Downward Dog? Yoga is not so bad.

I just redeemed my sister's gift from last Christmas. She thoughtfully (cough) got me an intro series to yoga. It consists of eight classes during four weeks. I was, of course, very apprehensive as I am not as limber as I would like. I was also leery of spiritual propaganda being pushed by yoga instructors as I don't know much about it. I guessed the best I can do is go in open minded and reject anything I don't like. Anyhoo.

I arrived a little early for the first class, as I hate being late. I handed over my waiver and paid a dollar for mat rental. There were more than tweleve students if I recall correctly. It was standing room only, or should I say sitting room only. The students were of different types. You know, tall, short, skinny, and not so skinny. I was surprised to see about equal number of men and women. I guess I was relieved to see guys.

There was a great "Gosh darn" moment. A great room walked in and laid out her mat. You know, the eye candy type that makes your class bearable or enjoyable. Sorry to say, she was in there for few minutes before realizing she was in a wrong class. BUMMER.

Weirdly, I actually enjoyed my first class. It was more strenuous than I thought it would be. I felt much tension from rarely stretched muscles, joints, and extremities. I think this will be good for my running and good for calming down. I think I can actually use some of these postures in real life. COOL!!!

My movie pick:

I am recommending two movies this time. I enjoyed watching Sin City and Layer Cake. Sin City is a visually stunning movie based on the graphic novel with same name, which I am assuming. It has all the big names like Bruce Willis, Brittany Murphy, and Elijah Wood. That means acting is above par. It is violent. It is unnecessarily violent like the comic violence can get. Only downfall for me is that I kind of outgrew the type of story this. It is not the most interesting story for me.

Layer Cake is a British gangster movie about drug business. It is a great story and acting is also good. I had no idea who is the bad guy. I mean they are all bad guys, but who is the one doing the bad things? I highly recommend this movie even though I hated the twisted ending. May be a little weak!

Little bro is not so little any more ...

I have been a Valley Big Brother to a young man, JR, for more than six years now. JR is a senior this year, which means this is the last year together as the Brothers. It is little sad. There were many good moments, but last year did not have so many. I am not sure what happen exactly, but I will make more efforts this year to do more things.

I arranged for JR and I to go bowling. I paid for our shoe rental and got us a lane. We chatted about this and that. I talked to him about his future and the senior year. I just wanted to plant some ideas in his head. While I cannot choose his path to glory, I would like for him to be more thoughtful about it. I think he will be great. If anything, I hope he knows there is another person rooting for him.

I won the first game easily. After all, I recorded a turkey. That is three strikes in a row for those who don't know. Second game was another story. I had to play catch up as JR bowled much better and I much worse. Luckily, I tied his score. I am still unbeaten, but that day is coming soon.

Movie Recommendation: Real Women Have Curves is my recommendation. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I guess I did not have a good read on this movie. This movie is about a smart young Mexican immigrant woman making it. I am sucker for a good immigrant story. There are many funny moments, but shows real insights into how things truly are in another sector of our society. I think any movie that offers better understanding of our world is a movie worth watching more than once. One BIG TOE up!

Is that Ricky Ricardo on the Miami International PA?

Did you know Blimpie International held its convention with its franchisees in Miami this past week? Well, now you know. My "mum" was nominated for the Franchisee of the year in the West Region. Since I am not working at this time, I could not tell her I did not want to accompany her to the convention. This will teach me to stay employed at all times.

Monday was a traveling day to Miami. I was ill right away with motion sickeness. I also forgot to bring any medication. Way to go. We first stopped at Denver. It was cool morning which was a great change of pace. We got on the rail to Concourse B, where our flight took us to Miami. It was a hellacious ride for both of us. I felt all the symptoms. You know, dry heaving and sweaty palms, etc. All I could do was to keep calm and breath easy. Somehow, I managed to keep everything down until we got off the plane. Let me just say, I gave back all the cinnamon roll to porcelain god. I felt better afterwards.

Landing in Miami was as expected. Hot and wet air hit my face as I exited the plane. As I was making my way over to the porcelain god, I heard this thick Cuban accent. I mean I heard a woman announcer with Ricky Ricardo like accent. I knew I was in Miami. Where else would you hear a public announcer with a Cuban accent? Too cool. People with all kinds of hispanic accents were all around.

My impression of the Blimpie convention is the meeting of overworked franchise owners with their families. First day was about registering and reception. The reception was a buffet of hotel food, which was mediocre at best. I was pretty tired so I did not go on exploring Miami Beach.

Second day, I sat through company rah rah's in the morning and walked through its trade show in the afternoon. Wow, I was not having fun. I guess this is what we call filial duties. My mother was hoping for a good bonding time with her son away from her crazy everyday stuff. We walked on the boardwalk and went out to dinner. It was nice, but walking long distance in sticky weather is not fun.

Third day was full of accolades for my mother. She won the West Region Franchisee of the Year, which qualified her in National Franchisee of the Year award. I was proud of her. Many came to congratulate her, and some knew her from reading the company newsletter that featured her. All this happened during the breakfast. During lunch, franchisee had a meeting which included a town hall meeting and voting. Wow, what fun! Reception and dinner was a little different. It was more awards and some dancing with dinner. Good news is my mother won!!!!! Very exciting. God, she needed this. She does not get enough appreciation from this ungrateful son. We watched as other under appreciated franchisees and under partied Blimpie Corporate employees danced the night away. I wanted to call it a nigh early, because we had to catch a plane out next day at dawn. Ouch.

I medicated myself so the trip back was much more pleasant. Of course, I sat in front of an inebriated woman. Flight attendant refused to serve her. Thank God, she was a polite drunk. I could not stop grinning as the situation seem so funny to me. She had slow speech, nonsensical speech, slow movement, and was little combative.

This trip was good for my mother and I think that is good for me at the end.

Allow me to explain.

I got tired of maintaining three separate blogs and asking people to read them. I decided to combine my blogging efforts about homebrewing, movie recommendation, and complaining all into one. I am going to write at least once a week, I hope. So here is my new blog.

Homebrewing: I am planning to brew a Belgian beer called "Saison" next. It should happen within a couple of weeks. I am pretty excited about this beer as it is quite different than other English or German beer. The last beer was bottled about a month ago, which was a California Common type. You know, like an Anchor Steam.

Movie Recommendation: I am highly recommending a Norwegian movie called "Slim Susie." It is a great movie that has quirky characters, interesting twists, musical interjections, and a great story. It has violence, sex, and vomitting, so be aware.

Complaining: Miami is not a good place for a visit during August. It was quite muggy. I mean people has glow about them, but it turns out they are all sweating.

Thanks for reading.