Dammit Ayurveda!

I think I may have cursed myself by reading an article yesterday about "Living With Ayurvedic Cycles," because I am hopelessly drawn to these could-be secrets about our bodies and experiences.  I skimmed it quickly on my iPhone (a seemingly inescapable part of our experience nowadays, eh?) and took away only a few nuggets: eat a light breakfast, a big lunch, opt for afternoon naps on your left side, and wake up before the sun rises.  It's this last one that I found my mind sort of casually chewing on when I was on the bus coming back from my class last night.  Well, thanks a lot Ayurveda, you sly dog, you.  The oft-dormant obedient side of my brain popped me wide awake circa 4am - when the sun most certainly remained nestled far from my hemisphere - and never made it back to sleep.

My stubborn wakefulness was furthered by the occasional bangs and thumps coming from upstairs, sounding far beyond the capabilities of a cat (or even three), and what my wired little mind thought could have been a footstep.  Honestly, I think it was more boredom than anything, because in order for this phantom burglar scenario to have been plausible, said burglar was apparently taking one step every ten minutes or so and not touching a thing in between, clearly foregoing any lessons in robbery efficiency.  Not funny?  I've been up since 4am!  Give a girl a break!

Anyway, this whole series of events led me to probably a solid hour of laying in bed and contemplating my options to defend Kei and I should our perp come down and face-off with us.  I had quickly ruled out the option of waking Kei a la the movies so he could dash upstairs and protect us... I think movies tend to underestimate the grogginess of men upon first waking, so I surmised that the several minutes spent by:

"Kei!  I think somebody is upstairs!" - M in frantic whisper.
"Mmmmmmmaaarrrrggggg." (Pause) "Hmm?" - K, not clearly demonstrating whether this was a question or just an extended moan.
"Listen!  I think someone is in the apartment!" - M
(Yawn) "Aaaarrrrugh. Mmm." (Pause) "What?" - K

... would have given our foe far too much advantage.

Assembling defense plans is an old habit of mine ever since I was a kid.  It's weird, because I basically had an idyllic youth, with 3 exceptions: (1) when I wandered off while on a walk and "someone" decided to teach me a lesson by cupping a hand over my mouth so as to simulate kidnapping and scared the bejesus out of me, (2) when I got lost in the snowblower section of a hardware store, maybe Fleet Farm?, and eventually fell to despair because I was convinced that I would simply never find my mom again, and (3) when I grabbed the wrong man's hand after church - and in that moment when I realized the hand grasping mine was too hairy, meaty, and gold-watch-sporting to be my father, and I was again quickly convinced that I'd been kidnapped, almost like it was an inevitability.  I guess the lesson from (1) really hit home.  I digress.  No seriously, I really did imagine all kinds of defense options in various places in my house.  For example, I was pretty sure if attacked in the shower, I could tear off the faucet handle and use it as a bludgeon, thus impressing and surprising my attacker so much that he didn't stand a chance.  I hated the idea of being nude through the whole ordeal, but I figured it would only add to my fury and ensure my success.  And one of the rungs of my childhood twin bed was a little loose, and I found this comforting, because I figured I had a weapon ready should someone sneak into my room at night.  Is this normal behavior?  Probably not.  Oh well.

Anyway, back to this morning, after the hour of considering options and realizing that I had no good weapon, except possibly my computer - but ruled out that one because, what a waste! - I accepted that I'd have to slither out of bed, stand next to the doorway, and when he came in just launch at him and see how I fare in hand-to-hand combat.  Fortunately, it never came down to this.  When I finally gave up on everything from my heroic adventure to the possibility of falling back asleep, I got up and found that, indeed, the cats had managed to knock over the canister of cat food and slide it a few feet across the kitchen floor.  Thus supplying me with imagination fodder from 4:30am - 5:30am. Appreciated.

Interestingly, when I opened this blog post, I thought, "What am I going to write about?  Nothing has happened lately..." and then outpoured this mildly embarrassing essay about my childhood neurosis following me right into my looming thirties.  I blame Ayurveda, obviously.

Mikan Yoga!

For Valentines Day, Kei registered my very own website - www.mikanyoga.com.  Here's how it looked on its debut:

Best Damn Valientines gift ever.  <3

At this point, mikanyoga.com has been given a make-over, and I'll be consistently working to add more content and information as it comes. It's been a fun to build it up, annnnd I just printed business cards as well.  Woot-woot!  Please check it out and let me know what you think!

