Hoop La!

I got my hoop yesterday.  It’s hoop-a-rific!  I’m so crap at the moment — I can only do like 3 spinny things before it falls to the ground, but I got up to 7 today when I was practicing!  Half the problem is that if I get to 4-5, I’m so shocked that I stop moving.  My first goal is to get to 10 then more and more.  Then maybe learn some fancy stuff.

How’s this for weird… when I was on my way to get my hoop, well waiting at the tram stop, I saw a guy ride down my street on a unicycle.  And if that’s not weird enough, he was wearing council worker clothes.  My street is turning into a veritable circus!

On the not so pleasant side, I’m still having issues with my sister.  After the problems Saturday night, she went out on Tuesday night until 4 am then came home thumping all through the house with one of her co-workers.  About an hour later, they went thumping through the house again when he left.  WTF?  Not to mention that I’ve been sick and really wanted to get a good night’s sleep so I could go to work on Wednesday.  It’s just bullshit and I have no idea what to do.  When I say stuff to her, she says she’s being as quiet as she can (cos you’re such a good judge of that when you’re shitfaced).

If I could afford it and had somewhere to go, I’d move out.  It’s just total bullshit.

WTF?

At the gym tonight, the girl in the shower cubicle next to mine was chatting to a mate on her mobile phone!

No one needs to multitask that badly.

Life

I have been sick the last few days.  I really want to get over this.  Yesterday I got on the scales and I’d lost weight!!! Yah!!!  Today I got on and I hadn’t.  Boo!  It might have been because I had eaten breakfast and was fully clothed but I think it’s because I was eating lots of chocolate in my dream last night.  Does dream chocolate make you put on weight?

I have a job interview today.  I don’t know why I’m even going.  I don’t really want the job.  I just kind of obligated to go when my agency told me about it and now I feel like it’d be rude not to go.  It’s a permanent job and the money is shit.  I should have just I wasn’t interested in the first place.  That would have saved me having to wear a suit.

I’ve also got a PT session at the gym.  I’m not sure if going when I feel sick is a good idea but you get a free PT session when you join and I had to wait ages to get an appointment so I’ll go and suffer through it.

I feel like I haven’t left the house for ages so it’s prolly a good thing I’ve got stuff to do instead of just lolling around being sick.

Arrggghhhh!

Last night my sister was working in the cafe downstairs.   After work, the staff stuck around for knock off drinks.  I think the owners had gone home leaving my sister to lock up. 

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned but the back door and outside sensor light for the cafe are right outside my bedroom window.  So there was lots of yelling, lots of back door slamming, lots of light going on and off.

At 4 am I went downstairs and told them to STFU!!!! 

I am so over this.  It happens all the time.  I’ve had no sleep, I feel like shit.  I wanted to have a shower this morning before the cafe opened (so the shower is actually warm and working) but didn’t wake in time.  On top of all that, my sister is working today so will be whinging for the next few days about being so fatigued…

Things

• I’ve been going to the gym semi-regularly lately.  Been trying to run but still having a lot of pain, it seems to be getting a bit better though.  I’ve booked in for a massage this weekend.  I think once I get the tightness in my lower back sorted out, I will be better off.
• Also I’ve had a cold since before I went to Japan.  That’s well over 2 months now.  Is that normal?  It doesn’t seem so to me.  I want to shake it off completely. 
• Eating still isn’t so good.  I was reading about this alternating days diet on the weekend, where you eat low calories on alternative days and normal on the others.  I don’t think it’s anything new, weight watchers did something like that for while, yeah?  Anyway I thought I’d give it a go but on the low calorie day you’re supposed to have around 500 calories.  Can anyone exist on that without killing people?  Still I like the idea – instead of having say 1500 calories every day, having 1000 one day and 2000 the next.  It allows for some flexiblity with a social life, training etc.
• I got my tax return today.  It’s pretty damn good too.  Normally I’d be rushing out on a shopping spree but this year I’m keeping it safely (I hope) in the bank ready for when I move to Japan.  That’s if I ever move.  It’s taking so long sometimes I think I just dreamt the whole thing.  On the plus side, the company I’ve got the job with is recruiting for next year so things must be looking positive for them.
• I’ve been feeling like shit lately.  I’ve put on about 5 kgs since I got back from Japan!!!!  That’s insane.  It’s funny how sometimes you can put on weight and it isn’t that big a deal but sometimes a few kilos can make a huge difference in things like how your clothes fit and how heffa-lumpy you feel.  Even with the gym and eating better, the scales aren’t moving!  They will though.

