Sage Words from The Washing Machine Man

Yesterday, Sean, the Italian-Applicance guy stopped by the apartment.

Our washine machine, which he had proudly extolled a few months ago, "This, I'm not going to lie to you, this, THIS is a good machine. It will last you thirty years or more!"was dead at three months.

Wow. Neither Hil and I are even thirty, so, that seemed like a good pitch at the time. .

Sean's arrival lead to a prompt fix of the problem - the plug for the drum had vibrated loose.

Forty bucks for the repair call. And since it was our fault for not balancing the load properly, it wasn't under warranty.

Sheeee - it.

Oh well - Sean wanted the money in cash, so we hopped into his service van, looking for an ATM.

I like Sean. Sure, losing 40 bucks sucks hard, but the man has to make his living too. As he negotiated the traffic on Dundas Street, I learned that he has 4 kids. Three from his first wife who died of breast cancer, and one from his current Cubanisimo lady. His oldest daughter is a teacher now. His oldest son doesn't live with them anymore. He tried to become a police officer but got kicked out for hanging out with the wrong friends.

Sean hazarded a guess that I was twenty and still in school. When I told him I taught yoga, and was almost thirty, he was dismayed. "You're 29? You should be in construction. That's where all the good money is right now. Those guys in construction, they make lots of money - too much money if you ask me. That's what I would do if I were you."

Some other sage advice during our 10 minute drive:

1. "make sure you don't have any kids soon. you have kids, it's all over. The work starts."
2. "go back to school"
3. "work in construction"

Not only do I get my washing machine fixed, for $40, I get life lessons too - a bargain at any price :)

j

"It's Like a Symphony of Joints"

Today - today, was a glorious day. Maybe the first capital letter on the upcoming sentence of summer!

Getting out of bed, the sun was shining through the back deck windows. I looked over - Hil had her shirt wrapped over her eyes, but after a while, it was no use. Time to get up.

Right now, I'm reading Dicken's "Great Expectations" for my english course, and while I find the manner of language from that era maddening (just say what you want to say!), it's beginning to engage me. Did an hour of that, then headed down to the Dog for morning mysore.

What a sweaty, sweaty practice! Room was busy, and although Ron Reid is still away in India, super David Robson was working the room brilliantly. Pools of sweat everywhere, and the windows were dripping - then again, maybe that's 'cause whenever someone opened a window, Dave would slam it shut. Did I mention how busy it was? - maybe it has something to do with the mysore time slot being more civilized: 10am - 12pm.

Tuesday practice is always a good one for me, and I focus on, (surprise!) lots of backbending. The opening second series backbends (which, if you're doing them right, are SUPER, SUPER hard), have been helping me open up my upper spine, as well as building some sorely needed strength in my wimpy lower back.

Right now, I'm in the process of reinvention, and doing things the "right" way, as opposed to the easy way. After 5 months of this, things are starting to make more sense, and the tight parts of my body are starting to catch up, as opposed to my old approach of making the flexy parts flexier, and the tight parts - well, tighter..

As I pushed up into another backbend, I remembered Diane's summary of the technical set up it takes to get a spine just right

"It's like a symphony of joints."

Hmmmm - "... like a symphony of joints." Pelvis, sacrum, ribs, vertebrae, scapula, humerus (and the other 10 players that I forgot here), all coming together on the same page.

After practice, and that feeling of deep work, I went home. Hil and I sat on the deck, basking in the sun doing school work. Actually, I was nodding off more than anything.

***

Oh yeah, been pulling my hair out, trying to figure out the perfect fit for my new bike. And with that, has been the search for just the right stem. Gone through a whole bunch now, and then I went back to the first one, and took a nice fast ride with Dave B today. And dangity, if that thing didn't feel better.

Maybe it's the sun.

Please - let summer start!

j

BTW - David Robson's the guy in the bottom of the pic.

Big Teaching Day / Potential Renters

I taught 4 classes today. Woah... that's a lot of talking.

Went surpisingly easily - 2 in the morning, 2 in the evening. Of course, right now, as I sit on the futon, I'm absolutely drained.

Hmmm... this afternoon, as I rolled up to our apt, a guy ran across the street, asking, "Hey! How much is the rent?"

