This adventure wasn't my fault ;-P

Just like that ;)
Only maybe slightly closer to the ground.

So as some of you are aware, I’ve been taking adult acro classes, which sadly are almost done for the summer, and unfortunately had to miss the last two in a row.  Boo.  BUT the lovely admin / front desk / organizing person said I could do a makeup in the Tuesday class.  Sweet!

Except…. “Isn’t that the advanced class?   I am the opposite of advanced.”  “You’ll be fine; it’s a really small group.”   Well if Christine (coach) is okay with it….   Never got an answer on that last part.   🤨 

So always open to adventure and acro is all floor based so figured worst case I get a good warmup and practice cartwheels and handstands for 45 mins while watching people who know what they’re doing defying gravity w some impressive flippy-flippies (definitely the technical term).  To put in perspective, the beginner class ranges from literally never done a somersault or cartwheel to people doing front flips and aeriels (hands-free cartwheels).   I’m closer to the beginner end of that although in reality right in the middle of the class skill wise - I cartwheeled through a tunnel without knocking over a wall so deeming that a pretty big win ;-P.  

I see no way in which this could go wrong ;)

So I show up and there are exactly 4 other students.  Total.  Which means the warmup was intense and exhausting cause no waiting for your turn 😂 everybody has a turn all the time.  5 lines, 5 people, all the exercise.

Then it’s time to move to the interesting part of the class.  The coach, who is not my coach (warning sign one) says “in this group everyone is working on specific skills they’re interested in, so you can pick whatever apparatus you like and work on it, or I can give you some ideas.” (Warning signs 2 and 3)   Now sometimes even in the beginner class we get choose your own adventure- some go to the handstand wall, some to the tumble track (think long straight bouncy castle run), and others to the trampoline run (this is my fav although I usually do all options at least a bit).   So I didn’t question too much…

…until the other students started pulling stuff down from the ceiling.  Oh frig.  Not only is this an advanced class I’m not ready for, it’s an arial class.  Aka options are silks (which I have actually at least tried in the past!), trapeze, hoop, or a giant swinging cube.  The cube wasn’t out tonight so I’m guessing that wasn’t something the other women (all of whom are about half my age!) were working on.

So with an only slightly panicked look on my face I told the instructor I’d only done acro.  A brief stint w silks ages ago that I didn’t entirely remember, and nothing else (in my head I had memories of playing w a trapeze in a friend’s basement when we were about 10 - does that count?!?!)

To her credit, she only paused a heartbeat before “Well do you want to try?” Sure - but starting from zero so not sure that’s fair to everyone else?   I don’t want to hold them back…

Well it turns out they’re all working on improving stuff they already know how to do, and therefore this class is more about access to equipment than instruction.  So we start w trapeze cause I said I’d love to try something new and that’s her area of expertise.  And she spent solidly at least the first 15 min w me 1-1 giving me 3 different tricks to try.   I think she was slightly lost w somebody who had no fear and decent balance but zero skills 😂.    Like she asked if I could stand up on the trapeze like she expected there to be hesitation or even a solid no and suffice to say there was no issue.  Heights at the edge of a cliff or the top of a volcano or the middle of a high rickety bridge - those I have issue with.  I hate that I do, and I rarely let it stop me, but I have to consciously work to overcome it.  Heights on stuff I climbed up on and can climb back down again?   Not an issue.

This was one of the first things.
Obv not me, all pics from Google ;)

So I did the things  - starting w demonstrating that I could hang and support my body weight for at least 15 seconds lol - and took a bit of a break while she wandered to see if others needed help or throw a comment one way or another.  One woman was actively learning and trying to evolve a routine - I’d say the coach worked 1-1 with her as much as w me, but none of the others seemed even remotely interested in what she could or could not contribute.  2 were clearly friends and working together on something while the last one had one very convoluted trick on the silks she was working on.

This was the first standing one.   
Other than a lack of flexibility, as easy as it gets.

