Day 2 of Acro Adventures

So, for those of you who are new here - my latest way to ensure I remain humble is I, while solidly into middle age (much as I'd rather not admit it), randomly joined a class that is all the tumbling components of gymnastics.   I, who have never done gymnastics, have zero flexibility, can only hold a handstand for a couple seconds at most, and have only ever accomplished a flip off a diving board ;). 

  

But sure - gymnastics is a totally reasonable thing to take on as an adult.   This was absolutely confirmed by the fact that in last class - my first - I was not the only beginner.  Woohoo!   Sadly, the other woman didn't make it back, so I am now, in fact, the only beginner.   lol

Warmup was quite different.  I get the impression though that it doesn't normally change so dramatically each week but rather they had a key staff member away, so our coach (who's definitely the "real" adult of the group ;) was doing other things at the start and had one of the other coaches (I'm going to say maybe early uni age?) cover the warmup.   It was definitely a kid warmup but it did warm us up and got a few giggles so why not.   Also when she split the arial class it was “older ones over here” which got a laugh from everyone and our coach reminded her to stick to “more advanced” since with adults skills and age are not necessarily tied ;)

Anyways - when warmup ended the same coach from last week took over (yeah!) but we were down to only four in our class, while the arial class was still full.  The four included 1 superstar (also potentially the youngest by about 20 years), 2 who did gymnastics for many years but had a gap and are relearning as adults (think gymnastics version of reriders) and me.

So on the plus side, I’m fully embracing the “new and incompetent” side of things ;).  I can, and happily will, learn from anybody.  And I know enough about adult learning both from a teaching and a learning side that I can figure out pretty quickly what I need to be able to attempt to mimic.    Lots of different drills today - a bunch on the bouncy track (I think that’s the tumble track?  But then I’m not sure what they call the trampoline one so forgive me if I make up my own names till more sinks in).    

When it came time for choose your own adventure, the pro went to the bouncy track to do arials and other flippy things, while the other two went together to the handstand wall to work on something that wasn’t handstands but I think was to build up to handsprings.  But I didn’t want to get in their way so once they were set up I asked if anything I could do on the trampoline track.  

So the idea was handstand then fall flat on my back (onto a nice cushion).   First of all, my handstands are questionable at best and non existent on a trampoline 😂. And second of all - that’s more of a mental game than you’d think.  First time I got the handstand and then bailed entirely rather than go over backwards.  Oops.  Then I did it wrong a couple dozen times with my shoulders hitting first and *then* my body.  Got *almost* there, and then was too tired to do anything else ;).   

By this point the two handstanders had come over and were also doing variations of handstand and fall - they’re working toward more advanced skills and at least one is fighting a mental battle over it and negotiated w the coach to “try it next week”.

Then we had an example of on the trampoline, from a standing straddle position, lean over and grab your ankles (bend knees if wildly inflexible!), flip onto your lower shoulders on the trampoline, and then bounce back to your feet, rinse and repeat w/o ever letting go.

The other two decided that was too scary and would also be next week but to me it looked mildly entertaining so I asked if I could try it.  I’m pretty sure my coach is reasonably certain I’m going to enthusiastically kill myself 😂.  She demoed again and made sure I was set up right and was right w me, with on hand only millimeters from me if I needed assistance so thinking this one might’ve been higher risk than I really calculated ;).   

And when I grabbed my ankles ALL the survival instincts kicked in with This is a BAD Life Choice!!!!   The other two were right.  It’s friggin terrifying!

But I’m an eventer.  And when things go wrong in eventing or there’s a BFJ on course that scares all the things out of you, not only do you have to tackle it, but you have to convince the 1000lbs+ prey animal w a brain the size of a walnut that the predator sitting on top of it *really wants* to jump the BFJ.   

That’s right.  You have to so fully commit emotionally to a complete lie that a critter whose entire existence relies on reading threats, thinks you *really* want to do the thing that’s making you think you should’ve take up a nice, quiet, safe sport - like rugby.

