.SOMETIMES RAW.

I received a message today from a friend who is so happy because she purchased an at-home exerciser. Wow, congratulations – this is a great start of self-improvement. But finding a free workout video on Youtube is even better. Or running in the park/nature. It all sounds awesome. Give yourself a pat on the back. You have come so far. If this works for you, great! Since I am full-time student again, I have access to the University gym. I went there a couple of times since the semester started in September. This is what I experienced/learned: 

I found a great Youtube video for core-strengthening that showed me how to twist my body from side to side and to really wring that spine. I am watching it with my headphones on so I don’t disturb anybody. All my joints are clicking! That must be the sign that I am doing something right, no? Who knows! [I heard this weird sound of joints clicking today when I sat next to “someone” in class!] Are all the ligaments that hold your body together soar or straightened out by now?

So, now that I am all good and warmed up I have to complete this video of forty-five minutes-beginners Yoga. Of course Burpees follow, and who ever does that for fun? Maybe my brother when he finished the Spartan Race.  Whenever I do burpees I look like I am having some type of fit or spasm while I try to climb up a tree or slide down a rope. 

…. six, seven, eight, forty! Awesome. I am done. I did forty perfect Burpees after my Yoga workout. [Be aware: I am still at the University gym!] I guess, I burned all the calories that I ate before when I enjoyed this awesome bagel with cheese and egg, right? Maybe I burned a little more, because I kept my glasses on and they kept fogging up constantly. Sounds like a good workout to me. 

My heart rate is up – my heart is pounding so maybe I should just check my emails or messages quickly to feel more comfortable and bring it back down to zero. I do have my phone with me after all, so maybe someone sent me a message that I have to respond to immediately. I just cannot miss any messages, email or anything else because it is all so important. My workout-music does not really work today. The audiobook I downloaded sucks but I really want to exercise. Does my sports-bra fit correctly while I respond to emails? I am all sweaty from this tough Yoga/Burpee workout so let’s just go to the bathroom and fix myself up a bit. 

I am really glad I took this email break because I could have missed out on TravelAdvisor news, bookstore and farmers market deals as well as the newsletter from the University. Hey, you never know. I also have 500 LinkedIn-requests and someone wants me to send him my journal that I have written because he thinks it is amazing. Weird, because I wrote it almost while sleeping of exhaustion.  Isn’t it important to have a clean inbox as much as having a healthy, strong body that functions? Yep! Just unsubscribe some “friends” on Facebook and it seems like a refreshing walk on the StairMaster. Yay, the latest Language Newsletter! One more minute. 

Okay, all jokes aside; we are on to pushups now. Here we go! I try to keep in mind that the guy working out next to me told his friend that whenever it hurts, it counts as exercise. He looks good. He is in shape. Damn, he took his shirt off to show off his six-pack. Let me take a picture secretly and send it to all my friends in Germany to see how awesome this University Gym is. Done! 

A couple of pushups to go and I am done. Wow, this floor is so filthy. Doesn’t anybody ever clean here? Thankfully, I don’t have OCD. And they want me to use a towel to work out. Okay! Let’s analyze the dust and refer it to something philosophical. That works. Then take some quick notes on my phone so I won’t forget to write about it after. This being said, the girl next to me is torturing herself on the Treadmill. She is going crazy while reading a book at the same time. In the meantime, this would be me instead. 

“Maybe, I should finally finish my book and have it published”, I think while I pick up my towel from the Yoga mat. My book needs some improvement and major editing but it is pretty much done otherwise. Does anybody get rich writing books these days? Everybody writes a book, no? What is this girl reading anyway? If a book keeps one captured while running at that pace, I NEED TO READ IT! So I ask her. She hits the “STOP” button on the Treadmill and talks to me. She hates working out at the gym. So do I. We go downstair to have a coffee (and a muffin) at Tim Hortens and talk about the book she is reading – and the one I am working on. 

I guess, this is considered the cooling down after workout. I have earned it. 

One of my bookshelves and I. And this hair of mine is growing like crazy. Awesomeness!*

Time flies. As I always say. I studied a lot, learned a lot, read a lot but Friday nights are just sacred for me to unwind, relax and reflect. There is always some time to maintain this blog however; simply because I love to write and share things. Here are my Friday’s Five Things. Enjoy! 