So eventually I got bored of the trapeze (only so interesting as a complete beginner) and went to see if I could remember anything from silks.  Had the climbing no problem.  Up to the ceiling and back easily enough.  Then I couldn’t remember anything else so coach Jesse reminded me of how to do a foot lock and a double foot lock.  Then showed me a spin of some sort that I forget the name of but was super easy and a lot of fun.  Effectively throw yourself at the floor and miss 😂.  Then I get “oh here’s an easy one, start in your double footlock…” okay…. She’s doing the same on the silks right next to me so I can follow…. “Then go into your splits” ummm yeah, that’s not going to be an option ;).  😂.    Turns out this move is actually one I learned the last time I did Silks.   There is a modification if you don’t have flexibility, it just requires strength and looks less impressive.  But that I was able to do and felt it was easier than the last time but it was a couple yrs ago so could be misremembering.

This was less graceful to get into, but easy to execute

So I played there a bit more but footlocks hurt your feet if you’re not used to them (or at least they hurt mine) so eventually I went back to the trapeze which is just fun.   Realized very quickly trying to get up that my arms had had about enough 😂 but once you’re up, arms are less important.  Was pleased I actually remembered all the moves she had taught me, and she came and added one more to the repertoire (the gazelle that was the next step from an earlier one she showed me) which ended up being my favourite by a lot.  She also said that there was a step two to one of the other earlier ones (the star) but that if I was getting tired it probably wasn’t the best time to learn it but I could come back again if I wanted 😂.  

This was my favourite one - prob cause upside down ;)
Also, requires little to no strength so good when tired.

So I said I had one more makeup to do and if she’d let me maybe I could come back next week?   She was pretty into that so stay tuned to the next edition of Completely Inappropriate Middle Age Hobbies (accidental version!)

A week in a day

I don't even know where to start today -- I feel like I lived a week in a day.   And it's only Wednesday - I'm not sure what to do with the rest of the week.

We'll start with the absolutely wild dreams last night -- the kind most people need copious drugs to achieve but I'm "lucky" enough to get for free occasionally.  Alas, also the kind that leave me the opposite of rested in the am.

Then at work my old job interrupted my new job when my old world imploded.  This made a couple of people ecstatic but most either upset, stressed, or both.  The end result being I spent most of the day providing an ear, while trying to ensure my actual responsibilities of my current role were met -- including interviewing a candidate for a new role, which I always find tests my introvert side, and an exec meeting which ended up being super productive and positive but it had a 50/50 shot of going just as far the other direction. 

I had my lunch call sitting on our back steps and throwing the ball for Sasha.  This was a helpful counterbalance, esp as it was bright and sunny.   At which point I realised it was possibly the last nice day of the year and determined I had to find a way to get a walk in before dinner.

I had an hour scheduled for desk work, and I deemed that hour could be flexible and done *after* walking, so Sasha, Chris (his days usually end, not surprisingly, with the end of school, so he was home by then), and I did the lock 7 loop - which I haven't done in ages and made me realise I have *not* been walking enough (the treadmill came back into play yesterday).  But it did let Sasha get a swim in, so she was a very happy puppy.  It is much too long a walk for Tucker, who wasn't interested in getting out of bed anyways.

Go back to work when we get back and somehow that hour takes me till 8:00?!?!  Not even kidding.  And I only stopped cause it was time to go to Arial Silks class.  But as I was getting ready to go, I got a message that thesis scores were posted.  So yeah - had to sign into that!  But - new computer (oh yeah - haven't told that story yet - will do its own post) - so login info wasn't stored and took a bit to figure out how to access (by this point I was definitely heading toward being late.   Signed in.  Final score?  92!

I tell you - the relief, and happiness, all at the same time.  Wow.   I'll give it its own post later, but add that to counterbalance the stress of work and I *really* didn't feel like going to class.  Tried to convince C we should go for celebratory ice cream, but he basically told me to go to class ;-P.  Sheesh.

Which I did.  And had an awesome time.  Because while it's hard to convince myself to go some days, esp on days like this, I actually LOVE it every time I'm there.  I am atrociously bad at it, but I do enjoy the effort and I quite like the other women in the class, which obviously makes a huge difference.  I was not planning to continue, so I told the coach she could give away my spot (last time she had a waiting list).  But I also told her if she doesn't fill the class, let me know and I'll take the open spot.   I feel less guilty missing classes if nobody else wants it, and I'm happy to support a small business in something really unique that I'm enjoying.   Also got some pics today just in case it does end up being the last day.