After 30ish years of that training, even after a longer gap than I’d like to acknowledge, when I feel that fear kick in, I fully commit to The Thing.  Whatever it is.  

So I flipped upside down and bounced back to my feet.  A few times.  It wasn’t particularly hard and I’m not sure I understand why we (I - the others deferred to next week) did it.  But it wasn’t horrifying.   The flipping onto the mat last wk was way more fun though ;)

One of the others commented on “I wish I could be fearless like that” - internally I laughed so hard.  Externally I tried to explain many many years of training in overcoming fear.  But I don’t think she got it and I wasn’t super coherent at the time between exhausted, excited, overwhelmed, and mildly dizzy ;)

Today’s overall was much more of a workout.  Also learned a ton more.  Was mildly amused when she asked the others to do something from a squatting position so I did too for a laugh even though I’m not close to good at it standing so definitely don’t need a harder version and got told “oh no, that’s just to build strength - you have more than enough of that, better for you to work on technique”.  Hey - it’s the closest thing to an ego boost I’m going to get in this class, so I’ll take it!   And my only normal strength comparison these days is Chris, who is significantly stronger than I.  But I have enough for beginner gymnastics so win!   

Also with no depth perception it’s much easier for me to place my hands on the mat where I want them and use strength to get upside down than to throw myself at the ground just to get some extra impulsion - so I actually like the “harder” ones cause I know reliably where the ground is ;). But I think the single most repeated correction across the exercises for me today was “start back farther” / “take a bigger step into it” - so I’m just gonna have to suck it up and learn where the ground is.  But maybe I’ll start on the bouncy track ;)

TIL: Cartwheels are a complicated way to change direction ;)

Who here has done a cartwheel?   Decades ago right?  Throw hands to the ground and then flip feet over them - pretty basic.   Well I don't know why I had it in my head that when doing this you're either facing sideways and stay facing sideways the whole way OR facing forward and end facing forward (isn't that how you can cartwheel down a line?!?!), but definitely facing forward and ending facing backwards would not have been on my list.   

Yet TIL, while others are options, officially if you do it "right" as per gymanastic rules you end up facing the opposite direction you started.

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

For me it was tonight - and, in typical Laur style, it was not a typical adulting new thing like “I took a new route home” (often a great mental health break) or “I bought a different brand of toilet paper” (not worth the risk!)!  

Gonna just acknowledge here and now - I'm still high after a lot of fun and exhausted after a very long day, so I'm absolutely not guaranteeing any quality - or even particularly comprehensible - writing.  

I joined an adult Acro class.   For those of you with the same puzzled look I had - think acrobatics ;-P.  With nothing but the description, the fact that I could try the first class without signing up, that it was only a 4 week commitment, and that it happened to start the week I emailed to ask about it….  Away I went ;)

So I foolishly assumed the people in the viewing area waiting for the kids to finish were mostly parents of said children.  They were not.  There were probably about 15 adults there who filed into the gym when class start was announced - which had me mildly confused since they said the class would be 6-8 until I realized it was two classes worth.  The warmup is combined and then people doing arial stuff (which I’ve done before and is all kinds of fun but basically impossible to improve cause you can’t practice at home) and the acro group which stays closer to the floor.   I have floors at home ;)

Warmup was an experience.  I’m sure for kids who did gymnastics or dance it’s normal, and even for a large number of team sports there may be similar drills, but pretty well the entirety of my athletic interests - and therefore experience - started and ended w a combo of grade school gym class and horses.

So imagine 3 straight lines that run the length of the floor, everybody in a row goes from one end of the line to the other doing something.  But it’s not just one something, it’s a combo.   So first example was lunge, warrior-ish pose, front kick, then land the front leg and rinse and repeat on the other leg until you get to the end of the line.  Strength, balance, and flexibility together.  Sweet.  There were a couple variations on that - some more strength and some more balance focused.

