best laid plans.

You were supposed to leave them there.

does anyone else want to join my "Im scared but driving anyways" calling list?

There were some pretty bad storms in GA and I had to teach yoga. I got about 5/6 of the way there and had to pull over to a gas station. Like a BOSS! There was rain and hail and lightning and gnashing of teeths, etc. The rain was coming down so hard, I could barely see the line divider that I was driving beside ... much less the one a foot ahead. I hear my precious non-descript Camry getting beaten by the hail and my wipers might as well be useless even though they are going full speed. Its kind of sad when your car is doing its best but its still not good enough to get water off of the windshield. So I park in a Shell. There are cars huddled underneath the canopy covering the gas pumps. I get my hood under the strong aluminum covering but my trunk is still getting pounded. (by the way Im just joshing about the "strong aluminum" ... you remember what aluminum sounds like with rain on it dont you? well pretend its hail and see if you feel safe and secure.)

First phone call: the college where I teach yoga - are you guys still having group fitness classes? some kid: yawai as far as I know.

I still have 15 minutes to class, I'm 5 minutes away maybe this will blow over by then.

Second phone call: to the yoga contractor (I guess thats what you call her) Umm, its bad weather, I dont think I can make it to teach. She tells me to call the college if I cant make it. Then we chat about summer schedule! (Side note: I didnt know they were having summer group fitness classes! Im excited).

I dont know where the safest place to be is in a thunderstorm. I know cars are really good around lightning because of the rubber and stuff. But what about a tornado? I dont think a car can fight a tornado. Remembering back to the Planeteers and how their powers might not have been so lame after all (well, you still cant convince me about that heart kid. USELESS). Note to self: google "tornado stay in car ditch crying overpass"

Now the wind is blowing and I'm looking at the gas pumps. You know what they look like in bad weather? Bombs. Thats what. I hear a tornado siren go off and I jump out of my car and jet inside the gas station. You learn something new every day - apparently I would rather die inside a gas station than a car.

Third phone call: the college where i teach yoga - i'm the instructor, i'm not going to make it to teach. some kid: okay cool. Me: umm, is this all? do you need to tell someone? some kid: i can tell the building manager. Me: Okay you do that then.

Fourth phone call: to Mick (stepdad): hey, look at the news. Is Kennesaw going to die? Mick: not that I can tell.

Another tornado siren. This time a voice comes with it. A VOICE! When have you heard a voice attached to a tornado siren? I dont know either but it makes it sound a lot more legit. We're all wimps and back away from the big window. Some of us head to the back storage area but the attendant is like "umm, thats aluminum back there. stay here up front where the big, open window is". He didnt say that exactly but its what I heard.

A lot of bad stuff happens in movies when there's a crowd of people in a gas station. Knowing, The Mist ... seems like a lot of disaster movies have people in gas stations. I am looking around this Shell and there's a good 30 people there. And its JUST like the movies. There's an Asian, a woman that knows exactly what is going on the outside, a guy in shorts (jorts, to be precise) and a sleeveless shirt, a woman with a small baby, a guy with a mullet making comments about "well at least we got beer". I mean YOU CAN NOT MAKE THIS STUFF UP!

So the storm backs off and I get in my car.
5th phone call to Mick: OMG I made it out of that gas station alive. I thought for sure I was a goner when I saw that woman with the small child come in. OMG I'm shaking LOL [turning the ignition on] Mick: Niki calm down before you drive. Me: Oh yeah lol Im nervous and chatty. ... okay Im good bye.

6th phone call to Ashley: [got her voicemail] OMG ASHLEY LIKE THERE IS SO MUCH LIGHTNING NO ONE IS DRIVING IN MY LANE WHAT IS GOING ON AGHHHHH! OMG THE SKY JUST LIT UP! I SO SCARED HOLD ME! THE LIGHTNING ITS ALL AROUND ME AHHHH! I CANT SEE THE ROAD *click

7th phone call to Mick: OMG THE LIGHT IS OUT AT NORTH MARIETTA PARKWAY AND 41 STAY ON THE LINE MAKE SURE I MAKE IT INSIDE THE HOUSE OKAY AND DONT GET STRUCK BY LIGHTNING OMG IM TURNING LEFT AND THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS OUT OMG WHAT ARE YOU DOING DONT YOU SEE IM GOING??!! OKAY I MADE IT DIDNT DIE OMGOMG IM WALKING OUT OF MY CAR AND IM NOT DEAD LOL IM INSIDE! And then my mom talks to me and says, "Just get your iPod, close your eyes, and think happy thoughts. Stay away from windows. Oh, your bed is by a window? Well listen to your iPod in the closet or something honey okay?" Yeah okay mom bye.

