Along with a few cute buildings with kitchens, a cake shop, and other furnished rooms, it has a astroturf-walled maze, and a splash pad. The municipal parks in Las Vegas all turn their splash pads off at the end of September and I assumed this one would be off, too. It was when we first got there. And then, it wasn't. I usually have a back-up outfit for Darcy when we go to town, so we didn't fight too hard when she made a bee-line for the water. She had a lot of fun and got SOAKED. But that's not your present, John. I'm just stalling for dramatic purposes. The playground is near the (also astro-turfed) town square where they have live music and other events. Yesterday morning, the event led us to think of a new career path for you.
Whenever you've talked about yoga, the first thing that stands right out is just how darn competitive yoga is. You're always talking about trying to out-yoga all the other yoga-people you know. (Or wait ... is it that I've never heard you talk about yoga as competition?? That would really kill this whole gift-idea.)
The event taking place was the Nevada Regional competition for the USA Yoga Championships. Yes! It was competitive yoga! Yoga as an athletic sport, brought to you by the people who are petitioning for yoga to be added to the Olympics in 2016. So we figured that if the whole travel-the-world-teaching-yoga business dries up, maybe you could start competing to represent our nation at the Olympics. I guess there must not be any prize money involved if they're calling it an amateur sport, but otherwise, I was thinking that it could finance your travels for a while, too.
The people under the red tent were the judges. Each competitor had to do a set series of poses following their introduction. In between the men's and women's competition they had a yoga fashion show. It was all very commercial; again, just what I think of when you talk about your yoga experiences.
According to their rules, you apparently have to do yoga half-naked, which I've never noticed you doing in the photos of your classes. In fact, the more I think about it, maybe this isn't the perfect career for you after all. I guess I'm going to lose the "which sister-in-law got you the best birthday present" competition, huh?(Too bad, 'cause from what I saw, you could kick their tushies. Then I could brag that my brother-in-law was the USA yoga champion!)
7 comments:
Oh Angela, fear not! Any birthday present delivered via un-announced blog entry automatically wins the "best sister-in-law birthday present" prize. Congratulations! You win my adoration and admiration.
You may, however, drop the "your so far away" pretense for a best-wishes-only birthday present, as you have never previously sent me a birthday present in any form. Michael was picked to give me a Christmas present one recent year, but what I received was a small set of empty picture frames. He said something about "filling them soon with pictures of Darcy", but rest assured that never happened.
Regardless, your present is beyond awesome. I feel inspired and hopeful whenever I see the ancient spiritual science of yoga reduced to a commercial Vegas freak-show. This is BEYOND hilarious! I may simply be envious, though. I am definitely too old for a Speedo (is anyone the right age for a Speedo) and I don't have a Yoga Competition Coach. Perhaps my luck will change! Do you have any regular blog readers who are also Olympic Level Yoga coaches? Reveal yoursleves!
Thanks so much for this! It made my evening.
Love,
John
I think the only person who reads my blog who could possibly be your future Olympic Yoga Coach would be your lovely wife.
It's true that I've been a terrible sister in law and have never given you a birthday present before. I tried very hard to make up for it with this post.
I'm glad you had such a lovely birthday trip to Hong Kong.
I AM lovely, it's true, but John has thus far resisted my aggressive yoga coaching techniques.
And don't let him give you TOO much guff for giftless-ness. I'm not sure we've ever given YOU a birthday present, post-wise or other-wise.
Do you even HAVE a birthday, Angela? I've never considered this before...
Wow! My world just gets bigger everyday.
Oh, John, everyone has a birthday, just like everyone poops. (And every dinosaur poops, too, as Darcy would be happy to tell you.) In fact, you didn't just miss a random birthday of mine this year, you missed my FORTIETH. Go ahead and feel some remorse for that one.
Now, here's Michael...:
John: I vaguely remember the picture frames I gave you for Christmas. Now I'm rather embarrassed... Thanks a lot, a-hole! If you only had a mailing address, I'd start by immediately overwhelming your mailbox with Darcy photos. But you can't receive mail, can you? Well played, Sir. Well played...
this is our address.
中国广东深圳南山区海德三道滨海之窗2栋01号尤伽瑜伽（uyoga）
邮编 518000：
My birthday is October 31st. Thanks in advance for the one thousand presents you will send, in the midst of settling in to your new home. And remember that mail takes a long long time to get here.
I vaguely remember there being a Big Birthday in your home this year. I remember a solo vacation for Angela, and some books? And nothing, nothing from us. Nothing at all.
This whole conversation is hilarious. Happy birthday John and Stef!
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