T-M-I from T-I-M

A cool new Yoga blog

My yoga teacher/friend Tom Lee has started a blog called "yoga off the mat".  They are more or less amusing or enlightening stories that relate to the power of doing yoga and taking those lessons off the mat.

It's a refreshing endeavor by one of my fave people around.  Tom is super loving and super cool.

Check it out here!

Looking for a smile?

A friend passed this onto me today and I think it rocks!!!

http://www.eightprinciples.com/

How to dance to rap music

I wrote this scintillating value added article for ehow like 6 years ago and think it's funny and worth posting on my blog!

The key to dancing to rap and hip hop is to realize that most every song tells a story. An easy way to get over the shyness is to act the story out and have fun.

Steps

1. Start out by going to the clubs and trying to catch the names of the songs you like best. Go to the DJ and ask; it's a compliment, and he or she will more often than not be happy to tell you. If it's too loud and you don't get it by the second time, don't sweat it, you're almost certain to hear it again.
2. Download the song or get it in the store.
3. After listening to it, go online and get the lyrics to the song. Then you learn the lyrics and get the story. Rap music (particularly hip hop as opposed to rap) almost always has an infectious beat so it's cool to dance to. You'll feel it when you listen to what they say (even if it's old territory like braggin' on themselves). LL Cool J hasn't said all that much different from his first album, but Headsprung rocks, and knowing the lyrics helps.
4. Listen to the song often (while you run, while you clean the house, in the car, over and over). The beat will start to take you over.
5. Go to the club and start by checking out the basic moves people do, they are often good bridges. However, very few people let loose and those who do usually get tons of compliments. But don't do it to get the compliments or even to pick up women necessarily. Instead, dance because it's the ultimate way for you to feel the message and the music.
6. Go by yourself or go with a friend you really feel comfortable with that you don't have to hang out with the whole night. Hit the floor and dance while you spit as many of the lyrics as you can and act out the lyrics. (Like when Outkast says "drip drip drop, there goes an ear-gasm", you can lean your head to the side like you're trying to get water out of your ear. Or when T.I. says "Bring 'Em Out", put both hands in the air and wave 'em on.) Go by yourself because rap has this unusual ability to make groups of dancers (guys in particular) become really peacock-ish and aggressive. It's so unfortunate, because dancing to rap and hip hop is just about having fun. You should be able to dance comfortably with dudes far tougher than you, because you are all just doing your thing.
7. Keep it real. Don't pretend you're something you're not. The very best rap and hip hop is that because it's real. You don't have to be hard to dance to rap well.

Tips

• It's not a competition or even a way to send "messages". Even if someone else sees it that way, let it go. Rap and hip hop are totally ruined by clubbers who turn the scene into fights and confrontations. People who hate and become very aggressive miss the point. Just because TI raps about two guns drew and you and your friends go a little two on two, it doesn't mean you should fight. Have fun and draw two guns with your fingers and then change your fingers into two for peace or something like that.
• Just ignore the haters. Move to the other side of the club or whatever. It is totally unnecessary to hate and it is a sure fire way to ruin everyone's night letting our insecurities and fear ruin a good night out.

Warnings

• Don't assume. It can be enlightening to experience how dancing can open up cool relationships with folks you might never have talked to before. Assumptions create divisions; a smile (even to a dude) breaks down a lot of barriers.
• If a fight starts, and you're not involved (it doesn't happen much) stay out. Go somewhere safe, don't clown around like it's "cool" that you're not in the fight. Let the bouncers handle it, they are, generally speaking, really adept at doing so and really are there for your safety.

Random Laundromat Thoughts: A Trip Inside My Brain...you've been warned

Want to get a feel for what it's like to live in my brain?  Check this out.  I went to wash my clothes today and had the following random thoughts:

1. What's with the blatant discrimination?  Did you know there is a WHITES and COLORS setting?  I can't even think of what it would be like if there were a water fountain in here.  Can't we all just get along?
   
2. And to make matters worse, they actually discriminate amongst the "colors" by intellect.  There's setting for colors and BRIGHT colors.  It just turns my stomach!!!  I guess political correctness has its boundaries. 
   
3. I think Mr. T would make a terrific yoga instructor.  I PITY THE FOOL WHO ISN'T IN DOWN DOG!!! 
   
   Take a deep breath in and big, audible breath out "UHHHHNNNN".
   
   Um, excuse Mr. T, do you have a prediction for today's class...."PAIN!!!!"
   
4. You know if someone pays close attention to my clothes, they would learn an awful lot about me.  What schools I went to.  Where I've traveled.  My ummmm, attention to personal hygiene at a virtually uncomfortable detailed level.  That I have a daughter (or a REALLY weird set of clothing choices for myself).
   
5. The laundromat may be the place that has the most number of people with the fewest words spoken to each other when not required.  (i.e, you have to eliminate places like libraries where you are supposed to be quiet)  Buses come in a close second, but you don't have as many crazy people babbling while at the laundromat.
   
6. I wonder if anyone notices that I'm wearing the very last pieces of clothing I would want to be seen in.
   
7. A sign says "Use washers and dryers AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!".  Are they really that dangerous?  Is there a notable fatality rate here?
   
8. Finally, how come when it says the wash will take 26 minutes and I live one minute away and come back 18 minutes later the clothes are always done?

Aren't you happy you don't have my brain??

The Difference Between Tennis & Basketball

I was out with a big group of friends the other night at a club when a song by Lil Wayne came on.  First, I quickly realized how uncool I had become because I didn't recognize the song as being Lil Wayne and I know he's hot.

More importantly, the song has a distinct vibe that is too cool.  I was standing next to a friend of mine who is black and I asked him:

"Why is it that, more or less, only black guys can come up with stuff like this that is so damn cool?"

He looked at me and said: 

"It's like the difference between tennis and basketball."

Nothing more needs to be said, I couldn't have said it better, in fact it seems to me that even THAT comment is something that mostly a black person can come up with....classic!!

San Francisco

I know there are a lot of SF-haters out there and I intellectually recoil when people claim that the US is "the greatest country in the world" (seriously, how asinine is that???).

And I loathe hyperbole.

But face it, San Francisco is the greatest city in the world.

Funny Therapist Joke

A friend of mine told me a great therapist joke:

A while ago I discovered I was narcissistic. 

After several years of expensive, successful therapy I'm ok with it.

Single tasker in a multi-tasking world and me feeling RANDY!!!

I'm starting to discover that I'm like a CPU, I do my best when I'm focused on one thing at a time.  Funny that I almost feel like I need to defend myself (kind of like I'm doing right now) for being a single-tasking kind of dude. 

Maybe multi-taskers lead a more exciting and fulfilling life.

Maybe they are the types that can:

1. watch a ball game on tv with P-I-P showing American Idol
2. be having porn star sex (of course with multiple partners who may also be working their crack....berries...wow I'm feeling randy today) 
3. eating a delicious assortment of sashimi off of each other's bodies
4. AND twittering about it all at the same time.

Seriously, how far away are we from someone twittering while they are getting their freak on?

I don't know, but I know that it won't be me and I wonder if I'm the better for it.

Garfield without Garfield

A friend of mine forwarded me this link to the Garfield comic strip without our friend Garfield in it. 

Pretty funny results!

If you like rap music and are analytical, I think you'll dig this

A friend of mine just forwarded me a hilarious like that takes rap songs and puts them into various graphs and schematics using Excel.  It's downright classic.

This one may be my fave for you Jay Z fans (check them all out here):

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