And if you're in the Bay area - come visit me in a public class or get in touch for private lessons!

Just a Little Crabby on Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day! <33  Kei and I both had the day free, and decided to opt for the more "Kondo-esque" version of a crab feast rather than:

Letting gluttony run its course at Joe's Crab Shack: check.

How you ask?  Well, fortunately for us, another highlight of this great city is the public piers from which you can go crabbing.  We first tried this out with the great Team Warlicht last week and had great success and great times! (Though Yoriko and I were mainly the support crew with wine in tow...)

Soo... we packed up the gear in our Prius, and in a style oh-so-San-Francisco, hit the pier once more and caught five more!

I even gave it a shot this time!

My favorite part of the crabbing experience is the bane of all other crabbers (crabbists?): the sea lions!  If your prime goal is to catch crabs, then the wily sea lions that work arduously to steal and devour your bait tend to be a nuisance.  On the other hand, if your reason for being there is to enjoy a gorgeous view on a gorgeous day with a gorgeous husband... then a visit from this guy is a pretty rad addition!

Oh, and Nigel the clever, crowd-pleasing pelican, too. :-)

Plus, in apparent honor of lovers' day, we were treated to sea lions getting physical... Perhaps not the video that will get National Geographic calling with job offers, but frisky sea lions were impossible to edit out on Valentines!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY, LOVES! xx

P.S. For those asking me about a follow-up to the previous entry and/or wondering how crabbing fits into a vegan diet...  I've landed on my diet decisions for now: mostly vegan, with the exception of cage-free eggs, cheese (I'm weak/trying to make realistic goals!), and seafood on select occasions. In the case of crabbing, I'm the one annoying Neil and Kei making sure the crabs are handled humanely - even if that means buckets with water still in them sloshing around in our car on the way home.

Vegucation and Its Complications!

The other day, Kei stunned me by suggesting we watch the film Vegucated - stunned because he has been in a nearly nine year battle to get me to eat meat with him, never missing an opportunity to ask me if I wanted to taste that particular burger, lamb, steak, etc.  But I quieted my shock, and alas we put it on.

Let me start by this - just watch it. No but seriously.  Just watch it.  It is not an anthem of lectures and moral superiority, and it requires zero commitment to change your own diet, it just sheds light on some interesting and generally misunderstood issues. That it would have an effect on me (to say the least - see below) is less than surprising since I've long been prone to this thought-process, but for the last few years, I have gotten increasingly lax on the whole vegetarianism thing (eating seafood and poultry ever since I lived in Tokyo), and Vegucated served as something of a wake-up call to me.  The thing is, I can't seem to settle on precisely where my awakened state leaves me.

While we watched the film, many of the points were valid, informative reminders of the vast benefits of eliminating meat & dairy from your diet (environmentally, food production efficiency, etc.).  It was when the conversation turned to the treatment of animals in today's industrial meat/poultry/dairy production system, however, that my reaction became visceral .  My horror came out my eyeballs, and I was literally sobbing.  That's my first somewhat embarrassing confession... though I suppose anyone who has witnessed me watch any movie featuring a dog or horse will be less than surprised by the prospect of my tears.  I digress.  My point is that it is simply horrific what happens each and every day to these creatures with functioning nervous systems, fear, affection, personalities... To treat them without a shred of humanity, like parts of a machine that have no sense of pain or fear - just because they don't have a voice and people want to make a buck - makes my blood boil.  I don't want to be a part of it.  Period.  And that is precisely where I was as the credits to Vegucated played along the screen when I turned to Kei and simply said, "I just turned vegan."

However, my second embarrassing confession is that I'm finding myself bizarrely confused about my convictions.  I still feel the same horror.  The same desire to NOT be a part of that whole awful process.  But... You see, it started with the yogurt and half & half already sitting in my refrigerator - both parts of my daily (beloved) breakfast of a smoothie and coffee with cream.  Hmm.  Kei - the ever-logical voice in my ear was quick to remind me that throwing away perfectly good dairy products will neither save an animal, nor affect the company/production process since it has already been paid for. So there's that.

