Status 5-03-15*
Yesterday
I’m proud of myself (and Mark), because yesterday was all about not giving up. Between sickness, jury, schedule adjustments, and catching up around the house, our bikes have lain dormant in the garage of late. This means the dreaded “back on the bike” trip was due. Now, if you’re NOT a bike rider, you may not understand the amount of discomfort you get on your tush, if you let your ‘bike butt’ get out of practice. Also you have your cardio, muscles, and basic bike rhythms that get out of sync when you “let your riding go” – from weather, or busyness or any other reason. Like much in life, bike even a little, but often, and you stay in bike shape. Let it “ride” and you restart from scratch, or near to it.
Hey, we’re BACK on the bike after weeks away. It wasn’t easy, but getting back on the bike is the hardest part. Then it comes back to you.
And to top OFF the unjoyfullness of our bike return, it has been HOT AS BLAZES. To help us, we went to the river (a few degrees less if we are lucky) and timed our trip for early morning, around 9:00 AM.
It is darn hot – this is early, around 9:00 AM, the water level is down on the river, not as many birds as usual. Still, it feels good to ride and to see the bits and pieces of nature surviving in our baking asphalt jungle.
Mark is all smiles. We did it! We got back on the bike! (On a dang hot day too)
We rest our bikes against some handy trees by Marsh Park, and Mark reads the sign that tells how the park helps the river.
Marsh Park on the LA River Bike Path. Clever how the engineers created this as part of the natural means to protect the water from polluted runoff from the streets nearby. It’s also a nice stop along the path for families to picnic and play.
I also practiced my diaphragm exercises – this is mentally HARD for me, because it means learning to let my tummy flop at will. After several decades of training myself to ‘suck it in!’ this idea is totally against the grain. BUT I will not give up. I’m getting to the place in both singing lessons and voice acting, where I need to get in touch with the subtle cues my body gives and learn some control of body parts I’ve never even noticed before. The muscles in your throat near the voice box for example, change when going up the scale between the different parts of your voice. I’m trying to learn that very difficult (for me anyway) skill of flipping between my chest voice and middle register without sounding like an adenoidal teenage boy.
In some ways my practice is now harder. More is expected. But I celebrate that my practice is harder, because it means I am getting more skilled.
My work with David is coming along very well. I can already see a HUGE difference in what better breath and tonal control does for my voice acting ability. And Viki, my singing teacher, is giving me some songs to learn that aren’t written for singing sissies, that’s for sure.
Sigh.
One thing is for very sure, my perfectionist self is taking a beating. My good enough self is emerging, because no way could I do any of what I’ve been learning, if I needed to be perfect.
Today
Didn’t sleep (hence your bonus rambling status today). I’m off for a quick walk in the park then Mark and I will go to see Motown at the Pantages. Despite my regular chair discomfort, I’m looking forward to the show. I loved the music of that era and will have fun hearing the pros do what I am learning. Have a great day BCs!
xoxoxoxoxox
How about you?
Please feel free to comment on MY statuses or add YOUR OWN thoughts, feelings, challenges, rants and raves on these pages too. That was one of the original purposes of why I posted on FB. I thought BCs might like to share about THEIR days. So if you have thoughts and feelings you’d like to share with the group, go ahead and put them here with your comments.
*Daily statuses are not part of the blog’s email notification. When you enter your email under where it says SUBSCRIBE TO POSTS VIA EMAIL, you will be notified of regular blog posts and when podcast episodes are released. I didn’t want to clog your inbox with my daily statuses. However, the automatic publicize feature will inform you on my show FB page, my AdventureLaurie twitter account, google+ on its show page, and Tumblr.
PSS, some BCs have asked me the difference between blog postings and status pages. Blog postings are where I develop a complete topic triggered by my status thoughts. Status thoughts are how my day went, what’s on my agenda, and how my body feels today – and not much editing or thought goes into them. That’s why I don’t clog up your email with them. 🙂
The Bravery Coach
TheBraveryCoach daily tweet is a morning mediation on how I either did, or can incorporate an aspect of bravery into my day. It is cheerful. It is esteem building. Those who want to follow these on Twitter may, by searching for the hashtag #bravery or by seeing my profile:
yay, looks a lovely fun time,
I happened upon a bike-a-bout last week too after the winter season.. im suffering some ‘foot/ankle’ stuff that’s truly unpleasant
Ive made some changes in my mental thinking with/around food/eating, as well as activity/exercise, this change is going to be good for a few different things/areas in life.. just have to remain positive
yesterday despite all the foot/ankle blah blah I embarked on the 12k annual bloomsday race, it was my husband’s first time, and only happened due to a ‘wager’ that included a $200 pay-off ha! but whatever, it was wonderful and fun for him to partake and see just how ‘NOT’ easy such an endeaver really is.. weeeehaw.! I had fun none the less, and another mileage day on the books
our weather is as gorgeous as yours for a change Laurie, I have no envy hee hee
Im glad your seemingly in good spirits
Hey gal, I saw your AWESOMENESS on FB! Congrats on your race. So wonderful to see the happiness on your face. Dat’s what I’m talkin’ bout 😉 Exercise for feeling great. Just back from my walk around the park where I did vocal exercises and got great weird looks from folks – but what the heck. Thanks for dropping by and for the fun audio. I’ve been up and down spirit-wise, but learning some important lessons about myself, so I guess I needed to go through it. Keep on keeping on! Off to the dentist – belch- why oh WHY did I schedule tooth cleaning on singing lesson day???? xoxoxox
Getting back on the bike (pun intended) is awesome. Getting back to exercising after having taken a break (illness/injury or whatever related) take a lot of strength, thank you so very much for sharing yours with us.
Now for some goofiness
Q: What do you get if you cross a bike and a flower? A: Bicycle petals!
Q: Why can’t a bicycle stand up on its own? A: Because it’s too tired!
Q: What do you call a bicycle built by a chemist? A: Bike-carbonate of soda!
Q: Why couldn’t Cinderella win the bicycle race? A: She has a pumpkin for a coach!
Q: Do you know what is the hardest part of learning to ride a bike? A: The pavement.
Q: What do you call an artist who sculpts with bicycle parts? A: Cycleangelo
Q: What does a bicycle call its dad? A: Pop-cycle
Q: What did the little boy take his bicycle to bed with him? A: Because he didn’t want to walk in his sleep. Q: Why can’t an elephant ride a bicycle? A: Because he doesn’t have a thumb to ring the bell.
Q: When is a bicycle not a bicycle? A: When it turns into a driveway.
Hi Dave, thanks SO much for making me laugh. I loved these jokes so much I read them MYSELF for Foolish Fun. I invite YOU to find some more and give Foolish Fun a try yourself. I didn’t mean to steal your material, but these jokes went SO well with Mark’s comment to you, that I couldn’t help myself. xoxoxoxox Thanks again for all of your stories, thoughts and making it fun around here.