Journal 119

Journal 119

5-15-10

I spent the majority of the day at the Coffee House, working, actually. Then, I was supposed to have plans with Nastëna -- but they didn't work out, so I headed home and got an hour of rest -- not sleep -- and then was straight off to the studio. … Whereupon entering, I was informed that my lesson was going to take place an hour later…

It was too crowded today for me to actually practice during my extra hour, so I just watched the lessons. It was very, very cool.

My lesson, however, was not. … Remember when I said I hoped I was practicing things right? … Here's what Vitaly had to say:

"Did you forget everything?"

I had honestly thought that I had been practicing things correctly, and improving! Turns out, I was about a half an inch off in my hip placement. That is SO frustrating!!! Of course, I *want* to be perfect -- so he's fully right to correct me, even on a minor, minor detail like that!

Later on, and I'm not sure what brought it about, but I must have said something, because Vitaly looked at me, and very emphatically (but with the wrong emphasis), said:

"This is bullsh**t!"

I was completely *shocked* to hear him curse for a moment; but then just hearing how he had said it (Which just… Wasn't… Right… Ha ha ha!) dissolved me into a fit of laughter. And then he was laughing at me laughing, and I was laughing at him, and we were just plain laughing at each other. We finally collected ourselves a few minutes later.

Then, Vitaly gave me one of the most difficult exercises he has *ever* given me, and also came the closest to yelling at me that he ever has.

It was a frame exercise, along the lines of, "Hold your arms out *exactly* like *this.*" Naturally, I could neither hold them for long in the intended fashion, nor could I really seem to hold my arms in that position well at all. By the end of the time Vitaly had me hold it, I believe I was as close to muscle failure (in my arms) as I have ever been!

As I mentioned, it was during this exercise, that he about yelled at me. Now, in his defense, he had told me, "Hold your arms *exactly* like this, and *don't* *move.*" It was very clear. The problem was, I was getting frustrated at my apparent weakness, and in my desperation to do it right, and to understand why I couldn't hold a certain part in a certain way, I broke the position, to try to point out, "But *this* isn't right!"

Almost immediately, Vitally jumped on me. "Do you want to get better?" He said sharply.

"Of course!" I replied quickly.

"Then you're going to [shut up and] do what I tell you."

It was the most stern he'd ever been with me -- but it certainly hit the point home. Sometimes, there just needs to be a certain amount of blind faith, and just doing what they say.

In a show of support, Vitaly then stood next to me, and began doing the exercise with me, saying, "I do this for 10 minutes, to this day." A marker of how much dedication it takes, how much strength he's had to build up to do that exercise for that long, and the willpower it takes to do an exercise like that for that amount of time. It was pretty inspiring. And while I balked when he said 10 minutes, he did remind me, gently, that one builds up to that.

*****

Bedtime was around midnight -- I certainly needed an early night!!!