Nasty Peeling Flesh!

Tonight, I took a yoga class at my gym. I arrived a little late, nearly every spot in the room was taken, there were maybe 2 or 3 guys, the rest were women and the instructor was speaking calmly and almost soothingly to the class; the usual stuff. But then I noticed something a little peculiar.

I've taken yoga on/off for over 3 years now. All my instructors in the US (east and west coast) were usually Caucasian females. On occasion there was an African American or Asian American female. On rare occasion there was a male instructor. But never an Indian. Tonight was the first instructor I've had who was Indian.

So am I about to make a racist point about this? Hopefully not. I just thought it was rather peculiar that it took my coming to Hong Kong to have a yoga instructor that was ethnically Indian.

Even though yoga originated in India, race really shouldn't matter. It's all about the ability and routine of the instructor. So how was this guy? I really didn't care for his class. Aside from the more rushed pace (which I generally don't like for yoga) and the low intensity, he had us partner up for buddy stretches. Nothing wrong with that, except he had us do these barefoot-to-barefoot buddy stretches. My partner had nasty peeling flesh on her foot! And they smelled really bad too! I think she had athletes foot! So I carefully kept the balls of my foot as the only point of contact during our stretch.

All in all, It was the worst yoga experience I've ever had.

Eeeew! I think I need to wash my feet again.

Drinkin' it In

Being a best man is a thankless job.

I just got back a few days ago from a wedding in California in which I served as best man. It was a lot of work! Managing 13 men on a Vegas weekend (like herding cats), MC-ing the wedding, preparing the slideshow, the speech and other duties was very draining. I'm sure it was a fraction of what the bride and groom had to go through, but boy was I drained! I'm tired just thinking about it!

I think karma came into play. Because nearly a decade ago, I was best man at my very, near and dear friend, Brian's wedding in which I had to do very little. I still feel a little guilty about that one, but I think in the karmic scheme of things, I've balanced things out a little with this one.

This picture, taken by a friend after the outdoor ceremony, sums up some my recent return to the US; Beautiful blue skies. Fresh air. Trying to sneak in a little time for self indulgement between all the activies. Drinking way too much alcohol during the week and trying to balance it (in vain) with a little water and exercise. Good friends!

During this trip, I also had promising meetings in Vegas and Vancouver. I recently read an article about how technology has made it very difficult for people take non-working vacations these days. I don't count this trip as a true vacation, but one of these days I'd like to take a business-free trip.

As I'm writing this, I'm still a little jett lagged. But I feel like I could use some real R&R soon. But alas, I'm back in HK and that doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon. More on that later...