Broke my record - do I have my routine to thank?

I've never ran 2.5 miles straight in my life.

Until Thursday. YEAH! Beat my record - was wanting to go for three miles, but I listened to my body and stopped at 2.5. You can't go for 2 miles until you run 1. Some people think going the same place every day for almost 8 hours sounds like hell. I feel like work IS often an escape into a story because of what I do while in my chair at that cubicle. My mind is so stimulated to try to properly tell some one's story. BUT my physical body - excepting my right index finger (CEO of mouse control) and my left thumb and index finger (each VP of Special Final Cut Keyboard Commands) - is very much at rest.

So, I decided to do something about that - join the wonderful gym at work. I've been going to yoga classes - and I almost never miss Boot Camp and Total Body Conditioning. I've also been running. It relieves so much stress and it's something I look forward to - pushing my body past the mental limits I set for it. It provides me with so much satisfaction and pride when I complete the goal I set.

In college, I never made time for this sort of thing. I definitely went to the gym and worked out a few times every couple months - but I could never do it consistently because of my schedule. I'm sure I could have fit it in if I cared about it more. It's a struggle for someone to go from not knowing what they'll be doing during their day throughout most of college (except the one fundamental: CLASS) to having a weekly and daily routine. It took me a while to get used to it - and to realize how much fun I can pack into my week - even with a 40-hour work week.

I think, for me, my routine has allowed me to become a person who is committed to fitness. I am three floors above the space where I recognize the moments when my body breaks its own records. In college, by virtue of the fact that I was juggling so many responsibilities (residents as an R.A., shooting video for school, workin' a side job to pay the bills), desires (coffee with a friend, quality time with Dusty, singing at the big bang piano bar - uh, well, that might be a need), and needs (laundry, grocery shopping) - I rarely did any of these things regularly. I had no set aside times to be at work, at play, (and at errand?).

This routine has actually given me a lot of order in my life - and everything else seems to fall into place - my responsibilities are met, my desires are satisfied, and my needs - mentally and physically - are provided for. It's much less intensive than juggling! I think my mind and body and yeah, maybe even soul, are benefitting from it. Take that, corporate haters :)

Is there anything good that you think has come out of your routine?

Reading is great - it cracks open the world to me

I am really gelin' (a la Dr. Scholl's)

with the theme of this blog. Lovely life after college. Reading to my heart's content because I have more free time with my down time (what I mean by this is that I have no homework, club responsibilities, etc. keeping me from doing things for pleasure). Reading for pleasure brought me to the article I want to share with you here: Smart, Young, and Broke
White-collar workers are China’s newest underclass.

Like I wrote in the title of this article, reading cracks open the world to me. It's a heartbreaking read, but a great one. As much as we complain about working 40 hours a week (or like this past week I worked about 50...), and having to work our way up the totem pole, and not having enough money for our must-buy items - in America, people who have a skill above physical labor are not "ants." Life after college is not without trial, but at least the hard work we put in for college is paid back to us. We can spend money and time on our friends' life-changing celebrations (like the bridal shower and bachelorette party I went to this weekend for my best friend since second grade!) The uncertainty, worry, and poor living conditions these young people are facing is just terrible. It is sheerly incredible to think of the variety of life experiences in the world we live in--and after I read the article, I thought that this would be a good thing to post to my blog, given my focus. As a reminder, but more than that as a powerful story about the people who belong to this community that I choose to blog about, and surely as a community of people I feel I belong to, even though they live halfway around the world, and I am sure I cannot properly understand their difficulties. Read and maybe you will feel what I feel to -- and that's what I love about reading and especially learning about real people - I feel so much closer to the world around me.

First time I understood Shakespeare!

First day of classes at ASU is Thursday. I won't be going :)! One thing I remember about going to plays in college - if they were high-brow, I fell asleep. Operas (especially those in a different language), plays with dialogue I couldn't understand, etc. - I just flat out slept. And I had spent about only 7 dollars (you best believe I busted out the student ID) - and I wanted to consider myself cultured, so I went. Here is one I remember specifically mostly sleeping through - Ariadne auf Naxos I have to attest that this wasn't that the performances weren't worth my attention - it was just that I was too scatter-brained, busy, and overworked--and in the dark theatre, leaning back and fading out was a lot easier. I don't know if "thrilling" is really how you could describe the guy who wrote the play - here is the picture from the Wiki article:

Which is another good reason to go to a play that the Washington Post gives 5 stars - which I did tonight. Also tonight, I am raising a Mike's Hard Lemonade to the fact that I watched Macbeth a few short hours ago (in a theater that I can walk to!) and was enthralled, moved - and best of all, understood it completely. Mike's Hard Lemonade must be consumed, because my darling boyfriend bought two 12-packs while in the Poconos this weekend from a distributor -- and the group we were with was too wiped from white water rafting earlier to actually drink them. I wasn't - because of my stitches I didn't go but had a wonderfully relaxing day doing pretty much nothing but watching two episodes of The Nanny, The Lion King (SO GOOD), and then playing Disney Trivia with the brother of my sister-in-law, Eric, who I just adore. We had a great weekend.

