Yoga! And theatre. And iktsuarpok.
Mar. 6th, 2014 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missroseroseA week or so after getting back from Anchorage, when I was sure I could feel my rib cage collapsing in on itself again, I went and signed up for my free week at CorePower Yoga. I went to their evening mid-level class two days in a row, felt great, was on the verge of making a couple of yoga buddies, and promptly fell ill with a nasty cold that pretty well took me out of the running for a week-plus. This morning I went back, gave them my Groupon, and asked sweetly if I could maybe have a few days extra since I enjoyed my first week so much but couldn't use most of it. He gave me an extra free week on top of my Groupon. So that was pretty awesome.
I'm of slightly mixed feelings about the studio itself. It's a convenient location (a mile away, easily walkable or right on the Broadway bus route), and it's nice enough - well-appointed, if a little blandly-corporate feeling in its decor. Actually, "corporate feeling" wouldn't be a bad description on several levels - in decor, in the teachers' uniforms/teaching styles, in the "no talking in studios" rule, in the way they nickel and dime you on everything (which I wouldn't normally really mind, but, seriously? $150 a month for membership and then you're going to charge me $2 to borrow a mat or for a bottle of water?). None of it feels super-friendly or personalized. Which is fine, I wasn't really expecting that - one of their big selling points is that your membership is good anywhere they have a studio, so it makes sense that they'd want to keep the experience consistent.
That said, the experience is pretty darn cool. I've only been to the mid-level class a few times now, but I like it a lot - it's enough of a challenge to feel like I'm really making an effort (especially in upper-arm strength), but not so much as to be frustrating. And I'm rapidly discovering that, while I don't seem to be someone who gets runner's high (or, not being much of a runner, maybe I've just never pushed myself long enough to get there), I totally get power-yoga high. I kind of dig the heated (90 degree) room, although I'm not super-eager to try their advanced class because it's even warmer and I think that might be past my heat tolerance. Plus it seems like it's just asking for an overextension injury.
Once my Groupon (and extra week) are over, I'm not sure if I'll keep going - even if my mother's helping fund it, that's an awful lot for membership - and, at the moment, I'm just not mobile enough for the multi-location studio to be advantageous. I think I might look around the neighborhood and see what else is available. I know there's at least one place over on Clark Street, they might have a power-yoga class.
As for other things to do with my time: Seeing my friend Carl in that awesome production of Charley's Aunt has renewed my determination to quit being afraid of theatre and go out and, y'know, do some. I was ruminating over this, and trying to decide where to start, when I happened to notice a billboard at one of the L stations for BoHo Theatre's production of Amadeus. (Which, given how much I love tales about obsession and about the power of art, is totally not one of my all-time favorite stories ever. Ahem.) I looked up some of the reviews, and they were uniformly glowing, so I went ahead and bought tickets. (And then had to promptly exchange them for this Saturday, rather than last, because of the aforementioned cold.) And then, while I was surfing through their website to see what else they'd done, I came across this quote on their "Our Guiding Principles" page:
BoHo Theatre's mission is to create bold theatre that challenges convention through innovative storytelling and unites artist and audience in the examination of truth, beauty, freedom and love through the lens of human relationships.
So...assuming the Chicago critics aren't all taking hits off the same bong and the production is as good as advertised, I suspect I'll be sending them a couple of resumes. They're looking for a volunteer office person, and I just happen to know somebody with a lot of office experience. I'll have to do up a proper photo resume with my acting experience, too.
Meantime, my friend Robs is coming to visit! It was something of a spur-of-the-moment thing - she lost her job and was feeling sort of at loose ends, and I've got another couple days until Brian gets back from his business trip to Indianapolis. So I'm going to dye her hair and take her out on the town and for some awesome food and maybe to Amadeus too if she wants to go (and if they still have tickets). She should be showing up in the next hour or so, and I've got the house all clean, so now it's just a matter of quelling the urge to get up and check out the window every three minutes.
I'm of slightly mixed feelings about the studio itself. It's a convenient location (a mile away, easily walkable or right on the Broadway bus route), and it's nice enough - well-appointed, if a little blandly-corporate feeling in its decor. Actually, "corporate feeling" wouldn't be a bad description on several levels - in decor, in the teachers' uniforms/teaching styles, in the "no talking in studios" rule, in the way they nickel and dime you on everything (which I wouldn't normally really mind, but, seriously? $150 a month for membership and then you're going to charge me $2 to borrow a mat or for a bottle of water?). None of it feels super-friendly or personalized. Which is fine, I wasn't really expecting that - one of their big selling points is that your membership is good anywhere they have a studio, so it makes sense that they'd want to keep the experience consistent.
That said, the experience is pretty darn cool. I've only been to the mid-level class a few times now, but I like it a lot - it's enough of a challenge to feel like I'm really making an effort (especially in upper-arm strength), but not so much as to be frustrating. And I'm rapidly discovering that, while I don't seem to be someone who gets runner's high (or, not being much of a runner, maybe I've just never pushed myself long enough to get there), I totally get power-yoga high. I kind of dig the heated (90 degree) room, although I'm not super-eager to try their advanced class because it's even warmer and I think that might be past my heat tolerance. Plus it seems like it's just asking for an overextension injury.
Once my Groupon (and extra week) are over, I'm not sure if I'll keep going - even if my mother's helping fund it, that's an awful lot for membership - and, at the moment, I'm just not mobile enough for the multi-location studio to be advantageous. I think I might look around the neighborhood and see what else is available. I know there's at least one place over on Clark Street, they might have a power-yoga class.
As for other things to do with my time: Seeing my friend Carl in that awesome production of Charley's Aunt has renewed my determination to quit being afraid of theatre and go out and, y'know, do some. I was ruminating over this, and trying to decide where to start, when I happened to notice a billboard at one of the L stations for BoHo Theatre's production of Amadeus. (Which, given how much I love tales about obsession and about the power of art, is totally not one of my all-time favorite stories ever. Ahem.) I looked up some of the reviews, and they were uniformly glowing, so I went ahead and bought tickets. (And then had to promptly exchange them for this Saturday, rather than last, because of the aforementioned cold.) And then, while I was surfing through their website to see what else they'd done, I came across this quote on their "Our Guiding Principles" page:
BoHo Theatre's mission is to create bold theatre that challenges convention through innovative storytelling and unites artist and audience in the examination of truth, beauty, freedom and love through the lens of human relationships.
So...assuming the Chicago critics aren't all taking hits off the same bong and the production is as good as advertised, I suspect I'll be sending them a couple of resumes. They're looking for a volunteer office person, and I just happen to know somebody with a lot of office experience. I'll have to do up a proper photo resume with my acting experience, too.
Meantime, my friend Robs is coming to visit! It was something of a spur-of-the-moment thing - she lost her job and was feeling sort of at loose ends, and I've got another couple days until Brian gets back from his business trip to Indianapolis. So I'm going to dye her hair and take her out on the town and for some awesome food and maybe to Amadeus too if she wants to go (and if they still have tickets). She should be showing up in the next hour or so, and I've got the house all clean, so now it's just a matter of quelling the urge to get up and check out the window every three minutes.
