Man, time has been flying! ?I haven’t had time to update my blog, unless you mean “applying WordPress plugin updates,” which I have been doing. But what else has been going on?
In February I purchased a new condo in Medford, MA. It’s only a couple of miles away from my place in Somerville, and yes, I am still quite frequently and regularly in Vermont to service my existing client base, visit friends and family there, and mountain bike. In case this is news to you and you are a client of mine, yes, it’s true: I live in Massachusetts now… and I have for over three years, so none of this “who do we call for IT and IT security work” nonsense, okay? You still call Paradigm and we still help you, just as we always?have.
Speaking of work, we established a presence in Cambridge, so we are local to the greater Boston area now as well as central Vermont.
In 2012 I started practicing Krav Maga, in addition to yoga and aikido. In 2013, after dealing with years of pain, I was diagnosed with a severely torn (“literally hanging by a thread”) rotator cuff, thanks to years of abuse on the mat, and had it repaired. Now the only remnant is a very slight loss of flexibility (meaning I now have to strain to touch both hands behind my back whereas it used to be able to easily clasp hands that way), and I can do all of my regular activities without issue.
Due to injury and a falling out with my teacher in Vermont, I decided not to return to aikido practice in the forseeable future. Fortunately, yoga and Krav Maga have proven to be even more fulfilling and meaningful to me, and I have been progressing in both steadily. Last month, I took the purple (two steps below black) belt test alongside my friends who were testing for their black belts. As with almost everything Krav Maga, it was as physically grueling as it was rewarding. I am right at home with the instructors and students at Alpha Krav Maga Boston, where we study and practice the practical application of martial and self-defense techniques.
Yoga has also advanced to become just as important a (nearly) daily practice in my life. I’ve said for years that it’s where I go to put myself back together after tearing myself apart in my other activities. No, I can’t yet do handstands or headstands, but I’m working on it. After decades of my body being trained to right itself immediately after flipping more than 45 degrees forward, it’s hard not to go into a forward roll and stop when exactly vertical. It’s amazing how good a body can feel after practicing yoga consistently for even just a few days in a row. Seriously, if you haven’t tried it, do it. Find yourself a yoga studio right now and take a few classes. You’ll thank me later.?
My mom, Heidi, suffered a massive stroke at the end of May. This has been a huge strain for the immediate and extended family. As of this writing, it’s been over two months and she still cannot reliably communicate or use her right side, although she is able to feed herself limited amounts of food. Seeing her like this is really difficult. What I have taken away from the experience is that I am even more committed to my own physical wellbeing.
On that note, I’m having my left shoulder operated on to hopefully head off the same condition that manifested in the right. Hopefully the damage is nowhere near as bad as the right, so I should be back up to full speed in a couple of months.
Here’s hoping your 2016 is even better than 2015!
The personal blog of Peter Nikolaidis