Friendship in reflection #reverb10

Tags

Friendship, hummus recipe, Sevapuri, Twitter, Yoga, Yoga In Daily Life, yoga teaching

Friendship. How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst?
~ December 16 prompt

Fact: Twitter has a funny habit of enhancing my life.

I know a lot of people say that social media is really more about isolation than bringing people together, but in my case that’s not true. For all those social media-based friends I haven’t met (yet), I’ve a growing list of people I have managed to catch up with.

Right now it’s a short list but it includes Catatonic Kid, Shiv, Nadine, Kerry, Sevapuri, and Desert Book Chick. Plus others I know more specifically from Twitter only. In the near future, I hope to also meet Beckmayyogi, Rachel (on her 2011 tour of Australia), and maybe even Linda-Sama (more about that very soon in another post!).

The honour of this post however, goes to the wonderful and generous Sevapuri. He’s a yoga teacher for Yoga in Daily Life (YIDL) in Sydney and from what I can tell, he’s leading the social media charge for YIDL in Australia!

We initially connected via Twitter after a couple of tweets about the hummus recipe I use, something I picked up at a YIDL cooking workshop a few years ago.

Sevapuri noticed my tweet, and we’ve been Twitter friends ever since. Then, he was planning a trip to Melbourne for some training and suggested we meet up. Through the cold wintery night I navigated unfamiliar trams to make it to our meeting spot, and over a very tasty Indian meal we became fast friends in real life as well! Recently, he and his lovely wife were back in town for a yoga retreat and we met up again.

The way he’s changed my life and perspective on the world this year is by suggesting me to the Melbourne YIDL school as a substitute yoga teacher. This came at a time when I was still quite doubtful about my teaching skills and experience. He said many supportive and encouraging words, and put me in touch with the yogis who run the school down here.

After a meeting with them and a couple of classes to see how they teach, I found myself being asked to teach a class there a few weeks later. It went so incredibly well, and I was elated! It was the first class I’d taught where I felt like I was coming into my own as a teacher.

Then instead of having anything to do with the madness of horse racing in early November, I went to a half-day retreat at Melbourne YIDL. A bit of yoga, meditation and a vegetarian feast! I can’t tell you how much I love the people and the vibe there – they are definitely my kind of yogis.

Shortly afterwards I received an email asking me if I’d be interested in a permanent teaching gig one night a week from February 2011. But before we settled on the details, I was asked to come in and teach another class that one of their head teachers could sit in on. Just to make sure we were all on the same page.

At the end of the class the head teacher said to the students: Svasti will be teaching a beginner yoga class here next year, and I might’ve done a little internal flip-flop of joy.

It’s hard to believe that all of this came about because I sent a tweet or two about a humms recipe, which led to an interstate yogi friendship, which landed me a regular teaching job! But even more so, it was the practical support of an experienced yoga teacher for a fledgling one that was so important to me.

Sevapuri, this one’s for you because you really did give me a hand up when I needed a shot of confidence. Many blessings to you my friend!

~Svasti xo

#reverb10 – a community quilt

Tags

bejewelled inner nature, benevolence, Blogging, Community, haven, kirtan, Lonliness, Love, overflow station, patchwork quilts, PTSD, purging, rejection, self-preservation, teetering, Twitter, virtual world, Writing, Yoga

Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?
~December 7th writing prompt

Sometimes it’s what I crave more than anything else – a sense of belonging to a place, to people. That I’m somehow important enough to someone that we don’t go more than a day or two without talking or hanging out.

This hasn’t been my experience of life in recent times. And while I crave this thing, I very much feel the ringing absence of it all and I wonder how it’ll ever be any different. So I do what I always do, and hunker down close to the things I know. And that can be lonely, but at least there’s no feeling of rejection there. Just… space.

I’ve watched my idea of community change a whole bunch in the last few years, as much as I’ve experienced it shrinking then growing again in unexpected ways.

Before 2010 I spent so long hiding away from everyone, licking my wounds in private and slowly losing touch with those who might care.

Mostly just because it was easier than saying things like:

Yes, I was assaulted. I wasn’t raped, just beaten up. And even though it only happened once, I somehow developed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression – and I’m way more surprised about that than you’ll ever be. I’m also highly embarrassed and pretty messed up. Actually, I’m really fragile in lots of ways and it can be so much effort just being out around other people, frightening me with their mysteries. Sometimes, I even consider committing suicide because constantly living in terror and having flashbacks is both exhausting and soul-destroying.

