Mleh.

Oh Dear Friend, it seems like there's nothing going on here. Or rather there is so much going on, but all of it is either not internet worthy or doesn't belong on the internet, take your pick. So instead, what follows is a chronicle of the hum-drum life of a simple desert girl, languishing in the now-time in between where she is, and when the adventures begin.

I'm back at bikram classes daily. I've been going with a friend, but I think that I need to take a step back (for at least the moment) and recollect myself. There are a lot of reasons for this I suppose, though none of them are worth mentioning here. It's just that constant compulsive need to evaluate and re-evaluate where I need my life to go, and how the decisions I make allow me to move toward or away from it. It's just business. For me at least. For the next few days I'll continue my yoga-ing solo.

At any rate, yoga is blissful, though I'm at a different studio and the rules are slightly more relaxed (which I don't like as much, structure-loving fool that I am,) and the room is for sure, hotter. One instructor in particular's classes are always sweltering, and I can't figure out if it's that she spends a lot of time talking off-script, that the classes are always packed, or that she opens the doors less. It's probably some combination of the above. Anyway, it's a challenge, even for someone like me who just adores the heat.

My knee issue is infinitely better since starting yoga again. I have almost no pain, even going down flight after flight of stairs in the morning, and at this point it's hard to discern if the remaining pain is actual pain, or simply lingering soreness in my hamstrings from all the stretching. Either way, I am pleased.

I've toned down my hiking adventures as the R2R trip approaches, mostly because I'm concerned about irritating my knee any further between now and then. In it's stead, I've been mountain biking with the boys. Monday testosterone levels may have been a little high for all of us, as we rode MUCH faster than usual, and I struggled on a few sharp turns. This is a technique issue, as by the end of our hot, hot ride, I was leaning with the turns, rather than staying upright. My back tire kept slipping out, and how on earth I managed not to totally eat it is beyond me. At one point on the return loop, there's a sharp turn before a large (rocky) drop (we were riding at Papago, currently). I took to turn, felt my back tire slip out, and braced for impact, certain that I not only was going to eat dirt, but that the guy behind me was most definitely going to run my sorry ass over. Ha! As it turned out, I somehow recovered my balance, and everything was just peachy. It was the first and only time I've taken the time to brace myself, convinced that I was facing impending doom.

I'm going to have to make a mental note to scale back on the intensity here for a bit, as I can't risk crashing and seriously injuring myself. Scaling back is not my forte, but I'm determined to try my hardest. That first crash is inevitable.

What else, what else...

Work is...work. More than that it's summertime work, so the census is down and I'm buried in side projects that will take weeks to complete. It is an issue that continually bristles me since I am constantly getting email reminders about low census, productivity, and the reduced number of allotted hours in the work week. It's much easier for me to just buckle down and tackle things from start to finish in say, a 16 hour stretch, without so much as pausing to pee, than it is for me to work on things a little here and a little there. I wish I weren't so all or nothing, but I just hate having half-finished projects lying around. Ick.

The dog is extra snuggle-y these days, even now she's curled up in my lap, pleading with me to move to the much more fluffy bed. Oscar is becoming increasingly aloof, though heart-meltingly sweet when he feels like being cuddly. Mittens continues to ping back and forth between vicious escape artist/general wild beast and lovely-dovey lap cat. Her new game is to bolt out the door every time it is opened and run under the nearest car and start crying. (As opposed to previously, when her game was to run 20 feet and then roll around meowing until I came to collect her.) Then when you get down on the ground near the car, she chatters her teeth at you in a way that can only be described as pure mockery, before bolting to the next car. This goes on until I manage to somehow outsmart her, and drag her out from under a car, or she starts to panic when she realizes she actually hates all the outside places and runs back to the door. I'm eternally grateful that Oscar is pleased with his status as house cat, and makes no attempts to escape.

I can't wait to do the R2R, and more than that, I can't wait to see YOU. It's the doldrums now, waiting.

The desert is hot, but lovely, and every time I get the oven-y tight-skinned feeling, I think of you, and how you are the only person I know that appreciates Arizona the same way that I do. I miss your face, and I hope things are lovely.

All my love.