Something new and something old

What a day today.

Something old - went back to Uni for an afternoon.  I went to seminar where students who had won first prizes for their theses presented on them.  They were from the same school that I would be attached to if my PhD proposal is successful.  The first two were PhDs and very interesting all around and excellently presented.  My fave was the one on women business owners in colonial Australia.

Then we got to the two undergrad theses.  The second one was OK.  But to be perfectly honest, I couldn't understand one word of the first one which was about how our skin and body are archives of our past.  I kind of get the idea, but the language used was inpenetrable.  When we got to the questions, someone made a comment that "it is right not to pathologise discourse". I don't even know what that means.  I had a bit of an inner giggle.

Something new - had my first Bikram yoga session tonight.  OMG!  Insane! I finished up feeling like an uncoordinated pretzel that had been run over by a tank.  I was drop dead exhausted and dripping with sweat, and not just from the heat.  I loved the heat.  It reminded me of growing up in Sydney and living through long hot humid summer holiday days.  And truth be told, I really enjoyed the exercise.  I have found that I have pretty much zero flexibility and couldn't keep up with the full extent of the poses etc.  But having bought a voucher for 20 sessions, I have 19 sessions left to go to improve my ability to twist my arms around themselves and my legs and bend down and touch the ground with my forehead and thus become a coordinated pretzel.

I loved the place too.  It was clean and peaceful and everyone was really friendly.  Very small change room though and communal showers, which make me uncomfy.  I think I am going to have to rug up over my sweaty things and go home and have a shower rather than do it there.  It's not just that I am roly poly, but I do have a number of scars from my various cancer surgeries, which I'm not really self conscious about, but they are pretty dramatic and do shock people who see them and don't know the full history.

Tomorrow I am going to do the 12WBT fitness test in the morning, then go to the physio for my knee, then go and have a chat with someone to start my background research for the thesis so that I can write up a proposal, then a swim, then a rest I think.....

Oh, and I bought two new pairs of running shoes.  One pair was on sale and one was reasonably priced, so I figure I got a bargain.  And as the lovely lady who fitted me said, you need to rest your running shoes.  And, she was so amazingly friendly when I told her I was learning to run.  She didn't even remotely look at me as though to say, so you think you will be able to run oh bundle of lard.  She even gave me a flyer for a monthly women's and girl's jog along and really really encouraged me to come along and that she hoped to see me there next month.  How encouraging is that?  Thanks Cathy at the Runners Shop!