If only I could’ve said those words: they needed to be said in order to feel like I was heard. Seen. But I couldn’t, of course. Mostly because I didn’t even know what was going on for a while. Then, once I did, it wasn’t like I suddenly felt the urge to share. So my community grew small. Smaller. Smallest. Gone.

Then a flicker of life, the tiniest of sparks came back to me when I began blogging in 2008, kick-starting the process of purging sticky toxic grime from the insides of my skin.

Silently (to those not in the know) and wordfully, I published my screams and terrors and found others like me: teetering on the edge of our own extinction and yet somehow finding the strength to fight back.

Throughout, I’ve gathered my online community like the cosiest of patchwork quilts, adding another patch here and there. Creating comfort and warmth.

Some have been with me from the start, or shortly thereafter. Others are more recent. They’ve either discovered me, or I came across them – it matters not. In each other we’ve recognised the reflection of our bejewelled inner nature… we salute another solid gold soul and each and every one of you (and there are many) make me happy. Your benevolence gleams brightly in my eyes and heart.

Twitter has enhanced the sharing and further developed these friendships. I’ve even been emboldened to meet a few of my blog and Twitter friends, which has been just like I expected: in the flesh, people I’ve known and loved online and from afar are as marvellous as I imagined (oh yes, you are).

I don’t really understand how it works – but all these people I would never have met or known otherwise are now a part of my life in one way or another, and that seems mightily precious and special. How did you get here? I’m not too sure, but get here you did. Thank you for that!

My online life has been one of safety. It’s allowed my writing skills to grow, and created a haven of protection for the things I’ve had to say. My blog friends have helped me understand that no matter what I’ve shared, I am loved anyway. That is inexpressibly invaluable because it’s not something I’ve had in spades very often.

Words that might never have passed my lips any other way have escaped as pixels on a page and were launched into the stratosphere via WordPress. They’ve gained freedom from the prison of my inner world and in doing so, helped very much to change my own perspective on my experiences. It’s kind of magical in a way!

My blog has changed over the last two and a half years. It used to be just about purging the grief, anger and horror from my lungs, my heart, kidneys and all those other great hiding places within.

Now, I balance writing on mental health topics with my ever unfolding interest and love of yoga. And in this I’ve found new friends – more treasured patches for the quilt!

Then, my online world started spilling into the non-virtual in other ways. Someone suggested I use a service called Meetup.com to find local interests (and therefore people). Which is how I found the kirtan group I’ve been a part of since late last year. More about kirtan in another post very soon!

This year the dynamics have changed – a core group of us became not just people who meet up once a month to chant, but suddenly we had each other’s phone numbers and email addresses and outside that original circle, friendships are slowly growing.

But I can be hesitant to allow people into my life. The only time that’s different is those lightning moments where the spark of knowing transcends any sense of social awkwardness. Instantly, a stranger and I are friends and it’s always been that way, will always be that way.

Mostly though, it doesn’t happen like that (except for when it does).

This is how I’d like my community to grow in the coming year: I still need my online safety net – in some ways it’s the overflow station for all the things I can’t/don’t want to say or do elsewhere. But I’d like to find a way to prise open my stringent self-preservation a little. Crack the corner a bit and let myself out to play with abandon.

I suspect I might not have any choice about this anyhow – being nudged by the universe as I am to teach yoga more and more. And the more I teach, the more I’m lovingly forced to open. Don’t think I can actually teach any other way.

Community isn’t just about what you get from others – it’s something you contribute to and help create. And I think it’s coming for me, as I am for it.

Love. I have lots of it to share and I hope y’all out there are ready for it…

~Svasti

Just a short announcement

Tags

#reverb10, December, reflection, Twitter, Writing

Y’know, I really should’ve done this when I first started my blog: I’ve now created a separate Svasti account on Twitter – feel free to connect with me there. I’ve already started following people I know via this blog but don’t be shy!

I suppose I didn’t really think about the cross-over between my nom de-plume and my real life, and those people on Twitter who know me from my real life (including work colleagues).

For my day job, I work in the digital media industry – and everyone’s on Twitter! Thing is, I don’t really want my very personal blog crossing paths with my professional life. Not at this point in time anyway.

