Neutralizing the Evil Empire? in Everyday Ramblings

This is another view of the small Parks Department community garden at the end of my neighborhood. What I like about this picture is the light in the foreground. Well, it is home territory too and I know a little about the history of the houses. I shot this through a fence and I like the open feeling as well. A Scottish rocker who settled and is raising a family here owns that green house on the left. He owns a couple of very expensive motorcycles and a couple of small fuel-efficient cars. I never see them but there was some enthusiastic gardening at one time.

They took out the big windows in my former gym yesterday. There was/is this gaping hole in the side of the building in the rain.

Did I mention it is raining? I am so sick of my rain protocol I cannot tell you. If I can afford it for next year I am getting another waterproof warm jacket with the proper pocket array so I can switch out now and then.

I had a big class on Monday, 19 students and I had been hearing from my longer time students that they wanted a little more of a challenge, just incrementally more and as I have been studying arthritis lately, I taught a practice for arthritic hips and towards the end there was a bunch of good natured but exasperated comments coming from the back of the room that got everyone laughing and there we all were, 20 people lying on the floor legs up in the air laughing.

I begged them they had to stop because I needed to talk and get them comfortably and safely off onto their sides but tittering continued for a time. It was delightful.

This class spoils me. It is such a warm and friendly room and everyone works hard to their ability.

Yesterday as a favor to one of my younger coworkers who wants to lose weight I reserved a conference room to teach her this very effective thirty-minute practice that works all the muscles of the torso that I just love. I use it myself. She invited a couple other folks and then the invitation sort of um, got out to the whole building.

Then the young woman in question (I think she was secretly uneasy about the whole thing decided she wasn’t feeling well) stayed home to work but I had a quite enthusiastic response from the rest of the building. I actually had to limit the people who could come because of the size of the room.

Although a few people that work in my area told me they were interested coming… every one of them bailed. Everyone. I see the hand of the Evil Empire here big time. It was an awful feeling. I am a pony in a herd that does not want me.

(Well except for Saint Joe, we are quite fond of each other and dependent on each other.)

But! The participants from the other departments in the building had no problem at all. They were very enthusiastic and thankful. I filled the room. They were so serious though. So very serious. I need to figure out a way to translate at least some of that goofy joy that we experience on Mondays into my other classes.

That awful awkwardness from my workplace I am sure was influencing my affect though. Then I taught again last night and I was quite relieved that towards the end of that class there was some relaxed good cheer.

I have been told that there is no way I will be allowed to teach in my building and get paid for it. So yesterday I reached out to our Wellness Center Medical Gym deal down at the waterfront where they do a lot of PT and it turns out the director these is entertaining the idea of bringing in a class to our building. They asked me a lot of questions that lead me to believe they may actually do it.

That would be so cool. That way the folks I work with would have a relaxing and challenging class right there on site and the Evil Empire would be hard pressed to talk people out of a campus mandated Wellness option and I wouldn’t have anything to do with it!

Sweet.

Last updated March 10, 2016