Crash n Burn

~ Outlandish ~

The events that transcribed over the last 2 days can not even be described as "falling off the wagon". It was spectacular the amount of food & drinks I had weekend. And I wasn't even sad or upset about something. There might have been a bit of boredom eating yesterday, but I was taking a humongous rest day anyway, so it fitted with the theme.

On Friday night we had our Crossfit end year function which was healthy for the most part. Until the champagne, strawberries/marshmallows & melted chocolate came out - then all 30 athletes collectively decided that it will now be declared a "cheat day".  

Saturday was the fabulous baby shower for Mrs T, classy & fun & so many nice eats. Hmm, perhaps I should look into event planning as a career... I loved being there because it was for a friend & I had so much fun arranging & helping out, but I really don't get showers. Why do women's uteruses go all rubbery when they see baby clothes? Another thing you need to know about me: I'm about 94% sure I don't want kids.

Sunday I vegged in front of the computer arranging series & re watching all my old favorites (Sherlock, anyone?). I don't think I even got out of my pajamas. Not even when we went to the Spur at 21:00 for milkshakes.

Aaand today was our work end year function. I think I drank enough to make Ms Nicola proud (it started very early). Even ended up having some on the rocks with the older gentleman at our office (as in my grandfather's age - there's absolutely no eye candy where I work) while they regaled me of their tales of knighthood & chivalry. Luckily there were no photocopy machines in the area and no one got lost with a colleague in a dark corner.

So tomorrow we start again. Hopefully that was the last of the functions till the craziness of Christmas day. Seriously, I don't get why people go out of their way to cook 5 course meals - surely that is not what the day is about?

At Crossfit we have started our re-testing for our in-box challenge. About a month or so ago we completed 7 events and now we have to redo them to see if we have improved. I am happy to say that I've increased my front squat by 10kg - I'm now on 87kg's (tried 90 - just couldn't get it up). And in the front squat (on a lower weight) / barbell facing burpee challenge I bettered my score by 8 reps. I'm really happy to see growth in such a short time.

The beautiful Christmas Abbot doing front squats.

Yeah, I didn't even bother with photos today. It was bad. Bad. I'm just happy that I managed to go to class (only slightly buzzed) even after the horrendous day of food & drinking - hopefully the exercise will make me feel marginally better when tomorrow comes... I always seem to forget how I feel the morning after.

Night all!

Work (Part 2)

~ Jimmy Eat World ~

I think my fascination with archeology was fueled by watching Indiana Jones over & over during the school holidays.  Then when I discovered computer games Lara Croft & her tomb raiding just stamped it in further.

I'm not naive - I know that archeology (especially in SA) is probably is boring as it comes....fossils, ape people, cave drawings.  This is probably the point where I should let you know that I have an majorly overactive imagination, I can daydream like there's no tomorrow and dreams are as vivid as they come. I can make up a scenario, fall asleep with it, dream about it, wake up & then continue that dream. So when I think archeology I think adventure & long lost treasure & magic.

That is why I love reading so much. I finished the Lord of the Rings saga when I was 10, I've reread my Terry Pratchetts till they are dog-eared and I've probably read thousands of books since. And when I found Andy McDermott's series that chronicles the adventures of archaeologist Nina Wilde and her husband, ex-SAS soldier Eddie Chase (with a British accent to boot and you can bet I read every line in that accent), I was in 7th heaven...archeology, dry wit, adventure - the whole deal.

I don't know who the artist is, but the fact that there is a person out there that can see book characters the way I see them makes me a very happy person...

There was a time that I wanted to be this guy as well. Travel the world & experience different cultures? Yes, please!

Ian Wright - Lonely Planet / Globe Trekker

But all these dreams doesn't help me find my dream job. Do I drop everything & go look for adventure? Or do I just suck it up, work 8 - 5, earn my paycheck & read my books? Do you at some point just accept that those dreams are only dreams? I wonder if you can read books & get paid...

Last night's work out kicked my ass. My knees are blue from the burpees, my hands are raw from the pull-ups and yeah, tomorrow morning I'm going back for more.

Looks like tomorrow there will be double-unders, so I will be able to add some whip marks to the collection. Seriously, I'm going to create an album just with photos of my sport related battle scars.

