St. Patrick's Day

(Written and supposed to be published on 3/17, but due to trouble with my computer logging on to Google, this is being published today.  Just imagine it's still March 17th!) 

Happy Green, Shamrocks, Beer & Irish Day! It's St. Patrick's Day 2011 – and I've had such a fun happy day. Too much fun, almost – just in simple things and the general feeling of this day.


This morning, it was hard to wake up when the alarm went off at 6:30. This time change has not helped me to feel alert, that's for sure... in the evenings one feels fine, but come morning... yeah. Anyway, I proudly wore me (typo, but I think I'll keep it!) green sweater and scarf. I don't have a ounce of Irish in me (that I know of) but everybody seems to turn Irish in the New York area on this day. There was definitely a lot more green on the subways – noticeable even for 7:30-ish in the morning! I started my day at 8:30 – I even happen to have a green mat. Some of my classmates were wearing green leotards. Our teacher for our technique class after the warm up wished us a “Happy St. Patrick's Day”. We had a good class, but a bit of an emotional interlude. It was really funny, though interesting to say the least, at the time! While working on a exercise after several minutes, one of the girls felt rather discouraged and frustrated with feelings of her own inadequacy, and ended up in tears. Our teacher (a very special individual...) called her over and gave her a hug. While the situation was rather awkward and sad for us to watch, I didn't feel emotion... until I looked at another classmates' eyes which were quite wet. That quickly broke me down and mine overflowed. There wasn't any real reason for it – it was obviously from deep inside with a stronger, not-superficial meaning behind it, as half the class and even our pianist started crying! It becomes clear in these situations how much it all means to us – working to “get” something, to accomplish something, to succeed in what we are studying all day long! The girls who don't express emotions as much did not join in however – haha! “Oh, my lovelies!” the instructor said – and gathered us into a group – a little pow-wow mid class. She expressed that she has never worked with a class like ours that works so hard on everything and cares so much in a focused manner on the work presented – and she is very proud of us. The rest of the class was very good, but the emotions continued. There were quite a few of us all a bit on edge during the day, and later, in a mime class the teacher gave an exercise where two friends were parting and then coming back together – without words, just physical contact and projected feeling/emotion. One of the girls who is an amazing actress connected so well with the other that she was working with and climaxed in literally, full body sobs. Another girl as well ended in tears projecting feelings about a friend and peer she had lost recently. The more sensitive ones of us were affected – less than in the morning class though. I think it was a release for several of us – in the best possible way. And for me, it was the first actual “good” day that I've had this week – after a stressful, sad, and even shocking weekend...


And then we ended our day early at 2:30 (!) and I went to work study. So many people everywhere were wearing green! Even the majority of businessmen complied and work green dress shirts and ties. It was so nice to see and to be out and about in. People seemed to be more happy and relaxed too – no coincidence, as there are mental components to the color green – a lot like blue! The sun was shining, completely blue and absolutely lovely sky, and temperatures in the low 60's. A perfect lovely day – happy to be alive! So happy and content. If only it could always be this way. There are always the inescapable realities – look at Japan – but life does go on, right or wrong... and troubles are put aside for just a day...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!