By the time I did think about this little conflict of interests, I kinda figured it was all a bit too late! And I’ve just avoided using Twitter to talk about this blog.

But I’ve now created a separate Twitter account so I can feel comfortable tweeting about what I’m writing. And this is especially the case because I’ve just signed up (albeit a few days late) to #reverb10.

All of this is part of my plan to start getting a bit braver and louder about my writing. As is #reverb10, which is a daily writing challenge for the month of December, and provides writing prompts to help writers reflect on this year and the one ahead.

So this month, you may notice a bit of a ramp up from me in terms of post numbers. But I promise I’ll try to keep my #reverb10 posts short, and there’ll be other stuff in between.

Also… there’ll be another post before the end of today, to wrap up this one.

Hope you’re all enjoying your weekend!

~Svasti xo

(Who is terribly behind on her Christmas shopping)

Ruby slippered steps

Tags

Adventures, bliss, castles, Fear, Grace, impenetrability, opportunity, Poem, Poetry, ponderously, potentiality, Probable Cause, Twitter, Universe

‘Round the ends of the universe

And back (again)

Enfolded in blissful possibilities

Of adoration and

Great big shining opportunities

So melts the Castle

Of Impenetrability

Because all things have a Time

And a Place

~ Potentiality ~

Now just looking

For Probable Cause

It MUST be Real

Requiring bone-deep

Introspection

Deeper, even

Now to discover

That first ruby slippered step!

(That is my current plan…)

~Svasti

(A little late-night Twitter-composed poetry, while lying in bed PONDEROUSLY attempting bravery to figure stuff out.)

The Dork Revealed!

Tags

Asana, Gawker.com for yogis, Jennilyn Carson, New York Times, trikonasana, Twitter, Yoga, Yoga Dork

In case you weren’t aware, this yogini is a self-confessed #yogadork, and is also an avid reader of the always amusing/intriguing Yoga Dork blog.

Lately, this humble blogger has even fueled a couple of irreverent sassy/snarky/tongue-in-cheek YD posts (see here and here). YD is always happy to receive a tip and we just looove seeing what she makes of it.

But I’m sure all of us self-described #yogadorks have wondered about the person behind the nom de plume (*cough cough* says “Svasti”!!). At some stage via a Twitter DM I learned YD was female, but little more on the “About Yoga Dork” information front has been forthcoming, except for her love of all things yoga. But of course.

But thanks to the New York Times, we now have something of an expose: Yoga’s Serious. Except When It’s Not.

And a photo (no faces, but nice form)!

The article is something of a rave with the YD blog being described as “A kind of Gawker.com for yogis”. Nice compliment, eh?

So go say hello to Jennilyn Carson (aka Yoga Dork) over at the NYT. Get to know her a little better.

And if you’re not already reading the YD blog, then get your asana into gear chaps and chap-ettes, add her to your RSS!

~Svasti

Huzzah! Here’s to flow, change & working things out

Tags

chai, Change, Depression, flow, hooray, huzzah, kirtan, mental health, physio, PTSD, Shadow Yoga, shoulder injury, Twitter, Yoga, yoga for depression, Yoga teacher

Here’s what’s going on right now: more whirring, more change and more opportunities continuing to unfold even as I don’t notice them until they are knocking on my door!

You see, I’ve worked out what was holding me back in the area of yoga teaching. Right now, I don’t want to do it for money! Well, not just yet anyway.

Let me explain – starting with today, even though of course today isn’t the first thing I’d tell you about if I was to write this story in chronological order.

Finally (and it only took me four months), I faxed (and emailed) all the documentation I needed to send in for my membership application to the Yoga Teachers Association of Australia. Hooray! Including payment of my membership fee, and by the time I got home I had an email confirming my membership number!

Double Hooray!! Which means I can now get my public liability/indemnity insurance. Which means I’m all systems go for teaching where ever and whenever.

Also, I went to see my new physio for the first time today. One I found out about via Twitter. After several sessions with my former physio I was getting frustrated when he kept insisting that my shoulder problems were actually just referred neck pain from my messed up neck. And while it’s true that I do have a messed up neck, my shoulder problems are quite specific from a bike accident I had last year (see this post: Crash). As a yogini, I’m probably more familiar with my body than many people and I wasn’t buying his diagnosis.

So I was complaining about that on Twitter, and I got a reply from some guy I’ve never met recommending another physio – someone who looks after all the circus people in Melbourne. Which sounded promising – since circus people and yogis both do relatively weird things with their body.