This was the trick we learned on Day 1
Haven't done it since then till today, but proof that it happened ;)

And, the amusing part - I finally found a trick I'm *really* good at, and everybody else (well, of the beginners) was struggling.  Why?  Well this is a sport that requires significant upper body strength and flexibility - neither of which I have, but this one particular move (which is a setup for some drops - which is partially why I want to stay in the class) requires leg strength and balance.  Which, even after not riding for entirely too long, I still have.  Win!

There is no way to make this attractive,
but I was disproportionately pleased at my ability to do this!

Coming home I really wanted that celebratory treat, but of course everything was closed by then :(.  Sad.  I could've made it to Ghost Kitchen before it closed, but that's really far away, and before going, C reminded me there was Hagan Daaz in the kitchen.  Win!   He was asleep when I got home, but Sasha and I enjoyed the last of the ice cream :).  I feel we earned it.

"If it's easy, you're doing it wrong" -- Arial Silks Coach

I'm currently typing this lying on a mound of pillows because the nice hot bath I set up to soak in hurt my shoulders too much...  lol just to levelset where we're starting.   IDK what was different in class last night - partially, I was exhausted going in, and partially for whatever reason they (that’d be coach and advanced students) decided it was conditioning day?   Right.

Perspective - this is an adult class.  We are grouped by the fact that we are all over 18, nothing to do with capability.  The class has shrunk since it started but of those still around there’s all the advanced ones, the two intermediate, and me.  Which, tbh, I  actually love cause it's super fun and interesting to watch the advanced work.   Esp when they're learning new things.  Like, that is theoretically within the realm of possibility?!?!   Way more interesting than what we're doing *g*  

At least one of the other intermediates is closer to my beginner level.  She gets it faster as it’s a reminder rather than new, but she’s working for it ;)

 

So for instance after the normal warmup (which - yeah - I’ve been promoted out of the beginner version and boo - it’s WAY harder now) we started with a hang (basically grab silks above your head and pick your feet off the ground) which you’re supposed to hold 10 seconds in each of 3 consecutive poses without putting your feet down.  Like wtf?!?!   Lol the only thing that made me feel better about lasting all of about 3 seconds was that the other two dropped moments after me.  The advanced participants made it all the way through all.  Like WAY more sheer upper body strength than we’ve done to date.

So then we did the class, which felt pretty normal except I was really dragging.  And I’m laughably bad at it.  So for each move there’s a number of steps.  My problem is I can’t remember what to do next, and I’ve got a 50/50 shot each time.   I can usually remember whether the next step involves legs, hands, or twist - but rarely which leg, hand, or direction.   The number of times I’ve ended up literally tied in knots cause I twisted the wrong direction is….  Excessive ;).  “Uh no, that’s not quite right…” lol one of the more frequent refrains.   On the plus side - most of them I can do if either someone talks me through it OR I’m cheating and following someone else’s attempted step by step ;).  For now, that has to be a win.  Maybe I’ll get to independence next month *g*.  It’s the silks version of being on the lunge line - I need to be supervised till we’re reasonably certain I won’t hurt myself lol.  In my own defence, we learn at least one and sometimes two or three new tricks every week, and - well - I haven’t actually learned any of them effectively.   It’s like trying to memorize a dozen different first level dressage tests at the same time.  You only have a certain number of options to work with, but when there’s too many of them it’s really easy to mix them up (is it test 1 or test 2 that tracks left after the centre line?)

This was me being more successful in 2010!

