Learning to post videos

This morning I started just reading the blogs that I follow and I realized how much I enjoy when bloggers post video. I've tried posting before (not really...'cause I lost patience) and wasn't successful, so I decided today was the day. I've just spent some time reading Blogger Help and am going to upload some video.

Next problem...what video should I upload? Well, that's a no-brainer...belly dancing video of course, more specifically, tribal dance video. The first video is inspiring to me particularly because the dancers have bodies similar to my own -- with a nice big belly!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmwkVudtRzQ
Well...apparently the embed function is disabled on this video...so I'm posting the link...hopefully, it will work.

Upward and onward...lets try my next favourite one of the day.



And SUCCESS!!!

This last video is an old interview with Carolena Nerricio, the Director of Fat Chance Belly Dance (http://www.fcbd.com/) in California, who is credited with developing Tribal Style Belly Dance.



OK...one last, last video...this is a story of Jamila Salimpour, the women credited with bringing belly dancing into the classroom...and developing the language used to teach belly dancing. Thank you Jamila.

Yoga

The one exercise that will hands-down calm me and centre me is yoga. My favourite DVD/Video is Ali MacGraw's with Erich Schiffmann. It's about an hour long, Erich's voice is soothing and easy to follow. Ali is graceful and the class is composed of young and old participants. There are natural breaks to allow your breath to catch up with you. What's extra inspiring about this particular DVD is that Ali started yoga in her fifties. I've been doing yoga since I was 14...only there have been lapses in my practice. I feel so good right now, I can't even express it...considering an hour ago I felt so lethargic and sad.

I think I have the start of a summer routine...yoga every day. I've checked my gym's class schedule and I can get to at least four yoga classes a went. I also looked at the whole summer and am planning to get off that last 15 pounds by the end of summer. It's entirely doable...I just have to do it! I think I have the beginnings of a good summer plan!

Back to Belly Dance

It's been a few months since I've done any regular exercising...which is actually a sad thing to say as I have been consistant for since November 2007. Firstly, losing my trainer really threw me off. I didn't realize how important it was to have her come here and motivate me to exercise. I haven't gone to belly dance classes in the last two sessions...I think May was the last time, in a year, that I went to a session. My shoulders are killing me, I wake up in the morning sore and sluggish. When I was exercising, I was almost symptom-free. So, tonight (even though the this session started last week) I am going back to belly dance...and I'm really happy about it!

Here's a video I found from a dance group in Rome...really excellent!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM43MDAN-8Y&feature=channel

The enormity of the Ride to Conquer Cancer

Last weekend (June 13/14) was the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Because of my personal situation with my dad, I wasn't able to fund raise as hard as last year or even train. I did raise around $2000 ($500 less than what you need to ride) and it me proud to know that I have such great supporters. So, my daughter and I decided to be Crew members - our jobs - to drive the Sweep Vehicle and pick up any riders who were hurt or for some reason couldn't go on.

Well, to say it was gratifying would be an understatement. Last year when we rode, I was overwhelmed with the enormity of the Ride - the number of people participating (2700), the funds raised in total ($14 million), the route of the Ride (through the hills of the Niagara escarpment), and the length of the Ride (200 km in two days). And the fact that I made it (well, almost...I had to be picked up a couple of times)!! All this, to honour my mom and to do something to fit cancer, from which she died.

This year, there were more riders (3400), more money raised ($14.5 million) and a more difficult ride. We were there, as one rider called me, as "guardian angels". Wow! And that's how we felt. We picked up riders that were hurt, that were sick and couldn't go on, we provided water on the terrible hills, we played motivational music - much to the chargrin of the locals, it was fantastic. I also think, in helping in this way, I honoured my mother even more. I supported the Riders, the event, and was part of a relatively small group (300 - as compared to 3400 riders) that ensured the event ran smoothly and safely.

It was beyond terrific...it was enormous in too many ways to write about. My heart felt like that of the Grinch's (only, my heart is already big)...it seemed to grow many sizes over in the course of those two days.

