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Below are the 9 most recent journal entries recorded in the "tyggerjai" journal:
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11:52 pm
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Circus hurts, redux, redux.
So tonight, coach was in late, and I got him to take a quick look at the stuff I've been working on. One knee hangs are still iffy, but I got pointers on the half-angel (though the only thing he said was "flex the rope foot a bit more"), and the kneehang/swing/sit-on-bar/drop-back-to-hang combo. The swing up is fine, it's the getting back down. He said "Just tuck in, slide your hands down the rope, stay tucked and lower yourself slowly through the stomach muscles, don't drop back down". At which point we identified the problem. But that's ok, lots more ab work and I will one day be able to hold myself in tuck while hanging by my knees, and then gently lower myself.
( And then I scared the shit out of us both. )
Tags: nastyushka, trapeze
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12:09 pm
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C'est la vie....
I will say this for my crazy Russians. They are an excellent remedy for a broken heart.
Tags: nastyushka
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02:09 pm
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The good kind of hurt.
So today, my first silks class. The feedback is much faster for silks. First thing, climb the silks. Fine, about 5 minutes to get the knack of wrapping and sliding, and then no problem. Compared to trapeze, which is now one week of "Hang. Hang some more. Wonder if I'm doing it right. Hang and lift my legs. Hang some more.". So, climbing the silks, taking my legs off, putting them back on, re-wrapping and climbing back down. Achievement! We like that.
And Nastyushka, of course, said "The dreadlocks, no good loose. Must tie them up." And our teacher Rowena said "Eh, they're ok for now." Which prompted a tirade of incomprehensible Russian from Nastyushka, culminating in the word "Discipline, discipline, discipline!" over and over. Which I guess means "Start out slack and you'll stay slack!".
And I think that means she cares....
Tags: cirque, nastyushka, trapeze
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11:53 pm
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Crazy Fucking Russians.
So I may have mentioned, Nastyushka seems inordinately delighted that I'm back in the garage - or some utterly unrelated coincidence has made her slightly less talkative while I've been on stage. I suspect, actually, the latter - I'm pretty sure her baseline hasn't changed much, just that it's easier to talk in the garage. And while I was on stage she did beat me with a rolled up newspaper *and* a pair of drumsticks, which are signs of affection.
But tonight, she came and said "Why you no say me 'Happy Valentines Day' yesterday?". So I looked at her, and blinked, and said "Nastyushka, I'm a married man!". And she proceeded to beat me over the head with a pen and point out that if my wife doesn't mind that we go for drinks together after work, she's unlikely to mind if I say "Happy Valentine's Day". So I *think* beating me over the head with a pen *while* petulantly demanding an explanation for my lack of Valentine's Day wishes *and* justifying her own lack of such by saying she forgot is, by Crazy Fucking Russian standards, practically a proposal of marriage.
Or not. I'm completely confused. But remarkably OK with that.
Also: English words that are difficult to explain to the hot Russian acrobat you have a hell of a crush on include "intimate". I ... didn't even know where to start. And "Let me show you" seemed like a bad idea 3 feet away from a 30' drop.
jai.
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Tags: nastyushka, russian
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11:22 pm
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I'd do it for the ghost of a smile....
"And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,
And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.
Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, "he who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone, is a nobler than he who ploughs the soil.
And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet."
But I say, not in sleep but in the over-wakefulness of noontide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass;
And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.
Work is love made visible. "
That smile, right there, is the payoff.
Tags: cirque, nastyushka
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06:12 pm
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Moment...
These little things, they grow, they take on lives of their own. A while back, we nicknamed Olga and Nastya Белка and Стрелка after the Russian Space Dogs. Last week, Nastya dragged a chair into the corridor, where the light is better, so she could read between cues. So I stuck some tape on it and wrote космона́вт Стрелка on it. Which she loved. Today, someone has stuck pictures of Стрелка up on the door to that corridor.
This amuses me vastly. Someday we will all have left, and there will be an embroidered mission patch on the garage wall, and no-one will even know the story.
Anyway. There are more garage moments, but they are all variations on a theme, and that theme is me and Nastyushka, and that's boring to everyone else. But there will be stories over beer, oh yes, my droogs.
jai.
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Tags: cirque, nastyushka, russian
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10:38 am
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Melange.