So we went through all those adventures and at the end of class is always two exercises - a box for one minute and then a hang as long as possible.  So far I’ve failed reasonably badly at the box each time (I can get the legs but usually not the arms) and the hang has been between 3 and 14 seconds.   Well today I gave up entirely on the box - I couldn’t even get my legs to stay in place.  BUT that gave me a slight cheat in that I had like a 45 second rest before the hang, which I made a new record of 24 seconds!  Woohoo lol

lol looked up the box from my previous adventure, and first of all, they called it a star, which makes way  more sense to me, but secondly, this is what I wrote: 

So we went from the easiest to one of the hardest. And this one was NOT worth the effort it took cause it didn't look all that impressive. hahaha difficult things should at least look kewl! This was a star -- so stand on the swing, spread your feet aside, push the silks away from you with your arms. No problem. Except that you're on two ropes tied at the top and the bottom, so the wider you spread them, the shakier it gets. My balance and core strength is reasonable, but I was shaking trying to hold that one! 

I am betting if we did this at the start of class it wouldn't be nearly as difficult lol.  But at the end when your body is already on strike, it's pretty brutal.

Anyways - usually after class I’m WIRED but I was just fully exhausted.  Tried to have a bath and couldn’t stay awake enough so just went to bed.

And my ego was super full of itself when I woke up not at all sore.  Like how is that even possible?   I expected to be dead today.  Win!

Right.  Fast forward to the end of the day.  Part way through the drive home from teaching my side was really sore and I couldn’t seem to get comfortable.  Odd.  And it was getting *really* hard to keep my hands on the wheel.   Hmmm.  Went in and sat down on the couch and realized my abs were done.  Like couldn’t even sit up done.  And shoulders, back, and arms too.

Hmmmm okay so maybe a hot bath is necessary?   Except leaning against the tub hurt.  Omg I’ve literally never felt that before.  And my ego drowned in the tub.

So now I’m typing this reclining against my comfy pillow cause I can’t sit up straight.  And I have some significant concerns about how functional I’ll be tomorrow which is the day after the day after and we all know traditionally way worse.   Wish me luck!

Oh - and on top of it - coach wants to extend class an extra 30 mins to allow more conditioning.  I mean, apparently I need it, but I have to live through it first!

Being brave enough to suck (thoroughly) at something new ;)

Alright, so I decided that w the start of Sept, I should get my life back under some semblance of control (my keyboard, however, disagrees and the letter 'n' stopped functioning a few weeks ago.  So it's a ctrl-v for me, but I'm a touch typist so super-frustrating as I'm often way past before I realize an n was involved.  All that to say, please ignore ridiculous typos.)

So school still exists.  Final term!  And it's a lot less than fun.  But I decided I couldn't let it be my WHOLE life anymore.   So two things - new fitness routine and a new hobby of some sort.  Fitness was easy - I have all the gear after several years of collecting little bits at a time, so I signed back up for Beachbody and picked a routine I've had reasonable success with.   Two key criteria: short workouts and short commitment.  I'm much better at doing three, three-week programs than one nine-week one, esp when starting out.  I accept this and move on.   Had a friend doing it with me but she had to stop due to injury :(  Sad.  Anyways - those are going very well and I'm quite happy with the results.  I'm not at all happy w how far I've slipped but at least moving the right direction now.

For the new hobby, I wanted to find something that I didn't have access to anywhere we've lived before.  Something that might make here slightly more appealing.  I tried swimming...  Fail.  I tried adult gymnastics - actually found one, but I really didn't love their coms, and couldn't get any concept of their program, and the only timeslot was 8-9 on Sat nights and it was a 14-week commitment.  So overall, I was less inclined.  Then I looked up the indoor skydiving, which C and I did in Niagara once.  I recall it being fun and a reasonable workout.   Yeah no - they are strictly for tourists.  Zero reasonable packages or groups for people actually wanting to learn or do on any regular schedule.  Sad.

And then I remembered Arial Silks.   I've tried this twice before (I just looked it up - in 2010 and 2012 if you want to see what I'm talking about), both times in Toronto and both times when I was uber fit.  Lol but I enjoyed it, so maybe?   So I googled and sure enough, there's a school in Niagara Falls.   At the time their website said they had adult classes, but had no classes listed, so I was afraid they might've been a victim of COVID.  But when I checked back a couple weeks later there were classes!  Woohoo!  And the website *really* wasn't working well but eventually I got signed up.  7 weeks on Wed nights.   Starting today.

This is on the home page of the school I signed up with.
We learned this move today.  Suffice to say, it did not look like this!