A visit from Nela*

Once again...when I am feeling so low, a student I have worked with drops by for a visit. I was thinking of Nela* for some time. When she came to my school she was a grade 10 student full of fire. A bright young girl who could easily have taken the wrong path. My mission was to keep her on track with school and extra-curriculars that kept her out of trouble. A young girl with a troubled past, emotional at times and, even, inconsolable. On Wednesday, I would describe myself as inconsolable. It was the day before my father's pre-op appointments at the hospital in preparation for his amputation. I got to work and thought I would look up the school Nela* had gone to and call the administrator to find out how she was doing. I had come in to work thinking I would look him up other times but this particular day, I really needed to hear good news...at least, that's what I was hoping to hear.

Well...the day flew by and I didn't get a chance to even look up the number, let alone call. It was about 4:15 and I heard some excited conversation in the outer office. And then I heard my name quietly spoken. When I came out there she was...like a little miracle! I hugged her and told her how I had been thinking of her. She told me she was doing really well, close to an 80% average, on the track team at school and setting her post-secondary goals for McMaster University. I was so unbelievably happy, I couldn't contain my emotions. We talked for a little while. She looked so mature, she has become a beautiful young woman.

After she left, I talked with the office assistants and told them it was for students like Nela* that I came into education. The satisfaction that what we do does have a huge impact on our students. And that one by one, we can help kids.

Because of what I am dealing with, I took Nela's* visit as a sign. A sign that everything with my father will be alright. And that will prayer and perseverance, all will be well.

(*not her real name)

Don't understand what this all means...

I had a very interesting day today. It's been a rough week, in terms of caring for my father and get a handle on long-term care facilities and trying to navigate that maze.

Today, my mission was to get in touch with one of the long-term care facilities that would be cultural familiar for my father. After a week of being stone-walled, I thought I would start my day by trying to get through one more time. I phoned first thing in the morning. The young man was very friendly and kind, as I explained the difficulty I was having reaching the administrator in order to arrange a tour. He was understanding and apologetic and asked me my name, promising he would pass on the info to the administrator personally. I gave him my first name and started spelling my last...when he interrupted me and said "Miss, don't you recognize my voice. It's George!" And I did!! George was a former student of mine. I thought it sounded like him (he had a very distinct voice) but thought "what are the odds!" He assured me the home was a good one, but that reaching the administration was sometimes difficult. He said he'd pass on my info and get the administrator to call me. Which she did, 10 minutes later.

After an unproductive conversation with this 'administrator', I had planned on seeing my father to sign the application to enter a long-term care facility...but before I did that, I decided to go to a yoga class to try to relax. It's been a terribly stressful time, and I have not been exercising at all - and my stress is coming up in angry outbursts.

As I walk in to the gym, one of the young guys that work sales there, steps in front of me and says "Miss, I don't know if you remember me. My name is David S..." And I did!!! Wow! Two former students in one morning! He told me was he was up to and how he was doing. He seemed happy to see me and happy to share his success. What a high! I was so happy for him AND happy that he spoke to me!

So, up to the yoga class I go, and in walks a young woman who looks very familiar, but I couldn't place her. The instructor came in soon after and class was an intense 75 minutes of yoga. After the class, the young woman walks over to me and I recognized her (couldn't remember her name) and she said "Miss P, do you remember me?" Once again, I did!!! She told me her name and what she was up to and that she had just inquired at my old school for my info. She was going to contact me for a reference, how timely was today's meeting. I assured her she could use me as a reference and off we went.

When I got to the bank, to pay some bills for my father, I saw another former student...only we were both in seperate lines and didn't get a chance to talk.

I can't understand why all this happened, all in one day...all students I had worried about...all students who had a number of challenges in high school when I knew them...and all happy to share their success with me. It made my day....all I could think about was how fortunate I have been in my life to have taught wonderful young people. I wish they could know how much I've actually cared about their well-being and how I've prayed they found success.

After all this, I went to my dad's and had him sign the papers. He understands he may not be returning to his home after his surgery, but I tried to be hopeful telling him that if he got better, he might be able to come home. I have to hold that hope for him...and for myself. He was very tearful. I try to be strong for him and hide my grief so I cry in the car a lot when I'm driving from his home. I'm thankful for a lot in my life but I'm in so much pain right now, that I can't appreciate them.

