May 22 2012

Massage and relaxation

Today was the first time in well over five years that I went for a full-body massage. I was a little hesitant given that I’ve lost a lot of weight, and don’t exactly have a lot of muscle mass–I guess I was worried that the pressure might be a bit too deep for comfort. However, it was wonderful! I told the massage therapist that the troublesome areas were along the underside of my shoulder blades (especially my left), and in my legs (probably from the running), and those were the areas on which she focused.

I can’t believe that 60 minutes went by so quickly, but I think that it was the right amount of time given that I haven’t had one in ages. I left feeling completely relaxed, and didn’t have any of the sore pressure points that I usually have a couple hours after a run. Next time, I’m either going to add hot stones (which allow for deeper tissue work, and could help with my middle back), or go for acupuncture. The latter is performed by a woman who has multiple degrees in Oriental Medicine and Massage Therapy. Anyway, it was a wonderful experience that was well worth the money.

Cheers,
Zach

May 21 2012

Fortune cookie wisdom part II

As many of you may know, I love Asian food, and tend to eat it several times per week (if not daily). As such, I come across a lot of fortune cookies. Often, the fortunes are mundane, irrelevant, or just asinine. However, there are some good ones from time to time. I thought I would share some of the decent ones from the last couple months, so here they are in no particular order:

  • Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
  • Only one who attempts the absurd can achieve the impossible.
  • No man is free who is not master of himself.
  • You achieve great peace of mind when you talk with an old friend.
  • A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.
  • Wealth is the ability of fully experience life.
  • Relish the transitions in your life – they will happen regardless.
  • Always accept yourself the way you are.
  • The secret of staying young is good health… and lying about your age.
  • Four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity.
  • Real courage is moving forward when the outcome is uncertain.
  • One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
  • At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet.
  • You will read this and say “Geez! I could come up with better fortunes than that!”

I like a lot of the simple, yet intricate, philosophical viewpoints contained in some of them. For instance, even though it could be shrugged off as nothing more than a grammatical error, the statement that “At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet,” can be interpreted differently. Instead of a mistake, it could be that humanity really amalgamates through love and the wonder of touch.

Anyway, you may now agree with the last fortune. 😉

Cheers,
Zach

May 20 2012

Tag update and CAPTCHA

As a quick tag update, I’ve finished tagging and recategorising about 30% of the former posts. I figured it would be a tedious process (and it is), but it is also fun to read some of the older posts, and reminisce about those times.

Also, I never had all that much of a problem with spam comments when I used s9y, but I’ve been getting several of them per day with WP. I went to leave a test comment on one of my entries (which, by the way, is done by clicking on the little “quote bubble” icon to the right of the post title), and realised that there is no form of spam control at all. I installed the SI CAPTCHA plugin, and it seems to be doing well enough.

Cheers,
Zach