Inch-worm that followed was arguably less fun ;).  And the line of 2 push-ups, lie down with hands and legs off the ground and roll-over without using them, hollow body hold, roll the rest of the way; rinse and repeat….  Well suffice to say I was just as well I was last in line for that one and “didn’t get to” finish my line ;)

Now that we were all warmed up it was time for stretching.  I am the extreme opposite of a flexible human.  But at least I wasn’t alone!  While I’m definitely among the least flexible in the group, there were others of similar lack of ability.

Okay so at this point they split out the two classes.  And we’re back to the lines.   Except the *very first* exercise was cartwheel down the line…

Ummm right - those lines are kinda close together and if I try something that even pretends to mimic a cartwheel I’m going to hurt somebody.  So I tagged our instructor w a “I haven’t done a cartwheel in 30 years - I might need some suggestions” and a woman nearby lit up!  “Oh I’ve never done one ever and am just learning”.  It wasn’t her first week here, but she’d never even done one as a kid and was thrilled to have another beginner in the class.  

So coach worked w us a bit and then set us up w a big square cushion to practice cartwheeling over (ummm isn’t that going to be harder?  Absolutely- but it’ll help you build the strength and get the concept).  Cool - okay.  So we worked on that while the others did lines of walking on their hands (that one I have hopes of doing some day) and walking in a bridge (far less likely - my bridge is dangerously structurally unsound).

Then we were divided into different areas to work on different things.  I honestly didn’t catch too much of what was happening because I was so lost, but I def understood “we can practice handstands against this (padded) wall” - sweet, sign me up.  My new same level as me partner joined me.  She was ahead of me in cartwheels but I had last summer’s practice for handstands and it was coming back fast which was awesome!  We took turns at the mat and our coach came over and gave us some structural clues.

But I’m not handstand fit anymore and I haven’t practiced in a v long time, so I tired pretty quickly and was watching the others doing some really cool stuff.  On one side was an inflated track that very much looked like the floor of a bouncy castle - two people there were practicing arials (think handsfree cartwheel).  Since I can’t even do the version WITH hands, I think we’ll pass on that.

Some were doing strength or flexibility training that I really didn’t understand at all but I also wasn’t really watching cause at the far side of the gym was a trampoline track with giant crash pads at the end where people were learning flips.  

We were like 2 mins before the end of class and one of them waves us over w “do you want to try?”   Yes!  That looks so ridiculously fun and absolutely no way in which I could seriously injure myself ;).  My partner had to leave though so she opted out and exited the gym.   Coach had me demonstrate that I could do a somersault on the floor (no worries - although made me shockingly dizzy in a way it didn’t as a child) and then she sent me to the bouncy castle floor that is, in fact, bouncy ;).  To try it there.  Since it was softer and springier I found that much easier and was giggling and feeling ridiculous if not particularly challenged by it.

So then I was promoted to the trampoline version after “just bounce a bit first to get used to it”.   I made sure all the other women were actually done because we had to remove one of the crash mats for my level (you’d think more was easier but in this case more is higher and you have to really commit ;)).  One stayed w me, not because she needed the beginner level but because coach told her she was ready to try land the actual flip and it also requires fewer mats.

All I had to do was bounce and do a somersault onto the mat.  Somehow suddenly terrifying?   Like it’s the softest landing yet but somehow both having my arms up in the air and needing a tiny bit of height suddenly made it super scary.  Which means I absolutely did it, multiple times (if there’s one thing eventing teaches you it’s to keep going forward when you’re terrified 😂).   And the woman who I was trading off w nailed her front flips so that was fun to watch.

I very much want to try the double mats next time to learn to get the height for flips.

So yes, there will be a next time.   I was definitely one of the oldest there and the least experienced BUT not by a horrifying amount - there was at least one mother / daughter combo which was nice to see.   

And it’s only a couple hours later and my body is questioning my life choices lol tomorrow and Friday will be interesting!

But omg was it ever fun.   

