Dear Mama

It's my mom's 49th birthday and she loves 2Pac and I got these rhymes so I wrote this for the occasion:

Dear Mama,

Growing up with this chip on my shoulder
But now I'm growing older
I dont wanna wake up one day and say I shoulda told her
Try and live without regrets
And I'll never forget
Mornings I wept
Crying for my mom cause she left
Ain't no 9-5
When it's do or die
Single mom
waitress' salary
And there's four pair of eyes
I'm sure you asked yourself why?
I know there were so many bad days and pain
I ain't trying to bring up old shit I'm just sayin
I'm amazed at how u did it again and again
Buying me a clarinet
Barely making rent
Pushing me to be better than where we came from
When it comes to people I'd die for, your the only one.
But that's a long ways away and I know you'd never ask
Cause raising us, you always put yourself last.
Well it's your time to shine
And the hard times, they're in the past
Your little boys are men
And I'm going after that cash
So I can get us those things we never had growin up
When we get to heaven we all showing up
Life worked hard, lived well and loved enough
Believe me, I'll take u in when life's too tough
Cause you gave up your life for me
And the least I can do is be the man you raised me to be
Want you to be there when I have my own family
But right now its my turn to struggle
And make flowers bloom from the rubble
So on your birthday, let me take you by the hand
And my plan is to show you that i understand
You are appreciated

Happy Birthday, Mama!

A Brief....

if you ever had to file one of these things at the courthouse, you know they are anything but....

here it goes; I'll try and give you the condensed version of the haps...

A summer of treacherous 2hr astanga practice before the sun rose resulted in one of the best Falls ive had. plus, the weather in austin has been magnificent. i've only mysore'd once since september and it was last week after a private lesson i taught at my house. first time i experienced softening in astanga!

well, i put the yoga practice on vacation so i could let my teaching skills catch up. I been teaching three public classes a week and lately a couple private lessons a week too. Dane's Body Shop and Mellow Johnny's are all classes I got started and are donation based classes. I sometimes teach to an empty room but that little kid inside that screams "save the world!!" has a new toy. Some of the things that come up while I'm teaching are just like the shit that can come up while on the mat as a practitioner . Except, as the teacher I find myself asking, "do i really believe that?" to something i just said. its cool to let myself believe some universal things are floating around up there.

I should also mention that writing yoga sequences is how I try and be a crafty poet these days. call it a new found focus on love for All equalling love for the One or just reliving my high school days when i wrote sappy poetry for the school newspaper: this, i know is the alchemy in yoga asana, infused into my body by Lauran Janes, and how it can reach an entire room of yogis and yogins of differing abilities. everyone has the tools to come closer to alignment...

trying to be brief...

its December and Batman and I have been at the cafe for the last couple of hours enjoying the sunny 70's but the sun is beginning to set finally. wish you could feel it...

Guess i should also mention that I'm back on the bike, riding for a new team, Wooly Mammoth, started by my friend, Patrick Newell. Patrick has been a bike messenger about a year longer than I, and we recently laid down firearms aimed at each other's faces to race and work together. Oh, yea, my company, Beat the Clock, hired our first riders last week! Welcome Patrick and Danny, two guys that compliment the handsome hustling skills of Ian and I. Last week was huge, kinda like starting all over again. But on Friday, when all four of us were banging out orders, I had the feeling that now we are the only ones who will get in the way of our success.

Its a long road and its far from over but im finally not trying to be anywhere, just really caught up enjoying the ride.

whuts knew?

.....is all thats known......

when you practice at putting your life together viscerally daily, you gotta start wondering when it happens in every other paradigm. or if your like me, you start to live the dynamics of both ends. find ground at 6am with 2hr asana and then 2:30am float out the club; sweat-soaked, heart spoke she said she seen it all i said no you didnt.

MoonDay

rooftop sunset
always facing west
movement suggests
a beautiful death
summer storm
somewhere over there
full moon
foolish man
lone star can
guide a heart to bloom

Summer Crew

Welcome back, Legolas. Law school will help you argue with the clerks when they won't file yo shit. Get to work, Egi.







PNew. My one time arch nemesis. I now live vicariously through his racing season.







(L-R) Ben, PNew, Egi, Legolas, Tyrone, Parind (groupie). At Little City






All eyes on DMak and his clean whip

I'm missing a few folk, like the Corporate duo and I wanna get one of Kate (even tho she's leaving and won't officially be part of the summer crew).

