Of art and spam and books and J3 (yes, 3)

[beelikej]

Blah, still needed to go outside on Saturday, because I had totally forgotten to pick up my bike from the repairshop on Friday afternoon. I also completely forgot to have dinner, I blame it all on hormones and the internet. (Not like that, you perv.) Fortunately today was a full pajama day, haha! This will be my final post of the weekend, it's been a while since I've had time to spam y'all like this, it felt nice to be involved with LiveJournal again. Just in case you missed something, here's the complete list of stuff I posted:

picspam of my town

marvelous J3 art by badbastion (sexy snuggling, nsfw)

presentation of my own artwork: paperportrait of Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier)

a birthday party with J3 for tmn1966

Poll to pick your favorite Nick/Greg Banner for CSI:S15

I was rather worried to post that Winter Soldier artwork; not only to have made art outside of the SPN fandom (and knowing not a lot of people on my flist would be interested) but also outside of a challenge or collaboration (the solo-est of all solo-projects;) Still: it was a fun project and the receiver was happy, so I'm happy with the result. Not sure if I'm up for another commission though, that was scary.

Next up: another solo project. Although that will feature an SPN favorite, so hopefully more flisters will want to see that *g*


I had planned to announce my decision to sign up for yoga classes, but so far I haven't heard back from the woman who lead the trial lesson on Tuesday, so I'm not sure what's going on with that. I did fill in a form, so here's hoping she doesn't forget to inform me when classes start.
I quite liked the introduction class, even if it had moments that were a little too fluffy for me. I so love clear instructions and feed back, but I already suspected that's not how yoga works ;-) It did feel nice to focus on breathing and my body for a bit without having to worry about the stressful situations in my life. Being away from a computer was good for me too. So provided I get assigned a day for classes, I will be doing yoga for the next ten weeks. The course comes with (optional) homework, which I will definitely look into.

Oh, last but not least: I bought more books and have updated my readinglist. I still haven't started in Lynn Flewelling's Tamír Triad, because my brother surprised me with tickets for the Stephen Fry World Wide Live Event on October 1, when he will present his new book: 'More Fool Me', which is the third part of his autobiography, so I am rereading the first two books in preparation. Such fun!

Now it's time for TV. There are two shows I'm currently watching: The Great British Bake Off on BBC every Wednesday and the Dutch version Heel Holland Bakt on Sunday evening. I could watch bakers every day. *chinhands*

Comments

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

I liked all your posts, I just sucked at commenting this weekend :-P I LOVED your winter soldier piece!!! And I enjoyed seeing your town! :-D

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Ahw, thank you.

I know you know what it's like waiting for a response to fanworks. It can be so nervewracking;) I did notice your fic, but I have issues with non-AU at the moment, so I'm really careful what I read. I LOVE how enthused everyone is about the whole Austin thing though:)

[whiskygalore.livejournal.com]

The J3 art by badbastian is seriously gorgeous!! I'm kind of (very) jealous.

Your J3 birthday party for tmn1966 is wonderful too. The boys all look so sexy. I'm having some serious JDM feels at the moment, such a lack of Jeff/Jensen works around now :(

I love Stephen Fry. He's a national treasure. Everything he does is just brilliant. His new book sounds like it will be fascinating.

And The Great British Bake Off is my favourite programme at the minute. It is absolutely addictive. My husband is working in Africa right now and it's the one show he cares about missing. He downloads it online and texts me as he watches!

Thank you for all your posts this weekend. They brightened up my friends page and made me smile :)

xx

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

badbastion's piece turned out better than my wildest dreams, and it was such a treat to be able to see it being drawn.

I love playing with all the J's, but Jeff is definitely my favorite;) There is never enough Jeff/Jensen, alas. Did you already read ashtraythief's wonderful Across The Line? (written for SPN_Masquerade)

Rereading Stephen Fry is a joy, his rants about annoyances during his boarding schooldays are very amusing. (I could relate very much to the pointlessness of sports for instance;)

GBBO is the BEST. Looking forward to Wednesday; "Advanced Dough" sounds like a very ominous theme. Dunndunndunnnn.

Yay for postspams bringing the happy:) <3

[tmn1966.livejournal.com]

Yay, another project in the works! \o/ Can't wait to see what it'll be. :)

I've not tried yoga but I've been reading about it a little bit. I'm terribly out of shape but from what I've read, anyone can do it and it should be easy on my joints (my knees and one ankle are especially bad). When you say some moments were too 'fluffy' what do you mean by that? Too easy?

