What I've been up to lately.

I am loving yoga and improvisation classes. I'm also playing plenty of board games.

I'm taking improv classes through Monkey Butler, which offer many free classes throughout the week all over Southern California and in some other places too. I'm currently in the level one class in Sherman Oaks. I'd take classes closer to home if they didn't conflict with the LindyGroove Technique Class. I'm also backing up this with the I.O. West Improv Jam, hosted by my buddy Nando Velasquez. The Improv Jam is an opportunity for students to play with IO team performers. They're currently reconsidering their schedule, but at the moment the Jam is scheduled for every Wednesday at 11:30pm.

I'm learning a ton there and really putting in the work that I was never able to do in college. I feel like I'm hitting a lot of breakthroughs, so I'm pretty happy with my progress.

I'm taking yoga at Mission Street Yoga in South Pasadena. At the moment I can only afford the $5 lunchtime yoga classes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. There's a donation class tomorrow afternoon that I'm planning to take and there are FREE classes every Monday through the end of the month at 10:45am. I'm planning to hit those for the next couple of weeks.

Also hitting breakthroughs here too. I may even soon be more comfortable with going upside down. Don't know why that's so huge, but even being close to it is a lot for me. I'm also returning to a point at which I no longer need the belt to reach my toes in a sitting stretch. It's especially wonderful to be in a place where breathing is so praised. One day I was experimenting with Crow position, a position with which I've never been comfortable and the instructor (without my realization) had pointed me out to the class as having a fully engaged breath. I didn't in fact know that she was speaking to anyone but me until I heard the applause of the rest of the class. It took me by surprise because I take my breathing for granted. That should be the case after having done it for so long.

I'm playing board games a lot. I just picked up Vasco Da Gama and I'm really looking forward to getting it on the table. We've been playing a lot of Power Grid: Factory Manager lately and mostly I'm just going with the flow and being a decent host.

Buy me stuff.

My birthday is coming up and I won't hesitate to say that most people never have any idea what to buy for me. This has been a common theme over the years, with one of my most recent holiday gifts being a Garmin, a pricey gift which I plan to never use, and perhaps to sell. Getting presents like this makes me a bit sour. I like to put at least a little effort into gift selection.

In aid of this, I've maintained my Amazon wish list, from which I believe the best present I can ever remember receiving came. Plenty of my favorite presents can be found used (and I prefer that if you buy, you buy used) for less than five bucks. One of my presents has been available for a penny. I don't care if it came from a library, I could use five of those Hikaro No Go books. No, I'm really not sure why the Adventures of Pete and Pete CD is listed over $11k. It must be a really good CD.

Probably the most immediate suggestions would be the improv books. I've been getting back into improv over the last several months and I'd just like to pick up the recommended reading for my classes. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm dirt poor. There's plenty of cool stuff on the list, and it's all stuff I plan to get sooner or later.

Even if you now have no interest in buying a present for me ever again, I think the list is still pretty interesting. At least it's interesting to me. If you have ever been curious about me (and at least some folks have mentioned facebook-stalking me in the past) this is certainly your opportunity for a massive info-blast!

I still haven't worked out my birthday plans yet. I'm thinking karaoke and some kind of food.