PUT ME TO USE (1 of 2) FOR A DISCOUNT ON A FOOD ORDER
I did not see this coming. Caught me by surprise. Jennie Cook of Jennie Cooks Catering & Plant Based Parties (here in Los Angeles) has declared this week to be Lee Conger Week. In exchange for a story about me, she will provide a 20% discount on any order over forty dollars. In her promo, she mentions that we met via the Echo Park Time Bank. My response on Facebook was to explain, "That's the opening sequence in the grand, sweeping Jennie and Lee Story. My earliest associations with her (going back to 2010) are within the context of the Sharing Economy and reciprocal gift exchanges. For over a decade, I have gotten to witness her generosity within the Time Bank community, but also with RootDown LA and in her own HaFoSaFo enclave (with her "Changing the World One Party at a Time" model) and right here at the Ortiz Taylor House (HCM #1144), where she has catered events such as timebankers Mark and Lenore's September, 2013 wedding and the December, 2013 celebration John and I threw some five months after we ourselves had finally been allowed by law to get married.
So, we've established that Jennie's a fabulous human being. I should mention her food is superlative! She has helped sustain John and me through this whole COVID dealio with good meals that are > better-and-better > flavored with the joy of knowing her. Order by noon on Wednesday (tomorrow) for Friday pickup at her operation on Fletcher in Glassell Park. Please PUT ME TO USE and get your discount. (Follow this link for the menu and for info on how and where to send your order and your story.) If you don't recall any "Lee Conger Story," let me know (it won't hurt my feelings), and we'll collaborate on remembering some encounter we've had (or ought to have had). (I think hearsay will count.) The items I will be ordering from the menu for this coming week are: crab cakes, pork schnitzel, cashew creme baked spinach, and eggplant parmesan. (Photo credit goes to Howard Petersen for the one with me and my prized New Orleans Food Co-op water bottle.) PUT ME TO USE (2 of 2) TO IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH AND SENSE OF WELLBEING It was back in March that I got myself a Zoom account and started offering online, seated Qigong sessions on Fridays. It was back in July that I left my psychotherapy job of 18 years at Kaiser (long story) and began a small, online private practice with my associate Farah Zerehi, AMFT. In September, I expanded my online Qigong sessions to five per week (one per day, Monday through Friday): a combo of standing practice and seated practice. Let me take this occasion to invite you to join our lovely little Qi sangha. "What is Qigong?" you might ask. Think Tai Chi, only easier. Translated through the centuries as "life force (or vital energy) cultivation," Qigong refers to a wide variety of health practices that were developed in China even before there was written language. Gentle movement, meditation, breathwork. The principles of Qigong are the basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine. I was first trained in 2011 and have offered sessions on a continuous basis ever since via the Time Bank, at my Kaiser jobsite (the Addiction Medicine clinic and at the hospital for Family Medicine Resident MDs), and in various community settings. My original teacher Roger Jahnke, OMD adds that "socialization is part of the medicine." Accordingly, we actually chat a bit and yuck it up along the way. No prior experience is necessary! The schedule is immediately below. Each daily series has a unique Zoom link to its own recurring Zoom meeting, but the case-sensitive password for all of them is identical. Request the password by writing MindBodyLosAngeles@gmail.com. Come play* with us! PUT ME TO USE! * Mondays, 7:00-8:00PM. Standing Qigong. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86804532643 * Tuesdays, 10:00-11:00AM. Standing or Seated Qigong. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89429272712 * Wednesdays, 5:00-6:00PM. Standing Qigong. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88285792745 * Thursdays, 8:00-9:00AM. Seated or Standing Qigong (your preference). Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84624012267 * Friday, 12:00-1:00PM. Seated Qigong sessions will continue as they have since March. Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/195660761 Donations of $0-$20 are appreciated. Venmo: @MindBodyLosAngeles. PayPal: MindBodyLosAngeles@gmail.com. Zelle: MindBodyLosAngeles@gmail.com. Please join us, even if you are not in a position to contribute monetarily. (Money is not the only medium with which generosity may be extended. Members of the Time Bank may transfer one “time dollar” to the Silver Lake Time Bank account in hOurworld. Enrollment is also available via Trade School Los Angeles, an organization that provides barter-based instruction in a myriad of subjects. See their eventbrite page here.) 'Til soon, Lee
* Have you really read this far?!
About the word "Play" ... In China, you don't "do" Qigong or Tai Chi, you "play." As in "play an instrument." We engage creatively with the energy field that surrounds us and infuses us. And we have fun, to boot!