing.) and the woman next to me empathized saying she had fallen last week.  But I knew it was worse.  I had felt the little "pop-pop-pop" in the ankle as I went down.  Bad news bears.  I sprained the damn thing again.  Worst part was we were only 20 minutes into the class so I couldn't even have gotten MOST of the workout before falling over.  So I hobbled my sweaty self out and drove home.

Since then it's gotten better every day.  It was craaaaazy swollen and had the awesome gross bruising.  I got a brace from health services which has helped out a lot.  I hobble around, take the elevator most times and try to keep it elevated when I'm home.  As of today it was barely swollen when I got up in the morning!  But I'm sure it will be all puffy again at night from being on it all day.  It's at the point of being an inconvenience now.  It just gets sore, or uncomfortable, or makes my left leg uncomfortable because I'm favoring it.  It's no surprise I was distracted enough to make some great sounds in my voice lesson when I'm standing on one leg with my right foot dangling through the side of a chair using a t-shirt to hold my neck up without using my shoulders. 

I plan to go back to Zumba.  I liked it too much not to.  An hour of amazing work out practically done for you?  Count me in.  I'll be wearing the brace I think whenever I go for extra support.  Especially since it's the same ankle I sprained when I was a freshman (*cough* 11 years ago *cough*) but mark my words I will be back.  Until then, I spend most of my free time sitting on my couch or love seat with my foot up on a pillow.  I know these things take time but holy cow it's exhausting going through a musician's schedule with only one foot.  I come home so tired from the day all I wanna do is rest.  When I get my foot up, it's the only time it feels comfortable.  But not just reclined.  That's still angling downward.  I need the pillow underneath to really elevate it, and that's when I feel I can rest.  But then my shoulders and back start hurting because it's a comfy couch but not a really lumbar supporting kind of couch to spend hours on.  All of this points to why I think I need more Zumba.  My body has grown complacent with lack of activity.  I find this to be true in most aspects of my life.  So I will continue to take care of this ankle and not push myself as I need to so I can recover appropriately and get my rear back to class. 

Oh, btw, I've been in class for a month now and gone from Syracuse for nearly two.  Can you stand it?  Three months till Christmas!  Christmas has long been my favorite holiday and being able to go home for it has only added to that love.  :)  I may get a Sirius XM subscription again just to enjoy the many many channels of Christmas tunes!  (Though there are three I particularly enjoy.)  I miss a lot back home.  A lot of times it's the routine and the knowing what to expect that I miss.  There are always the people that I miss.  This gets easier as the semester picks up because as we all know, there are simply those few months I don't see many people if you are not directly involved with what I do on a day-to-day basis.  That helps with the missing.  It's that, for instance, when I have a night off, I can't call up Stan to go hang with her and the kiddles.  I won't get a text from Dee asking me to come out for a night since she has a night off.  I can't go over to Terry and Annie's for who knows what, and end up staying the night because someone thought Scotch was a good idea after 2 bottles of wine.....  (Mayhaps these are not all terrible things to miss.) 

This is my life now, though.  North Carolina, and school.  And I love it.  So now I turn to you, and say "Come visit me dangit!"

A Blog about a Bog

I'm still very much enjoying my easy peasy weekends here in sunny Greensboro.  My course load, though demanding, is really easy for me and I'm finding I have no trouble staying on top of my work.  (Let's all say a small prayer that this continues for the next 3 years.) 

(Amen.)

So today I slept in till 8:30. (aaaand I'm an adult.)  I decided I wanted to see more of Greensboro so I googled "Things to do in Greensboro" and came upon a website that has reviews and top rated activities, and low and behold I've been to 4 of the top 10 already!  So I found a new one, a Bog Garden, and decided that would be nice.  After finding the damn place, it was indeed lovely.  Exactly as a bog should be.  Lots of trees and green, some mushy areas you shouldn't walk, a boardwalk, lots of ducks and geese, and a faint smell of... something not good.  It was also humid as all get out.  Oh my goodness humidity the likes of which you wouldn't believe.  It gets humid in Syracuse and I know that and I'm used to that.  This is OPPRESSIVE.  Sweat just beads up and trickles down, well, everywhere.  There is simply no point in trying to do your hair.  A seemingly pleasant day becomes unbearable  the exact moment you realize the air isn't too hot, but you are a sweaty mess.  It sucks, to put it plainly.  But the bog was otherwise an enjoyable event. 

Apparently we're supposed to get some big storm between 2-4 today and I heard it thunder and took two successive pictures of a beautiful sun-shiney scene followed immediately by death in the form of storm clouds, but as of yet it's still sunny at Lincoln Green.  I postponed my practice because I'm hoping to avoid being out in the storm.  Mayhaps the storm will miss this area. 

Well getting off topic from the weather, I have been cast in "Help, Help!  The Globolinks!"  A children's opera by Menotti in which I play Madame Euterpova, the music teacher.  Google it.  It's a pretty good part with lots-o-high notes so clearly I'm happy.  :)  I'm looking forward to doing more performing here.  I feel that's when you really start to get to know people.  So that should be starting sometime next week but the shows aren't until February.  It's going to be a more sporadic rehearsal process than normal but hopefully that will keep it from being a stressful one.  We shall see. 

Um, um, um, um, um... Overall I'm still doing well with homesickness.  Last weekend was Jagerday and I certainly missed home during that.  Today is Beebs' birthday party and I'd love to be there.  But this is all a part of growing up.  I can't hang onto everything I loved about home and still be successful while away.  As much as I miss it and wish I was there, I am so happy here and so confident I'm doing the right thing, that it simply has to be okay.  So I do miss home and my friends and especially my family, but I know it will get easier the longer I'm here because I'll just keep reinforcing that this is the perfect place for me. 

Well, I told myself if I were to postpone my practice time I'd have to do something really productive.  So now I'm off to go figure out what that might be.

To Do List:
1. Make a to do list.
2. Cross off first thing on the To Do List.
3. Realize you've already accomplished two things on the list
4. Reward yourself with a nap (in progress)

Oh, the storm just got here.  This was worth waiting for.