So there were eight of us in the class.  It is definitely an all-levels class 😂  One was far and away better than any of the rest, with two others being what I'm going to class as strong intermediate (how do I know what levels are for this stuff?!?!  Expert-chicky was doing super-impressive falling from the ceiling in the most graceful manner and stopping inches above the ground.  The other two were starting the spinning and dropping and impressive in their own right, just clearly not *quite* the same level).  Myself and two others were complete beginners, and the last two I'd say somewhere inbetween us and the int crew?  I get the impression they had done lessons before but several years ago.  So brushing off rust.

Warmup involved a series of back summersaults (on the silks of course!) and hanging upside down.  lol so let's just dive right in!  Us beginner crew had a knot tied in our silks, so this was not at all hard, just made me slightly dizzy!  But the others were doing it with no knot - thus nothing to flip over and needing to hold themselves up.  We then abandoned the silks to do some stretching and such.   All but one other person are vastly more flexible than I.  One of the other beginners is a gymnast.  I suspect 3/4 of the class are either gymnasts or dancers.  That grace and flexibility doesn't exist in adults who haven't had many years of training.

Then was on to learning stuff.  Our instructor set the people who knew what they were doing to practicing stuff and then came to us.  The first step was learning how to tie a knot around our foot, and then to climb. She acknowledged this is one of the more difficult ways to climb, but the knot around the foot is a base skill required for a lot of others, so she wanted us to practice it.  I really struggled to climb this way, but got reasonably confident with the knot at least.  

This is how you do the knot according to Wiki How
The fun part is doing it around the second foot, while in the air...

Then we did some weird twisty thing which I actually got?!?!  lol I'm still not sure how that worked but okay!  It requires a fair amount of back flexibility though, so while I could do 1 twisty-thing (I'm sure it has a real name but I'm equally sure I don't know what it is) the second one hurt, and there was no way I had the flexibility for the third (they're cumulative).   Getting untangled from that - esp the first time, was a whole lot less than graceful and left me laughing.     

This is the end result of the weird twisty thing at the level I did it;
Each time you repeat it, the back arch becomes more significant (see above pic).

Then the next one.  Oh dear god.  It started with put both your feet in their knots - okay, that's a skill in itself - one is doable, but the 2nd one is a bit of a challenge.   Then just go into the splits, then...   Well suffice to say this is when we learned I'm far too sarcastic for this group 😂   Oops.   I had to tell the coach not to be concerned or take me seriously ;-P   But I also had to tell her there was zero possibility of me doing the splits successfully.  Ummm that is something I couldn't even do as a child.   So coach told me I could still do it it'd just be harder, the higher up I was and might restrict how many iterations (again, cumulative).  Sure.  lol I did manage what she was asking...?  Sort of ;)   But only one step worth and I'm pretty sure you need two just to start most of the moves *sigh*.   We'll see ;)   

Yeah no.

So we did a bunch of practicing of these new skills, in-between watching the brilliance going on on the other side of the room.  I'm surprised by how much my fingers hurt!  We were warned we might feel like we have horrible arthritis for the next few days.  Also the foot with the knot around it is the opposite of comfortable, and I'm sporting a lovely rope burn that I'm still not entirely sure how I  earned it (it had to be in the twisty-thing cause that was the only time my rope went behind my arm, but still).  And of course pure core and upper body to haul yourself up.  So yeah - might be feeling it tomorrow.  Apparently your feet get used to being squished pretty quickly, and C has grips to strengthen, well, grip, so I'll borrow those ;)

We finished by tying most of the silks out of the way and turning two sets into trapezes (I definitely double checked that plural with Google ;)).  Theory was and jump super high a couple times (with a back arch on then back swing) and then just flip yourself over.  lol now the flippy flippy moves were the ones I did best on earlier (turns out I like being upsidedown - not something that was ever applicable in riding!) and of course this *looked* super-easy when all the others did it...  Yeah, not so much.  I *could* at least get a good swing and rhythm going - which was more than the other beginners, so I'm deeming that a win, but there was *zero* chance I could get my legs anywhere over my head :(    I honestly thought laws of physics would've made it easier with the motion, but, well, physics has never been my friend ;-P   Anyways - I was also exhausted by that point so I admittedly didn't try that many times.   I'm sure there will be other opportunities.