He was referring to the sign listing the apartment below mine and Hil's. I tried my best to answer his various questions, and looking at him, he seemed a bit quirky. As he ran across Bathurst St, back to a beat-up parked van, it all made sense. He was wearing platforms - 2 inch lifts. Combine that and the shoulder-length hair, and flared-in-the-hip pants...wow - he was either a drag queen or a transexual.

Moments after he left, 2 girls walked by, with garbage bags slung over their shoulders. Once again, they asked me about the apartment for rent.

When they found out it was the middle floor, with the balcony facing Bathurst, they got really excited and proceeded to kiss in front of me. I told them about the balcony out back as well, wondering what sort of reaction that would evoke... but things stopped there.

After they left, I shut the door.

I live in a crazy neighborhood.

j

Buffalo!!!

Well, here we are, Sunday night. Where did the time go?

Yesterday Hil and I made a visit south of the border, to the home of the Sabres and Bills, Buffalo NY. I'd ordered a bike from a shop down there (my treat to myself for a horrendously challenging 2005), and it'd arrived a few days earlier.

It's incredible how close TO is to the states. Only two hours drive on the ugly Queen Elizabeth W. highway and you're there. To shake things up a bit, we stopped at Niagara on the Lake... a tiny little touristy town, famous for its vineyards and Ontario wines, such as Inniskilling, and Jackson Briggs. Rather than taking in a wine tour, we poked about the main street and oddly enough, it reminded me a bit of the touristiness of Banff. (Some interesting colonial homes that must have been what houses looked like in 1812 when we learned the Yankees a lesson) The photo of Hil is her holding some styrofoam apples on a stick that she found on a bush. Weird.

With our legs stretched out, we hopped into the trusty Nissan and were in Buffalo a scant half hour later. Border crossing went smoothly and as we went over the Peace Bridge (which sure wasn't anything to write home about), we got promptly lost.

Lost is okay when you have gas in the tank, and a relative idea of where to go, so with that, we started see-sawing through the back streets, and lo and behold, saw a street name that we recognized.

Downtown Buffalo isn't all that big. Some taller multi story buildings, and some really neat looking old stuff - in that style of architecture reminiscent of the Empire States Building, or Gotham from the Batman comics. Interestingly, there's a lot of housing within their city center, small homes, that by and large, are pretty run down. Buffalo looks kinda repressed. The roads are beat, and the street lights dangle from cables, rather than proper cross bars.

Driving down their funky Elmwood Ave, we wound up at Campus Wheel Works - a fantastic bike shop run by some super nice guys. Walking into the store, the owner Seaghan spots me, "Are you Jeff Mah?"

"Yup!"

"Your bike's right here!"

And with that, down came my beauty of a bike - a Surly Cross Check... jet black, not very expensive, and perfect for ripping around Toronto. I took the bike out for a spin through the neighborhoods, and came back smiling. Perfect!

I chatted with the shop folks for a while longer, and presented them with a present from Canada - a six pack of Maudite, one of Quebec's finest beers! 8% proof! They were super happy, as was I.

Hil and I hung out a bit longer, and sat in a fantastic coffee shop across the street called Spot Coffee. It's joined with a pretty hip music shop too, and browsing through their T-shirts, you can tell that the university kids a) love Belle and Sebastian and b) hate George Bush. The coffee was being poured fast and furious and the shop had such a fantastic cross section of people. Sitting in a church pew, reading a local paper, we got a chance to hear the local accent. They really like to draw out their "ah" sounds. ie Spot coffee, would be pronounced Spaaaawwwt. Folks are bigger here too. Everyone has a belly and big thighs.

Eventually, we decided it was time to head back. As we headed to the border, I was wrestling with whether I should be honest and pay duty for the bike, or lie. A degree of honesty got the better of me, and while I'm a hundred bucks lighter in my wallet, my heart's lighter too. I remember my uncle telling me, "You can't go through life cheating the system all the time. Eventually, it catches up to you"

Hil supports me on this one, and besides, I guess my money goes to keeping Canada strong, and our roads in fine working condition. (Ironically, we had to pay a toll just 200 feet down the road - sigh.)