Okay, so, Macbeth. I know Shakespeare created many new words - does anyone know if he created cut-throat?

First Murderer

My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him.

MACBETH

Thou art the best o' the cut-throats

I remember having to read Shakespeare in high school and hating it -- Everyone who is forced to read Shakespeare should get the pleasure of seeing it as it was meant to be seen--because it truly FINALLY makes sense. The characters the "immortal bard" wrote about sounded just like his nickname - haughty, pretentious, self-important--even cheesy--when I simply read the words they spoke. But tonight, I saw people perform them with a vast array of emotions exploding out of them on the stage - fear, anger, tearfulness, depression, malice, lust. The best was when I realized later that what was being said rhymed. What they were saying seemed so natural! The performance distracted me from the cheesiness of rhyme that I was so blatantly aware of when I read it. The actor tonight who said the words below was so creepy, I didn't catch the rhyme until later:

First Apparition

Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff;
Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.

The actor who said those words was shirtless, skinny, yet extremely muscular. Watching him twist his muscles as he struggled to speak his prophecy was so compelling!

Shakespeare has occasional stage directions, but not many. It keeps things so open for every acting company who performs it. I loved this version by the Push/Pull Theater Company. They used capoeira for all the fighting scenes which are so much more engaging and truly physical than all other stage fighting I've ever seen. It made it look so much less fake (!) and way more theatrical - and you know as a gleek that I love theatricality.
One such stage direction that could have helped me while reading would be a simple (TO MACBETH) direction when Lady Macbeth is asking Macbeth to, frankly, keep his $*#% together after killing the king and ordering a servant to kill his friend. It looks like she is talking to the guests only - but in the performance I just watched - she has such disgust, vileness, and hatred when she spits out the last part in his face, away from the table - Are you a man?! Such a 180 from the way she is placating and reassuring the guests! You just can't read that sort of passion - which is why I would hope more high school students get the experience of seeing just how radically opposite of "haughty, cheesy, and self-important" these characters get. Lady Macbeth showed her true evil colors all over the place!

ROSS

Gentlemen, rise: his highness is not well.

LADY MACBETH

Sit, worthy friends: my lord is often thus,
And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat;
The fit is momentary; upon a thought
He will again be well: if much you note him,
You shall offend him and extend his passion:
Feed, and regard him not. Are you a man?

I also loved the way the cast was dressed - everyone barefoot, with modern hairstyles, and simple clothing. I liked that the production was largely bereft of props and over-the-top costumes. I loved the witches' costumes - the closest thing to theatricality beyond the performers' actions - their extended black arms that had sweeping long black fabric worked wonderfully for their characters. - Here you can see Lady Macbeth's hateful and fearful looks at her husband, the Weird Sisters and their cool costumes, the simple clothing the cast wore, and at least one capoiera move immediately before a dagger is plunged deep into Macbeth's heart.

So, speaking of the Wierd Sisters, I love how I caught a few things in the play that took me straight to my most favorite of stories - Harry Potter. Obviously, the fantastic "Something Wicked This Way Comes" track that is easily my favorite song in the films. I can't lie - I got a little giddy when they said it - referencing the murderous maniac Macbeth. Nice alliteration, eh, Shakespeare?

I also couldn't help but connect the Wierd Sisters with these rockers:


My final thoughts on this fun performance are another nod to the idea that people should really see the performance if they're going to read the play - especially high school students. Take these next few lines, which I consider the best of the whole play:

Macbeth:
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

This is said after he learns of Lady Macbeth's death. When reading it, I took the emotion to be detachment, carelessness, a way of showing that he is superior to the common, living people -- and I really hated him for it! In this play, tonight, I grew attached to Macbeth from the beginning -- and stayed with him throughout the play. David Winkler is fantastic, (he plays Macbeth) and I am THRILLED to learn that he is a founding artistic associate of the theater that is only a half mile from where I live! And as a blog that celebrates life soon after graduation, Winkler recently graduated from Northwestern University (at least that's what it says in his bio). In this play, the way he lets the three "tomorrow"s be pulled out of his mouth and fall to the floor--each with a deep thud is just magic. He is so anguished - and my favorite part of this moment is the way Winkler says the last word, "nothing." It came out of him with a guttural rage!

Shakespeare always lacked context to me when I read it and had me flipping open a Sparksnotes book (or more often reading the explanation online). The amazing thing about the play tonight was that the players' actions were the context. That, I think, is acting at it's best - when something is nearly in a foreign language but the touches, gestures, tone of voice, facial expressions and pure emotion--I was shocked at one moment to see Lady Macbeth, listening to her enemies in the corner, have tears all over her face--provide all the clues the audience would need. I wish all students of Shakespeare could have what I have tonight.

I also want to say again how wonderful it was to not be so overworked that I could actually immerse myself in a cultural event that had me concentrating on each moment of the artists' expression--largely trying to catch the Harry Potter references, words made up by Shakespeare, and ways I could further piss off my high school English teachers. The event was deeply satisfying and was another thing I had to blog about because there are many joys about life on the other side of graduation.