"Vihta" - Swat the Cold Out with Some Birch Twigs

I had a friend in college who was an anthropology major. He spent some time in Alaska with some native people up there. One thing that he brought back with him to the US was the tradition of the sweat during cold months. The people that he lived with did a sweat lodge every day during the winter, and this helped them to beat the winter blues, I guess. Every night after dinner, everybody would go sweat, and then go to bed. Sounds nice to me!

My own native people - the Scandinavians - are also fans of the sauna practice. There is even a tradition of hitting yourself with "vihta", which are apparently some birch twigs, to get your circulation going while you sweat. That tradition aside, these are people of cold lands, and I think they must have been on to something.

Thinking of these traditions, I went to the gym tonight just for a sweat. However, the gym changed the rules in the steam room so you aren't supposed to put water directly on the sensors, which many people do to create more steam. Needless to say, the steam in the steam room was pretty pathetic when I first went in there. However, a clever Korean woman (another culture who also loves to sweat) brought in a bag of water and poured it on the sensor, so everyone was sweating in no time. Hooray! Every little bit helps now that winter has actually come to Chicago.

Ice Cave

I had a dream last night that I was holed up in an ice cave in Alaska or somewhere with a few people I know through work. We were kind of stranded in the ice cave, but we were making due by burning garbage to keep warm. It started getting too hot, so I went to open the door (huh?) of the ice cave. When I came back to the fire, everyone was in their sleeping bags all, "we're too tired to burn anymore garbage."

Holy Cheerleader!

This weekend, I saw my cousin K perform her cheerleading routine before a competition. She's been a cheerleader for four years, but I have never seen her cheer. She is great at it, strong, and very animated because it is an activity that she really loves. She even had a high school fan club of boys that kept yelling, "Go, K!" during the routine. Obviously, they all had HUGE crushes.

The coach, however, was questionable. Not cute, not strong, and kind of scarily animated she yelled to the crowd after the routine, "I'd like you all to get down on a knee and tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. and pray to God that we beat out our other competitors in [the high school sports bracket.]"

Huh? That might be okay to say at a public school, but at a private catholic school, I'd hope that the cheerleading coach would be a little more holy.

Great Beach Reading. Now All I Need Is a Beach...

I read through "Sellevision" in about a week. It was fun light reading: perfect for a train ride, ideal for a beach. It's the kind of book that would be easy to pick up and read between naps, or between frustrated sighs on your morning CTA commute. The quirky characters, who are all hosts on a home-shopping network, are entertaining without being too deep or too flawed, and their trials and tribulations are both mildly amusing and slightly unimportant. The author, Augusten Burroughs, wrote a memoir Running with Scissors, which I think is fairly well-known. This is his first novel.

Pre-Valentines Maintenance

I had a friend who used to say that if you weren't dating anyone by November in Chicago, you were destined not to have sex with anyone new until the spring. A proscription most likely based on the double barbs of both winter weight and winter pastiness/ashiness.

Even so, those with new relationships, or the hopes of finding a new relation this time of year, still try in vain to maintain a level of physical decency during the winter months. Some daily moisturizing and weekly exfoliating can help with the pastiness. Minimal trips to the gym, or at least periodic sessions with a home yoga tape in between Doritos snacking can help with the winter weight. A few other things can help entice - a warm apartment (I'm talking radiators popping, "does it feel tropical in here so let's get naked?" hot) and clean luxurious sheets. Why not hedge your bets against the winter working against you?

All this advice is to stoke some hope in those couting down the next 20 days with dread -

And, if the physical maintenance fails, there's always this.

Community Characters

I have a second job where I record minutes for public meetings. The minutes are less detailed than a court reporter, but more detailed than just reporting what happens according to Robert's Rules of Order. In any case, observering, listening, and recording at these public meetings often provides some entertainment, because the community 'characters' sometimes take on a life of their own in my imagination.

Some of the 'characters' are recurring - some of the lawyers, the petitioners, the architects, the traffic consultants, the outspoken neighbors - I have seen time and time again over the years. Even some of the sites or streets take on a particular character as they are reviewed again and again as things change in the community.

Sharing is Caring

Every month, one of my aunt's hosts a 'family dinner' at her house in the suburbs. It's pretty fun to get together, and also to see my little cousin, Emma. She's about 1.5 years old now, and every few months brings a lot of changes in her development.

