The wind down, evil energy drinks, and the turkey tradition

So, remember my pledge to stop using electronics before bed.

It worked. Sleep is great, and man, it really saves during cold and flu season. In fact, the ipod isn't even allowed on my dresser at night anymore because of how tempted I am to play mindless games on it all night.

I once read in a Donald Miller book "Blue like Jazz" that the devil's work wasn't necessarily bad deeds, but wasting your time. I SO AGREE! Other days when I could be writing my to-do lists, and (heaven forbid) actually accomplish EVERYTHING on the to do list, I consider a sucessful day. But a lot of times I could be playing dumb games and say to myself "but I almost have the high score... I will remember to do that..." and oops, big surprise, it doesn't get done.

On my own rant, I am pretty sure that on top of wasting time being the work of the Devil, wasting your money should be on that list two. Did you know, that an apple does more for a person to keep them awake and alert than any soda, coffee, or energy drink? AND, last I checked, juice was cheaper than energy drinks, not to mention an actual apple is 39 cents at trader joes... and your drinking WHAT??? does anyone ELSE see how that doesn't make sense? what? it doesn't come with a cool logo on it? or in an awesome can?

"But Nat Q. I don't sleep..."

Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe you're not sleeping because you're pouring crud into your body that has side effects to it that will keep you awake? Wanna break the no sleep cycle? STOP DRINKING CHEMICALS, go one day tired, eat RIGHT, and guess what, within 2-3 days you can be sleeping like a baby again. I challenge anyone with sleep issues to DROP the ENERGY DRINK! In my opinion, it is a gateway to waste more time and money on stuff youd don't want and won't need if you just treat your body nice. Come on peeps, seriously, you only get one!

Think about it, if you eat an apple, where's the harm? If it's your first day, your pipes might get clean (only REAL negitive side effect) and you'll be alert full, and up on your immune system. What if you drink an energy drink? Well, you pour chemicals that haven't been around long enough to know if they have long term effects on you or not (ever read the side where it says pregnant women shouldn't drink that? that's why...), you won't be full, and if you're like me, you'll have the shakes that will put you in a weirder mood than sleep deprivation. and guess what? it does NOTHING for your immune system... so, you get sick, which means you are now putting MORE chemicals into your body, which probably haven't been tested with your energy drink chemicals, and now you have a tummy ache, weird rashes... you can't sleep, nothing tastes good, etc. etc. etc.) It makes me want to cry for my peers that insist it is the eveil apple keeping them awake at night... and not the 1000 of chemicals their body has taken during the day. I mean, sure the example is extreme (a little) but all those "littles" add up.

On a brighter note, Thanksgiving is just around the corner and my sister & my's thanksgiving tradition is gonna be a great one. The tradition: no tradition! But we always take "Spanksgiving" (as we have named it) as an opportunity try new recipies and adventures.

This year's theme: "Side Spanksgiving". On the menu: nothing but sides... I think we are even gonna try Lobster mac & cheese, which means boiling a real live lobster.... I'll let you know 1) if it happens and 2) how it goes....

I'm going to say it.

Instant Messeging is ruining my life.

There! I said it.

Another sleepless night came and went and I awoke this morning with something I have not had in a long time...

Is that... It can't be.... nope. That's definitely... the sniffles.

It has been at LEAST two years since my last cold. And I attributed it to my lifestyle change my last year of college when I could afford to be sick, I would go to bed around 10 or 11, and eat only the best for me. I'm not talking Three Squares, friends, I'm talking hippie-green, Kale and broccoli Smoothies followed by tofu scramble for dinner (Don't knock it til you've tried it). And this diet of fortified Greens and limited processed sugar kept me more energized and healthy than any vitamin tablet I have ever choked down.)

And Now, fast forward to now. I have NO Dance, I workout when I can (which I figured out is a lame excuse that office people have come up with) where I didn't get off my phone/Ipod touch/ e-mail til... 12:30 in the freaking morning!!! No wonder Mister sniffles has come to visit.

I am making myself a promise, with you, blog, as my witness: I am turning off

If you could see me right now, I am doing robot moves like I am winding down....

::robot Moves Here:: Turn-ING-OOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFF....

No more electronics an HOUR before bed. I don't care if Twyla Tharp herself is on the phone!

I'll let you know how it goes... it seems like a good idea.

Friends: I'm BACK!

IT finally happened.

I knew this day would come, and it finally did.

I was in the shower this morning, and 16 year old me smacked me upside the head... and it felt good.

That's the punch line. I'll Tarantino it back so you know what I'm talking about.

When I was 16, I couldn't wait for college. I chose my clothes and habits specifically to prepare for it. I wore my tube socks and sweats like a badge of pride, I was too athletic to wear a skirt. Also, I was training to be a dancer, and I remember it being November, and the vivid memory that popped into my head was me wearing my ankle weights under my sweats, so I could sit and do my chem calculations WHILE sculpting my inner thighs for the grande battements that were gonna kick my but only a mere 6 hours later. I... was a multi-tasker.

