sylph preps for performance, part I

[sylph]

January 27th. That is the date of my circus gym's next student showcase. I've decided I'm going to perform. I have until December 30th if I decide to chicken out (not likely) so I need to really commit to getting this thing going.

 

• Choreography and costume decisions. I have some rough ideas for both, but it's time to get something more solidly in place. Costume deadline is 1/13.
• Endurance & Strength. The planned concept for my routine is a string of ridiculous athletic skills. I need to not pass out or fall from the apparatus while doing this.
  • Circus endurance - Put together in-air sequences of >2 mins at least three times every open gym. 
  • General endurance - Cardio at least once/week. With the coming winter weather, this will likely often be treadmill based.
  • Strength - Muggle workouts (1 x week lower body, 1 x week upper body 'push')
• Flexibility. Circus skills always look better with straight and extended limbs. My hip flexors are my current sticking point for most things, I think. Direct hip flexor work once per week and general splits things twice. (After lower body muggle workout, at end of open gym, after weekly circus class)
• Self care. I've always been a person who has wanted a skincare routine and have never taken the time to create one. We'll start simple: Wash, tone & moisturize face once per day, every day.

 

[raptron]

Solid brainstorm! 

[sylph]

42 minutes ago, raptron said:

Solid brainstorm! 

Shaped into something resembling a challenge, now.

[Mad Hatter]

2 hours ago, sylph said:

I need to not pass out or fall from the apparatus while doing this.

Excellent plan.

[sylph]

26 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

Excellent plan.

Seemed like a pretty important place to start.

[raptron]

Oh, that dastardly endurance. 

[Stardust]

This sounds absolutely awesome.  Following for awesome  

[WhiteGhost]

Came for the circus, staying for the awesomeness  

[Sloth the Enduring]

Following for circus.

[Cataleya]

Ermehgerd fellewing

[karinajean]

oooh I love how amazing you are and! PERFORMANCE!

[sylph]

14 hours ago, Stardust said:

This sounds absolutely awesome.  Following for awesome  

 

12 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Came for the circus, staying for the awesomeness  

 

12 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

Following for circus.

 

10 hours ago, Cataleya said:

Ermehgerd fellewing

 

13 minutes ago, karinajean said:

oooh I love how amazing you are and! PERFORMANCE!

 

Woo! Welcome aboard everyone. There will definitely be circus (sometimes there may even be photos or video of said circus). I'll do my best to provide the awesome and amazing.

[Mad Hatter]

50 minutes ago, sylph said:

I'll do my best to provide the awesome and amazing.

Honestly you just have to stay around for that.  

[sylph]

Over the last two days, I've been sending notes to my coworkers and direct reports, letting them know that I appreciate them and ways they make my work-life better or easier. Nothing fancy, just a couple sentences via email, individualized for the person or small group. I try to thank people in the moment for things, but don't do super great at more generalized appreciation (or whatever... I don't think there's really a word for what I'm trying to express here). It's been nice to formulate the two or three specific things that I appreciate about each person and to let them know that I recognize (and often times try to emulate) some good thing about them. As a bonus (though this wasn't at all why I did it), I've gotten some really nice reciprocal messages in return. It's been a nice experience and has allowed the last two days before the long Thanksgiving weekend to be about a little more than the last minute wrap up scramble of tasks that need to be handled before we're all gone for the next four days.

 

 

Circus class tonight! I'm glad we're still having it, even though the holiday is tomorrow. I am resolving to work hard and not complain. We complain a LOT, in a joking manner, in my class. I think my instructor is amused by it most of the time and knows it's good-natured, but I'm sure it's not great to hear a lot of whining every week...

[Mad Hatter]

Your post above gave me happies.  

[sylph]

8 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Your post above gave me happies.  

It gave me happies to do it. I get a little internally focused at times so making myself pay attention to other people and their needs is a good reminder for me.

[sylph]

Circus tonight was good. Still working on scissor beats and I CANNOT get into hip keys from them.  needs more work to be sure. Worked on a new skill--hip key roll ups--which are tough, too! And I don't have enough back bendiness to do it the 'easy' way, so I need to use momentum, which is a bit scary. Also did a relay climb--we had four people in class so first person did a climb. Second person did that climb, plus the climb of their choice. Third person did those two climbs, plus one of their choice, etc. Then we all did the entire sequence while playing "red light, green light" (our teacher as the caller) as practice for new poses and interesting transitions between skills.

 

So many things to work on! And open gym next week is pre-cancelled. I need to figure out if there's another time/day I can get there to get cracking on my routine.

[Mad Hatter]

Those relay climbs sound nasty! 

[sylph]

15 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Those relay climbs sound nasty! 

They were pretty fun! We had the added instruction to convey 'surprise' every time we were told to stop and videoed each other.  We were all cracking up by the end.

[Mad Hatter]

I mean it sounds fun - but brutal!  Love the added instruction. 

[sylph]

Just finished my contribution for T-giving dinner: Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse

 

We're going to hubs' sister's and she's usually got a great spread (usually from Costco, Whole Foods and TJ's, so at least she's not slaving in the kitchen all day), but I always feel weird showing up empty handed. So I'll bring my light and fluffy pumpkin thing and some cinnamon pita chips to eat it with and call it good.

[sylph]

Oh, and I also got a leg/glute workout in this morning, so all of my feasting this afternoon will go toward building a killer booty.

[tei_]

This is so freaking cool! Following

[sylph]

On 11/23/2017 at 2:13 PM, sylph said:

Just finished my contribution for T-giving dinner: Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse

 

This was a huge hit. Highly recommend. Yum.

 

On 11/24/2017 at 8:04 PM, tei_ said:

This is so freaking cool! Following

Hi! Welcome aboard

[sylph]

Muggle upper body workout and 35 minute treadmill excursion tallied for the day.

Cleanse/tone/moisturize face also complete.

 

So far, staying with my caloric limit won't be an issue for the day unless something goes terribly wrong.

 

As last week, open gym is cancelled tomorrow so I'll be hitting aerial bootcamp (and open gym afterward) on Tuesday instead. Tomorrow evening I will run some errands, but if I get home at a reasonable time, I may see if I can squeeze in some kind of something before bed. Maybe even just some foam rolling or whatever.

 

Been thinking about costuming ideas--since the concept is just 'sylph does a conditioning routine' I'm thinking I don't have to go too crazy--some variation on my normal gear for silks may be enough (double bonus if I can use it to wear to class on the regular and thus it's not a one-and-done kind of outfit).