Such an important date in history - what an inspiration!

I am not one who is big on politics or up on world events. I have never had a great love of history or current events. I would say I have always had an "awareness" of what is going on, what has gone on, and hopeful about what might be.

What I have had the privilege of living through and remembering are a number of significant events in the past 50 years - President Kennedy's inauguration and assassination; Rev. Martin Luther King's impact on Civil Rights and his assassination; the landing of the first person on the moon; the devastating Colombia space shuttle explosion; September 11th, 2001; and today - the inauguration of President Obama. These are all days/dates that I remember exactly where I was and still feel the impressions left on me and their impact in my life.

What an amazing day! What a great speaker and writer! What an inspiring speech! I wish President Obama all the best and his family strength and courage to fulfil their new role.

I encouraged my children to try to get to a TV to watch this important event. I reminded them that this will be one of the days that they will remember when they are older. I reminded them that their grandparents came to Canada in hopes of a better life. I reminded them that their grandparents worked in sweat shops and diner kitchens to build a life, own a home, educate their child. In turn, their hard work for the lives of my children, their grandchildre. The expectations I have for them is that they honour their heritage and the sacrifices of their grandparents. I also reminded them that President Obama has repeated re-iterated what we have always said to our children - 'You can do anything you want, anything you set your mind too, and that nothing is too big to overcome.'

In this week of 12 Secrets - we look to our inspiration. In today's historic event I have my inspiration. I can do anything. Nothing is too big to overcome.

My five-a-day

Serena tagged me in a meme called “five-a-day” which was started to encourage mental well-being.

Here are my top five things to do every day (or, at least, several times a week) to stay mentally healthy:

• exercise - since last November when I hired a personal trainer, I made the committment to somehow honour my physical self by exercising - whether it's a workout, yoga, or through belly dance, I try to do some physical exercise several times a week, if not everyday


• read - it's seems strange to consider reading a luxury, but that's what it is to me. I spend my day reading work-related material, and when I get home I hardly have time to sit, so I try hard to read every night before I fall asleep - although, many times I fall asleep AS I read


• pray - it's the only way I can get through life


• eat healthily - self-explanatory - when I don't eat healthily my fibromyalgia flairs up as does the arthritis


• laugh - along with prayer...I need to laugh, such a release

I tag:

1. Genie Sea


2. Caroline


3. miss*R


4. Claudia


5. You!

Driving with my son

We drove out to Oshawa to drop off my older son and on the drive back home there was something on the radio about a lottery jackpot and I said to my son "imagine having all that money." And the conversation that followed that comment went along like this...

He said, "Ya...I think if you had a lot of money you would be what they call a philanthropist"
and he went on to talk about how if he won money he would spend it on himself (typical teenager).

I asked, "What a sec...what do you mean philanthropist?"

He answered, "Well, a philanthropist is someone who helps people. And that's what you do, you help people. I think if you had money you would use it to help people."

I answered...well...I didn't answer...I was dumbfounded.

Insightful? I think so...I didn't even think my kids were paying attention to anything I do, for that matter, anything outside the centre of their universe - themselves. (lol) Wow...I need to figure out what to do with this.

A poem for my mother

Our Mothers
By Christina Rossetti

Our Mothers, lovely women pitiful;
Our Sisters, gracious in their life and death;
To us each unforgotten memory saith:
"Learn as we learned in life's sufficient school,
Work as we worked in patience of our rule,
Walk as we walked, much less by sight than faith,
Hope as we hoped, despite our slips and scathe,
Fearful in joy and confident in dule."
I know not if they see us or can see;
But if they see us in our painful day,
How looking back to earth from Paradise
Do tears not gather in those loving eyes?—
Ah, happy eyes! whose tears are wiped away
Whether or not you bear to look on me.


My mother didn't like me to worry, but I'm worried all the time. I'm worried about my father. I'm worried about my kids. I'm worried about my husband. I'm worried about work. I'm worried about myself. I feel badly that she may be looking down at me and that she may feel sad for me. I miss her so much. A day doesn't go by without thinking about her.

New goals?

For me, it's about goal setting. If I can set a goal, it gives me something to work towards. And...somehow or other, I figure things out.

