Wednesday, April 20, 2005
ck...ugh...ehhhh....so sick...can't...make it...to school....
so yeah, this whole work, more work, and then 4 hours of school on wednesday's has got to go. but, summer is just around the corner when i'll have nothing scheduled except for nice long midday siestas and a beautiful august trip somewhere with my special lady friend...
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so yeah, this whole work, more work, and then 4 hours of school on wednesday's has got to go. but, summer is just around the corner when i'll have nothing scheduled except for nice long midday siestas and a beautiful august trip somewhere with my special lady friend...
Monday, April 18, 2005
hacking
Wandering into the park yesterday as John was headed to work. About 2:30 in the afternoon and it must have been 74 degrees and sunny. Perfect weather. I walked around the lake and onto the peninsula I've come to enjoy so much. Threw down my bag and water and was hacking for no more than 10 minutes when a guy came up and joined me. We hacked together for a bit and he went back to his family. 10 minutes later he was back. Within 5 minutes we had drawn a third to our group and 5 minutes after that, a fourth! Further, both the third and fourth guys had their own hacks with them. They had commented how they've been looking for circles for years, but Prospect Park has not had the same people attracted to hacking as Central Park does. There'll be frisbee and soccer and baseball, but no hacky-sack. So, we all agreed to carry our hacky-sacks with us at all times so should we run into each other again in the park we'll be kicking it immediately. So much fun! I haven't had a four person hack circle in a long time, and now I'm getting better, so it makes it all the more fun.
And, it was a gorgeous day as well.
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And, it was a gorgeous day as well.
Sunday, April 10, 2005
A day in the Park
Or rather, a day in Kensington Gardens. It was a warm, mostly sunny Sunday afternoon--so the Gardens were more packed than I've ever seen them. Dogs, Humans, squirrels, hoardes of pigeons; all engaged in spring time activites: walking, jogging, running, biking, rollerblading, old school roller skating (!), kissing, eating, chatting, playing football, frisbee, sketching, sitting, and.............
Now comes the inspiration for this blog---the street dancers (break dancers? pop'n'lockers?). They weren't an organized troupe or anything, not like a group you'd see in Washington Square Park, with set routines, crowd tricks, hats passed round for death-defying stunts....these were kids, teens to early 20's doing some practising, some learning, a lot of lounging, one tiny boombox alternating between Gwen Stefani, Nat King Cole, and the latest cheesy pop number one hit.
I sat myself on the edge of a large, multi-pooled fountain to watch. They werent' putting on a show, it was a group of friends, acquaintances playing around, matching move for move, and je-SUS could they move! The guys make it look so easy--doing back flips, front flips, levitating from the ground to be supported by seemingly spindly wrists. The guy to girl ratio was about 2:1 but the few girls who were there, they were what made me sit transfixed for nearly 2 hours. The girls definitely were not as quick, as explosive as the guys. Their center of gravity, being much lower than the guys, necessitated a lot more effort to swing their bodies around, shifting weight, holding positions. But doing it, they looked smoothe as silk, it was beautiful, seeing those curves arcing thru the air. And the best girl there definitely had curves--you could tell she had a thick, solid body and she used the momentum of that supple body to swing her into handstands, leg holds---momentum that was, of course, backed up by amazing upper-body strength.
Tried a few moves myself back in the safety of my own fenced in back-yard. I can feel the beginnings of the momentum necessary to swirl and vault and balance---but I have no where near the upper-body and abdominal strength that I'd like. Still, I spent over an hour out there, tumbling in the fresh spring grass, my body sometimes whirling in sky, sometimes hugged to the earth. Happy exhaustion. My legs and arms were pleasantly shaking as I trudged back inside, feeling breathy and revitalized as I haven't felt all week.
More handstands later this week...
PS--- Did you know that before the book 'Peter Pan and Wendy,' J.M. Barrie wrote 'Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens'??
Now comes the inspiration for this blog---the street dancers (break dancers? pop'n'lockers?). They weren't an organized troupe or anything, not like a group you'd see in Washington Square Park, with set routines, crowd tricks, hats passed round for death-defying stunts....these were kids, teens to early 20's doing some practising, some learning, a lot of lounging, one tiny boombox alternating between Gwen Stefani, Nat King Cole, and the latest cheesy pop number one hit.
I sat myself on the edge of a large, multi-pooled fountain to watch. They werent' putting on a show, it was a group of friends, acquaintances playing around, matching move for move, and je-SUS could they move! The guys make it look so easy--doing back flips, front flips, levitating from the ground to be supported by seemingly spindly wrists. The guy to girl ratio was about 2:1 but the few girls who were there, they were what made me sit transfixed for nearly 2 hours. The girls definitely were not as quick, as explosive as the guys. Their center of gravity, being much lower than the guys, necessitated a lot more effort to swing their bodies around, shifting weight, holding positions. But doing it, they looked smoothe as silk, it was beautiful, seeing those curves arcing thru the air. And the best girl there definitely had curves--you could tell she had a thick, solid body and she used the momentum of that supple body to swing her into handstands, leg holds---momentum that was, of course, backed up by amazing upper-body strength.
Tried a few moves myself back in the safety of my own fenced in back-yard. I can feel the beginnings of the momentum necessary to swirl and vault and balance---but I have no where near the upper-body and abdominal strength that I'd like. Still, I spent over an hour out there, tumbling in the fresh spring grass, my body sometimes whirling in sky, sometimes hugged to the earth. Happy exhaustion. My legs and arms were pleasantly shaking as I trudged back inside, feeling breathy and revitalized as I haven't felt all week.
More handstands later this week...
PS--- Did you know that before the book 'Peter Pan and Wendy,' J.M. Barrie wrote 'Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens'??
