Misbehaving Nose
Well, here I am again, stupidly unprepared for the crazy weather patterns and their subsequent effect on my nasal passages. You’d think that I would figure this out when it happens year after year, but apparently I have not, and that would be why I am yet again popping antibiotics to get rid of my allergy-driven sinus infection.
If I may digress, here’s an interesting tidbit my allergist told me the last time I visited him. People with really bad allergies usually have incredibly strong immune systems. We’re rarely ever conventionally sick with a cold or the flu, we’re just always sniffing and sneezing from our allergies. Our super strong immune systems are actually WHY we have allergies. Our immune systems are so strong that they mistakenly identify normally harmless substances as a dangerous substance; antibodies fight these harmless “invaders” – dander, pollens, dust, etc. – causing the symptoms of allergy: cough, sneeze, runny nose, congestion, red and/or weepy eyes and fatigue. Then, your body “remembers” these invaders the next time you come in contact with them and ramps up the defenses all over again. And again. And again. Doesn’t that sound fun? Thanks, Mother Nature! You rock!
Anyhow, for some reason, between summer and fall, it always seems to get super hot and dry for a few days, and then super wet and foggy for the next few days, and that does it. My nose freaks out (what, am I allergic to the sun and fog now?). I’m itching, sneezing, and before I know it, copious amounts of snot are cascading down the back of my throat. Once my stomach fills up with it there is apparently nowhere else for it to go and it fills up my head, becoming a sinus infection. Woohoo, now we’re cookin’! Then I head to the allergist, ashamed that I did not use my nose spray, inhaler, and allergy pills more assiduously in order to prevent this.
Severe Allergic Reaction (teehee)
Allergies, just our bodies’ way of defending (aka killing) us.
I am a Jerk
I generally go through life fairly confident that I’m smarter, nicer, and better looking than almost everyone around me. I can comfortably say that here because I only have two followers of this blog and they both already know my narcissistic side, plus they fall into the same category, so I can say jerky things like this and they understand.
Anyhow, my point here is not that I’m so smart, nice, and good-looking, but that I THINK I’m smart, nice, and good-looking, and I recently had a humbling experience that reminded me that I may not be as amazing as I think I am. In fact, sometimes I can be a complete asshole.
I was driving home from the gym last week (trying to keep up that “good-looking” part) and it was as if everyone in town was driving in the opposite direction, and they were all on crack. (I later found out they were all heading to a movie premier). I finally weave my way away from the gym chaos and merge onto Melrose, near Paramount Studios. I’m stopped at a light. There is a car to my left and one car in front of each of us. I cannot see the crosswalk below the signal due to the two front cars being quite large, and me being in a Prius. The light changes. No one moves. I tap a beep from my extremely non-aggressive sounding Prius horn. Both cars start to move, then stop again. Now I’ve had it! I’m so sick of being surrounded by idiots who can’t drive!!! First the crack-heads near the gym and now two morons refusing to drive through a green light!!! I blast away at my sad little horn several more times, yelling expletives (to myself because my windows were up).
And that’s when I saw…
…the man with NO LEGS walking on his HANDS across the crosswalk. The look from the guy next to me said it all.
Who’s super nice and smart NOW?
Yep, I'm an asshole
The answer: Not me. Definitely. Not. Me.
Yoga
Last month, I started practicing yoga. It started with a Groupon. I bought the Groupon and figured I would try out the yoga for a month and see how much I like it and if it helps me lose weight, which I have been trying to do for years now, to no avail. Mostly this is due to lack of motivation, which I think I am finally overcoming. But that’s a different post.
Last night, as I was driving home after class, I was experiencing such a heady rush of my senses that it occurred to me that it may not be safe for me to be driving – I felt almost drunk. And this isn’t the first time I have felt this way after class. I’m not sure if it’s the grinding pain of twisting and pulling my resistant body for the first hour and fifteen sweaty minutes or the final ten minutes of deep breathing and restive meditation, or a combination of the two, but something about yoga that really get me high.
Now, I’m not very “good” at yoga. I’m fairly certain that I’m not supposed to be watching and judging myself, but as a self-centered and egotistic individual I find it nearly impossible to NOT attempt to compare myself to others in my classes. Which actually leads to disappointment because inevitably I am the “worst” person there. Unless there’s an old guy in the class, then usually he sucks more.
And how, exactly, do I fit in with these yogis?
There are the yoga naturalists, who are all transcendent and spiritual – I’m definitely not one of them .
There are the trendy yoga nazis, who can twist into pretzels and have long, thin ripped bodies* – don’t fit into that group either (but maybe one day?) *see previous link above to read about “yoga butt.”
Then there are the old people who just need to get in a little stretching (they are mostly at the “gentle” classes which I attend 2x a week) – I don’t really fit in there either since I’m about 20 to 30 years younger than most of them and in better shape. I guess I’m sort of between groups right now…
I began yoga hoping for a toned body, but I’m already reaping the benefits of a more relaxed mind. I attribute it to the fact that I am struggling so much to stand up straight, tuck in my tail-bone, drop my shoulders, pick up my chin, lift my pelvis, and BREATHE that I can’t even begin to think of anything else on the planet – thus all my petty troubles fall by the wayside.
Tiff's Sniffs 