Sunday, February 06, 2005


coffee, as the djinn will tell you

sometimes it's just curious how my mind works -- the weird connections that form. . .

as i read this article today, i thought how completely odd it is. i suppose the only form of lovesickness left now is the sad erotomania (and no, i'm not trying to discuss harlan ellison here -- i mean his online database doesn't even seem to mention his very famous short story by this title, which i was forced to read in jr. high school by a geek who is now a famous nanotechnologist at u.c.l.a.).

but of course in arab folktales, shakespeare, and in the lives of many i have known, lovesickness is a serious problem. i have suffered from it myself.

how could we forget the delightful arab version of cinderella where the prince falls deathly ill from love for a girl he knows only by a glimpse of her golden clog?

in this case, he is cured of course by marrying the girl; but ancient arab medical texts seemed to have prescribed coffee for this malady. in the west, burton in the anatomy of melancholy discusses lovesickness and its various remedies, which in the case of young girls included a salad of fresh violets still wet from the dew.

i think the ancient arab doctors were onto something. so my advice to the modern world is: respect lovesickness, and write a script for a triple cappuccino. . . .

as the ancient arab poem goes: "where coffee is served there is grace and splendor, friendship and happiness."

mr. right helpfully spent the entire afternoon re-arranging the kitchen so all my espresso machines, coffee makers, pitchers, tampers, etc. etc. are finally in one cabinet. no more digging through the antique chinese trunk, which was awfully sweet of him.

and finally, i have to say that after months and months of temporary teachers, my favorite sunday evening yoga class finally has a permanent hire: mary beth, a yogaworks teacher from santa monica.

i know a lot of people don't like the whole yogaworks thing but i have to say their teacher training seems intelligent, as programs like that go.

and i do like many of their standard sequencing ideas, such as externally rotated poses before internally rotated ones, as well as as their emphasis on starting poses at the feet, not at the core.

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