Things are shaping up for NACCCs in Atlanta. ATX reprazent!

Dream When We Wake

Slept downstairs lastnight. I usually do that this time of year; prolongs not having to turn on the A/C. Windows wide, door open, ceiling fan spinning- it's almost like camping.

About 3am I awoke and immediately got up and turned on the oven. No lights- I just turned knobs. I opened the fridge and grabbed my pack of tortillas, took one out, and placed it on a cookie sheet- top shelf of the oven.

Then I went back to sleep and fell into a dream....

I was riding my bike and about to blow a stop sign when I noticed a cyclist, waiting at the same stop sign, sticking their knee out as if to prevent me from rolling right thru. I snaked around, looked back to give a "nice try" look and was struck by the beauty of my would-be road blocker.

I stopped.

"actually I do want to stop with you," I began. We rode and our conversation went something like actions and their effect on reaching a more purposeful you....

Awake.

Downstairs on my futon. Instinctually I got up wondering if the tortilla was part of the dream as there was no smell and I didn't notice the stove light on. In the darkness, I switched the stove knobs off (it was on!), opened the oven door and reache inside. I pulled out a roasted to perfection, golden brown, crispy tortilla. I took it back to bed with me and, fueled with the nourishment of my dream, crunched on my tortilla till I drifted back to sleep....

Confession

I'm a yogi.
Not the kind that smell like patchouli but I am probably every other stereotype you may have about yogis.

I talk about being grounded in a practice as a metaphor for life. I set an intention for my practice, honor it with OM and use the breath as a vessel to send that seed of intent to every cell of my body.

And love for the self...
I never said I was a yoga master!

I started teaching a flow class last week and start another this week. I put together a Yoga for Cyclists at LA's bike shop that goes through May. I haven't raced at all this year and have not even renewed my license. I've had some letting go issues over it but nothing like 12-15hrs in a yoga studio a week to clean the slate.

Fret not, there is more cycling in these legs. Beat the Clock is growing and we just signed up Chipotle for some downtown lunch delivery. SXSW was a thriller; lots o work and hordes of people and traffic.

Ive gotta remind myself that I'm not redefining here, just evolving.

info@portlandpedalpower.com

Hey!

My name is John Trujillo and in June, after 5 years of being a bike messenger, I decided enough was enough and went indie. Its been a roller coaster of an experience but I think this shit might actually work. I saw a market that wasn’t being offered to the community and it was mostly the bike as a practical application to our modern city. Austin has come a long way in the ways of bicycle infrastructure since I moved here in 2000 and began cycling as a commuter. Its not surprising to see most of the ideas our city employs already being a norm in another city when it comes to the bike. A good friend of mine who works for the city passed your info along to me and I'm excited to see what is possible when bike, business and city all exist in a complimentary plane. Right now, most of our clients exist in the downtown metro area, and we were the first independent service to offer lunch/grocery delivery by bike. I just scored a new account tonight that will put us in another zip code delivering groceries and I'm looking at your website realizing the potential of this gig is just getting tapped into here. I'm only a bike messenger/commuter/racer with supportive friends who believe in this, so it's been awesome to come across your website and if you have any "fatherly/motherly advice," I would listen to with openness.

Thanks,

John Trujillo

Beat the Clock Bike Messengers

www.beattheclockmessengers.com

working fir the coffee breaks and the rap lyrics they inspire

I pedal thru the muck
I pedal thru the rain
I pedal past problems
Convinced that I'll gain
Ratios over those
With pain overloads

Intro to Life: Assisting the Struggle

last night i divorced myself
slept on the couch
another day
empty change
wonder if anyone notices
im wearing the same clothes as yesterday

re: howdy

I been doing
Some
Running so I can support my aunt in the Austin marathon.

I did a whole month of bikram yoga in November which was weird cause I felt like I hated it and now I want to go back

Started seeing a girl in Houston and been visiting her but rapidly realizing
I'm still far away from healthy lovin.

I run a business now, did I mention that last time I saw u? Well, it's kinda slow and I'm racking my head with ideas fir more business and better contacts but all I really want to do is ride my bike.

I'm gonna start Laurens Yoga Life which is teacher training but I don't think I want to be a teacher cause I'm afraid it would kill yoga for me.

Maybe there's more but that's it for now...