Random Small World Moment

So on Thurs I was chatting with one of the women I work with who I don’t know well but have met a few times.  I mentioned that I wasn’t going out with the team after work because I had tickets to the Royal and the fact that her eyes lit up rather than giving me a confused look lmk she was probably a horse person.   Sure enough, v much a re-rider, had ridden as a kid and started back up super-recently.   So we chatted for a bit and I didn’t immediately recognise the barn she was riding at, but said I’d poke around ;).  Also, she only knew her coach’s first name - Ally (there are a shocking number of riding coaches in the area named Ally) but by the description I had a strong feeling I might know who it was.

We were chatting about riding schools in general and I happened to mention Foxcroft (which is where I rode as a teen, and where I started teaching) — turns out that’s also where she rode as a kid and timing-wise there’s a very strong chance I taught her at summer camp at some point or another ;). 

Then fast-forward to today and Ally sends me a pic of “look who’s in my lesson!” — so this Ally, who I’d hoped but didn’t really believe it might be, is who I both rode and worked with at Pony Club when I was in uni.  In Fredericton. (For those not in the loop - it’s about a 15h drive from here).

So yeah - double small world loop with the same person.  Kinda made my day :) 

TIL: Spanish Edition

So I just had a lightbulb moment:

I can’t believe how long it’s taken me to realize this but I think part of the reason I can read in Spanish so much easier than I can listen is that my eyes read ahead of my brain.  So for all the critical information to understand Spanish that comes later in the sentence than in English, I need the speaker to pause after each sentence so I can mentally understand the words, restructure and translate.   But when I read, my brain gives me the meaning of the words in English, and my eyes are far enough ahead of my brain that I have the structural info already.

Realized that while reading a transcript while listening to a blog post. 

Now arguably it'd be nice if my brain could just give me the meaning in English when listening like it does for reading ;).   Maybe some day!

And while I completely get why my teachers say not to translate 😂 I’m not good enough for that quite yet!

The one in which Bev rides to the rescue.

Alright team, buckle up for the wicked alignment of things that resulted in my car being abandoned in the GO Station parking lot for the night ;). 

I went to the office today - I know, foolish life choice, but stay with me ;).  As per every commuter, I had my backpack with me.  Into it, I carefully secured my keys in the zippered pocket they live in every time I commute since I don’t actually carry a purse anymore.

Why don’t I carry a purse anymore?  Well because like most digitally competent people, everything I need is on my phone.   Everything, that is, except my work ID badge/door key since that is not an option in my current office.  And also I don’t like carrying extra stuff ;)

So suffice to say I forgot said work badge.  No big deal - I’m reasonably good at finding colleagues willing to let me in.

All good right?   Except…. I had agreed to go to a work-sponsored charity event after work in another building.   No worries - I was going w a colleague.  But said colleague had to bail :(. But still no worries - my card, that I didn’t have with me, also works in that building.  However, I wasn’t concerned about its lack because quite frankly, they want people at charity events and it was taking place on a floor that has reception, so cool.

Now since this is one of the few times I’m in the office back to back days, I deemed there was no reason to lug my laptop home as long as I brought my phone w me.  Minor win for commuting.  Minor loss for adulting.

Why should that matter?   Well dear reader, I went over to the charity event and dutifully stayed until the end (also - it was well done and is, in fact, something I firmly believe in supporting so…. Fair).  At which point as I gratefully headed back to the train station I realized…

…my car keys are still in my backpack at the first office. 

*sigh*

Okay but it’s a gorgeous night and less than a 15 min walk.  Also, it’s not like I have anything better to do tonight at this point.   

Except…. And I’m super glad I remembered this tiny issue before walking all the way back…. You need a badge to work the elevators after hours AND to open the door to the floor.  A badge that I don’t have on me.   And since I was one of the last to leave the first time, odds of anyone being there to let me in even if the elevator worked were nonexistent. 