Not to mention I made like two twitters. I imagined at my funeral there would be some comment like "always one for realism, niki's last words were posted on her twitter page. and i quote: omg [and he actually says oh em gee] i'm in a gas station and there's a tornado and this is like a disaster movie or something. Ppl are going to die!' .... "

mary oliver

I can not get enough of this poem. Different lines randomly pop up in my head at the oddest moments. I am reading Deepak Chopra's Soulmate (its kind of "meh" so far ... but I like it enough. There's some random well thought out points mentioned. I guess it seems full of simple, sweet ideas & thats what keeps me reading.). Someone dies in the book, so I automatically recall this line: Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. I dont really have a point to make. I just wanted to share the poem. I will probably post it over and over after I forget that I've already posted it. But Mary Oliver is a great poet and people should be required to read selected poems of hers (that I have chosen obviously) and read them repeatedly until they memorize two of them.

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

See? This is why you should come to free stuff with me.

Big Peach Running Co. in Kennesaw GA hosted a 5k tonight. We ran all throughout the Ridenour complex (which is HILLS GALORE). Why does it seem like the uphills are long and sloping and the downhills are steep and treacherous? Maybe the 400 meters or so were actually a nice, flat to downhill terrain. The race was poker themed so we all got this piece of paper and ran to different stations throughout the route to pick a card for our poker hand. At the end, we met at Keegans to see who got the best hand and to distribute out door prizes. I came in 2nd place. They had this ONE prize I really wanted (the $100 gift certificate to Big Peach) and I was hoping the 1st woman wouldnt pick it. Thank goodness she didnt; she chose the 1 month of free bootcamp (which if it costs what mine costs .... she probably got the steal of the night). But I'm extremely stoked about my gift certificate! What to buy what to buy? Another pair of shoes or a workoutfit? I really need workout clothes because most of my stuff is cotton crap from Old Navy.

And I did stop to walk during the 5k at times. I could have run more, I'm sure. But I was running with this guy I met and we chatted and knew we werent really in a big rush to knock this out the ballpark. (He actually has a half marathon in 2 months ... you can knock yourself out with that one). Plus, I have done bootcamp this morning and yesterday morning and then I did hot yoga last night (90 minutes worth), so I deserve to trot/walk during the uphills if I want to. So there.

free stuff! (oh, just for me. not for you).

So I get free stuff tonight. This woman at my old home ward (ie, church) gets clothes that other people don't want and we get to take it. I'm saving the planet! These underwears and raincoats would have just ended up in a landfill somewhere. But here I am, wearing the underwear with my jeans. And running through the rain puddles in my free slicker! Annnnd saving the planet at the same time. What has your underwear done lately?

Also, I'm finally seeing the benefits of this little thing called saving money. I think paying my car insurance this go round will not result in a stress induced, hair pulling, heart attack. Go me! I even acquired, lets see, ... wait, is that right? $2 in interest? They must mean $20. No worries, I bet their interest calculator is messed up.

I'll drop them an e-mail about that one.

feelin good

I'm about a week in with my bootcamp. And it sucks waking up @ 5 am. I went over to Virginia's this weekend and tried to watch a movie. Come 11 pm, I was KONKED out on her couch. I took a 5 hour nap and then drove home at 4 am. Any nut on the street probably thought I was swerving because it was late and I was tired. But I was swerving because it was early and I was tired. See the difference?

Okay, back to bootcamp. I'm in the "fast" group! However there are only two groups and the other group is called the "super fast" group. I wish I was kidding.

What I like about BTB Fitness is how the trainers running and burpeeing (still not quite sure about what those are) and mountain climbing with you.

We also fill out a daily food log and the instructors grade it in the morning. Checks equal high fives for everyone (in my mind, no one really high fives you - I wish they would. I need to practice mine). An "X" means you fail. For example, I got an "X" after going to a pampered chef party (party in the loosest definition of the word) and eating fruit pizza w cream cheese and tortilla chips with all kinds of dips. X means push ups.

Man, there is so much running. I've never really been a good runner or even a runner. At my best, I think I ran 6 mi without stopping one time. It could have taken me an hour. I'm positive I have a lot more slow twitch fibers than the regular person. Oh yes, did you know? I also have a long torso. That cant be good for running. Then its like my lungs know whats going to happen when my feet start moving at a certain cadence - they are like "Oh no you di'int" and my legs are like "Oh yes we di'". Then my lungs go "Oh yeah?" to which my legs go "Yeah, you heard. You want to say it to my face?". To which my lungs are done with the argument and die.

True story.