Weird? It gets weirder.

I also used to do weird things like inspect the cracks in the cement to try and find a pattern. or watch ants to see if they had any weird patterns that I could steal and make dance formations... and if anyone ever caught me doing such odd things and have the nerve to ask me what I was doing. My answer was plain and simple...

"I'm conducting research."

One last thing... I have this thing about sleeping dirty. It used to be because I would dance so hard during the day I NEEDED to shower at night, there was no other option.

So... when I was showering this morning (because now I have to actually look like a person during the day) A voice came. God, my conscience, or whomever, came to me in the voice of 16 year old me. And they had a clear message:

"stiff."

Excuse me? I replied in my head. I had not slept well, which is why I was up.

"You've given up. Your a stiff. A working. Stiff."

and I wanted to argue, but there was one minor problem: My voice was right. I was on my way to a 12 hour day where I would get NO physical activity in, which was why I was not sleeping at night.

Well, I could have argued. I could have blamed society, my bills, school. But not today, a very important other voice came into my head...

"If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make the change..."

And I remembered My project with the City to be launched in JAnuary.

It was like I was in training all over again.

I got out of the shower and moonwalked (in my head) to my closet to pick out my outfit. While I have joined the working stiff world, I had to pick my outfit for the day carefully. JEans with a flair at the bottom.

Without HEsitation, I donned my jeans and ran down the stairs, leapt onto the big green couch and reached behind it where the wall meets the couch and pulled out....

... my blue ankle weights.

And as sure as I am typing this to you now, friends, I am working my hip flexors, greator trochantor, and Solar plexus from my desk.

Oh and that's not all.

With the help of Keri Smith (http://www.kerismith.com/) I became "An explorer of the world" once again... I took note of EVERY corner on the way to school from my house to the light rail to the office in which I am sitting now (Spiders do NOT congregate on the struts near the light rail station on fruitdale... the do at the convention center; if you are looking for a file folder at sjsu, it is PROBABLY in a corner... see?)

And when the VTA contacts me in January, I will be ready.

Friends, I am back.

Back by popular demand

Hello from Natalie Land!

The forecast: cloudy. With a chance of tears.

How do you help someone that can't help themselves?

I know this blog started as thoughts on creativity, but since I am on Dancer hiatus (which I am HATING, btw,) I have nothing to reflect on but life. Real life. And this is my real life.

A Loved one just took a hard hit. A born and bred pilot. Colorblind.

Go ahead, laugh. it is a little funny.

Anyone who knew this would have figured out something to do with his life by now, but not him.

He was born to do one thing, and that is fly.

So when he took his colorblind test this past friday and (obviously) failed. The results were dire. We are talking 11:30am drinking, followed by wall punching, looking for a new car or bike, talking about becoming a truck driver, and laying in the dark, staring at the ceiling. It HURT, friends. To watch my other (and sometimes better) half go to a dark and scary place that I personally have never been to... It hurt. So I did what any one would do: I searched for an answer.

Well, after not much hunting I found an answer. Across the nation, on the other coast, resides the one AND ONLY M.D. on the continent who specializes in color correction. I of course emailed him immediately to give friend (and myself, i suppose) a glimmer of hope.

Of course, after a long weekend of waiting, here I sit today with my shoulders in my ears. We have heard back from our doctor color friend. The appt. would be 4-6 hours and.... 8,000 dollars.

I reread the number. $8000. None to be covered by insurance.

And it was at that moment, and how I sit now, feeling like an elephant is sitting on my chest. Like someone has me by the scruff of my neck and it is keeping me from putting my shoulders were they belong. And all I can do... is type.

What do you do?

To make matters worse, I went to my regularly scheduled staff meeting and we were going around in a circle to talk about our strengths and how to perfect them... and while my peers went around and talked about themselves, I couldn't even listen...

Peer Mentors, that's who we are. Before college I served a similar position in my church. I help. All I want to DO is help people. If I could stand on a street corner and listen to someone's problems, tell jokes, and tap dance to make people happy I would do it... But how do you fix the unfixable? How do you repeal an outdated rule, and above all, how do you deal with someone whose passion has been savagely ripped from there hands.

I Pray. HE knows I've been praying. But HE also know I am a woman of action so here I am again at my keyboard, restless from my inability to help. And what could I tell my peers, while in this time of day all I could think about was how useless my strengths really are...

"My best strength is my organization skills. I came from a big busy family and as a result I have scheduling down to a science. There was a point in my life where I worked 6 jobs and had 23 school units, which can attest to my organization. I have often been compared to Monica Geheller, and the only reason I know who she is, is because there was a period of time where I scheduled TV into my own schedule, and the only thing that was ever worth watching during my 6 o'clock-6:28 schedule was reruns of friends..."

What good is this strength when you find a situation... a REAL life situation, that is perplexing. I cannot organize his eyes to see green or white, I can't even get a job organizing someone ELSE's life so they can pay me to pay for his procedure.... so I can only ask again....

What does one do?