So yeah, because I don’t carry a wallet, and because I forgot my work badge, and because I’m going to the office tomorrow, and because I agreed to go to the charity event, and because I went alone, I cannot drive my car home.  Had any one of those things been different, you would’ve been spared this ridiculous story and Bev wouldn’t be currently riding to my rescue at the train station and saving me cab fare 😉

No-Socials November

So last night while I should've been sleeping, I crafted the idea of No-socials November.  In my head this also includes YouTube, unless I'm using it solely to figure out how to do something, and background noise TV - by which I mean when I walk into a room and the TV is on (which it always is cause I married an extrovert) to not give up what I was doing to watch whatever is on.

This may be a particularly hard challenge cause I'm in the office a lot this month, which means a significant amount of train time, which is often absorbed with socials.   It also has become my go-to for when I'm too tired for whatever I'd actually *like* to be doing.   I'm loading my kindle in hopes that reading fills that void the way it used to.   I also realized that I hadn't seen a single post about Nanowrimo from anybody yet this year.  That could be in part due to the changes in the org, but also probably the algorithm has decided I'm not interested.  And while it's right that I'm not super passionate about *participating*, I still like to hear about others' adventures. 

Also, I woke up this am thinking "meh, it's not a hard challenge why bother" and then physically fighting the urge to sign in which to me meant yup, probably should do it ;).  So.  My rules of engagement:

- no apps on the phone (I left my phone charging in our bedrooom where Chris is still sleeping so it's safe from me now lol, but to be deleted as soon as he's up).
- the only "sign-in" allowed is webbased and only to follow a link to view something someone IM's me something; some of my friendships are mostly meme based and I'm not interested in disconnecting from them.
- messenger is legal; I use it the same way I do texting and as per above, it's my only means of communication with certain people who I enjoy communicating with ;)

My hope?  Partially I get over the twitchy feeling of *needing* to check any time I'm bored and also that I break the habit of checking any time I'm bored.  But also that the more creative aspects of my life - writing / drawing / stabbing, or even the learning aspects - piano / spanish, start to make a more regular occurrence.   We shall see.

My concern?  That it's going to be harder than I'm comfortable with.

And, obviously I can't post this link on socials so highly unlikely this will be seen before said challenge is over.  Blog posts and photos will be the two things I want to share that I can't.  That's disappointing.  But I know from experience that I'll sign in "just to post" and then fall down a rabbit hole so...  

Let the games begin ;)

#TIL: Comma Chaos

This post is only for those of you who are writing or grammar nerds.  The rest of you, pick a topic that interests you on the right and enjoy ;).  

Comma Chaos in English

So TIL there’s a worse trauma possible due to a lack of comma than that felt by Nelson Mandela and everyone else harmed by a missing Oxford Comma.  However, it’s not relevant in English writing only in Spanish and until now I had NO idea.  Zero.  Ziltch.  Nada.  None.  So now I’m wondering how much I’ve misread cause of it lol.

So - here’s the thing, this post is why actual live teachers are important, cause this TIL comes to you from my Spanish lesson today, and suffice to say Google Translate has never imparted this info to me ;)  Also, I’m writing this as much to solidify in my own little brain as to share this complete randomness.

These two sentences:

• Van a reformar la casa, que está vieja
• Van a reformar la casa que está vieja

Do not actually mean the same thing.

The words translate roughly into They are going to renovate the house which is old. 

The one with a comma functions similarly to how it does in English - the comma gives us extra information.  So this one house, right here, is being repaired because it’s old.  

But the other one, without a comma, means they are renovating the old house (not any of these other ones around here) 

That missing comma was donated to create a whole neighbourhood!   😂 

For those who read Spanish, here's the official version
For those who don't,  it's the pretty picture of the above ;)

This one amused me:

• Los hijos de Clara, que son simpatiquísimo, vienen a visitarnos
• Los hijos de Clara que son simpatiquísimos vienen a visitarnos

Basic Translation:

Clara’s children, who are very nice, come to visit us.

Vs: The nice children of Clara’s come to visit us (but the other, not-nice, children stay home)

So there you have both your and my educational moment of the day ;).  

