B-Logger

I started this blog at the Logger, thinking that it would be clever to call it B-Logger (actually, Joe gave me the idea) but my phone wouldn't let me type in anything so I had to go home to write this. I would not have remembered to write this had I not run into Joe in the Logger so thank you Joe.

This summer has been packed thus far and as of yet I have not had a moment to stop and smell the flowers. With Mary Jane rehearsals and the show (which was soooooooo much fun to do) I have found little time to workout (besides the workout of doing the show). I have been riding my bike at least 3-5 times a week, doing handstands 2-5, and working on other strength/ bar work 2-5 days a week (recently it has been the former for all of these rather than the latter). After Mary Jane finished I started working on the Cockroach play which I am playing accordion for. That was super intimidating but has actually caused me to pick up the accordion and take learning it a bit more seriously. I mostly played chords with my right hand for the show since I only had my little accordion but there were some complicated chord changes that I worked really hard at mastering (still not perfect but much better than when I first started).

My right elbow has been bothering me more and more lately and so I have been trying to lay off of doing too many handstands in order to let it cool off a bit. I have also been trying to be more mindful about how I am using myself and what I might be doing to aggravate it. While biking yesterday I realized that my elbow was really hurting and started to wonder if perhaps part of the problem is my use of my elbow while biking (not that that is all of the problem because I also noticed that I have been relying more on my right elbow than on my left in handstands and on the bars). So now I am trying to find an easier way of doing things. I have also been working on finding ease in my handstands (which I haven't been practicing as often as I would like to). I am a ball of tension when I do handstands and so I am trying to notice when I tense up and inhibit this response.

Finally, in the Cockroach show the acrobats lift their entire bodies around the bar and then sit on it with their torsos (I don't know exactly how to describe it but with straight arms they fling their legs and torsos up and over the bar and then "float" on top of it). My new goal is that I would like to learn how to do this (and I would like to learn what steps to take to sequentially get there).

Oh, and as far as surgery goes, I do indeed have a tear in my knee, but the doctor hopes it's small enough that perhaps I won't need surgery. He gave me a cortizone shot last week but I think it isn't helping and that I will have to go in again and talk to my doctor again (he said to come back if it doesn't feel like it's getting better, if it's getting worse, or if something just feels wrong and something definitely feels wrong). So I might need surgery afterall :( But I am keeping my spirits up and trying to roll with the punches, whatever they may be.

Love you all and talk to you next week! I hope you are enjoying this beautiful summer weather, wherever you may be!

Meridith Anne Baldwin

P.S.

I sat in on some of the Grande Guinol workshop and was sooooooooo inspired by it (especially the "Hitchcockish" suspense and the building of tension that is possible in this form of theatre. I just had a blast!

P.P.S.

I did the Adult Cabaret (as did Pratik) and also had a ton of fun. David and I did a duet to "Baby It's Cold Outside" (or the date rape song as I like to call it) which ended with me beating him into submission. And Molly, Alana, and I did a Modern Dance/Beatnik piece about vaginas. Oh, and I was a bunny for Albert's song about "Doing It Like Bunny Rabbits." It was a blast!!!!!!!!!