Fitness update! Feeling fabulous. Up on weights, although (or perhaps because) boot camp has become less strenuous with our regular instructor injured. Jogging a couple of days a week, need to eat better! But overall, fabulous. Next week, I run Boot Camp hill again. 6 minutes!
Physio have signed me off on the gym equipment at work. Which, given that I have free weights at home is not a huge deal, but it's a means to an end - I can now go to the acrobatic coach and say "I've signed a waiver, I have permission to use the gear, all I need now is your permission to use the straps." And he will say "That's great! Now start a much more intensive program of upper body strength, and when you're actually strong enough, we'll get you on a trapeze and start from there!". My hope, and it might just work with Warren, is that I can convince him that a static trapeze is just a very expensive pullup bar, and that he should let me use the trapeze itself to work on pullups and hanging leg raises and all the other fun painful stuff that comes before an actual, y'know, trick. We'll see :)
Garage moments: Found a cocktail umbrella[0], gave it to the crazy Russian for her flight. Tips for young players: before you do this, work out what you're going to do if she a) doesn't give it back, and b) refuses to then take her proper umbrella. All during one of the tightest changes in the show. *sigh*. I did convince her that she couldn't actually fly with it in her cleavage, though I stopped short of personally retrieving it. So she gave it back to me, I put it with her stuff, she took it away at the end of the show. Awww. Then she turned up the next night and demanded another one. *facepalm* Fortunately, I had a spare. Unfortunately, we went through the whole cleavage thing again. Well. I *say* unfortunately....
This is the same crazy Russian who dismounts from her iceblock by putting her forearms on my shoulders and jumping. Most of them offer us a hand, or put their hands on our shoulders, or give us some actual option for helping them down in a demure manner. Most of them are 5'10 willowy dancers, who have an actual waist to hold, and can step down. Nastyushka just launches herself, and there's absolutely nowhere safe to grab. Chuck points out that if I don't at least try to grab her, I do end up with her breasts in my face a lot. Chuck, I think, misses the point....
Oh, but it's not all fun. Wait a minute. Yes it is :)
[0] Actually, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) bunnikins found it, to give credit where credit is due.
Tags: cirque, gym, nastyushka
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06:05 pm
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Icarus Schmicarus.
If you never spend your money
you know you'll always have some cash.
If you stay cool and never burn
you'll never turn to ash.
If you lick the boots that kick you
then you'll never feel the lash
and if you crawl along the ground
at least you'll never crash.
So why why why -
WHAT MADE YOU THINK YOU COULD FLY?
--Adrian Mitchell.
Yesterday, Nastyushka was kicking me in the back of the head, safely strapped to her iceblock. Today, she's in hospital, after a bad landing. Coach thinks she'll be ok, she had feeling and movement in her legs, just pain in her back. So fragile, even the ones you think are tough....
jai.
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Tags: cirque, nastyushka
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08:35 pm
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Words of Advice for Young People.
Or: Mistakes I'm making so you don't have to.
Or: Oh, shit.
So the next Russian phrase I need is "I was only flirting! I already *have* a wife."
Unfortunately, I'm not sure it translates, and I think the closest I'll get is "No, I totally understand that your overly-muscled aerial catcher comrades, one of whom is an ex cage-fighter, now have to beat seven kinds of shit out of me. In fact, while they're at it, I'd love for you to kick me in the balls a few times!"
Free clue: When a crazy (but incredibly buff and hot) Russian flyer admires your shave and new tattoo by saying "Why? Are you looking for new girlfriend or something?", do not say "Sure - are you offering?". Unless you mean it. Next free clue: It's a lot like being 12. If she hits you, she likes you.
I think I'm safe. She suggested I join her for red wine in the training room after tonight's show, and I said "NO!!! ... uh, I mean, we're all going out for a drink to say goodbye to Jimbo. You should come along...", she said "Nyet, I only joke, I am training after.". So I *think* I'm ok. But I may have to hide behind Romka next week, which will be impressive, because he's 5'5".
Oh, and one more clue: After it dawns on you that she's flirting back, and that that could be dangerous, for fuck's sake STOP FLIRTING! I need a "Poor Impulse Control" tattoo....
jai.
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Tags: cirque, nastyushka
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