Lazy Sunday: Simple Relaxation

Photo via Random Wisdom

As I type I’m flying somewhere over the Mid-West, on my way back to Denver after a great weekend in Pittsburgh. Yesterday we went to The Warhol Museum and I was really excited to see some of my favorite Warhol prints and drawings alongside cases of Andy’s personal effects – including his gray and black wig! Ok, sort of weird for me to be so excited about a dead guy’s old fake hair, but I was. They even had original sketches of the elaborate shows he produced for the Velvet Underground and original costume drawings from his many movies and theater productions. If you’re ever in PA and share a love of things Warhol I would definitely go. If you don’t care for pop art or know about The Factory, it probably isn’t worth the $15 adult admission price ($8 for students). 

Andy Warhol at The Factory via Magnifique

With midterm exams tomorrow, I am quite ready for this plane to land so I can get back to studying – unfortunately the tiny tray table makes my normally petite laptop seem massive and especially clumsy to maneuver, so breaking out my 10 pound accounting book is a definite no-go.

Were I not on a plane for the next few hours, I think this Lazy Sunday would best be spent doing some yoga, creating a highly nutritious and simple meal, and enjoying some meditation. I’m craving simplicity and clarity lately, and these activities seem the perfect way to start. Yoga is a great way to center your mind and body, build strength, and release tension and toxins from your muscles. Simple, fresh, plant-based meals are very easy for your body to digest and feed your cells with tons of nutrients and anti-oxidants to reverse the damage that stress and external contaminants (think air pollution, too much sun, chemical absorption) can cause. Finally, meditation helps slow our breathing and heart rate, decreases stress levels, and helps us to relax in order to attain deep, restorative levels of sleep. Never tried meditation before? Don’t fret; there are endless ways to get started. In fact, stay tuned, because today kicks off a whole week of simplicity-inspired blogging! First on deck? Meditation techniques for the meditative newbie. See you then!

 

CEO or Yu-Gi-Oh?

Photo via Readers Digest

The importance of networking is never underestimated in business school. Every professor will tell you that without networking you will not get anywhere in business - and thus around every corner you begin to anticipate meeting your future employer, discovering a new client, or forging the next great partnership. And so, with every flight I take, I board the plane rehearsing my elevator pitch in expectation of the friendly CEO I will be seated next to. They will promptly discover how charming and astute I am. Our witty banter and discussion of the corporate social responsibility climate will most certainly turn into a job offer on the spot (yes, I am just as surprised as you that this scenario has yet to play out).

So as I found my seat on a small United jet I was somewhat surprised to find my young seat-mate was not a high power CEO, but a pale, somewhat pimply twenty-something. "No worries", I comforted myself, "He's probably the next Bill Gates or Marc Zuckerberg. All the young tech geniuses today are a little awkward...and kind of smelly". However, before I had the chance to introduce myself and begin dazzling my audience with a carefully crafted personal bio and mission statement, "young Bill" was asleep and snoring rather loudly. 

Photo via PlayingZone

Well, needless to say my job offer did not come on the plane today. I discovered my seat-mate was flying from California to the Yu-Gi-Oh convention in Pittsburgh. I had no idea what that meant either, but it turns out that this weekend is not just your average convention but an invitation-only national tournament from which 4 finalists will be selected to compete in the World Championship in Tokyo come August. By the time I made it to the hotel lobby to pick up my room key at 11 this evening, a whole slew of young Yu-Gi-Oh champs had filled every spare table. Powered by massive cans of Arizona Iced Tea and bags of Chili Cheese Fritos, kids and adults alike composed their deck themes, searched for crush cards, and practiced their throw downs* for tomorrow's matches.

So I have to admit, it turns out my seat-mate was a big deal after all. This has got to be the biggest event ever for a lot of the people here, and it's kind of fun to see so many card-crazed duelists in one place. I have my fingers crossed that my seat-mate will hit it big and make it to Tokyo. After all, I still have the flight back to secure employment ;)

*I picked up a little Yu-Gi-Oh lingo in my travels. Apologies to any players out there if I butchered the use of these terms.