Happy President’s Day! Did you have today off work? I did! Thank goodness because I have to pack. And I’m not getting anywhere. At all. But I did manage to take this picture. I took it from across the street at Rolling Oats. I had to forcibly remove myself from the premises to avoid buying more groceries. I have a problem.
Workout
My mom finally dragged me to her pilates class after raving about it forever. I am always so intimidated by new fitness classes. Not sure what that’s all about because I love fitness and love to learn new techniques and moves. Of course once I got past the initial trepidation, I loved pilates! The instructor was so helpful and made me feel very comfortable. The most difficult part of the class was learning how to use the pilates machine called the “reformer”. The reformer looks like some sort of torture device with straps, ropes, springs, bars, and countless other questionable parts. With the instructor’s help and by watching others, I got the hang of it. I am strong from lifting weights but really felt these moves work my body in different ways. Pilates really emphasizes your core while using small controlled movements of your extremities. It burns. In a good way.
I can’t wait to go back.
After pilates I did quick intervals with the jump rope before chorus. 5 rounds of 30 seconds quick high knees and 45 seconds easy jumping recovery. Quick and dirty.
Chorus has been putting me in a really bad mood lately. I don’t know what it is but it has been making me very unhappy. I dread each rehearsal, am miserable when I am there, and basically run out the door when it is done. I need to reassess the value Chorus has for me.
Singing makes me happy but certain group singing does not. In college I hated choir but loved my all-girls a cappella group. I definitely enjoyed singing with girls my age, doing fun songs I knew, but hated singing with older people. Older singers are very set in their ways, give unnecessary comments way too frequently, and are not very good. Of course there are amazing older singers, no doubt about that. But from my experience, your voice quality decreases as you age, not to mention hearing loss prevents you from properly blending with the group.
I think that is what bothers me the most. When people can’t blend in a choir. It drives me nuts. Maybe I hear too well. I should probably sustain some more hearing damage. I’ll turn the ipod on full blast like the rest of my generation.
Anyways. Rant over. Packing stresses me out. It’s crunch time. Please be good to me Tuesday!
Kirsten Captures 
My friend here in Orlando is a pilates instructor, and I first used the reformer machine with her. It’s so intimidating but definitely fun!
I agree, very fun but pretty crazy! Strangely my neck is the only part of my body that is sore. It’s hard to relax your neck and shoulders against the pads while your legs are in the air flailing against straps hahaha.
I am such a fan of pilates. It can be used as a great tool for rehabilitation because it isolates areas of the body so well, & then can teach you how to bring it all together. I have handful of pilates (mat) exercises I used to give clients as homework. Glad you enjoyed it! and please don’t blow out your eardrums just to avoid hearing those :cough: not-so-talented singers. I think it’s really neat you are in a choir, but if you don’t love it…
Oh pilates must be fantastic for rehab. It seems like it would really help with proprioception. Thanks for the choral advice! Why is it so challenging to stop doing things that make us unhappy?