Biggest downside is that evening activities for me mean I won't sleep.  I come home wired and am up for hours.  Oh well - this week a blog post, maybe next week I'll be productive and put effort into my paper.

Running away to join the circus

(stolen from GRS blog :)

Today some of the more adventurous GRS riders tried out a new form of cross-training:  circus school!

Yes, I'm serious.

Arguably not the best thing to do the day after stacking 400+ bales of hay, but still So. Much. Fun!

Today's participants included:  

Aileen,

Bev,

Brena,

Chelsea,

Demi,

Kerri,

Emily,

Kirby,

Katlyn,

Lauren,

Mieke,

and Rowan.

There will be photos.  Lots of photos.  Some here and tons on FB.  Just waiting till I get the the ones from other cameras so I can pick and choose the best.  So far many of the ones I've seen have been blurry (the lighting was tricky and for some reason people really weren't staying very still!) BUT in every one the subject is smiling.  Definitely a good sign.

I also have to say - rotating photos so they're the right way around when half the time the people are *supposed* to be upside-down...?  Tricky.  And the photos in this particular blog are of the unedited-unphotoshopped-just-want-to-publish-and-go-to-bed variety...  hahaha they may or may not (realistically likely not :) get updated at a future time.

Ok so last time I did this (ummmm should I admit there was a last time?) we did a very gentle series of stretches and then were slowly introduced to the silks.  Got tons of time to play on them as we had several sets going at once, but was very low key.  This time?  Yeah not so much.  We started with jumping jacks and push-ups and a roll-over thing that made people look a little like fish out of water (and some of us couldn't steer so there was a bit of crashing into each other too -- just not pretty, trust me).  *Then* stretching -- but not nice easy stretching, no...  Cruel and unusual stretching up to and including the splits (Kirby won that one :)

But *finally* we got to play!   We started with the trapeze.  Somehow I got volunteered to go first -- I think I have Kerri to thank for that, but she was rapidly seconded by a whole bunch of people.  Sheesh.

So the last time I sat on a trapeze I was about 12.  Oh dear.  But still just as much fun as I remembered.  Step one was getting on.  Tip backwards and bring your knees up, rotate over your head so they're in pike position, then straighten them back up and hook them over the bar.

Emily with her knees up, ready for the next step!

Personally, I found getting my knees up over the bar was np, but that pike position -- wow was that trapeze ever wavering all over the place with my arms shaking!

Mieke demonstrating the pike :)

But yes, once on the first task was to hang upside down.  Did I mention this was the FIRST task.  So much for starting out simple!  hahaha but *everybody* did it!  Wooohoo!!!

Brena showing off the upside-down hang

Ok so then still on the trapeze, we did a sideways hang which was actually both fun AND easy -- a not entirely common combination we rapidly discovered *g*  The hardest part of this move was the ab strength required to get back out of it.  Yeah sitting trot.  This was where we started to notice that some people have a natural grace.  Alas, I am not one of those people.  *sigh*

The first step was to sit on the trapeze:

Aileen up on the trapeze

 And then to tip sideways and hang off of it with kind of a queen-wave thing going:

Kerri 's princess wave

You gotta admit - you're never going to see the queen waving quite the same way again :)

So about this point we left the trapeze to try the silks.   Step one was to climb!  Some found this easier than others.  A few lessons learned...  1: wrap the silk around your foot and step on it.  Those that didn't quite get that part really didn't get far off the ground.  2: Long pants and/or socks make life significantly more challenging.  And 3: once you DO get off the ground, Don't. Look. Down.  

Katlyn breaking rule 3!

The next step required no actual skill but far more bravery.  hahaha our instructor tied a knot in the silks making a swing of sorts, and as with the trapeze -- step one was to hang upside-down.  Sheesh >;-P

Demi is WAY too flexible -- actually managed to make this look graceful!