Brand spanking new gym!

My new gym opened today – yah!  I’d booked in to do a pilates class t0night but, since I had the day off, cancelled that and decided to pop in during the afternoon when things were quiet (and I could avoid the peak hour tram).

OMG, love it.  I did a cardio session.  First on the treadie where I plugged in my ipod and watched my own music videos on the screen while working out.  Awesome. 

Then I did a session on the mountain bikes.  They are the best – they have screens and you select a course.  More like something you’d see at Timezone than the gym, except I worked up a sweat (which I normally find hard to do on bikes at the gym).  Full marks for awesome.  You can even race against other people.

Then on to the leg whirly machine.  That obviously isn’t the right name for it but it’s like an ellipical trainer that goes out sideways.  I did 5 mins of that.  It’s weird and I couldn’t really get a good rhythm to work up any speed so felt like it wasn’t doing much.  Then onto the elliptical for 10 mins of solid work.

After that, I used the special stretching machines.  Loved those.  I’m so inflexible and these machines help you stretch plus you set a timer so you can’t cheat!  Come on, everyone totally underestimates how long they hold a stretch for.  Plus they tell you the degrees of stretch so you can see if you are improving.  I need that shit.  I love to actually have something tangible to aim for rather than just ‘oh yeah that stretch felt a bit better than last time.’

I finished up with a coffee and slice of banana bread from the cafe (it was 4.00 and I’d not had lunch, just a banana before the gym).

OMG, I forgot the most important piece of equipment – the GHD hair straightners in the change rooms

Anyway, after my first visit I’m impressed.  Lots of staff on the gym floor who were fantastic.  They seem to hit the right mix of knowing when to come up and ask if I needed help with the equipment (I did with the ipod docking!) and knowing when to back off and let you get on with it. 

Being there mid-arvo prolly helped because the place was fairly empty but it beats the butt off some other major gyms I could mention who say they have floor staff to help you but they must be magically invisible or something.

The only a bit off about the place is that they have screens with their catchy little slogans – “you’re looking good…” stuff like that — but they have the news headlines scrolling along the bottom.  It seemed really inappropriate to me when there are news stories about people being raped and murdered!

So, my rating: ***** I love it! 

As for my fitness, meh!  What fitness?  I’m like I’m back to square 1.  I could barely run without my legs cracking the shits and couldn’t get anyway near the kind of work I used to be able to do a few months ago at the gym. 

Time to level up.  I don’t want to just regain my previous fitness, I want to totally surpass it.  I’ve put on around 5 kgs since I got back from hols but that’s out of here and taking it’s friend with it.

Meanwhile, while I was at the gym, my sister built a kotatsu.

Ouch

I went for a “run” on Sunday.  Well it was meant to be a run.  I walked down to the park with my sister and planned to run some intervals once I got there.  Only trouble was just walking to the park, my legs were in agony.  I wasn’t like injured pain and it wasn’t like “omg I haven’t used these muscles in forever” pain either.  It was weird, like if I was a car I’d have said my shockies were gone!

Once I got to the park, I did loads of stretching then managed to run some intervals with more stretching in between.  I walked home okay.

Today I walked to work.  Still had some pain but not nearly as bad. 

Since it’s in both legs, I’m thinking it’s something lower back or hip related.   I thought about going to the doctor but then I’d have to sit in a waiting room full of diseased people for like an hour and pay $$$ and they are just going to tell me to rest it.  Screw that.  Plus my physio seems to have gotten into a mad spiral of slackness and incompetency lately. 

I figure if it’s still bad in a week’s time, I’ll go see my massage therapist.  I trust her.

Good things!

