Counseling Balance

Began a sunny, windy day with this week's yoga class. There were 10 people in the class this week, including the teacher Karin. Yogawood did a special workshop in their branch at Riverton a few days ago to earn money for Haiti earthquake relief. Apparently, they did very well, making almost $850, half of it coming from a teacher who donated his month's salary. Karin wanted to continue the theme of giving and sacrifice with "heart-warmers" and back and leg stretches. Not bad, but I bobbled on some of the tougher leg-stretches. We worked with partners again, too. That was kind of fun; my partner this time around was a dainty-seeming college student who reminded me a lot of my delicate friend Amanda.

My next stop after class was the thrift shop to donate the big bag of stuffed animals. I actually made a pretty cool video find - the rare 1946 MGM musical Yolanda and the Thief, which isn't on DVD yet. It's the odd tale of a con-artist (Fred Astaire) who tries to bilk a naive heiress (Lucile Bremer) out of her wealth by pretending to be her guardian angel. Not great, but definitely unique, and features Bremer and Astaire's genuinely nifty dance number "Coffee Time." I also picked up two cute Valentine's Day cardboard hangings, one a teddy bear holding pink roses, the other depicting a Holly Hobbie-esque child holding a cat against a pink heart background.

The Collingswood Library was comparatively quiet. I shelved non-fiction books for an hour. I did see some cool books, including two of Norman Rockwell paintings. Mom was and is a big fan of Rockwell and bought calenders of his work for years. I remember one that wasn't featured in either book, of a couple squabbling over differing political opinions while their young son and his dog find themselves stuck in the middle. My sisters always found that one hilarious - the couple looked a great deal like our own parents arguing politics over dinner.

Another one we loved did make it into both books. Prom Dress, from 1949, depicts a hopeful teenage girl holding up her new gown to a mirror, probably dreaming of herself dancing in it. None of us could blame her. We all would have loved to go dancing in the ruffly white confection she showed off in the mirror, too.

Stopped for lunch at Texas Wieners after I finished at the Library. Texas Wieners is a branch of a hot-dog stand in South Philly that recently opened in the Lumberyard, the luxury condos in Collingswood a block from WaWa. (And it's an interesting irony that two of the three cheapest lunch options in town - Texas Wieners and Primo Hoagies - are housed in the same buildings as some of the most expensive real estate in town.) I had the same thing I had last time, the "Fish-N-Rob" (fish cake, provolone cheese, and broccoli rabe on a roll) and a cup of hot chocolate. All together, my lunch came to $3.96, which is hard to find even at diners. The brownie I bought across the street at GrooveGround alone cost $2.50.

Counseling went pretty well. I told Scott about my fun Christmas and how I've had a hard time getting things back in gear since then. We discussed my difficulty in job-hunting. One of my biggest problems is talking to people. When I'm on the spot, I freeze up and can't think of what to say. It happens at the Acme all the time when I try to tell customers something, get nervous, and forget or lose track of what I'm saying. I end up stammering and feeling foolish, or not saying anything at all.

He suggested informally "interviewing" the librarians at the three libraries where I volunteer. Ask them how they became interested in library work, where they went to school, things like that. See, the other thing I haven't been good at developing is a network, a chain of people I can talk to and ask for help and advice in my job hunt. Until recently, I never met anyone with the same job interests as me!

I had debated going for a long bike ride after counseling earlier in the day, but by the time I left Genesis, the wind and cold had gotten much worse. It was too windy to really try to do anything else on the bike. I stopped briefly for milk at WaWa and rode home.

Spent the rest of the day doing things around the apartment. I put up the Valentine's Day decorations, including the two cardboard figures, two tinsel garlands, and the piles of paper hearts I have. I baked Banana Chocolate Chip Bread from the Prevention cookbook. Alas, it came out a bit stickier and a bit overcooked, but still edible. While the bread baked, I crocheted and watched Lawrence of Arabia.

A classic Oscar-winning story of the real-life T.E Lawrence, Arabia is a sweeping, epic saga of the man who lead several Arabian tribes to help conquor the Turks during World War I, then tried to unite the squabbling clans. Peter O'Toole gives an amazing performance as Lawrence, especially given this was his on-screen debut. He's back by a fantastic cast, including Omar Sharif and Anthony Quinn as two of the Arabian chieftains, Claude Rains as a British politician, Alec Guiness as the Prince of the Arabian tribes, and Arthur Kennedy as an American photographer who immortalizes Lawrence as a hero. The cinematography almost steals the show from all of them, from the famous jump-cut from the match to the desert to the spectacular train derailment near the beginning of the first half.

And yes, I did finally figure out how to crochet. Good thing I took out two books on crocheting Tuesday; I just used the other one. It took me a while, but I got a foundation chain done that looked so nice, I left it alone and after tying it off, made it into a collar for my WebKinz Black Frisian King. I think I'll start off making simple things like that for me and my various collections - collars and ribbons for the stuffed animals, ribbons, headbands, scarves, shawls, and belts for the American Girls dolls, ribbons and headbands for the Sailor Moon dolls, and headbands for me. (I could use some new headbands - my old ones are really stretched.)