Along the way back, we stopped at Niagara Falls, hoping to get a peek at one of the natural wonders of the world. We were aghast. Niagara Falls is a cesspool of commercialism. Crappy, gaudy hotels much like those in Vegas abound, as well as schlockmonger stores dealing their silly schlocky souvenirs. See the ghastly photo below... Fifteen bucks to park to see the Falls? No thanks - we'll drive by.

With that, we went home. Wow - Niagara on the Lake, Buffalo, and the Falls, all in one day!

j

Freaking Windy! / Ernest Hemingway

What an absolutey crazy day. Wednesday is my big bike riding / teaching day, and the winds were howling. Gusts of up to 80km. 80km! One point, on Bloor St, I nearly got blown off the bike. Expletives abound as I shift into the granny gear. Shameless.

Had a moment of great luck today. Was racing down a hill, pedals pumping, chin tucked into the stem for aerodynamics, trying to keep precious momentum for the rising grade ahead. Heard my keys jangling about in my jacket pocket, and then... no more jangles.

Was lucky I heard nothing, 'cause I stopped, went back up the hill, and found my keys lying on the road.

Whew,

j

Oh yeah, I'm also starting to crack into some great novels for my English correspondence course. Just reviewed the first chapter of Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises". He's got a fab prose style - lean and punchy, stripped of pretense and frills. I can almost feel the sentences clicking in my brain.

From a brief bio that I read, it sounds like Ernest was a macho-man. He liked bullfighting, hunting, fishing, etc. (See above photo of Ernest with prized dead animal)

He probably wouldn't have used granny gears either.

Coming Off the Weekend

What a glorious weekend!

This past weekend was the first weekend I had off for 2006. Crazy. 9 weeks of teacher training can take its toll on your pysche. Mother nature smiled on Hil and I, and Saturday we saw sunny skies and warm weather. The streets were packed with people, happy people (the sun always makes people happy), as we meandered through our epic 4 hour walk. Down Queen W, up the back streets with the packed townhomes, across the shops of College, then further north to Bloor, past the pit of Christie Pits, through Korea Town, Honest Ed's, and down through our Kensington Market to pick up some groceries.

Whew - just writing it makes my legs feel tired.

A good social weekend. Talked with Lane, and Stu, and Mike and we had lots of company over. By the end of it all, I was drained.

j

Above pic is inspired by all the folks who brought out their street bikes. I LOVE street bikes, but somehow Toronto doesn't seem like a fun place for one. Be lucky to get into fourth gear. Too much traffic, too many crappy drivers, and of course, the never-ending threat of street car tracks. I suppose there's always the 401 and the Gardiner...

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

Hil and I saw an incredible film a few nights ago. Probably the best, the BEST western that I've ever seen - this thing is twisted.

I'm not sure how wide distribution will be for "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada", (especially with it's poor release time, just after the Oscars), but this film deserves to be seen. Tommy Lee Jone's directorial debut is stellar, and although we both cringed at the thought of seeing Tommy Lee Jones, we were absolutely impressed. Equally brilliant is Barry Pepper, who if you'll recall, played the sniper in Saving Private Ryan.

As a brief plot synopsis, Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) seeks revenge for the killing of his Mexican immigrant friend Melquiades. After some investigation, he discovers the perpetrator: a local border guard Mike Norton (Barry Pepper). In a tale of epic revenge, Pete kidnaps Mike, forces him to dig up Melquiades rotting body, and smuggle it back for a proper burial in Mexico.

But not is all as it seems... sympathies change, perceptions skew, the past alters.

http://www.sonyclassics.com/threeburials/main.html

Brilliant plot, and incredible imagery - this film has some of the most anti-american visuals that I've seen in a long time! They make the States look like HELL!

"Three Burials" did fantastic at Cannes, winning awards for best actor and screenplay I do believe.

Highly recommended!

j & h

Tailor Made / Leonard Lee

One of my good friends, the mighty Leonard Lee, is starting to swim in bigger circles within the Canadian film scene. It couldn't happen to a nicer guy - like any true artist, I can attest that Len's work is a labour of love.

Currently, funding has been secured from CBC, and Leonard's directing a documentary about 2 old-time Chinese tailors who are looking to close down their shop. I was privy to a brief trailer a few months ago, and it looks great!

