End of another era?

I'm a little slow on this news. I was on the elevator this weekend and the woman who rode up with me told me that Olsson's Books has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It seems like airlines go into and get pulled out of (by the government?) chapter 11 all the time, but DC's oldest indy book store seems to have really hit hard times, according to this Washington Post article. Admittedly, I don't really buy many books; the last books I purchased were yoga books, and I begrudgingly bought them online (okay, fine, I just did an online book search at the Olsson's webpage, and apparently I could have purchased them there...). But I've gone to some good book signings at Olsson's, and having those disappear would be a bummer. Sniffle.

The Pinnacle of Food and Wine Instruction?

I've walked by it all summer long, the new Alta condo building on Thomas Circle, opposite the hooker-laden (still) Washington Plaza Hotel. I've even checked out the website to see when it would be opening. And frankly, I'm a little skeptical that it will be opening on time, this "autumn," with a class schedule to come out later this month. Nevertheless, I wait with bated (not fishy) breath.

CulinAerie (with little accents on the "i's") is a new recreational culinary school set to open at 1131 14th Street NW. It bills itself as "the Pinnacle of Food and Wine Instruction." Hmm....I'm excited to see what there offerings are, and just plain old thrilled that I won't have to leave the District to take a serious cooking or skills class. All you ever see advertised here are lame "Cooking for Singles!" classes where half the class is trying to separate egg yolk from whites for the first time ever and the other half thought it was a singles mixer in a kitchen and is appalled that they're cutting up one-person portions of veggies.

Reiki!

Today in yoga class, we had the option of having one of our classmates do some reiki energy stuff to us during savasana. There were only six people in the class, or five potential recipients of the reiki treatment. Not a bad deal, I thought. And really, who cares if you believe in the energy healing or think it's a load of baloney -- it's not like it can hurt, right?

So, during savasana, I put my hand on my belly to signal that I was open to the reiki practice. I closed my eyes, spread out my arms and legs, and focused on my breathing to bring me to relaxation. For what it's worth, my breathing felt erratic and too deep to be fully relaxed. Then, all of the sudden, I calmed down. I felt a pleasant buzzing and warmth around my head. My brain felt like it was melting away, and my thoughts were empty and only in the present. My only thought was something like, "Holy cow, this is amazing!! This reiki stuff is so rad!!" This went on for what felt like minutes.

And then I felt someone tap my hand and say, "Namaste, do you want reiki?"

Crap. You mean that wasn't reiki in effect, and it was just me going into my own meditative state by myself?

So, I acknowledged that I wanted reiki and then had my eyes half open to check out what my classmate was doing. Sadly, it had nothing to do with energy geared towards my head. Her hands hovered over my midsection, and when she was done, she gently pushed my shoulder blades into the floor and lifted my head to extend my neck. I spied her a little longer as she moved to the next student. Her hands hovered over the student's midsection and there wasn't any visible treatment going on above the neck.

Alas.