I read about Mars...I liked it

"The Martian 2014"
Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.

I ventured out of my comfort zone with my most recent read, The Martian, by Andy Weir. It's science fiction, which I haven't read since Junior High school and even then I wasn't a fan. You can guess by the title (and other clues) that it's about space travel. --Again, not something I ever saw myself being interested in.  But, I chose to give this book a try.

The biggest surprise about this book? I LOVED IT!

I knew when I started the book that it was being made into a movie, with Matt Damon. Before I read the book I thought, "that's a Matt Damon movie I don't plan to see." You know, Mars? I couldn't see the appeal.

I read the first chapter before choosing the book and was hooked. The book starts out with:

I'm pretty much @*!#ed. That's my considered opinion. @*!#ed.
Six days into what should be the greatest two months of my life, and it's turned into a nightmare.

Those are the first words of astronaut Mark Watney. Resist reading I could not. See what I did there? Yoda speak.

The story pulled me in. Weir deserves a lot of credit for writing a sciency, techie story that doesn't read like gibberish. I read it within the span of a single weekend.  As I immersed myself in Watney's world I was immersed on Mars. Let me just say, Watney is crazy smart. That's part of what was so engaging. With each of Watney's innovated solutions for survival, I felt myself getting an "AHA" moment. Thoughts of *hand slap to forehead* "of course that's what you should do!"

Let me also say that the book has hold your breath suspense. I totally believed every premise in the book.

PLOT TWIST: I'm totally going to see the movie.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Yoga...Upside Down

My 2nd Aerial Class

I'm still into the whole yoga thing. I'm getting stronger and I'm delighted at the end of each class. I liken my state of mind/body after a class to when I was a child and we spent several hours swimming at the pool. I was always so tired and relaxed afterward. Plus I was really happy because swimming and splashing and diving for pennies was just so dang fun.

2nd Inversion in My 2nd Class

I tried a new yoga class four weeks ago. I've been thinking about it ever since my yoga immersion that started in January. The class? Aerial yoga! The studio's aerial class is on Saturdays at 6:00 (at night...mornings would be a non-starter).

The first time I went was on Labor Day weekend. It was sort of the spur of the moment. I'd been quietly feeling blah because I hadn't done yoga in three days. So, I checked out the studio online and signed up, with just 30 minutes to get there. I think that was key...there wasn't really enough time to think about it or talk myself out of it.

In that first class, I was the ONLY student! Seriously! How lucky is that? A personal one-on-one aerial yoga session for my first time. It was intimidating and wonderful and exhausting.

Last week was my third class. I was ecstatic because I was able to do the inversion without a spotter. (That was a first). I felt more confident in this inversion than I had in the prior classes. You can see how much more relaxed my face is.

I'm glad I went and I'm glad I went back.

Until next time!