Food wise I'm doing 95% well. I've got MyFitnessPal mostly sorted out & it's becoming easier to add food to my daily diary.  I still prefer taking the photos because visually seeing what you ate (and drank) makes quite a difference.

Work (Part 1)

~ Jimmy Eat World ~ 

(This post became a bit to long, so it'll be split over two days)

Confucius said, "Find a job you enjoy, and you'll never work a day in your life." He might have said this - I didn't fact check. Anyway, I don't think that's entirely true - even dream jobs can have bad days, but it probably sucks a lot less then a bad day at a crap job.

As children we are told life is an immense journey and that anything you put your mind to is possible. Our minds were filled with dreams & how we were going to take over the world - I was going to be the best vet/hairdresser (human or pet) ever. We wanted to be ninjas or rock stars, write novels or make films. We wanted to go to Mars & find the face...well, I did at least. 

Then life hits you in the face (like a wall ball).  What happened to that dream of becoming a world renowned poodle hairdresser I was so passionate about?  The obvious answer is that we grew up & the dreams were slowly overshadowed with life, bills and reality. So we sacrifice our dreams for some vague idea of “success” or “security.” Get a decent job, with a decent salary, some benefits, and a cool title. Being a ninja became impractical.

Some of us know immediately what we want to do when we grow up. Some (like me) are still trying to figure it out.  Others (also like me) have tried a career or two, and then went on to do something completely different. I don’t believe I’m the only one confused about their place in this world. 

I always told myself that I would hate sitting in an office. And that is exactly what I've been doing for the last 10 years. I want to travel & dig shit up. No, not actual shit, stuff...things (more on this later) and that is just not possible if I want a decent roof over my head, a medical aid, a box membership, and perhaps some money when I retire one day. Oh, and food. Am I doing the responsible thing, heck yeah...but some day's it sucks balls being responsible.
 

Now my dream job would be - and don't you dare scoff - an archeologist, specifically, an Egyptologist. This won out over an ufologist & a cryptozoologist - yeah, for a while there I couldn't decide between finding the next big Pharaoh, deciphering Rosswell's secrets or proving that Nessie really exists. More on this tomorrow.

Tonight we worked on front squats, push jerks, chest to bar pull-up's & burpees. With front squats the quads are working a whole lot more, since you are sitting down, not sitting back.  It's also helps you develop a strong core as it requires your back to be as vertical as possible so that you don't land on your face.

The push press is quite a bad ass move.  You can handle 10-20% more weight with the push press than with the regular overhead press because you’re basically using your whole body to get it up there. The main muscles worked are your shoulders & triceps, but you also work your quadriceps, glutes and hamstrings. Your abs & lower back muscles also have to work to keep you stable.

Pull-ups are one of the most basic exercises, but definitely not one of the easiest. Hanging on a bar and lifting your entire body weight is a challange to many & a pipe-dream for some. They are a fantastic way to build upper body strength fast:  it increases arm, back, & abdominal strength as well as hand and finger strength.

All you need to know about burpees is that they suck. 

And there's nothing like a "almost puked" workout to kick your appitite into overdrive - I was so hungry when I got home.  I had a double dose of whey & berries & supper. Happy now :)

Remnants of the flu still pop up every now & again - Vit C all the way...

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Say Goodbye

~ Norah Jones ~

Just a quick one today - still so much to do for tonight's end year party with the PeeWee's.  And besides, after last night's cleans @ Crossfit everything hurts. Everything. Hurts. And if you are keeping track - I'm now up to 4 callouses & 3 blisters :)

BF & I have been teaching the PeeWee's for close to 3 years now and it has come with it's own rewards & frustrations. Martial arts have long been know to help teach self-discipline and socialization skills. In fact, many parents whose children have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) report great success with these programs because self-control and concentration are exactly the skills underdeveloped in ADHD kids.

And if you have a group of 10 kids (including ADHD kids & just plain naughty buggers) you can almost multiply that number by 5.  There have been days that I have been thiiis close to murdering a child with my bare hands...and there are days when that same kid will bring me a flower & a drawing. I can see how teachers find this very fulfilling, but an hour, twice a week was our limit!  

I've come to know this face. I've come to fear it....

So we made a decision to finish up & hand over our classes to a new instructor - to you I say "Good luck!" and "16:00 is not to early to start drinking".  We're opening ourselfs up the possibilities of a bigger world next year, and so we bid a mostly fond farewell to Taekwon Do.