It's been a wonderful day for me as well. Not a total pajama day, had to go to the laundromat (no one there at all this morning except for me and one grumpy dude that came in to dry his clothes when I was almost finished) but I watched some fun stuff on TV and Amazon Prime, and had some very lovely gifts *smishes you*

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Don't hold your breath, I'm taking my time fiddling *g* (when I get stuck, I'll imagine you cheering me on;)

When I was worried about the trial yoga class, brutti_ma_buoni gave me some very helpful feedback here
Now that I've experienced it myself, I can verify that she was right about everyone feeling a bit awkward to start with;)

From the short lesson (which according to the teacher was a little more relaxing than usual, to not overwhelm new students;) I can confirm that anyone can do it. Besides, it's not a competition, so you only set your own goals. My intention was to give my body some positive attention for an hour or so and that's exactly what it was.

It was not too easy, the movements weren't too complicated either but unusual; I hadn't expected to take as much time per exercise as we did; it was a bit like moving in slow motion.
Fluffy is my translation for the Dutch word 'zweverig', which literally means 'floaty', it's a description for people who are not quite in touch with reality.
Being a very rational and concrete person myself, this soft and positive approach of life sometimes gets on my nerves. An example: after an exercise we had to focus on how our body felt and the teacher guided us with a soft voice, mentioning "some people feel more tension on the left, others on the opposite side and others feel nothing at all and whatever you're feeling is okay".

To me that was frustrating to the point of having to suppress my giggles ;-) Did you know you can totally roll your eyes when you have them closed? I prefer specifics and -more importantly- I want confirmation that I'm doing it right. I learned I won't get that from yoga;)

BUT! I could tell my body really liked it and I have to admit that asides from my resistance to 'letting go', it was nice to have someone tell me what to do while not having to think about anything else. I think your reasons for being interested in trying it are pretty much the reasons I decided to take that step and I highly recommend at least a trial class to see if it suits you.

Also: LAUNDROMAT \o/ (I'm just going to pretend grumpy dude was Jensen;)

*smishes*

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

Hee! I'm glad first class was okay and you're going on. Positive attention to your body is definitely the thing to aim for. (I personally get on better with some of the teachers that are more sporty types, less floaty, so I definitely sympathise with your reaction!)

But over a few years of doing yoga I've realised sometimes it's useful to be reminded that everyone's body is different, especially when everyone's new and anxious to get it right, so sometimes trying too hard and potentially hurting themselves or getting discouraged when they can't do a posture in full. In a class like that it can't be perfectly individualised teaching, but if you were one-to-one they would be working out which side of your body finds each movement easier (there's always a 'side' - everything in your posture affects how you hold your body, including how you stand, what kind of bag you have, whether you're a runner as well [very tight hips, runners have!], how your skeleton allows range of motion, injuries, childbearing, you name it), and how that affects what the actual 'right' position is for you personally. Right in yoga is about 50% getting into the position safely and 50% getting into it to the extent that *you* can, not just 'making shapes' or straining unnaturally. But it took me a long time to get this calm about that fact!

*iz unexpectedly zen these days*

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

I've learned a lot about my body after having to get physical therapy for several issues the past couple of years, and I was happy to discover that some basic yoga movements came easy to me because I already knew how my muscles were "supposed to" relax.

I'm hoping yoga will help me become even more aware of my weak spots and will offer a form of stress relief to prevent me ever getting to the point of needing PT again;)

But baby steps. I'm still waiting for information on the schedule...

*zennnnnnnn*

[tmn1966.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I wish grumpy dude had been Jensen. Dang, I should have thought of that while I was there then I could have slipped into imagination land and had fun conjuring up some fun for J3 instead. lol

Now, about the yoga... okay, that makes a lot of sense and I think I would be on your side of things (yes, I do know you can roll your eyes with them closed LOL), but I think I'm going to have to invest in getting started on some beginner yoga. :)

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Had my first real Hatha yoga class on Thursday! This season's theme is 'breathing', which means the teacher will focus on that aspect of yoga for ten lessons.
Since I was still suffering from my barking cough, I can't really judge my abilities on this evening's experience, but remind me to tell you more about it after next week's class! (Let me know if you find a place to try in your own area:)