shredded gums

currently i'm wrapped up in amy's lovin', puuuure lovin' christmas present. i keep it as a special blanket and don't share it with the cats because i don't want it to get hairy. speaking of hair, my hair is in two wet buns and i have a glass of herbal tea ice cubes in front of me. edith made the ice cubes for herbal tea slushies, but they never worked out the way she wanted and she said i could have them. i just remembered them today and i'm enjoying sucking on them immensely. they hit the spot and the ice sooths the torn roof of my mouth.

my hair's wet because i went to aqua size. yah! i don't know why i was never interested in aqua size before. it's great. a good work-out and fun, and in the water. what's better, i ask you? in fact i can feel it in my forearms right now. it's an all over body work out. i think i'm going to go every thursday. it only costs five fifteen to drop in after all.

it was shauna who told me about aqua size. she goes all the time. it's good for her because of her wrist and ankle problems. so we set up this date to go together. it's actually the second date because the first time we had planned, shauna twisted her ankle and we had to postpone. she frequently twists her ankles. her ankles are bum.

so anywho... today after work we had bev's birthday dinner at sammy j peppers. this must have been the first time i've been back there in years. fatima likes to say it's my favourite place, but it aint. it wasn't bad today though. we had a good waitress and sat on the patio. i was facing the sun and although it blinded me, the warm baking feeling felt good. tajana loaned me her huMUNGo shades. i had the blackened chicken chiabatta. it was good--had bacon in it. fatima and i were recently discussing how everything is better blackened. chicken, fish, you name it palsie. my dessert was so so. i felt pressured into making a decision so picked off the cuff.

i rushed home after to get ready for aqua size. i was a little excited and a little nervous at the same time. i was in a little bit of a frenzy because i felt i was running out of time and i still had to do hair removal fundamentals. i blame this on my near death experience. i was in the shower facing the side of the tub that is a wall of tiles, with my back to the shower curtain and suddenly i slipped. i mean, i slipped bad. i never slip in the shower! i blame the slippage on three things: 1.) the afore mentioned frenzy, 2.) the exceptional rubby roughy cleaning with vim i gave the tub earlier in the week and 3.) the frequent rubby roughies i've been applying to the bottom of my feet. ie. less friction. so i slipped and lost totally control. i was going down and i was going backwards. behind me my head could either aim for the toilet or the floor, or the counter's edge for that matter. my life didn't flash before my eyes, but my head bouncing like a lemon did, along with me laying there naked, with a concussion or a broken neck and only the cats to know about it (edith's in africa, what a nice surprise to come home to.) so somehow, and i really don't know how, i landed on my bum HARD on the edge of the tub but up right. it jolted my neck quite a bit but other than that and a big adrenaline rush, that was it. trust me to make a slip in the shower into a big story. :)

i ended up at shauna's early, ironically. it was such a perfect early summer kind of evening with pretty light shining through leaves making them glow. her dad answered the door "hi laura! how are you?" then her mom came by. she was wearing cute red flowy pants and a cute little white top. she had been dragon boating that day. we talked a bit and then she walked off saying she was so tired and didn't know why--she didn't do anything that day. that's when shauna's dad said in a tired voice "you went to the club at seven, to the such and such at ten and you've gone here and there, and everywhere all day!" she just laughed and said "i forgot!". i thought it was cute.

so i like this pool. this is quite a thing for me to say. because i'm generally against pools when there are oceans and lakes and the like to swim in. but it's a small pool and it wasn't busy, and it felt very community-ish, not like all of vancouver was busting to get in there, just the neighbourhood. it felt hidden like that. actually i felt like i was back in terrace for a minute. i had a moment of nostalgia of katie and i walking to the pool by our selves and of course that's when i fell and scraped my knee and katie made me band aids out of the willow tree leaves. i believed that those leaves were nature's band aids for the longest time. anyways back to the life of a 35 year old spinster :), i also like it because it's got a tent roof. like it has cinder block walls with windows all around and a tent roof, so it's like you're outside and the light is great, not that dark fluorescent lighting that you get with some pools. there's also yellow sail boat sails hanging from the roof on both sides and the light shining through the trees outside was very nice.

i was glad shauna was there to show me the ropes. we walked over to the wall where the foam belts hung and put them on. at first i thought i wouldn't' be able to find one that fit me, but i did and all was well. we were early and there were a bunch of different swimming lessons going on. we just floated and watched the kids and talked. it was very nice and relaxing. eventually other ladies started arriving and donning the foam belts.

once class started there was no relaxing happening. i didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't hard to catch on to. our instructor was very good and clear with the movements we were supposed to do. after a while i looked around and noticed that i was the only one churning up and splashing so much water. i don't know how the other ladies did it. messy and wild in every aspect of my life, i guess. at one point i almost splashed this lady in the face whey we had to push our hands out to the side. she didn't look amused. :) accidents happen lady. anyways, like i said it was a really good workout and when i got out my legs felt like jelly and didn't want to go back to supporting my body.

i rinsed quickly in the shower and chatted momentarily to an older lady. she said the deep water one was way harder than the shallow water one because you have to use your abs and stuff. later i happened to see her buck naked when i was walking by to go to the washroom (incidentally every toilet had wet bum marks on it. ewww.) what is it with nakedness in change rooms? shauna and i were discussing how it's worse when you're with someone you know and they are totally comfortable and open about being naked in the change room. that's like when i did my first run with leif and corinne, a girl from the branch. i walked into the change room to see a full view of her naked. it's stranger somehow than seeing strangers in the buff. anyone know what i mean?

so lately i've been consumed with the container garden i've been planting on the balcony. i still have a few more plants to plant. i splurged and bought a peony! my very favourite and andrea's arch enemy. i bought i white kind that has the occasional red splash in the middle. i'm excited about it. i bought izzy cat grass to eat so hopefully she stays away from the plants. she's such a plant nibbler. i fuss over my garden, water it and pray over it. strange how i'm so into my garden yet so neglectful of my indoor plants. i'm a study of paradoxes--i know this.

so sleepy. being in the water does that to you.

oh yeah, tidbit--today i opened the cooler door on my foot. it rolled and grated over my toes like they were gravel under a car's tires. the result was blood. my middle toe's nail gouged a chunk out of my next to baby toe. i think this is needless cruelty between toes. don't tell anyone but i lost my band aid in the pool. shhhhhhh.

another tidbit--as the old rash fades, and new wave develops. one patch on my face. some right on top of the old spot, but all are smaller. two at the base of my neck. other weird symptom--since mondie, my right cheek bone-temple-eye brow has been sore to the touch and achy and headachy. odd eh? something weird is happening in my body and i don't like it.