Friday, September 14, 2007

re-gathering

walk
i've been in this limbo space lately. post-wedding, full of creative ideas, but on the brink of a solid routine to manifest them. also...have any of you experienced this?... feeling slumpy after such an incredible high. 2 things that have consistently fueled me in the last few weeks are kick-boxing and reading.

my kickboxing class is delightful & hilarious. i've never associated exercise with, um happiness, before, but i am hooked to kicking, punching and busting out ninja-esque moves with all these sweaty ladies to a sped up version of JT's "sexy back" and our teacher... let us call him benji (because that is his real name) leading our way.

when my friend Deb and i first started going to TKB (aka turbo kick boxing) we went straight to the back and were completely out of synch. images of my ballet recital age 5 haunted me when my bun started falling out and i started crying and looking at my teacher offstage desperately and doing the plie when everyone else was piouretting. i remember it because it was captured brutally on film.

our saving grace, deb & i, was a striking Ethiopian woman, hair wrapped in a beautiful turban, who abandoned to the far back near the weights and balance balls, took off her shoes and just started dancing to her own beat. we joined her in moments of overwhelm and it made the entire scary experience laughable... thank god for her.

i just finished reading a 500 page-turner called "OH THE GLORY OF IT ALL" about sf society from the point of view of a child of the society, author Sean Wilsey, who illuminates the underbelly of it all. i found myself stopping in the middle of my day at a random spot just so i could pick it up again... i was reading so intently at the BART station on my way to see lovely Lisa S (thanks for the visit lady!) last week that i couldn't understand a woman yelling at me repeatedly that "a pigeon is going to shit on your head"... saved. then yesterday i sat down to read next to another loca/brilliant woman at a cafe who was talking to herself and started lamenting "everything was perfect until this fly started flying around".

isn't that the truth? "oh the glory of it all" i wanted to say back to her.

she then asked me, "don't you ever want to take a bus to somewhere new and see something small you've never seen before?" yes.

i'm longing for travel and escape and a new field of vision. but it's good to be emptied out and gain clarity after the swell of the wedding... speaking of which the above is from our incredible wedding photographer & friend Michael Rauner. his photos are brilliant. i especially love his warm lighting. he has an amazing book called the "Visionary State" out right now through chronicle.

another recommendation c/o my BFF is the newest Parker Posy movie: "Broken English". I watched it last night & something about that film felt true & I just love PP and her style.

any book/ movie suggestions for me these days? maybe i should look at The Ship Of Fools reading list, eh?

speaking of ships...happy "Talk Like a Pirate Day"! Argh!

signing off xo,
mati

8 comments:

lisa solomon said...

arrrggh back at you [so perfect for you mAti]

so glad you could visit.
so glad you are typing....

it will all come
[lovely photo]
xo

Shell said...

The photo is so beautiful - it's warm and lovey without being overly sentimental or staged - so real. Congrats on becoming a wife!

I imagine that there would be something of a coming down period after such a big and important event. I fell into a slump after coming back from europe recently - I think you look forward to something for so long...then you gotta find something new to look forward to again!!! Ahhh, life - it's wonderful!

pixiegenne said...

congratulations again. great picture. thanks for the recommendations. one of my favorite books i've read this year is "never let me go" by kazuo ishiguro. i'm just about to start another of his - i think he's brilliant.

Anonymous said...

while studing in england i met an older man who would celebrate his birthday each year by visiting a town he had never been before. i always think of him on my birthday.

zelia said...

Mati, that photo is so beautiful it makes me kind of teary-eyed. I'm sure that is a photo that you will both cherish. Such a beautiful place to be married in, too.

There's something nice about the resting and gathering energy that comes after something big. I can't wait to see what you do next.

Lisa PN said...

hey lovely,
yes, i do know that post big slump..
after getting married, going to croatia to put on a puppet show, coming back to toronto for a friends wedding, then going back to Europe for 3 months, when i returned i felt like..hmmm..what now?

it's a good place to be..a sign of magic to come.

and that photo is spectacular. really really beautiful.

hugs,
Lisa

andrea said...

okay, a couple of things:

1. post-wedding is a strange place to be... not at all unusual to feel a little let down.

2. I am a big fan of kickboxing! have yet to find a class here in portland (sure there's a good one somewhere)... but I'm looking! nothing beats a good kickboxing class-- the sweating, the release-- it's a lot like a dance class, which is why I guess I like it so much!

3. 'broken english' is on my list of things to see... nice to hear that you liked it.

xo

Elizabeth said...

I thought I was the only one that was on an incredible low after the wedding festivities!! I had never heard anyone talk about it before!! Eventually you will be looking forward more and not dwelling on it too much.