no matter how cold it is, in santa cruz, the demand for waves is always higher than the supply.

i never heard of “buddha boy” until last night, when i saw a documentary about him on youtube. palden dorje is “buddha boy,” he started meditating at 15 and has already achieved enlightenment. i’m not sure who is operating his website, but there’s some fairly recent footage of him. he was supposed to make an appearance this past weekend, but it din’t happen for security reasons. i gotta say, i’m completely intrigued by him. check out his wiki for a translation of a speech he gave. see you tomorrow ~m

p.s. class was good today ~ i had a lot of chores that occupied me today ~ going to do a test ad layout tomorrow at 1:30, think good thoughts for me heartbreakers!

hey hey heartbreakers, i took this after bikram today. this stretch of street is pretty rough, which is why my bag is sliding off my back. click and see the larger, uncropped version which i like much more.

i hit snooze twice this morning—thank god i can bike to bikram! crowded 8 am class, i was gonna squeeze into the middle row when my friend made room for me next to her in the front. be still my, um, heart and remember, she wants a friend, nothing more. it was still a nice way to spend a sunday morning. except for my stomach growling in class! i had an apple on the way, but nothing more and my the floor series, my stomach was delivering dialogue of its own. lucky for me, the market next door had a good morning grazing—brownie bits and cinammon cake, yum!

~night at the movies~

why was i rushed this morning? i got caught up watching a great documentary—9/11 the falling man. it was about the photographs of people jumping from the twin towers. pretty heavy stuff, they talked to family members, the photographer, newspaper people who printed it. they even went into a little of the history behind photojournalism. it was something you prolly won’t see but is highly recommended.

also high on my recommend list is black dynamite. this movie is so deep with jokes, you can watch it 3 or 4 times and still catch something new. black dynamite is a new movie filmed to look like a “lost” film from the early 1970s. the colour looks incredible and takes you back to the drive-in, the script is well-crafted and clever, the acting and edting were all “perfect”—honestly, ii was the funniest movie i’ve seen all year.

if you like scary movies, i thought paranormal activity was a lot of fun! it wasn’t as scary as i was hoping, but your results may vary. i was really looking forward to this movie and it din’t disappoint. okay heartbreakers, see you tomorrow ~m

god bless cold water surfers. i love the wave in this photograph. i swear this town is a postcard picture everywhere you turn.

how was your class today? i think there were more people today than on thanksgiving. i was “stuck” in the back row, relegated to a little sliver of mirror. even though i was one of the first to bikram this morning, i was still slow in getting my mat in the room. honestly, i din’t care where i was, ever since i talked to a friend who had been missing bikram for financial reasons, i’m just happy to be in the room. okay friends, hope you’re enjoying your thanksgiving weekend. mei is at the bodies exhibit tonight in vegas, exciting, she’s almost a certified teacher! and jolinda too! patience j, you’ll be there soon! namaste ~m

did you make it to practise today? me and my friends were early birds, waiting for doors to unlock this morning. we weren’t at a sale, we were waiting for the bikram yoga studio to open. we’ve got our priorities straight! our teacher started class by saying “anybody can practise on thanksgiving, not everyone can practise the day *after* thanksgiving.” that was a good way to make us feel better about our lethargy. i din’t even have a big meal yesterday and i was still feeling slow. oh man, my knees were so weak—i think it’s the extra 20 miles i pedaled this week. well, class wasn’t too bad, but walking up my driveway *after* class was another story altogether. it took every last bit of bulldog determination and bengal tiger strength to keep going. now that i’ve eaten, i feel completely recharged, but it was “woe is me” for a few minutes. okay, heartbreakers, see you tomorrow ~m

don’t let the doghouse bass and acoustic guitar fool you, this was not your typical farmers market band. humanbaby had a real velvets tone to the few songs i was able to hear.

i really wasn’t thinking when i tweeted earlier that class wasn’t crowded. now that i really think about it, you could barely walk anywhere—i had to indiana jones hop across the room to talk to someone. i worked today, as part of my work trade, getting people signed into the computer, giving out mats & towels, running credit cards. looking back, it was pretty busy! class was fantastic, i haven’t had a trish class in so long. she used to be a regular teacher when i first started practising. her words and energy really helped shape my practise, it was rad to have her leading class again.

well, the packers won today, but what am i most thankful for? trixie. um, but not just trixie, her older “brothers” mr. purr & motor. i’m also thankful for my family—my mom & sister and dad. i’m also grateful for my second family—the bikram community. both online and in santa cruz, you’ve taken me in like a wayward son and i love you so much for it. mostly i’m thankful to be alive and able to enjoy so much of life. that’s it. see you tomorrow ~m

earlier this month, i went to the monterey farmers market with my family. not only did they have more hot food vendors than in santa cruz, it was big enough to have two small bands playing at the same time.

we’ve been talking about crowded classes a lot, today was an exception to the holiday rush. despite the available room, someone still put their mat right next to my friend’s. i think it’s new people who do that more often than not. it was funny to see her mildly irked at the situation. it reminded me of the other day when someone set up right in front of another friend. after class, he admitted he got steamed. we all love group energy, but we still need our personal space don’t we? i had plenty of personal space, there was only one other person in the cold side front row! nice luxury for a nice leah class. she’s tough but steady with the pace. she even threw a couple “nice m” my way to make my class even better! alright friends, see you tomorrow ~m

god bless jimmy fallon ~ i think i still know all the words to this song