In the interest of being positive, these are some good things about my week:

• I bought some shelves so I can get my stuff organised.  I’ve have things sitting around in baskets etc with nowhere to put them (except under the bed) and I’ve not wanted to spend money on furniture when I’m not going to be here that long but tonight I went to Bunnings and got some cheapo galvanised iron shelves.  Not flash but only $22.
• I also got a rug for the lounge room.  We have floor boards — not polished boards but just boards.  It’s yuck.  the rug was only $50 and makes the room look better.
• I actually managed to do some workouts this week and to eat better. 
• I am starting to get some money saved.  I need to have $5000 saved before I move but I’d like to have much more than that.  Once I get my tax return (where are my damn group certs?) I’ll be well on the way.
• I got a call about another job this week.  Loads more money too.  They sent through my resume and I’ve heard nothing back but it’s good to know there are jobs out there that pay well.  My current job doesn’t and I have a phantom boss who I rarely see.  It’s weird. Occasionally he sees me around the office and looks at me like he’s forgotten I work there.  But he signs my timesheet so I guess that is the main thing.
• I ordered my hula hoop today.
• Only 4 days until my new gym opens.  I’ve already been online and booked myself into loads of classes – pilates reformer, power plate etc.  All exciting stuff.
• I’ve been making awesome scones.  Maybe not the healthiest thing in the world although with scones I find I can stop when I’ve had enough whereas a lot of “diet” foods leave me unsatisfied and wanting to eat more and more.
• I’ve also been in love with hot chocolate.  Yum.  With marshmellows.   But I didn’t eat any charity chocolates at work and kept my work snacks to good ones all week.
• I had dinner with my boy the other night.  I’ve not seen him for a few weeks.  It’s good to see him.

‘That’s about it.  My plans to take my lunch to work this week were a complete fail!  Mainly because I was totally unprepared.  Also I found good sushi near work.  If I can have a couple of good sushi rolls (or inari… I love inari) then I’m happy.

Finally, a question – why is it whenever I go to a coffee shop and order say “a skinny latte with one sugar” they ask “do you want sugar in that?”  It happens every time (well except when I order coffee at my cafe cos they know what I want).  Do people making coffee have deafness or something?  It’s weird.

Interesting…

I read this article today.  It was totally eye opening!  Go read it. 

However, if you are like me and too lazy to click on links in someone’s post, this is a brief summary.   Basically the writer is saying that the key to happiness is self-discipline.  For example, if you go to the gym every day, you feel happier but you need the self-discipline to go to the gym.

Following on from that, she says that self-discipline has a snowball effect.  If you work hard to have self-discipline in one small area of your life, you start acting that way in other areas too. 

I’ve really noticed this myself, without putting my thoughts into such a coherent order.  When I have a few small goals, say drinking 8 glasses of water a day + some exercise etc then I start to get on a spiral of doing more and more good things for myself.  It makes sense – start small and you aren’t overwhelmed by having to be perfect.  Meet your goals and you start to see yourself as a goal achieving type person.  Plus, the hardest thing is to get started.

The opposite is true too I think.  Start slacking off in one area and everything starts to get harder. 

When I was going great guns with weight loss, I also did so much more.  Not because I was losing weight (although maybe partly due to having more energy from eating well and exercising), but also because I had the self-discipline thing happening.  I spent more time writing, more time working towards the things that are important to me. 

At the moment, I’m Slacky McSlack Off. 

For the next few weeks, I’m going to work on being disciplined about doing a few small things.  No epic changes, just getting that self-discipline muscle activated.  It’s a good way to start.

Anyway, go read the article.

Tired

I did the opposite of overeating today.  Just a banana for brekkie — not hungry.  Had a sandwich for lunch then was planning to get a museli bar for arvo tea but forgot.  Went to the gym after work (my shiny new gym doesn’t open for a week so I got a free 7 day trial for another gym – am I a bad person?) then straight to Japanese class with no time for food.

After class, I wasn’t even hungry, just feeling washed out and blerk.  My Japanese teacher said I’m not to come to class without eating again cos I can’t concentrate!  Grabbed a sandwich from the shop and then just had a hot chocolate.

I’m sure normal programming will resume again tomorrow!