This.

Hope

We [don't] get rid of a military regime [and] replace it with a fascist theocracy.



A Young Boy Explains Why Egyptians Threw Out the Muslim Brotherhood

Lately, depending on your perspective, I have been either a) totally getting my health on, or b) punishing myself with torture that may lead to premature death.

To wit:

Today was my second Bikram yoga class. Today I watched a puddle of my own sweat form on the part of the yoga mat not covered by a terry towel during one asana. It was dripping off my back, onto my face, and then from my head.

Bikram yoga is 90 minutes of yoga in 110 degrees at 50 percent humidity. Apparently, you burn upwards of 500 calories in one session. Afterwards, you are starving and sleepy, and in some cases (like mine) feel like you want to die. Sounds good, right? Apparently, this is the way you are supposed to feel. Cleansing toxins from your body and massaging your organs and all that. I even have a friend who swears his stinky office mate got less stinky after starting Bikram.

Right now, I feel like I've been hit by a truck, but then again I've also got better posture, spring in my step, and those stairs to my apartment feel like nothing. Go figure.

I have a one month promo membership -- let's see where this goes.

And tired of paying $3 a pop for probiotic goodness in a jar, I've also been brewing my own kombucha.















^^ That was my first batch, made with Earl Grey tea. You can see the "mother" kombucha colonies (or "mushrooms") at the bottom of the jars. First batch was super vinegary, but produced some fine looking mushroom "babies" (the white layer on the top):



















Just harvested my second batch today -- this time made with green tea -- and it was significantly less vinegary. A lot of people say kombucha tastes like sweaty socks, so people will generally put a tablespoon or more of fruit juice in the glass to make it palatable. This batch is so easy to drink straight I thought I'd done something wrong.

Anyway, let's hope I'm doing more good than harm! Now I'm off for a beer.

This pic of the phenomenal Helen Mirren has been flying all over the internets, and I am going to be the 5 millionth woman to say that I hope I look half as good as she does when I'm 50, much less when I'm 63.

She's without makeup, vibrant, voluptuous -- she's gorgeous! And I love that it looks like she hasn't had any work done. But it's also important to note, for fairness' sake, that she's had no children. In fact, she's said she "[has] no maternal instinct whatsoever." You go girl! Women like this can start a revolution.

Helen Mirren is the embodiment of what I hope for in my golden years.

Can't wait for The Last Station, where she plays Leo Tolstoy's wife, Sofya, alongside Paul Giamatti, Christopher Plummer, Anne-Marie Duff, and James McAvoy.