spring break 29

29.saturday
one day i will hopefully laugh about today. but right now i am sore and tired and smell of kerosene. it's very pleasant, i assure you. :/

the day started out so promising: i had eggs and toast again for breakfast and began tackling a 2 liter bottle of water. i did a load of laundry and managed to leave the house by 12noon to meet up with Des at 12:30 for...yoga! that's right, i went to yoga. and i about died.

i was nervous and a little bit excited for the whole thing. Des is a pro and goes to this place in ginza so he showed me the way. we got there a bit early, i changed and came out at the same time he did. he was wearing tiny (TINY) white shorts. and nothing else. whoa. haha. we waited outside until just before class was going to begin and i got a mini "you're a beginner let me show you the warm up breathing exercise" from the teacher (much appreciated as i would have been totally lost otherwise!)

class was...well...intense. the room is kept at 40degrees and while it's not exactly a cardiovascular workout, the positions and the breathing and the intense use of your muscles and the HEAT make you breath pretty heavy sometimes. i almost passed out at one point; i was just standing and started to feel faint and everything went fuzzy black, as if i stood up too fast. i crouched down, steadied myself, had some water, and tried to focus on staying upright.

i managed to finish the full series of poses (26 in all but some are repeated on the left side and the right side, and with laying down and "relax" positions interspersed) i was completely drained. and yet, i was drawn to it. something felt so good. so good it hurt. haha. i showered and got my stuff together and proceeded to sign up for another 3 classes (sounds a bit NOVA-esque, but i'm not too worried about trying to get in 3 classes in the next month) and because i was with Des, who is a member, my membership fee was waved. yay me!

on my way home, i craved strawberries. i totally splurged at the grocery store and bought a pack of big strawberries and a half a pineapple. they were so good. i felt great by the time i got home and had some good-for-you sugar.

i wasted some time at home until it was time to head over to Chelsea's. it was her farewell party. we had previously arranged that i would inherit her gas heater (you can see where this is all going can't you?) and possibly some other things, so i lugged my big rolley suitcase to her place.

i met some new people, had some fun drinks, played a couple rounds of twister, which is always interesting with people you don't know and alcohol. ;P as the night's end was nearing, i loaded up my suitcase and also was given a super comfy floor chair (a high back one that reclines to different positions), some hangers, a fairly large (and soft!) floor rug, insect spray (the kind that kills apparently), and 3 japanese magazines.

turns out one of the guys at the party lives near me, so we headed home on the same train. he ever so willingly carried the chair as i pulled my suitcase along. we made it to the next station, where we changed trains. while we were waiting for that train, it started to smell. i reached my hand in the bottom of my suitcase and my fingers came back wet with kerosene. leakage. oh shit.

long story short, i was ashamed to be on the train with a leaking kerosene suitcase, smelling up the whole car, i cried because i may have ruined the suitcase i got my from my mom before i came to japan, and currently i have a leaking kerosene heater and a kerosene smelling (masked vaguely by the scent of gain laundry detergent that i used to try to wash it with) suitcase on my balcony.

the guy was a total sweetheart and tried to wipe away my tears on the train. when i turned away, mostly from embarrassment, he offered me tissues. he helped me get all the crap to my messy messy apartment and onto the balcony. then he had to walk about 40 minutes home! i said i'd pay for a taxi but he refused. the thing is, he just did it so nonchalantly, as if he had known me forever and was willing to suffer through the shame on the train, the rope-handle of the chair digging into his shoulder, and the mere ridiculousness of the whole operation because we were good friends. no, we just met tonight.

too bad i'm not interested like that because i can't imagine anyone else will want to get near either of us for a while, reeking of kerosene like we do! again, hopefully i'll be laughing about this all in a couple days...