The joy of yoga, kindof

I've been in Chicago the past few months, and I haven't really gotten a whole lot out of it. I decided over break that for this new term, I would get out of my apartment more and see the city and/or just do something more productive with my time. You might call it a new year's resolution of sorts, although I think those are such crap. So maybe a new semester resolution? Er, how about doing something and sucking it up instead of whining all the time? I think I'll go with that one.

On Sunday, I went to the Art Institute of Chicago, which has all kinds of pretty art, as one would assume. It has the pretty French stuff and weird modern stuff and different exhibits with random stuff like textiles and architectural designs. They have a room filled with Monet's paintings, which made me so happy. There's something about his paintings that's just soothing and peaceful, except for the London ones. I don't think he liked London so much. Case in point:

The Art Institute has this painting, and it is absolutely beautiful. In real life, the colors pop off the canvas, there's light, it's happy and it's just a pretty painting. And then there's this one:

Yup, that's his take on London and their beloved Houses of Parliament. All the landscapes in France are soft and sunny. His paintings of Venice were also rather bright and happy. Then, there's this dump. Granted, he's right. London pretty much is a dark, dismal place, but someone could have at least had the decency to bribe him into making it look nice. Anyway, there was a lot to see at the museum that I didn't get to, so I'll have to go back at some point and check the rest of it out.

I've also decided to try to finally set up a regular exercise schedule, instead of sporadically doing stuff. I went out for a run on Monday, which was actually really great. It was a nice 65 degrees and I was able to go running comfortably in a T-shirt...In Chicago...In January. I was rather pleased by this. That only lasted a short time as it's cold again, but it was so nice not being cold for once.

Last night, I decided to check out a yoga studio relatively close to my place and finally start up yoga again. So, the way my neighborhood works is a little strange. It's the nicest neighborhood in Chicago. It's downtown, in between Michigan Ave and the Lake. However, I spend most of my time south of my apartment building. School is that way, so are all the grocery stores, dry cleaners, bank, etc. There's also some ritzy stuff like the Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth, but there's also common-folk stuff too, like Gap and a Walgreens. It's nice. However, the two blocks just north of my apartment are the fucking richest and most upscale blocks I've ever seen. Since I never go there, I really never noticed the difference.

I had to go through that neighborhood to the yoga studio. These few blocks include the Hancock Tower (which I did realize was there thankyouverymuch), The Drake Hotel, other really fancy ass hotels, Bloomingdale's, Gucci, and The Private Bank. Yup. That's what was written on the door and the sign outside in fancy gold print. The Private Bank. They might as well have written "The Bank for Only the Ridiculously Rich Who Do Not Want to Associate with Lowly Commoners." I mean, wow. That's one of those where I stopped on the street, stared and then started laughing hysterically.

Anyway, I made it to the yoga class in time. It's possibly the nicest and most extravagant yoga studio I've ever seen (although, I'm sure there's 'The Private Yoga Studio' out there somewhere). It also had a teacher who kicked my ass in the name of inner peace. It felt great at the time, but man, my shoulders and legs are sooo sore. Getting up in the morning hurt so much. It made me reconsider this whole 'going out' idea, but then I thought about how awesomely in shape I would be if I kept this up. So I think I'll go regularly. :)

Well, that's all. I haven't gotten any pictures on phone. I'll figure that out at some point this year.