So far, she was a fussy infant, but a quiet toddler. She stares a lot at people, and seems to just be observing things rather than making a mess or causing a commotion. The big excitment at the family dinner on Sunday was hearing her say 'balloon', and watching my other cousins work on a 'sharing lesson' with her.

PJ Reclamation

So I think that the statute of limitations has expired on this story, which makes it okay to blog...

I went out with a guy for awhile last year, long enough to leave some pajamas at his house. Come to think of it, I left the pajamas at his house (I asked if it was okay), but the next weekend, he broke it off. Maybe there is some connection...? Anyway, I made sure that they were not my most favorite pajamas just in case something went terribly awry and they were to be lost, but I thought I'd at least make an effort to get them back.

It turned out that the weekend following the break-up, I was a few blocks from this guy's house to go to a craft fair with some girlfriends. I thought, "Perfect. I'll even have reinforcements - crafting chicks - to soothe the awkwardness and get my PJs back lickety-split." So I called dude, which of course went to automatically voicemail, and left a message like:

"Um, HI! I'm in your neighborhood for a CRAFT FAIR with some friends. And I thought that, you know, since I HAPPEN to be RIGHT HERE, that I could just pick up my pajamas from your house. That is, if you aren't in Mexico* this weekend. COOL. BYE!"

No matter what, calling someone who just broke up with you ultimately makes you sound slightly crazy. However, I had the moral support of my married crafting friends at the time, who got a huge vicarious kick out of the whole situation. Unfortunately, they were not with me when I retrieved the pajamas at lunchtime later that week.

*One of the reasons this dude broke it off with me was that I couldn't 'financially' go to Mexico at the drop of a hat. However, he did not go to Mexico that weekend because he didn't have his passport. So actually, I was better positioned to go to Mexico at the time than he was. I'm just saying!

I (heart) David Byrne

David Byrne updates this online playlist at the top of every month, and the music is always interesting and amazing! It often includes bands from his Luaka Bop label, but can also include some random stuff. Check it out - I guarantee it will bolster your day!

MdCL- what?

It's been awhile since I've gone out to hear music, but I went to an interesting show at the Hothouse last Friday night. Mark de Clive-Lowe, the New Zealand/Japanese mystery man. (He's a mystery man because he hides behind a hat.)

He was a wild performer (wild from the listening sense), and was paired with a neo-soul type singer who had a great set of pipes and a funky-fun outfit. MdCL's set-up involved three keyboards, a piano, and several mixer machines and sound boards.

I enjoyed this show a lot, but felt that it should have been promoted more! There is an audience for this type of music/performance in Chicago, but most of them weren't at the Hothouse on Friday night. Boo!

Tilapia Algiers

I've been slightly remiss in posting, which in this case means than there are developments in the love/dating aspects of my life! My dancing man and I have been hanging out and talking a lot. We've cooked some delicious meals - collard greens and black-eyed peas for New Years, tilapia Algiers with cumin and lemon juice, steamed mussels. We laugh a lot. It's really fun.

In other news, I've got one more grad school application due this month, two if I really want to push my options. I'm starting to plan my spring and summer schedule, which are going to be crazy-busy, and I'm hoping to include some short trips this year to visit friends across the U.S.!

Watch Out for the Boogie Machine in 2007!

New Years Flix

A Quick Reflection - Holy Shit 2006

So, before the reflection period gets away from me, 2006 was a busy year! A lot happened, and I grew up a lot. I dated a lot. I fought at my work to get a promotion. I fought with my landlord to make my utilities fair. I lost a person from my life who I considered a really good friend, and I still don't really understand why. I grew to appreciate with more depth my friends that have stuck around. I matured my relationship with my parents. I took a jewlery metalsmithing class! I applied to graduate school!

I'll say it again: Holy Shit 2006!

2007 is already off like a speeding bullet. What will happen this year?

Happy Re-New Year

It's a beautiful, sunny morning in Chicago today -
Which makes it not so hard to go back to work after a week+ off. I partied like a maniac at the end of 2006, but the brought the year in with sweetness. I'm not making any resolutions this year, but I am bringing in the year with a lot of hope. Prospero Ano, friends!