Following that entertainment was a combination of skill and strength leading to...  ummm I guess I'll call it a swan, but really?  I don't know what we were doing *g*   Kirby was definitely by FAR the most graceful of us here, but sadly I did not get a decent photo of it (maybe when the rest come in :)   However, everybody managed to pull this one off reasonably well!

Chelsea being a swan

After the swan we had our most complex maneuver of the day -- always good when your muscles are starting to fatigue.  At least we got to practice this one sitting down first!   You have to basically use one foot to tie a knot around the other one.  Sounds tricky enough like that -- even more when you realize you have to do this while holding yourself up in the air!

Kirby wasn't alone with getting the "a little sloppy" comment about the knot - but @ least she got it done!

Then AFTER you managed to get the knot tied, you could try one of a few movements -- most of us opted for this star type pose.  Rowan definitely pulled it off the best!

Rowan's Star

 After that, we were all a little beat...

So we watched our coach show off (at our request) for the last few minutes.  And honestly, that was just as if not more entertaining than the rest of the day!  He did rope and hoop -- and thanks to Bev, we have video of some of the rope :)





But all in all, an awesome day!  As I said at the beginning: So. Much. Fun!  Not sure what the *next* outing may be, but with these girls involved, I'm already looking forward to whatever it is!

hmmmm ok so I def just saw a few of Katlyn's mum's photos - and they are amazing.  But it's bedtime >;-P So they'll go up in the fb album instead!