I will be having a cupcake tonight. Perhaps 2. I don't often bake (OK, ok...I did not bake them, but I at least did the frosting), so I'll be damned if I don't have one.

 

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Let's Have Another Party

~ Winifred Atwell ~

 

So, 23 days till Christmas and still so much to do.  Just in the next week I have to organize (and go to) an end year function for a group of hyper kids & a baby shower for a group of ooohing & aahing ladies, and then attend two further Christmas functions. This week is going to be so hectic that I resorted to cutting my own hair over the basin last night.. Crossfit peeps everywhere be proud - I chose going to Crossfit over (my dignity) going to the hairdresser.

I hate the madness that goes with December. It's "sales", mad traffic, no school (so the kids & their 'rents are in the shops) and I'm just trying to buy a cucumber for my salad, standing in a queue that has 3 Sinotech flat screen TV's and a couple of bikes in it's collective trolleys.

And while you are attending all these extra festivities, you still have to find time to exercise, willpower to stay away from all the desserts & alcohol and the patients of a saint not to kick that girl that is walking in front of you at a snail's pace in the crowded mall corridor. Seriously, I have an hour lunch - can we make a deal?  You go to the stores between 8:00 and 12:00, go home, come back after 14:00. Then it doesn't take me 40 minutes to buy said f*cking cucumber.

And it's not like you can bunker down till after New Year's, so you have to find your coping mechanisms, even with Boney M blaring about Babylon in the background. This time of year people seem to forget how to drive, and everyone is in such a rush! Courtesy becomes non-existent and idiots come out in their droves. 

When things get a little overwhelming I just have to remind myself that this season will also come to pass. Eventually everything will be calm and quiet once more. People will be overfed and flat broke & then I will have the shops all to myself again.  

We did a Clean Ladder at Crossfit and I have the shoulder & collarbone bruises to prove it.  Was such a nice feeling to get a new personal best on the weight - I can now do a 55kg power clean.  The power clean is derived from Olympic lifts and is explosive by nature - in other words, it can’t be done slowly (and when your new - gracefully). The “pull” part of the power clean utilizes all the major muscles of the core, hips, quads and hamstrings.  

Power cleans are technically considered a shoulder exercise, but they do so much more. They give you well-developed muscles in the legs including the calves, glutes, and hamstrings & also targets the muscles in the lower and upper back and traps. It requires the coordination of every muscle group in the body & in time, the exercise adds muscle density and functional strength over your entire body.

I cut waaay down on the coffee today, only 2 cups. Ok, I might be having a 3rd one while I'm typing now...

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Skull Tattoo

~ Eagle Eye Cherry ~

Like King George III wrote in his diary (apparently Google says this is a myth, but I'm still owning it): nothing important happened today. It's just a day. No intellectual insights into the human psyche, no lamenting over lost boobs, just a day. (PS: It's also the title of an X-Files episode - loved that show & had the hugest crush in high school on David Duchovney - almost this much - seriously, you have to listen to it!)

I'm quite excited for tomorrow afternoon - getting a tattoo done with BF. I've always wanted a 2nd one & BF has been wanting to get his first for a while, but neither of us could decide on something meaningful we want to ink in permanently.  But then BF came up with the amazing idea of a couples tattoo for our recent 3 year anniversary - we'd get our tattoos AND it would mean something special to the both of us. We are not sure what the final design will look like yet but it will incorporate some of the following ideas. Lu from Otherworld Tattoos in PE will be "doing" us. Will show pictures next week.

On Saturday we will be participating in the Glow Run - it's starts at 7 at night & instead of colored powder we will get splashed with florescent neon paint - cannot wait to see those photos! Baby Mama Mrs T has somehow procured 150 glow sticks - because you can find anything on the Internet. It should be fun :D

BF will probably be working for most of the weekend so that means I will catch up on my Battlefield time.  Sad that I will be missing out on Saturday morning's Crossfit WOD (cause of the tattoo).  The motions are coming a bit easier now, so I've been pushing myself a lot harder the last week and my body is definitely showing it - bruises all around!

Will be trying extra hard this weekend to keep my food on track & eat healthy - will see how it goes.

Remember to follow K&C on Google+ | Facebook | Pinterest | Bloglovin. See you on Monday!