Black Squirrel Books in Ottawa

Reading: Even though I have to read a lot for University, there is (and always will be) time for pleasure-reading. I am officially reviewing books for Harper Collins Canada now and they already sent me a copy of – Wally Lamb’s I ‘ill Take You There,  which is fantastic and keeps me up all night even though I should sleep. It will be released end of November! Stay tuned for a book review soon! 

Watching/Listening to: Besides documentaries for University I watched Paw Patrol with Petit Joel. He is obsessed with this show and I like it too in a way. [It is not dumb like some other kid’s shows I mean.] We do not have regular TV because we decided not to; however, we enjoy Netflix here and there. It is really special for Petit Joel to curl up on the couch next to me with blankets and (salty) popcorn and watch a bunch of Paw Patrol episodes on a Friday night before bedtime. Sacred time. For both of us. I found out about the podcast How I Built This on NPR and I listen to it every day on my phone when I get a chance – that’s how good it is. 

Discovering/Learning: My neighborhood is pretty new to me and Petit Joel and I still discover. As far as eating goes, I love to purchase local vegetables, fruit and whatever is in season. I was happy to find out about Bryson Farms and that they deliver organic, locally grown veggies right to my door. However, it is way more fun to physically go to a farmers market, walk around, browse and discover. Needless to say, I am fortunate again.  There is a really awesome one located at Lansdowne Park every Sunday from 9 am to 4 pm. Lastly, if you are into art, Watch this amazing video which is a collaboration between surrealist painter Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney. I love art and cannot wait to visit The Ottawa Art Gallery and all the other museum that are around here. 

Thinking About: A lot of things actually. That the workload for this Master is very intense. Time management is a good thing but it can become a little overwhelming and tiring at points. Sometimes I have to be careful what I wish for. Then again, I love linguistics and what it is all about but when there are three papers due, a journal synthesis and an oral presentation in one week, it is sort of INSANITY. Playing with Petit Joel, spending time in nature and at the playground keeps me grounded and makes it all manageable.  

New month, new journal. 

Looking forward to: Seeing my husband again. I am literally counting the days when we can pick him up at the airport and spend quality time time together. This is what it is all about. Even though we cannot be together all the time, we still are so close and able to manage this long-distance relationship very well – even throughout challenging times. The key for us is trust, respect, compromise and care. 

*You know why my hair grows so fast? I don’t do anything to it. Read my hair routine here. 

Have a great weekend. 

Hello there.

I have to study a lot. The picture above is the library at my University where I spent many hours every day. This Master in Linguistics Program is no joke; however, I mentioned earlier that I will always find time to read for pleasure  just because I love books so much. And even though I am sometimes only able to read “for pleasure” for about half an hour or so before I go to bed, but it is worth it. A separate post on all the independent bookstores where I find most of my gems will follow soon. Today, I just want to share what I am currently reading and the books that are already patiently waiting on my nightstand/office desk. I also have to announce that I will officially review books for HarperCollinsCanada. How awesome is that? I was really excited when they contacted me I have to say.

Autumn officially starts on September 23rd, which means we are slowly spending more time inside with tea, books and reading, candles, cookies and all that good stuff. You need something good to read? Here are my top five picks for Autumn. Enjoy!

Emma Donoghue. The Wonder.  

“A village in 1850s Ireland is baffled by Anna O’Donnell’s fast. A little girl appears to be thriving after months without food, and the story of this ‘wonder’ has reached fever pitch. Tourists flock in droves to the O’Donnell family’s modest cabin, and an international journalist is sent to cover the sensational story. Enter Lib, an English nurse trained by Florence Nightingale, who is hired to keep watch for two weeks and determine whether or not Anna is a fraud. As Anna deteriorates, Lib finds herself responsible not just for the care of a child, but for getting to the root of why the child may actually be the victim of murder in slow motion. A magnetic novel written with all the spare and propulsive tension that made ROOM a huge bestseller, THE WONDER works beautifully on many levels—as a simple tale of two strangers who will transform each other’s lives, a powerful psychological thriller, and a story of love pitted against evil in its many masks.” We all remember Emma Donoghue from the “Room”!!! 