Running away to join the circus

So I rescheduled my lessons tonight, and when I explained to my students why they were all amused enough to be kewl with it. Why? Well I went to circus school. Seriously! One of those "well why not?" moments :) Went to learn "aerial silks" at the Centre of Gravity (which has a coffee shop next to it called Sideshow hahaha made me laugh anyways :) Think Cirque du Soleil with long curtains hanging from the ceiling. So after stretching on the ground, we did some strength/familiarity exercises with the silks. The first was to simply reach up, wrap one around each arm, hang and lift your knees to your chest 10 times. The interesting discovery here was just how stretchy the silks are! Not like holding on to a rope, when you put all your weight on these they stretch and you sink! Good to know :) This was followed by lying on the ground and lift yourself up to your feet hand over hand on the silk -- and then back down again. Then the fun stuff began. Lesson one? How to climb! Wrap the silk outside-in (for the horsepeople out there - think opposite of how you'd wrap a polo :) around once and then on the second time around drape it over your foot. Then put your other foot on top, holding it in place; reach up as high as possible; pull your knees up, let the silks slide through your feet (keeping them wrapped the same way) then when there's no slack, stand up. Rinse and repeat! hahaha took me a minute or two to get the hang of it and then I was fast. It was a really kewl feeling. And it seemed to work that way for the others -- either they got it and were really good at it quickly, or they never got more than about a foot off the ground. So next was some balance and coordination exercises. Somehow I ended up being first for everything. Somehow I always end up being first. hahaha with riding I'm ok with it, but here I had no more idea than anybody else what was going on. Sheesh. So holding the two silks together, Coach Emily tied a knot in them, making a swing of sorts. Step one? Get ON the swing! hahaha you basically hold one side of it, then kick both your legs up as high as possible and loop one of them through the silks. Fortunately for me this is not far off how one gets on a horse :) Slight advantage there. So getting in the swing was no problem, then it was stand up on one foot and hold your hands out to the side. Still no problem. Basic balance there :) Made for kind of a fun pic though *g* I have to admit it was sort of interesting watching the others do this. All but one managed it, but there were definite degrees of . The one couldn't manage to get ON the swing, so our coach made a much lower knot so she could step onto it :) After that she was ok. So then the fun and games -- sit on the swing, slide off the swing and flip over backwards. Then let go. ummmm I'm sorry, what??? Personally I liked "It seems counter-intuitive, but the farther back you go, the easier it is" uh huh, but how do I *get* to that point w/o dying? hmmmm Kinda like telling the horse that's bucking to go forward when all you really want to do is stop *g* And sure enough... And then apply core body strength, flip around so you're hanging from your shoulders... Now admittedly they were the two easiest things we did. But the first one required pretty serious guts for that first moment. hahaha So we went from the easiest to one of the hardest. And this one was NOT worth the effort it took cause it didn't look all that impressive. hahaha difficult things should at least look kewl! This was a star -- so stand on the swing, spread your feet aside, push the silks away from you with your arms. No problem. Except that you're on two ropes tied at the top and the bottom, so the wider you spread them, the shakier it gets. My balance and core strength is reasonable, but I was shaking trying to hold that one! After that, Emily took pity on me and told me to hold much higher, this puts the silks closer together and is significantly easier to hold. Watching the others do this after, I was sort of bemused to discover most of the people couldn't move their feet apart. That part was a non-issue for me. So once we finished the star, we moved to the reverse star. This one was really easy to hold, but tricky to get into. Slide your feet back together, then you have to take one out and wrap it around the outside of the rope -- so you're no longer actually standing with that foot on anything. No problem -- except then you have to do the same with the other foot! So until you get the other foot organized, you have to be able to hold yourself up. Once there though, it was just a matter of slip both arms through in front of the silks and good to go. No strength of balance to maintain this one, but only a couple of us actually managed to get there. Next we had to learn a new skill. Starting on the ground. Take the silks together and wrap them around your leg and foot the same way as to climb (remember WAAAYYYY back to the beginning :) Then you pull down some slack from the top and loop it under your foot (so in essence there's a figure 8 around your foot). Ok. Took me a minute but I figured it out. No problem. Except yeah, you have to do it w/o using your hands *sigh* Ok, still possible. Except yeah, you have to do it in the air. I'm sorry, what? Think this one through -- so far, we've learned to wrap the silk around one foot and hold it in place with the other one to climb. Ok so they said climb up about two jumps (3-4') and then work the knot. But as soon as you move the foot holding the silk in place, you're suspended entirely by your arms -- so how do you get the slack in the silk to wrap the second half of the 8? So basically you jump yourself up the silk so you're in the right place, then you lean way back so that your body makes an L with your legs out in front of you as though you were sitting on the ground, and your body straight up, hanging on to the silks from your arms and using serious ab muscles to hold this position (so the silk makes the angle of a triangle. Ascii art version: L\ THEN let go with the un-tied foot, push it against the now angled silk to create some slack and use that foot to tie the rest of the 8. Then use whatever arm and ab strength you've got left to stand yourself up. Uh huh. Sure. 1st try! hahaha I was pretty proud of that. Esp when only one other person got it at all *g* But I worked for it. And while I'm at it? The reminder to make sure the bottom of the 8 goes across the ball of your foot. hahaha had a good laugh at that -- as if after decades of riding I'd put it anywhere else *g* As if I had that much control at all! I was just thrilled I accomplished something that vaguely resembled what was supposed to happen. So then we moved on. Emily showed everybody how to fake the knot so we could do the next step "except you," she says looking at me, "you should do it properly." Oh gee, thanks. On the one hand, the next couple times were easier because I knew how the logistics work, on the other, by this point my body was starting to object, so I couldn't hold anything very long! Now once you have your knot and are standing on it, bend the other knee up, holding the silk inbetween the leg and the hip, then tip sideways. Seriously. So you're lying parallel to the floor. Hold the bent knee with your lower hand (in my case right knee with left hand) and then let go of the rope. hahaha have to admit this one took me two tries. First time I couldn't get my balance right well enough to let go. Second time everything just felt right and I could've hung out there for a while :) I was pretty proud of that one too! After that there was only one move left to learn (no pics of that one). The scissors. This is not something I'm going to be able to explain well, but if you know how to do scissors in valuting it's essentially the same thing only instead of your legs going behind you over the horse, they go sideways and as you twist, you grab the silks in the process so you end up able to hang. It must've taken me at least ten tries to get this and even then it was so loose I only ended up about 6" off the ground! hahaha One other girl got it much better than I did. Nobody else even came anywhere close. Nobody was taking pics of that one, but for the curious youtube saves the day: So yeah, circus school was an absolute blast. Didn't laugh *quite* as hard as I did the day N and I were on the trampoline (another circus act? hmmmm should I be concerned) but I was much better at this one *g* Perhaps if the riding thing doesn't work out? >;-P I suspect I'm going to be some sore tomorrow...