And yay! He was very competent and definitely thinks there’s something up with my shoulder as opposed to my neck (which has its own issues, but nothing unmanageable). After much prodding and poking, he has a working theory which will require an MRI scan to confirm or deny. And while it may require surgery – we don’t know yet and I’m not about to freak out. Whatever the deal is, I feel like I’m on my way to the correct treatment path and it will be SO GOOD to eventually have full use of my left shoulder back. Which is all good!

After the physio I met up with a new friend – a fellow yoga teacher that I met at Mark Whitwell’s workshop in February. We’ve been discussing the idea of approaching a national organisation here in Melbourne about running some free yoga and meditation classes for those with depression. We both have a history with depression ourselves, and want to give something back to the community. Also, he wanted to borrow a book and ended up borrowing two, and I scored some home-made and very nommy bliss balls!!

My physio appointment finished slightly earlier than I expected, so while I waited for my friend to pick me up, I briefly plonked myself down in a small cafe/wine bar, which didn’t seem to have a name. Bonus – during the week they have a very VERY cheap happy hour, so I downed a lovely glass of red, which set me back all of $2 (I’ll be back!). 😉

ALSO, I’ve just lined up a face to face meeting with another charitable organisation I’ve been in discussions with (via email thus far) about running some free yoga classes. I got the name of the organisation from someone in my kirtan group! This one works with “those who experience mental illness, disability, homelessness, substance abuse issues, addictions, and social and economic hardship”. I will be so happy if I can get some classes going!

There are plenty of yoga classes out there for those who can afford to go. There are even free classes at studios that offer them. But there’s a segment of the community that would probably never make it to a studio yoga class, whether it’s because of socio-economic and/or mental health issues.

And I’ve been in that place where the world seems exceptionally small and painful and feeling nourished and loved seems impossible. Except I was lucky. By the time I developed PTSD and depression, I’d had yoga in my life for many years, and it was instrumental in my recovery. However, there’s a lot of people out there who don’t have yoga, and might never try it. People who’d really, really benefit from it and not just because they want to learn to touch their toes or do a headstand.

I want to bring yoga to those people. And that’s my first order of business as a yoga teacher! Once I worked that out (it came to me in a meditation session on Monday), then suddenly everything started happening.

I’m sure I will eventually start doing some classes that I charge for. But not just yet!

Finally – tomorrow I start a new phase in my Shadow Yoga practice and it’s both exciting and the teensiest bit terrifying. After an awesome conversation on the weekend with the woman whose classes I’ve been attending, I think I might finally be ready to write more about my experiences with this intense and amazing practice.

And that’s my update for now. More to come soon, I just need to find some time (currently in short supply) to sit down and write my heart out for a bit…

~Svasti xo

This, that and chicken pie

Tags

AC joint shoulder, Anxiety, chicken pie, Doctor dude, free pizza, Mark Whitwall, nausea, neighbourhood moggy, panic attack, Photoshop, Scanner dude, Shamwow, sound-glasses, torrential downpour, Twitter, ultrasound, wince, Yoga

Won a competition on Twitter last week that meant I was to receive delivery of not one but  five pizzas from Crust. And not over a bunch of different days. ALL IN THE SAME NIGHT!!

Managed to negotiate for a Sunday evening delivery instead of Friday and invited a few people ‘round to assist in the eating. Great competition! I entered on a lark but somehow won the dang thing. Never happens to me. Til now I guess.

Also, just finished making a poster for Nadine to promote Mark Whitwell’s visit to Melbourne in a few weeks. Now I look at it, I can see a few things I woulda done differently or refined… but it’s not too bad I guess. Teaching myself Photoshop is fun… 😉

Click to view larger image!

Finally had that ultrasound on my left shoulder (from my bike crash) couple of days back. Sure, I shoulda done it months ago perhaps… *cough*. See, I’m just not terribly good at taking care of myself although I’m working on it!

After almost being drowned in the incredibly sudden torrential downpour, I wait almosted half an hour to see the Scanner dude. In the waiting room I was subjected to daytime TV (which I rarely watched even when I was unemployed) and learned of something called a Shamwow, which apparently people like. Even 13 year old boys.

