Sunday, March 6, 2011

The Pole is Not for Getting Tips

I am trying to be easy to please. Or at least easier to please. This is my new goal, or “intention” as we say in yoga. Ken would laugh if he heard me say that. He chides me for my idiosyncrasies and peculiarities. Go with the flow, I am not. 

Historically I have never been easy to please. My dad reminds me of this often. I would whine my way through hikes and complain about long car rides through the mountains. Isn’t this what all kids do? I am Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally, always being kind of particular about things (but not good at faking orgasms). I am the one who wants to change hotel rooms for a better view or send back a cold soup even if it was meant to be cold. I think another name for this is high maintenance. It is exhausting. What if we just accepted things as they came and saw the good?

Yes, this view of the parking lot is stunning!!

Today I went to yoga, did not fart, and did forearm balance for the first time. I always thought it was “four” arm balance and wondered where you got the extra two arms. I’ll never be a yoga instructor, it’s too complicated for me. This is not me, but my brunette sister, who I am sure is easy to please.

forearmbal

I got home and made a poached egg. I have never been successful at a poached egg before. It’s not that hard, but sometimes there are things that we can’t do that other people can do very well. I was easily pleased by my egg.

I had some revelations while on vacation. It was a good reminder to find joy in the moment. To love the simple things. To not wish for things to be different.

In addition:

  • I learned that when you are on a guided tour and someone taps you on the shoulder, you shouldn’t immediately turn around and blame the person behind you who just might be an old Frenchman. You should always blame your 13 year old son standing to the side.
  • I learned that sharing a room with your two bickering children for several days on end does not bring out the best in a person. I started to say things like, “No, YOU be quiet. YOU are not the boss of ME. I am your mother.”
  • I learned that big Costa Rican men driving American families around the country sometimes have bad gas. Very bad gas. Must be the beans.
  • I learned that it feels like you get a lot more email when you don’t check it all the time.
  • I learned that low flow toilets aren’t meant to handle SUAR’s offerings and that not being allowed to put paper in the toilet (and instead in a trashcan) makes things smell.
  • I learned the the pole in the middle of a boat is to be used for balancing while trying to walk, not dancing and getting tips.

Are you hard to please or more of a go-with-the-flow type?

What did you learn recently?

SUAR

24 comments:

  1. I now have to put Costa Rica on the no-go zone. That not-flushing-the-toilet-paper thing takes it off my list - as well as Greece and Thailand.

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  2. hahahahhaha! Those lessons you learned are truly priceless! I hate low-flow toilets... i have even blogged about this hatred. In the trashcan... yes, that would make things smelly! The bickering... maybe my 2-week road trip with my 4 kids and no husband really IS a bad idea... hmmm.

    I am erratic. Sometimes I am go-with-the-flow and sometimes really not. For example, I almost never send food back or complain about a view (unless I paid for a better one). But there are somethings (my husband would say a lot of things) that do get me torqued.

    I recently learned to stop underestimating the speed and craftiness of a 2-year old. And how to get my kids to listen to "you get what you get and you don't get upset" is by modeling it myself! shit.

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  3. I am a go-with-the-flow type and very easy to please, and that tends to get me into a lot of trouble at times.

    I, too, just returned home from vacation (went to Ireland, England, and France) and it was the 'in the moment' moments that made the trip beyond amazing. Being on foreign ground was an experience all itself.

    One thing I've been trying to do more of is taking photos during those in the moment moments. As I've gotten older the photos start to become those priceless memories I wouldn't trade for anything.

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  4. I have forearm balance envy, although I did recently master crow. So that's something!

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  5. Go with the flow!?!?! What the heck does that mean? I am incapable of going with the flow. Unless I am the person that planned the flow and told everyone how to flow. I am going to start Yoga! You have inspired me. I am convinced my body will look like yours if I do Yoga : ) Any suggestions on good DVDs for beginners with okay balance and NOT flexible. As in I can not touch my toes.

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  6. I dont understand the toilet paper in the trashcan after pooping... I'm sorry but that's gross to me. I'll put it in the toilet regardless of what the sign says. No one wants to smell nasty toilet paper that's been in there for days.

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  7. oh no! you couldn't flush the toilet paper. i'd die.

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  8. I've learned to not worry about things that are out of my control!

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  9. I can't bring myself to put paper in teh toilet. Way too many years here putting it in the basket. We empty ours nightly and it does not smell (even with 4 kids). The key is to ball up the paper so the poop is in the inside.

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  10. Ah yes, coming home from vacation to 100+ emails... especially on the work account. :S

    Awesome on the forearm-stand!

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  11. flow? I like to create my own. make a rip tide and just hold on.

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  12. I'm just so happy you are back! I love your blog! I learned that I must take a vacation to Costa Rica!

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  13. I'm a weird mix. I am particular about a lot, but I pretend I'm not. I'm all martyr-ish about it. I go along with stuff I hate just to be cool.

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  14. I'm impressed by your accomplishments today! Forearm stand seems quite impossible to a newbie like me!

    And sometimes being high maintenance means that you just speak up for what you want, instead of quietly being annoyed that things aren't exactly right.

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  15. I'm a little bit of both. Depends on the situation.

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  16. Oh, how I wish I could say that I'm a go-with-the-flow kind of girl. But, it is not so. I do try though. I think life can be so much more enjoyable when you can "surrender" yourself to the moment more often. Costa Rica sounds awesome! I've always wanted to try ziplining!! (SUAZL made me laugh out loud.)

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  17. I'm Flow. Or am I just lazy? Getting things exactly the way you want them takes more effort than I'm willing to fork out.

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  18. Oh I'm pretty much flow-with. Seriously, that second to last bullet I could have done without. Yeah, um, Beth, I'm still waiting for those pics you promised.

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  19. There was a girl running the Chilly Half Marathon here today who had written in a Sharpie on her shirt "Shut up and run" and I wondered if she was a fan..

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  20. Not too long ago I learned to not eat a Big Mac combo a few days before a marathon.

    Duh - seems pretty obvious. Unfortunately, I had to learn the hard way.

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  21. I am pretty much go with the flow for the most part. Now my daughter on the other hand complains about everything....ugh.

    Glad you had such a great vacation; your pics are beautiful. I was just talking to Rick last night about our Hawaii vacation last year and the fact that I don't think I've been that relaxed since then. I need a vacation soon or I may burst!

    I am super glad that you are running pain free!

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  22. Love it! I always blame my kds for everything, it is so much more fun that way!And the pole thing, I have to tell my younger kid is is not for gymnastics and he is NOT 100% monkey (only 75%).

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  23. Love this question!!! I think I'm completely easy-going, but my family tells me otherwise. Over the years, I've come to the conclusions that they are all bipolar, insane, boderline personality disorder, sociopaths who don't get me. I'm pretty sure it's all THEIR problem. (of course there is a grain of truth in everything . . !!!). The Meg Ryan analogy has been made more than once describing me, which shows our age more than our personality profile, unfortunately! All I have to say, is that I'm a better woman at 42 than I was at 22.

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  24. First, I totally broke the TP rule when I was in Costa Rica. I flushed it anyway!

    And I don't like to think about it as being hard to please....I'm just very particular about the things I like.

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