Walking hand
Blog Instead of being asleep at 12:31 on 1 July 2016, kitt created this:For reasons I do not know and have not figured out, when I walk, and think, and am in a state of flow, I walk with my left ring finger curled with the tip touching the muscle base of my thumb.
I've never noticed my doing this with the right hand, only the left hand. My rest of my fingers are all relaxed, the ring finger is the only one actively contracted.
Double Bra Day
Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 09:57 on 30 June 2016I've been trying to go for a run on a regular basis these days. I sweat, my body does not make my desire for consistency with running easy, though. About once a month, for about a week, my body makes exercise particularly difficult.
A good sports bra can help with one particular aspect of my exercising difficulty, but even the best can fail with a small-chested, large-breasted woman who participates in a lot of high-impact activities such as running, ultimate, plyometrics, jump rope, and burpees.
Years ago, a fellow large-breasted ultimate player had breast reduction surgery, I can only assume so that she could play ultimate better and in less pain (she was a top player in the nation and the world). She had been playing with two bras regularly, wearing three on her big-girl days. I have at times followed in her steps, knowing that wearing two bras means I can exercise. The trick, however, is wearing the second one correctly.
When the second bra is the same band size as the first bra, the band is too tight for comfortably breathing. Not being able to expand your ribcage when exercising has dire health consequences, as I learned when I was first playing ultimate. I wore a bra with a band too tight, and developed chest pains. X-rays revealed I had hyperinflated lung fields, which could lead to impaired muscle function and heart dysfunction. Pretty scary stuff! I subsequently bought a correctly fitting bra recommended by another large-breasted teammate and played ultimate for years without too many issues.
Eventually, however, my sports bras wore out, and I went on a hunt for new ones. I bought 6 different kinds (these things are not cheap) before asking for advice from various other large-breasted, exercising friends. Kate came through for me, having also been on the hunt for a good sports bra recently, too. So, I bought a dozen of them, including, I am delighted to say, one with a band one size too big.
With this "too big" bra, I can double up on the bras, wearing the second one slightly looser but still sufficiently tight. I have less bounce, can still breathe, and, hooray! still go for a run, big-girl day be damned.
... While Daring Greatly
MicroBlog kitt decided around 09:02 on 29 June 2016 to publish this:“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
Hair
Daily Photo Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 12:37 on 25 June 2016
Pretty sure I've posted this one elsewhere. I really like this picture. Give me another year and my hair will be this long again.
Power of Vulnerability
Book Notes kitt decided around 20:34 on 24 June 2016 to publish this:
This isn't a book review, even though the content type under the title of this page says "Book Review." This is more of a rambling set of thoughts about why I picked up this book, and why I want you to read it too.
Okay. So.
It has been a long while since I've read a book that moved me to tears as well as to laughter. It has been a long time since I've read a book that left me feeling that the world can be a better place, that my life can be a better life. It has been a long time since I've read a self-help book that I has been as inspirational as this one is (which is kinda saying something: I've read a lot of self=help books).
The big caveat of this is, of course, that I didn't read this book, I listened to the audio book, and am very thankful I did. The book is a series of six lectures by Brené Brown as she goes through her research on shame and vulnerability, some the findings, and many of the ways that one can improve one's life. Not improve it in the "have more wealth" way or "eat this, lose pounds, get laid" way (though, maybe the same result could happen), but in the base, fundamental joy one has in being alive.
Ooof, now there's a big promise to make.
Right.
Okay, so, why did I read this book?
I've seen Brené Brown's Ted Talk, The Power of Vulnerability, when it went viral back in 20111. Ugh. Five years ago.
The audio book was on sale, and I recalled the video when I was buying a book for my mom, so I threw this one into my cart, too. I don't know what lured me to the book specifically, to be honest, so let's go with impulse purchase.
Which is to say, when the student is ready...
Brené's style of speaking, and way of interleaving personal experiences, hard times and humour together, makes this an amusing listen. The studies she cites, her motivation for her research in this world of shame, and the permission she gives too the listener to _be_, is just amazing.
That permission, that you're allowed to say no, that you're allowed to say yes, that choosing discomfort (for the briefest of times) over resentment (for a much longer time) is worth the effort, that breathing and mindfulness and calm and understanding, and shit, I just can't list all the of amazing parts of this book without trying to cite the whole thing, so, yeah.
I'm going to add this this book to my recommended, repeat-read, buy-many-copies, hand-it-out-to-all-my-friends list that currently includes "The Happiness Hypothesis" and "The Antidote: Happiness for People who can't stand Positive Thinking."
This book is a series of lectures that Brené Brown gave when her book Daring Greatly was coming out. I plan to read that one soon.