freitag hooray!

i don't know about you guys, but for a short week, this was (is) extremely long! i know it always happens when we have a holiday that the short week to follow is busy but come on! this week felt like it would never end! only 2 more hours & 14 minutes....

anyhoo, it's bloody hot in the city - sunny & thick in the high '80s. being at the office isn't as bad with the AC & everything. plus i just finished some hot korean soup to help cool me off (nutritionless yum!). i cannot wait to get this day over with!

today's highlight is an email from sara el espanol in shanghai, who i hadn't heard a lot from these days. it's so great to hear what she is up to & how things are with her & paul (pronounced: paool). it is the beginning of the rainy monsoon season in asia (unless global warming has messed that up) so i imagine it's a wretched pain to get anywhere. sounds like she will be staying in asia another year after her program is over. i think that's so great - so many opportunities in china, very inexpensive to live there, a year is too short, et. al. however the one question demands attention: what about simon?
i cannot imagine leaving boy bunny & the baby bird anywhere longer than a couple of months. in fact, i would never move anywhere they couldn't come with me (& be welcomed on all fronts). it made me sad to think about simon & that he will stay in spain longer without sara. it must be so hard for her too. i hope to hear more on that.
another upshot of her staying in shanghai is perhaps that quan tuo & i can make it there in the winter or spring upcoming. i definitely want us to go to asia together & hit all the spots where our friends live. perhaps we can be armed with some workable mandarin phrases by then. let's hope we hear more from sara & soon!

it is not yet confirmed but i was going to visit my friends' tracey & ben & their new baby girl. tracey & i are the same age & it's good to know that she had a relatively easy conception, pregnancy & delivery! i mean, one never knows, right? it's hard to believe anything anyone says about getting pregnant in your 30's. it's different for everyone. still, it would be great to finally meet miss annabel king.

last night quan tuo & i did another set of stretches at home (so great, so painful & so helpful) while we watched the beginning of enter the dragon. (man, bruce lee is fast!) this is after quan tuo gave himself turf toe during warm up. he iced it down (it was swollen a bit) & seemed okay today. he planned another double-header today but he hurt his same toe again during day training & probably won't be training tonight. it would have been an abbreviated class anyway since it is movie night!

showing tonight at USA Shaolin Temple is the protector with tony jaa (ombak thai warrior!). we had already seen this movie & it isn't good. there is only really one scene with the capoiera fighter that is worth seeing. quan tuo & i are still going to (a) support USA Shaolin Temple Upstate fund (b) hang out with everyone & (c) to drink some beer. i feel strange, i haven't trained in over a week so i always worry sifu will give me that where have you been face! but he understands that we all have to work to be able to afford training. i just have to train harder when i show up next tuesday!

moreover, sifu had quan tuo teach xubu & lunbi caijiao last night to a few people in relatively small class (by comparison). it's so great that sifu is now using quan tuo to teach. he really loves it & it's good for him to break it down for someone else (other than myself). plus he is a good teacher (it's in his blood). these days he comes up as one of the more senior students. he has been leading the line drills for quite a while now & i believe sifu is beginning to really see his potential. he's got lots. more chi!