12.30 oil me up - but hold your fire

still feeling crappy (my ears are blocked since yesterday morning's flight so i worry), i book myself in for yoga and a massage tonight at the ayurvedic centre in the french quarter.

after yoga, i meet a young venezuelan woman who has just gotten a massage - very good, she says, i am in for a treat.

shreeja is my massage therapist, and takes me into the massage room where i am asked to undress. off go the clothes, i go on the table.

shreeja begins by pouring what feels like a barrel of heated oil on me and rubbing me all over. the ayurvedic massage boosts the body's natural healing systems (rather than working the knots out of tired and stressed out muscles). it's all about circulation, working along the body's long meridians and boosting the immune system. let's just say that shreeja is very thorough - i didn't know that certain areas of the body had anything to do with healing! she is under the impression that i am 24 years old - a compliment coming from someone who is presiding over your naked 32 year old ass!

after about an hour i am a hot shining mound of brown clay. i ask shreeja to take a photo of me (fully intending to have her shoot me shoulders up). i am amused. she looks simply horrified! i need the doctor's permission for her to take my picture! i would have done it myself if it was easy enough to do. but feeling the urgent need to de-slick myself, i showered with three rounds of soap (the shampoo never did cut the grease on my head) and called it a night. looking back i could have snapped a shot before showering, but i was afraid of the camera getting yucky or slipping from my hands.

so did it work? well i don't exactly feel better yet. i'm considering coming back tomorrow if the ears don't unplug themselves.