One Dozen

Ross and I have been married 12 years.  To celebrate our anniversary we went to trapeze class, visited Mayfield Park, and ate some pot roast.  The photo is the best one I took at the park today.  I really want to get a new camera with super-zoom so that I can take really awesome photos.

Yiddish with Dick and Jane and a Rant

So I read Yiddish with Dick and Jane.  It is a modern Dick and Jane with Yiddish words thrown in---and a glossary in the back. I'm Sephardic--which is associated with the endangered language Ladino, which I don't know at all.  My dad speaks German, but not Yiddish. I don't know Yiddish, except for the normal words that everyone knows like tuchas, putz, and nosh.  Yiddish has always fascinated me--there is some movie where Eddie Murphy speaks Yiddish to an old lady and that just blew my mind.  I've just always wanted to speak a dozen languages, and I can barely speak 2.

Anyway, the book is modern and funny, covering topics such as adultery, homosexuals, and pot.  The glossary has funny explanations, not just definitions.  There seem to be a lot of words that describe various states of confusion and sickness.  My two favorite words are nu and shtupping.   Nu means well? so? or are you surprised?  Shtupping means fornicating.  I'll try throwing those two words around more in the future.

Okay, now for my rant.  Pot.  Sally smokes a doobie in the book.  I don't understand why everyone has to or wants to smoke pot.  In so many blockbuster movies there is a scene (or many scenes) where they sit around getting high.  Why does pot have to be everywhere?  I don't know why this irks me so much.  I really don't.  The idea of feeling super hungry but too lazy to get up and eat something is a nightmare.  Speaking of nightmares, I've heard so many nightmare stories about pot brownies.  Nope.  Crossed that off my list.  And I hate the smell of the smoke.  Maybe I'll smoke it when I'm 80 to ease my pain and help me gain weight, and it will be a revelation and I'll regret not spending my whole life as a pot head.  Maybe, but I don't think so.

January Goals

So I'm not exactly making New Year's resolutions this year.  I'm going to try and set goals each month. Goals for January:

1. Wear my retainers every day.  Tejal is doing invisalign, and it really inspired me to start wearing my retainers.  My teeth are killing me, but I'm committing to wear the retainers every day this month.
2. Finish my mom's hooded scarf.  I need to get knitting so that I can give it to her next week.
3. Exercise 3 times a week.  I have a problem with consistency.  I am a binger.  I'll go without exercising for 2 months, then exercise every day for a week then go weeks without exercising again.  I don't really enjoy exercise, but I need to learn to make it part of my (currently non-existent) routine.
4. Read a book.  A real book, not a graphic novel or children's picture book.  I have one checked out from the library right now.  I'm confident I can handle this goal.

That's it for now--that's plenty to deal with. We'll see how I do.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Ross had the days between Christmas and New Year's off, so we went and saw a lot of movies, including The Hobbit.  I'm not sure what I can say about this movie that hasn't already been said.  I saw the animated version a bunch of times as a kid, and I don't really remember it, except for the part where Gollum and Bilbo have their little riddle-off.  I even read the book a couple of times when I was a kid--still, don't remember much about it.

So, what I mean to say is that going into the movie I wasn't a big Tolkien nerd.  I only knew that I was going to see Bilbo and Gollum and Ian McKellen as Gandalf.  I'd seen some clips and the actors on The Colbert Report.

I enjoyed the movie--especially the parts with Gollum.  He was eerie, creepy, and a little scary.  I don't understand quite why/how they turned the shortest Tolkien book into 3 movies, but I'm looking forward to the next one.

Les Misérables

We took Tejal to see Les Misérables on Tuesday.  Back in High School Les Miz was all the rage.  I never got into it---I never even read it.

When I saw a thingy about how this version was filmed live--no lip syncing or dubbing, I really wanted to see it. I like Huge Ackman, so seeing him in a movie is a plus.

I didn't know the story, I didn't know the music.  I hadn't seen any other version.  I was a Le Miz virgin.  I was expecting a musical, but this was more like opera--they sang the whole thing, but not in operatic style.  Hugh Jackman's performance was stellar.  I enjoyed his acting and his singing.  I can even say the same for Russel Crowe and Anne Hathaway, and I'm not a big fan of either one of them.

I did not enjoy the singing of Amanda Seyfried or Eddie Redmayne.  Seyfried sounded forced and wobbly.  Redmayne sounded even more forced and a little operatic.  He kept doing strange things with his mouth that I found distracting.  Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as the comic relief was a little odd, but they did a fine job.

I overall really liked this movie.  I enjoyed the story and the music.  I do think that filming it live made a difference.  I don't think it could have been dubbed with the same emotion--so bravo to director Tom Hooper for taking on such an enormous project.  It was a long movie, but it didn't feel very long.  I highly recommend this movie.

Mini Class Reunion

Ross and I went to trapeze class on the 26th.  It was a 1 hour swing class and I had a little surprise when I arrived: Donovan was there, and so was my IFW classmate Megan!  Megan was in the middle of driving cross-country and decided to stop in for a class (yes, we are that obsessed).  It was like a mini class reunion.

I only worked on my swing, and that's kind of boring, so here is a video of Donvoan attempting a pirouette.  He completes the pirouette, but doesn't catch the return bar.

2012 in Review

The biggest thing to happen this year: the move.  We are living back in Texas and I'm very happy about that--even if I am sleeping on a double bed and depressed about housing prices.

My new obsession: trapeze.  I can't believe that I started flying less than a year ago.  And in 9 months I've been able to take off unassisted and complete a bunch of tricks.  My next two goals--returning to the board and flying out of lines.

Year of the Zoo: We went to 6 zoos I think.  We got to see lots of big cats, and some baby ones too.  Houston was cancelled because of rain. Maybe 2013 will be the 2d year of the zoo.

Obsession: My weight.  I lost weight, I gained weight.  I did yoga hard core, I was lazy.  It has been a roller coaster of a year weight wise.  Right now I'm doing a super low-carb diet.  I'm sick of it even though I've lost inches.  I don't know how my mom did this for months and months.  It always boils down to exercise for me.  Lack of exercise leads to weight gain.  I do better with a high protein diet and regular exercise.  I need to commit to regular exercise.  I'm only doing this low-carb diet thing until January 10th, then I'm going to go back to my 30-40-30 diet yoga, and work out DVDs.  And there is no excuse for not going for a walk.  It is an easy way to burn calories, and instead I just sit here on my ass....

Jobs:  My job at Hopkins changed this year, and I started doing motivational interviewing.  It is a kind of psych therapy.  I finished up with the last of my participants just before I left for California. Unless they come up with something else they would like me to work on, I'm unemployed.  There are some high paying jobs here in Austin that I am qualified for.  They would require lots of travel.  I'm not ready to go back to work.  I would like to find a house first.  I'm considering that my job right now.

Travel: 2012 took us to Denver, California, and New York City.  I'm hoping 2013 will take us on an international trip.

The blog: I've passed over 1000 posts.  I think this is post is 1007. Wow.

2012 wasn't bad, but I hope 2013 is better.