2006-01-08 - 2:28 p.m.

..body therapy...

It turns out that a semester of intensive teaching is pretty bad for one's body. I've felt the need to sleep at least 9 hours per night since the semester ended. One positive result is that I've avoided the Christmas colds..(she types while simultaneously knocking on wood).

Anyway, I feel like I'm following a stereotypical New Year's resolution but last Wednesday I pulled out my old aerobics tapes and proceeded to jump up and down around the flat.

Thursday and Friday I was immobilized in pain.

Well, not entirely, but close. I've given it another shot today and already feel much better - I added an additional ten minutes of stretching. I was inspired by K, who attended a "back school" yesterday, learning all kinds of exercises to strengthen his back muscles to prevent injury. I have a whole suite of these exercises myself, it's just a question of doing them.

I used to lead aerobics classes back in the 90s, although anyone who looked at me wouldn't guess it...once when I told my aunt that I was doing this, her helpful saccharin reply was, "Oh so your losing weight then!" (not my favorite aunt). But anyway, I always believed that the whole hour-long effort was just for the great feeling of stretching at the end. Today I had the same feeling.

I have another three weeks before classes begin, and then I will have a one-day teaching schedule. I'm hoping that it will be conducive to maintaining a healthier schedule. Last semester I virtually gave up cooking as well as exercising. Why is there such a deep mental energy well associated with chopping fresh vegetables and getting into exercise clothing? Especially after a day of dealing with 180 students? You would think that these two activities would be therapeutically relaxing instead...

Anyway, the cat is rolling on the keyboard again, adding various punctuation to my typing so it is time to quit..