Just as I was getting impatient enough to interrogate the receptionists, my name was called. And it went a little like this:

Scanner dude: Okay, take off your top and put this gown on… are you done? Great, sit over here… *prod poke scan* *repeat* *repeat* So that tattoo you’ve got on your back, does it mean anything?

Me: Yeah… [wincing at prod/poke/scan] I got it in Thailand…

Scanner dude: Does it have any significance?

Me: Yeah… but it’s a little complicated to explain [especially to you right now while I’m half naked and you’re prodding and poking my sore shoulder and there’s a very strong possibility that you’re Jewish and therefore might be offended by my heathenness anyways…]

Scanner dude: Okay… *prod poke scan* *repeat* *repeat*

Me: [sharp intake of breath] *WINCE*

Scanner dude: Ah, you didn’t like that one did you?

Me: *head goes all smooshy* *stomach churns*

Scanner dude: *swiftly leaves room & returns with Doctor dude*

Doctor dude: Hi, I’m the Doctor dude.

Me: Hi…

Doctor dude &/or Scanner dude: So what’s going on?

Me: I’m not sure, but I feel really nauseous…

Doctor dude &/or Scanner dude: Why do you feel nauseous? Are you in pain? Does your shoulder injury normally cause nausea?

Me: *breathes deeply* *head between knees*

Doctor dude &/or Scanner dude: Where is the pain? Do you have the pain all the time? What happened to you? Why is your shoulder injured?

Me: I fell off my bike last year and it flared up again at the end of the year. I’ve never felt sick like this before though. It just came on when Scanner dude pressed down on my shoulder…

Doctor dude: *Asks more questions in rapid fire that I can’t answer* Well, it’s very difficult to diagnose when you can’t give us more information.

Me: *head swirls* *body temperature rises*

Doctor dude: Okay well I don’t think its rotator cuff damage. It might be your AC joint…

Me: Okay…

Yeah, whatever. All I know is that I have a doctor’s appointment Thursday night and my shoulder hasn’t stopped hurting since that little episode. I briefly Googled ‘AC joint shoulder’ but I didn’t like what I read. So very cowardly-ish, I’ve stopped researching for now.

And today for no reason I can tell (although perhaps the abovementioned trauma had something to do with it?), I’m in Panic Attack World. Not too serious. I don’t feel like I’m going to die. But still, it’s far from comfortable. My heart and lungs are heavily congested and my heart rate is up, of course.

I’m safely ensconced in the office and there’s no stress in my job (unless you count having to revise budgets for my projects). And yet I’m in the grip of a very physical reaction I can’t control.

But I’m sans Emergency Essence (note to self: fix that), and it’s all about making it to the end of the day. And the tram ride home.

Everything looks weirder when you’re in a heightened state of anxiety. The person I sat next to on the tram that I thought was a girl? Turns out to be a boy with VERY emo and feminine hair. And how was I supposed to know? I mean, she/he had the kind of thunder thighs you normally only see on a girl (speaking from experience)… Everything is too loud. I want my sound-glasses (a little invention I thought of where putting them on creates an ambient noise filter, no iPod or headphones required). I’m too strung up to read.

So I just breathe.

Normally in these states, I go to ground. Burrow deeply into the couch and try to remain vewy vewy still… not that it helps. But comatose is usually better than anything else. Or so I’d thought.

I’ve had this idea in my head since last weekend that I wanted to make a chicken pie. Never made one before, but seemed like tonight was the night. Had to go get an ingredient at my corner store – another thing I never could’ve done before while in Panic Attack mode. And yet I did. And I liked it, the little walk down the street.

Even spoke to the neighbourhood black and white moggy who always looks seriously freaked out. But he/she is actually very friendly. So we spoke for a bit and puss listened to my ramblings. Even took a couple of steps towards me from its position on the brick wall. I giggled.

A photo of kitty from another day

Maybe it was the air. Or the cat. Or the fact that it’d stopped raining. Or observing my breath. Or all of the above. Or perhaps I’m just getting better at handling the panic attacks when they come. Maybe it’s that, and so I don’t freak out as much (adding to the fun). Dunno.

But it turns out that being active, running around and making food works just as well (if not better) than being comatose for the episode’s duration. Or maybe that’s just how it is now, given I’m less comatose-like in general? Can I mark that one down to progress perhaps?

Almost back to normal after about six hours of stress from no known source… and the pie was good, too.

My chicken & vegie pie!

