walk
i’ve been in this limbo space lately. post-wedding, full of creative ideas, but on the brink of a solid routine to manifest them. also…have any of you experienced this?… feeling slumpy after such an incredible high. 2 things that have consistently fueled me in the last few weeks are kick-boxing and reading.

my kickboxing class is delightful & hilarious. i’ve never associated exercise with, um happiness, before, but i am hooked to kicking, punching and busting out ninja-esque moves with all these sweaty ladies to a sped up version of JT’s “sexy back” and our teacher… let us call him benji (because that is his real name) leading our way.

when my friend Deb and i first started going to TKB (aka turbo kick boxing) we went straight to the back and were completely out of synch. images of my ballet recital age 5 haunted me when my bun started falling out and i started crying and looking at my teacher offstage desperately and doing the plie when everyone else was piouretting. i remember it because it was captured brutally on film.

our saving grace, deb & i, was a striking Ethiopian woman, hair wrapped in a beautiful turban, who abandoned to the far back near the weights and balance balls, took off her shoes and just started dancing to her own beat. we joined her in moments of overwhelm and it made the entire scary experience laughable… thank god for her.

i just finished reading a 500 page-turner called “OH THE GLORY OF IT ALL” about sf society from the point of view of a child of the society, author Sean Wilsey, who illuminates the underbelly of it all. i found myself stopping in the middle of my day at a random spot just so i could pick it up again… i was reading so intently at the BART station on my way to see lovely Lisa S (thanks for the visit lady!) last week that i couldn’t understand a woman yelling at me repeatedly that “a pigeon is going to shit on your head”… saved. then yesterday i sat down to read next to another loca/brilliant woman at a cafe who was talking to herself and started lamenting “everything was perfect until this fly started flying around”.

isn’t that the truth? “oh the glory of it all” i wanted to say back to her.

she then asked me, “don’t you ever want to take a bus to somewhere new and see something small you’ve never seen before?” yes.

i’m longing for travel and escape and a new field of vision. but it’s good to be emptied out and gain clarity after the swell of the wedding… speaking of which the above is from our incredible wedding photographer & friend Michael Rauner. his photos are brilliant. i especially love his warm lighting. he has an amazing book called the “Visionary State” out right now through chronicle.

another recommendation c/o my BFF is the newest Parker Posy movie: “Broken English”. I watched it last night & something about that film felt true & I just love PP and her style.

any book/ movie suggestions for me these days? maybe i should look at The Ship Of Fools reading list, eh?

speaking of ships…happy “Talk Like a Pirate Day”! Argh!

signing off xo,
mati