The Missing Piece

What is wrong with this picture?


Maybe I should have started off by saying this: if things like falling teeth and nails give you the heebyjeebies, you'd better move along and skip this post (yes Kelly, that would be you).

Does that give you enough of a hint already? (I purposely made the picture a little smaller than usual so as not to *really* gross you out.)

Yes, ladies & gents, what you see here are 9 toenails painted white, and 1 pink stump where a toenail has fallen off.

It's the left baby toe. See it now?

I can really get in there a little closer.

Ready?








Brace yourself.










HERE IT COMES!









I had an even more extreme close-up of just the little toenail itself, but even I was ultra grossed-out by it so I thought better of it than to upload it here. Ugh.

The weirdest thing about this is... I have no idea when this happened. I only noticed the missing toenail on Friday evening, and if you follow me on Twitter, you would have followed me on the wild goose chase around the house trying to locate it.

How does an entire toenail drop off without hurting, without me even realizing it?

It disappeared without a trace (it's not even in my sock - yes, one of my tweeps suggested checking my shoe and I actually did it).

I have a sinking feeling it might have come off during yoga, so the poor teaching assistants are going to be soooooo grossed out when cleaning out the shala. Imagine having to find... along with all the disgusting bits of hair, mat pieces, flaked-off skin et al... an actual WHOLE toenail (beautifully pedicured, no less). *GAG*

What is simultaneously amazing and gross is there's a teeny, tiny, new, little nail-bit growing where the old nail was.

Ah, Mother Nature. You're a freak.

Obama In Da House!

Will it never stop? Obama-mania, that is. I hope it doesn't. Firstly, coz I like the guy and what he represents, and secondly, I love all the kitsch that comes with Obama-mania.

First, it was Lululemon's Ombama campaign


And now, this ranks highly on my happy kitsch list. The special edition collector's item Chia Obama.

No, seriously. The same maker of Chia pets brings us 2 versions of Obama growing his green afro: Happy Chia Obama and Determined Chia Obama.

Can you grow one? YES YOU CAN!"

Hail to the Ch-ch-chief! Visit http://chiaobama.com/ to watch his 'fro grow.

Comic Relief

(Picture credit here)

Hahaha... Well, I'm keeping in theme of the past couple weeks around here!

Here's another random one. This blog has been around for a while, but I've only just discovered it and I'm in stitches. Be warned: yoga dorks only (but still funny even if you're not a yogi. I think.)

It's what happens when plastic action figures are made to do yoga (yes, someone obviously has a lot of time on their hands...) Only on Yoga Beans.

They're a collection of short stories, based on each pose in the Ashtanga sequence. Here's a snippet of what you'll see...






And here's the money shot, where they reference David Swensen's practice manual!

Duke: "Now, here we see Mr. Swenson in the finished pose. That's some goddamn warrior spear energy right there, I tell you what."

Snake Eyes: "Mmmph!"

Duke: "See how that back foot is grounded? See the way the twist starts at the base of his spine and rotates his torso right around? He's got his gut tucked in tight and that top arm is long and straight and strong as the stem of a flower."

Heavy Duty: "Duke, you're a poet."

Visit Yoga Beans for more.

Stand UP!

...oh, and on the yoga practice front, I finally stood up, ON MY OWN, from backbends. YIPPEEEEEEE!

Check out Sharath at 48 seconds.

(He's the grandson of the founder of Ashtanga Yoga, and incidentally, he's coming to Sydney on a 2-week workshop in October. Of course I'm signed up for it already).

Of course it was nowhere near as graceful as he is - in fact, I was stumbling around on the mat after standing up... in part to get my balance, and in part I was really confused (huh? Did I really stand up already?)... and then I hopped for joy on the mat. YEEHAR!

Now to work on those dropbacks so I can put them all together like him. (there's always more to work on, innit?)

To-Meat (Sadie Nardini) or Not-To-Meat (Sharon Gannon)?

Ooh! Looks like the gloves are coming off on this great debate!

According to Elephant Beans, the two yogis will be debating the issue whether yoga & meat-eating are mutually-exclusive on live video on Huffington Post this Wednesday, August 19th.

UPDATE: Apparently this has been rescheduled to Sept. 1.

...But Maybe You're More Highly Evolved If You Eat Meat Without Guilt?

Here's another interesting article I've come across on the "To veg or not to veg" question I've been mulling over. See previous post on the animal industry.

I've had some interesting comments both privately and on this blog from people with widely differing views. Much like the discussion going on in the comments section on Sadie's Huffpost article (on being a meat-eating Superstar Yogi).

Here's another great article, which looks at it from another angle. Click on the picture, or on the link here. Still chewing the (veggie) fat on this one. Things that make you go hmm...