Making a healthy snack horrifically unhealthy

So C randomly came home the other day w a collection of apples - not that apples are exactly rare in the fall in Canada lol but these were lovely, clearly local-ish, and not a type we generally need…. “They were given to me and I was hoping you might make pie happen”.  Given the disproportionate amount of cooking he does, I’m generally pretty open to baking requests esp when it’s not a waste of precious summer hours.

Suffice to say it doesn’t take much to twist my rubber arm.  I hate cooking but somehow love baking - probably cause the outcome usually lasts longer than it takes to make it ;).  And it’s tasty.  Almost always 😂 

Given the choice though, apple crumble is so much better than apple pie.  I’ve made it before but had a recipe I hadn’t done that I’d wanted to try for salted caramel apple crumble squares.    

So this seemed a good chance to test that out.  Also found a recipe for making said salted caramel.   So all good - walk over to the grocery store for the couple ingredients I didn’t have (looking at you heavy cream!   We’re not going to discuss the calories in this adventure).

So I made up all the parts - I was mildly concerned about how the caramel would work out but figured if it failed, we would still be left w some form of apple crumble so that’s not a bad worst case scenario.

As I was layering the crumble I wondered how structurally sound the bars would be.  Spoiler alert - they are 100% not ;).  However, I have not one, not two, but three things I will do differently next time to impact the structural soundness.

I’d never made any kind of candy before beyond melting already-made chocolate into molds (lol autocorrect is convinced I meant “moods” - and maybe I did!).  So I wasn’t convinced about the salted caramel; also, it seemed like a lot of salt.

But, one thing I do reasonably well is follow instructions.  Which is a problem if they’re not well written but this is one of my favourite recipe authors- not for the ridiculousness at the start that I’ve yet to read but cause her recipe’s generally have all the steps required and none that are not and if you do them in order, good things come out of the oven.   You’d think this was true of all but alas dear reader, it is not. 

So they were well written and as a result we had lovely looking apple crumble and lovely looking salted caramel sauce - which C bravely tasted and informed me it was excellent.  Yes - following instructions for the win.

But then….  It has to go in the fridge for 2h before you can cut them.  Boooo.   But if the caramel goes in the fridge it’ll have to be reheated for use.  It’s in a stainless steel pan.  It cannot go in the microwave, and reheating on the stove runs the risk of burning before I ever even got to try it.

So.  Solution.  Pour the caramel sauce over the squares and shove the whole thing in the fridge.  Done.

About that.  Did I mention the recipe for salted caramel was not part of the recipe for the bars?  Which means the amount was not relevant.  Which means instead of a drizzle - which prob would’ve been ideal - we had a thoroughly blanketed treat 😂 

Fast forward to today when we finally got to try it.   Lessons learned:

• the instruction to line the pan w overhanging cookie sheet was a win.  Super easy to get it out of the pan for cutting
• The now thick layer of caramel significantly impacted the structural integrity of the squares.  Lol as soon as I started to cut them, there were challenges ;)
• The paper won again since I used it to redeposit them in the pan in relatively the same condition they came out in
• My apple layer also contributed to structural unsoundness - it was way too think.  The instructions had said to squish them down; I thought I had; spoiler alert - not nearly enough.
• Also, in future I’d run the base (which was actually shortbread) up the sides for extra soundness.  At least, I will if I can’t sort the apples out.

So in the end we cut some out, heated it up, threw on some whipped cream cause we needed more calories, and gave it a go.  It is extremely the opposite of a square ;).  But it is SO tasty.  And super sweet w the extra caramel that it has installed portion control.  Although I’ll admit the salt portion of that makes it addictive and counteracts the portion control.   C also doesn’t find it as sweet as I do (normal) so maybe other people would like it more :)

Overall not quite exactly what I was trying to make but it’s so yummy I don’t actually care and I’m pretty pleased how the caramel worked out.   Next time I’d mix in a few green apples to balance it out and probably back off the caramel a bit - although not as much as you’re supposed to ;)

The final result - that's all gone now.  Yummy!