rhythm
now that i’ve been in edmonton for a little over a week, i’ve settled into my own little routine. wake up, get ready and then head out to run a few little errands – shop for supplies for shambhala, souveniers or groceries, head over to the internet cafe and check my email, go back to my brother’s little apartment and read or write for a little while, and then either meet up with friends for dinner and an evening out or cook dinner myself and read or wander over to the uni or whyte ave.
every day is filled up with things, whether important or banal, whether i have planned every movement or am just responding to needs and wishes like a dandelion fluff floating on the summer breeze. sometimes i plan important things and can’t get them done because i’ve forgotten that important piece of paper at home, or because circumstances are just not going my way. sometimes i don’t plan anything and simply stumble across something that makes my day, like the poster i saw taped to a pole the other day. when i upload my photos i’ll show you, but for now a description will have to do – on one side of the pole was a copy of Leonard Cohen’s poem S.O.S, bordered by american dollar bills and with a calvin and hobbes comic along the bottom. The other side had a manifesto of love, The World is Ours or something like that, typed out painstakingly on an ancient typewriter, with the mistakes carefully slashed out instead of using wite-out. I thought of a friend who has recently fallen in love with an old typewriter, and is bringing it along to a festival in order to write a renga. If this poster wasn’t his doing, it was surely a kindred spirit.
the crazy whirlwind of thoughts in my head has calmed down considerably. now that i have spent so much time by myself my head has reached a stasis, my whole being settling into a comfortable balanced state. i’ve been to two ashtanga yoga classes, the art edmonton art gallery, to dinner on whyte, drunk in a thunderstorm, i’ve eaten dinner with a two-year old and caught up with old friends while watching sex in the city. the ashtanga was really difficult, and i was sore for two days afterwards. i haven’t felt that incompetent in a yoga class in a really long time, but it was a good challenge and i think i would like to add ashtanga to my regular yoga routine. there’s something about the fixed order, the classical poses, the strict pace and rhythm of execution.
i’m off to shambhala on thursday, so i’ll be away from the internet until at least monday but probably tuesday. dancing under the stars with thousands of canadian hippies – i can’t wait! i’m going to float down the river in the sunshine and look for the perseid meteor shower, dance in the sun and chill out with friends i haven’t seen in ages.