I was thinking about my situation, and the extreme unhappiness I'm having with respect to work-place statisfaction. I thought about what had made me happy about work and how I can get back to that place. I enjoyed teaching...as an adminstrator I work with disgruntled people - kids, parents, teachers - rarely do they come in to tell me something good, mostly just problems or concerns. Teaching - interacting with students - developing curriculum - seeing the light in my students eyes as the lesson clicked for them -- that was joy. How can I get back to that joy and pursue "art happiness."

Two things happened this past week - one, a casual conversation with a friend and second, a trip to the library.

The conversation: My friend AH is program coordinator for a Continuing Education program and was talking about how great that experience is in contrast to role in the day as administrator. It's a role she enjoys...meeting people who want to learn - whether it's for pleasure, interest or somehow work-related. Teachers who are keen to share what they know.

The trip to the Library: I wanted to take out the South Beach diet book because I want to kick start my weight loss and get that last 10 pounds off (yes, I know, famous last words). While there I browsed in the Art section and found a spiral bound book by Nancy Reyner - Acrylic Revolution: New Tricks and Techniques for Working with the World's Most Versatile Medium. I took the books out and when I was going through Acrylic Revolution I thought about how someone could use it as a textbook for experimenting in art.

Then the idea: I thought how great it would be to teach a night school course through Con Ed. We could explore the versatility of acrylics and do a sampling of exercises from the book. Anyway, I was so excited I sat down and started preparing a ten week lesson plan. A LESSON PLAN. Something I haven't done in almost 5 years. It was fun! I told AH about it and she got all excited and wants me to commit to teaching at her school in January.

Well...I put the brakes on that. I can't see it happening this year...but maybe next September. I (once again) don't have the confidence in myself...which is crazy, 'cause one of the courses I taught one year was a course on PhotoShop - which I had never used before!! Yet, the kids did great, produced some amazing work, and I felt great about it at the end of the year!!

Hmm....something to think about.

back to the purpose of this blog

The original purpose was a place to track my progress with my health plan for 2008...lose weight, exercise and look great when I turn 50!!

I've been working out with a personal trainer who is just great! She's nice, she's just a regular woman, and she makes me work hard but doesn't go into overkill. My weight is fluctuating, but I'm learning to eat better...so once the penny drops and I still to the Weight Watchers plan, hopefully the weight will come off too.

So, I'm plugging away at it...staying hopeful, optimistic, and positive.

epiphany

Today is the Theophany of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

About the beginning of our Lord's thirtieth year, John the Forerunner, who was some six months older than Our Saviour according to the flesh, and had lived in the wilderness since his childhood, received a command from God and came into the parts of the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins. Then our Saviour also came from Galilee to the Jordan, and sought and received baptism though He was the Master and John was but a servant. Whereupon, there came to pass those marvellous deeds, great and beyond nature: the Heavens were opened, the Spirit descended in the form of a dove upon Him that was being baptized and the voice was heard from the Heavens hearing witness that this was the beloved Son of God, now baptized as a man (Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:1-22). From these events the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ and the great mystery of the Trinity were demonstrated. It is also from this that the present feast is called "Theophany," that is, the divine manifestation, God's appearance among men. On this venerable day the sacred mystery of Christian baptism was inaugurated; henceforth also began the saving preaching of the Kingdom of the Heavens. (ref: http://www.iconograms.org/sig.php?eid=374)

Eurterpe (Efterpe)

According to Wikipedia:

In Greek mythology, Euterpe (pronounced /IPA [ef' terpi] in Modern Greek and meaning "rejoicing well" or "delight") was one of the Muses, the daughters of Mnemosyne, fathered by Zeus. Called the "Giver of Pleasure", when later poets assigned roles to each of the Muses, she was the muse of music. In late Classical times she was named muse of lyric poetry and depicted holding a flute.

A few say she invented the aulos or double-flute, though most mythographers credit Marsyas with its invention. The river Strymon impregnated Euterpe; her son Rhesus led a band of Thracians and was killed by Diomedes at Troy, according to Homer's Iliad.

Her name is from Greek eu (good, well) and τέρπ-εω (to please)