Check out the following links to get the full gist of the story:

http://www.marsentertainment.ca/doc.html

http://modernizetailors.blogspot.com/

If you happen to live in rainy Vancouver, cruise down to Chinatown and look for Modernize Tailors. Support the old guard, Bill and Jack Wong - they won't be making suits forever!

And if you happen to see Len filming, tell him I said hi :)

j

I Love Smoothies

Recently, I've come to terms with our blender and have been making copious amounts of smoothies. The blender was a gift from our dear friend Rick Scavetta (now in Germany) and it's been a hoot. Fruit is so cheap here in Kensington Market, as well as our latest fruit-store gem-of-a-find: "Green Thumb" in the ritzy Bloor West Village.

In the spirit of Haiku, Hil penned this poem to commemorate my twice a day smoothie addiction:

Jeff Mah: smoothie king
Fruit ripens with a soft touch
And then, liquefies.

Hil (and smoothies) rule.

j

George Bush: Lying Scum, But Then Again, That's Not News.

On an interesting and sad, (albeit unsurprising) note, footage has leaked out that shows George Bush clearly informed about the impending issues with Hurricane Katrina.

The video, of a briefing one day before the hurricane struck, has an individual warning the administration about the potential of the New Orlean's levees being breached.

Lo and behold, the levees did breach, and a whole slew Louisiana folks died.

Afterwards, George had the gumption to say on TV, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees"

What about the folks who told you in the briefing you lying waste of skin?

Perhaps there's a definitional gap between what George considers "anybody". I suppose if you're right wing, ultra conservative with a ton of money invested in propping up the current White House cronies you might be considered an "anybody".

But if you're poor or black or hispanic or at least one in two Americans, consign yourself to the fact of being a "nobody".

New Orlean's mayor Ray Nagin, upon seeing the tapes was quoted as saying, "You know, from this tape, it looks like everybody was fully aware. I have kind of a sinking feeling in my gut right now."

To be further outraged, visit:

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/03/01/katrina-bush-060301.html

"It's Okay to Feel Bad"

Just a few tidbits from the second last weekend of Teacher Training at Downward Dog.

With Ron Reid off and away to India, we have Diane Bruni for our last 2 weeks. It's been fascinating to see how they approach the practice so differently, but at the same time, focus on the same things. It's brilliant - Ron comes from a place of technicality and logic - almost like a science. Diane is more organic and macroscopic in her view. We get the reward: not only is the material reinforced between the two of them, there's the beauty of seeing how anything can be approached from infinite angles.

Our Sunday afternoon training typically starts slow, as our bellies are still teeming from lunch. This week was no exception, so Diane veered away from the program to just "talk yoga". My ears always perk up when this happens, 'cause often this is where the real insight lies.

25 years of practice adds up to an opinion worth listening too.

The rest of us are lying on the floor, Diane's sitting in the middle of the room, perched on a block, and she just starts to talk...

"It's okay to feel bad when you're doing a lot of yoga. I believe any path of healing involves some suffering along the way. Yoga is a self-transformative process, and you have to realize that there's gonna be times when you don't feel good.

So much stuff gets buried in our bodies, and here you are, opening these places... and you'll find buried thoughts and emotions, they start to bubble up to the surface...

I think this is the number one reason people quit doing yoga. Sure, at the beginning, they're all gung ho - they have lots of energy, the practice makes them feel great, they're improving... but then, you start peeling back the layers, and these buried things start to come out - and that's when they get uncomfortable.

It's scary, these emotions coming up, and they don't want to go deeper. So instead, they stop. And that's when the excuses start to come out: I'm too busy at work, I've been feeling slightly sick, it's too expensive, I'll get back into it once blah blah blah... but for 95% of people, I think that it's because they're scared.

Now you guys (referring to us), will sooner or later experience one of these times, where you get emotional, or angry, or you just feel off - you know something's wrong. Can you stay and feel what you feel? Can you not back away? Don't hold it in - let it go. Cry. And then there, it's gone. And you feel better.

I'm a firm believer in that we're not given anything that we're not ready to deal with.

Otherwise it'd still be buried within you"

Wow.

j