Plus, when I compare my reaction to the thought of eating a bite of pork (just not possible, way over the line of what I can handle) to my feelings about adding cream to my coffee... conjuring the same disgust feels somehow affected. But both are part of these horrific processes, right?  So why the difference, if it is the process that abhors me?  Hmph.  Working this out... (o_0)

For now, I appreciate being considerably more conscious of all these issues.  I am making a concerted effort to refrain from animal products, within reason.  "Within reason" is currently defined (by me) as not causing a lot of trouble when someone else is cooking for me and/or we're sharing food, etc... Exceptions will probably be bountiful, but small steps are still steps after all, right? Right?!

Benefits of Being a Cat-Owner

Yes, I grew up with dogs and am dying to get a dog (but will alas wait until we have a yard).  Yes, plenty of people are cat nay-sayers, given their intermittently aloof or at least difficult-to-discern attitudes.  And yes, my Dad nary enjoys a giggle much like those surrounding our current cat-craziness or the painful memory of him once selling the cat I had in high school on the internet (this was pre-craigslist or any precedent and without my knowledge or consent while I was away at volleyball camp that summer).  But here's what ya'll are missing:

Warm lap and eager napping buddies (even on road trips!)...

Bed kept warm and love-filled for you...

Auto-affection and phenomenal bargaining chips with your four & two year old nieces...

Pure joy. (Please move on without noticing this and the first one were both mid-road trip, and I was driving and playing photo-journalist...)

Merry Christmas & Gingerbread Glory

Merry Christmas!  While in Wisconsin, Kei and I had our sanity questioned more than a few times for more than a few reasons.  

(1) My dad still hasn't quite gotten past the third cat (who is cute as ever, and likely the subject of the next blog post).  

(2) Very few can comprehend what made us pack up said three cats into our car and drive for 36 hours from San Francisco to Manitowoc… and we were among them for a bit there… We were on the road for a whopping 15 minutes when suddenly a horrendous stench began to take over the meager air space inside a Prius. Turned out Cosette had a bout of car sickness, and it came out her back end... Really though, the real victim here was Heidegger, given that he was locked in the same cage as her at the time and held hostage with the foul contraband until Kei and I figured out what was going on and pulled over to clean up. In any case, we survived that one and Heidegger's brief foaming of the mouth (more car sickness) and made it to Manitowoc in tact!

(3) Kei was inspired to make a gingerbread house… and as I'm every day discovering: marriage means WE were going to be making a gingerbread house.  This may not have been sanity-shaking alone, but true to our SF nature, we insisted on doing everything by scratch and going above and beyond minimum expectations.  All the nay-saying and hours (okay, days) of effort eventually became worth it when the finished project emerged: behold the process and the product!

Kei was the chief dreamer, planner, architect, and builder... credit certainly must be due:

 My main contribution came in when we started dreaming up the decorations, beginning with the melted butterscotch candy windows.  Turns out this is more fun than I ought to admit.

The pine trees were my other great claim to fame (frosting and sugar cones - wa-laa!), and the two of us worked together for the rest of the decorations...

 Finished product!

TA-DAAA!!! The front & main show!

Merry Christmas from your favorite crazy Kondos!

So THAT'S How Kelley Does It...

I've long been teased for failing to keep up with my oldest sister, who can only be called a master blogger - usually posting multiple times every week... compared to my hardy "once in awhile when I think of it..."  But today, I realized (one of!) her secret weapons, and that weapon calls herself Juliette - who's natural tendency to ham it up renders her full of readily available blog post content!  Behold:

 The kickoff, her school's Christmas show, where she was a very excited and musical camel...

The hamming picked up some momentum when we grabbed an iPhone and started playing at GiGi's (my mom)'s house...

We then moved to some emoticons - an old favorite of mine since college...

The Classics:

"Angry" 

"Surprised" 

It was on "Suspicious" that I realized I couldn't compete with the acting skills of my 4 year old niece...

Kelley and GiGi got in on "Confused"

Not even sure what this is - but it simply rocks

"You love GiGi soooo much!"

"Magdalenne (her sister) just took your toy"

"What is the face you make when I say you should take a nap?"

"What is the face you make when I tell you to eat your vegetables?"

Sassy and She Knows It

And finally some bonus shots I just snapped while she was hanging with the girls...

Love this little lady!! xoxo