The catalogs are getting ridiculous. I admit my own responsibility in these things showing up in my mailbox: I subscribe to many magazines, which sends demographers off in a gazillion directions. But the assumptions these people make!
Case in point: I happen to subscribe to Yoga Journal. I've been interested in Yoga for a couple of years now. I read more than I practice (and I kick myself for every day I don't practice - I wonder if that counts?). The gang at YJ have sold my name to everyone but Encyclopedia Britannica, and I suspect I'll be hearing from them shortly. Today I received a catalog in the mail, Inner Balance: Natural Solutions for Health. While waiting for Jean to get home from work, I decided to flip through the catalog.
Yoga is generally a paraphernalia-free activity. If you are well-practiced, you don't really need any props at all. Iyengar Yoga is a particular flavor of yoga that advocates using props to achieve poses you can't manage alone. I can go that far, but the folks at these catalogs have gone to the extreme. On the inside cover of this particular catalog are three women in various poses - I guess we'll call them poses - with what are essentially the Hoppity Hops I played with as a child. These balls are two to three times the size of your average beach ball, and the women are squishing them. One woman (the most natural looking of the lot) is arching her back on one. Another is belly-down, holding herself steady with her hands, while her legs point up in the air. The last (and my personal favorite) is in a sitting position with nothing underneath, but the ball at her back against the wall. I suspect in this one photo the catalog people have demonstrated the complete range of utility for this ball.
Apparently not. I just checked to see what the name of the product is (it's called "Fit Ball", though I don't know whether it's the person or the ball having the fit), and in addition to the ball, the company has not one but two workout videos.
My favorite item so far in the catalog is the Personal Air Supply. Using "corona discharge technology" and no fan, this item (a little black box the size of a beeper, which you hang around your neck like an albatross) draws in and destroys "pollutants, allergens, and viruses", directing a stream of air towards your face at 100 feet per minute. Oh, yeah: "Pacemaker users should consult a physician before using." Do you think?
Tonight Jean and I watched A Charlie Brown Christmas for the last
time without children around. This show is the best of the Christmas
specials each year, with the Grinch coming in second. The music,
Linus' soliloquy, Charlie Brown's dismay at killing the tree, and his
wonder at its recovery...it's just the best.
Another mild day in Richmond. When I left my office to come home this
evening, the moon was shining again through the trees. As I started
home, I could still see the yellow sky of the sunset. By the time I
reached home, ten minutes later, it was night. Evening comes quickly
these days.
listening: Trumpets Sound, Voices Ring (The American Boychoir with The Atlantic Brass Quintet)
watching: A Charlie Brown Christmas
reading: The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien); 1 Maccabees
visiting: Mission Briefing: FUBAR Furby; Words & Thoughts
© 1998 Kevin J.T. Creamer