Walk Through Walls: A Memoir by Marina Abramovic. 

“I had experienced absolute freedom—I had felt that my body was without boundaries, limitless; that pain didn’t matter, that nothing mattered at all—and it intoxicated me.” In 2010, more than 750,000 people stood in line at Marina Abramović’s MoMA retrospective for the chance to sit across from her and communicate with her nonverbally in an unprecedented durational performance that lasted more than 700 hours. This celebration of nearly fifty years of groundbreaking performance art demonstrated once again that Marina Abramović is truly a force of nature. The child of Communist war-hero parents under Tito’s regime in postwar Yugoslavia, she was raised with a relentless work ethic. Even as she was beginning to build an international artistic career, Marina lived at home under her mother’s abusive control, strictly obeying a 10 p.m. curfew. But nothing could quell her insatiable curiosity, her desire to connect with people, or her distinctly Balkan sense of humor—all of which informs her art and her life. The beating heart of Walk Through Walls is an operatic love story—a twelve-year collaboration with fellow performance artist Ulay, much of which was spent penniless in a van traveling across Europe—a relationship that began to unravel and came to a dramatic end atop the Great Wall of China. Marina’s story, by turns moving, epic, and dryly funny, informs an incomparable artistic career that involves pushing her body past the limits of fear, pain, exhaustion, and danger in an uncompromising quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. A remarkable work of performance in its own right, Walk Through Walls is a vivid and powerful rendering of the unparalleled life of an extraordinary artist.

[I have met her in 2010 at the MOMA so it is especially awesome to read this amazing book by Marina Abramovic. Check out this video, too!] 

The Gaslight. Steven Price. 

“London, 1885. In a city of fog and darkness, the notorious thief Edward Shade exists only as a ghost, a fabled con, a thief of other men’s futures — a man of smoke. William Pinkerton is already famous, the son of a brutal detective, when he descends into the underworld of Victorian London in pursuit of a new lead. His father died without ever tracing Shade; William, still reeling from his loss, is determined to drag the thief out of the shadows. Adam Foole is a gentleman without a past, haunted by a love affair ten years gone. When he receives a letter from his lost beloved, he returns to London in search of her; what he learns of her fate, and its connection to the man known as Shade, will force him to confront a grief he thought long-buried. What follows is a fog-enshrouded hunt through sewers, opium dens, drawing rooms, and seance halls. Above all, it is the story of the most unlikely of bonds: between William Pinkerton, the greatest detective of his age, and Adam Foole, the one man who may hold the key to finding Edward Shade.
Epic in scope, brilliantly conceived, and stunningly written, Steven Price’s By Gaslight is a riveting, atmospheric portrait of two men on the brink. Moving from the diamond mines of South Africa to the battlefields of the Civil War, the novel is a journey into a cityscape of grief, trust, and its breaking, where what we share can bind us even against our darker selves.”

Brain on Fire. Susannah Cahalan. 

“An award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman’s struggle to recapture her identity.

When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?

In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Susannah tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family’s inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn’t happen. “A fascinating look at the disease that . . . could have cost this vibrant, vital young woman her life” (People), Brain on Fire is an unforgettable exploration of memory and identity, faith and love, and a profoundly compelling tale of survival and perseverance that is destined to become a classic.”

On Writers and Writing. Margaret Atwood.

“A brilliant, ambitious, insightful inquiry into the art of writing from the legendary Margaret Atwood. What do we mean when we say that someone is a writer? Is he or she an entertainer? A high priest of the god of Art? An improver of readers’ minds and morals? Looking back on her own childhood and the development of her writing career, Margaret Atwood addresses the riddle of her own art. Her wide-ranging reference to other writers, living and dead, is accompanied by personal anecdotes from her own experiences as a writer. The lightness of her touch is offset by a seriousness about the purpose and the pleasures of writing. Wise, candid, informative, and engaging, On Writers and Writing provides an insider’s view of the writer’s universe, written by one of the most celebrated writers of our time.” 

Since I moved to Canada, I want to read as much CanLit as possible but these days I am stuck with Margaret Atwood. What an amazing writer. 

What are you reading or recommending? I would love to hear from you.