I seldom give myself a pat on the back. This is because I have small arms and can’t reach back very far. I remain envious of lanky, long limbed individuals who can put one hand behind their upper back and one hand behind their lower back and touch their hands together.

The lanky, long limbed individuals are well suited to doing yoga. Now I know that yoga is not supposed to be a competitive endeavor, but come on – those of us who are short and stocky are at a decided disadvantage when it comes to this sport, or should I say, activity. And if you are like me, short and stocky, you are not human if you don’t at least take note of this disparity when in class.

I did online yoga when the Covid epidemic was going on. I didn’t like it. There were no adjustments (and the teachers I’ve had, have been sparing in their corrections). The teacher also could not get a sense of how the students were doing.

The other students had it so the rest of us could see their images. At 8 a.m. by dog they were dressed in their cute little outfits and they had already blow dried their hair. I suspect that they all had had their morning coffee because they were amazingly perky, no pun intended. I got to see a side of these women (there were no men) that I didn’t see in class, and this was the interior of their home exercise rooms. My dog – some had all the equipment. The rooms were large, spacious, and well lit.

Me, I didn’t open my screen. What they would have seen was a very unkempt woman who had slits for eyes. I did yoga in our small, spare, unkempt living room; each pose that I did, I did incorrectly. There were also boxes of books in piles to the sides and around me.

In thinking about it, yes, I would say that yoga is an elitist activity, one that I was not very good at.

I did like the breathing exercises – I mean they were hard to fuck up. And I liked the kindergarten type rest periods at the end of the session. This reminded me of the end of the day in kindergarten although back then I found it torturous to lie there.

Okay, so the pat on the back. It was a very good day on the book front. Had breakfast with Bill, and he assisted Robert, Bea, and two LDS elders in getting the place ready for the next load of books, which will be coming in tomorrow.

We had a board meeting. It went just fine. This ended with our talking about books we’ve been reading. Right then I thought – wow, this is what this project has led to.

Lastly, Pete, and our two neighbors, Brite and Sebastian and their son Ignacio passed out Christmas books to those heading outside for the Colony Christmas parade. It went very, very well. I put the remaining Christmas books in the plastic bins – if they are not taken next week, I will pass them out at our volunteer appreciation event.

So yeah, I am giving myself a pat on the back.

338. 12/10/23: Darker and Darker