~Svasti

#yogdorks of the world

Tags

#yogadork, Twitter, Yoga, yogadorks of the world

Hehe!! For a bit of fun today, this is what I did…

Yup! I created a #yogadorks of the world map! Yeah, I know… can you believe how cool I can be sometimes? 😉

Okay, unless you read Yoga Dork, or hang out on Twitter where a bunch of world-wide cyber-yogis/yoginis have been using the #yogdork tag for a while (to make our yoga-based tweets easier to search and find), then you might be thinking whatthe-is-she-on-about??!!

Right! So here it is: the wonderful Yoga Dork rallied the troops and made #yogadork t-shirts (based on demand) so we could all express our supreme yogadorkiness. And in the past week or so, we’ve all been getting said t-shirts delivered (see my last post), with more and more #yogadorks coming online every day.

Then, upon seeing a tweet about yet another successful t-shirt delivery, I wrote this…

And with a few quick keystrokes (because I’m something of a geek as well as a yogadork), the #yogadorks of the world map was born!

Since then, word has spread on Twitter like wildfire! From around four original entries this afternoon, we now have around twenty yogadorks mapped, and counting…

Watch out world! Coz here comes an army of yogadorks, fighting disharmony with asana and pranayama, wherever they find themselves… or just doing yoga in places you wouldn’t expect. Coz that’s the lot of a yogadork – madly in love with yoga, and willing to look dorky for the yoga cause, no matter what!

And hey, if you’re a yogadork too, feel free to add yourself to the map. The idea being I guess, to see how far and wide our “digital sangha” (term courtesy of Cora Wen) is spread. For those times when we need to get asana happening on a grand scale!

Instructions to plot your location are…

• You need to be signed into Google first (I think)
• Click on the “Edit” button
• Three icons should appear at the top left corner of the map
• Select the middle one (balloon shape), to the right of the hand icon
• Drag a balloon marker onto the map where you live (make it general or specific, up to you)
• Add your name, your Twitter ID and/or your blog link to the details for your marker
• Select ‘Save’ and you’re done!

All yogadorks welcome!! 😉

~Svasti

Are you a #yogadork?

Tags

#yogadork, Twitter, yoga dork t-shirts

If so, wear it loud and proud fellow yogis and yoginis!

Maybe you don’t spend all your life on Twitter like some people (ahem!!), but y’see, we Twitter-ites have been busily and happily rallying under the #yogadork hashtag for some time.

In case you’re not sure what that means, a hashtag is a way of grouping content on Twitter to make it easier to search, and find others who are tweeting about the same topics. I think it all started around the idea of: I’m a #yogadork because…

There are plenty of us out there!

And now, THE Yoga Dork who started it all is organising t-shirts for anyone who wants to wear their yoga dorkiness on their, umm, chest!

YD is taking pre-orders right now. So don’t miss out, let your yoga freak flag fly!

~Svasti

http://www.yogadork.com/

Dust storm makes us famous!

Tags

ABC news, Aliens, dust storm, famous, Mars, Sydney, Twitter

Me and Catatonic Kid were, just for the fun (of course), busily trading witty repartee about Sydney’s alien invasion from Mars this week, and one of our exchanges made the news (5 lines from the bottom):  Dust whips up storm on Twitter

We gotz famous!!

Course, if the journo had been paying attention, they woulda included more of our cleverness – coz we are soooo clever! For your amusement, here are a few more examples…

@YogaChicky So Sydney’s gone to hell before Melbourne. Not surprising, really 😉 #duststorm

@catatonickid @YogaChicky what do you reckon, alien death ray?? #duststorm

@YogaChicky @catatonickid Wouldn’t that be coooool!? #duststorm

@YogaChicky Red Dust Fail Whale Over Sydney http://shortn.me/e6j (via @yiyinglu) #duststorm

@YogaChicky Awesome! Martians and zombies too! RT @petejcooper: first zombie sighted in the sydney apocalypse http://twitpic.com/iqoet #duststorm

@catatonickid “The dust simulates smoke so the fire alarm goes off.” ~ least that explains all the sirens. world not on fire. good to know. #duststorm

@YogaChicky @catatonickid Oh noes! #duststorm causes flashbacks 😦 http://bit.ly/p9i4z

Oh, and if you’ve been living in a bomb shelter, and you’re not sure what the heck we’re on about, check out Big Picture’s take on the dust storm.

~Svasti