Week 1 done!! *and the crowd applaudes*

As mentioned in my previous posts, I am attending boot camp….and if you haven’t read my previous posts, well, you’re a loser! I joke, I joke, I kid! .........kinda.

Okay,  seriously though….I have put my body through the biggest shock ever by exercising, a relatively unknown concept in my world, and here is what I have learnt after my first week (btw, I’m missing today’s session due to other commitments *cough cough*):
 
1. I have a useless left arm. I genuinely thought it was going to fall off when doing a certain dumbbell manoeuver (word purposely used to make it seem complicated when it really isn’t).  Speaking of dumbbells…. 2. Thank God I bought 2kg dumbbells instead of 3kg as I had intended. Lightweight as it seems, when your arms are tired and half-dead, these weights end up feeling like you're carrying overfed piglets.
3. Stairs are not your friend! Well, not mine that is. As previously mentioned, I have an all-new respect for them….me and my thighs! Enough said!
4. Still on thighs, I look like a retard each time I need to sit on the toilet seat. It’s a whole process now….I get there, stare at it, and try to come up with a grand plan of how to get there with the least amount of pain. After formulating the strategy (I kid you not, it’s a whole complex strategy), it is then time for execution….needless to say, it never goes as planned, nor does it look as ladylike as imagined. Particularly when I lose all control and plonk down like a child learning to walk. Standing back up is also as bad….but I won’t go into detail – just know that it has something to do with waving my hands around and desperately trying to find something to grab on for balance. It’s bad.......that bad!
5. I am, and have always been horribly unfit – something I am glad I’m working on. Wheezing and gasping for breath while running a short distance is far from acceptable – and thankfully this is something I’m working towards changing.
6. It actually gets better as the days go by. Don’t get me wrong, it is still gruelling; however it is better than the first 2 days.
7. An hour is shorter than you think. Again, for clarity, it is not easy, and while in the middle of a lunge, the hour feels like a month (exaggerative, but true.)  

I am however slightly sad that I am missing a day mainly because I had started getting into the flow of things – my body is getting used to a routine of sorts and the muscle pains were getting better. But hey...I have 'commitments' that I couldn't bail on.

So that, in a nutshell, is week 1. Been tough on me mainly because of how unfit I am, however I’m happy.  

Bring on week 2!!

1 day down....39 to go!!

I am alive!!! Those are the good news – I lived through my first day of boot camp. The not-so-good news is that they went ‘easy’ on us because it was the first day….which means the pain in my thighs is just the tip of an iceberg larger than the one that sunk the titanic.  

In all honesty though, I can believe that they went easy on us….day 1 was not as bad as I had expected (considering I had already begun to draft my will). But I must admit, I have a new found respect for stairs – I had to pace myself yesterday (and today) when trying to climb up and down stairs....I repeated a mantra of ‘to whom much is given, much is required’ over and over again like a possessed devotee in deep meditation. My thighs are still on fire, and I have no idea how I will get through today! And it doesn’t help that I am catching a flu….this will be interesting.

However, I am looking forward to day 2…regardless of the aches and pains I feel now! Bring it on!! To whom much is given, much is required!! *begins possessed chanting*  

Call me masochist!

I have just 1 more day of life as I know it…*cues horror movie music*. A little dramatic? Yes? Good…that is exactly how I want my first post in almost 4 months to sound! Now lemme explain a little bit…  

My good friend Koko has somehow managed to con me into signing up for the most torturous 4 weeks of my life…boot camp!! The friends we have nowadays…smh! I will be actively engaging in intense, gruelling exercise for an hour a day, 5 days a week for the next 4 weeks. 1 hour….sounds easy, right? NOT RIGHT!! Considering I do not exercise ever, this will be absolute torture to every fibre of my being – I’m already feeling muscle pains, and I haven’t even started – just the thought of it gives my brain muscles pains. Sidebar: do brains have muscles?
Anyway, in my twisted mind, I foresee big buff women shouting orders like they do at boot camps for delinquents, and us shouting back “sir yes sir!!” (ma’am yes ma’am doesn’t quite have the same effect). Maybe I should slow down on the tv watching, huh?
 
But on the other hand, for some strange reason, I am quite excited. Pain and torture aside, I’m looking forward to pushing myself out of my comfort zone; I’m looking forward to stretching my pain threshold and see just how much I can take, but most of all I’m looking forward to the end result. There’s a certain feeling, a high, a climax, a peak, that comes with achieving a goal after putting in the hard work – and that is the high I’m chasing.   Did I mention the part about signing up for 2 boot camps?  No? Well yeah…2 boot camps with a 2 week break between both. I will try and update my boot camp experience as much as possible…that is if I live to tell the tale.

Wish me luck!!

Mortal Man

Two weeks.....in about two weeks, I will be moving and starting a new job in a new city, in a new province - a brand new start, and new beginnings. I am an absolute cocktail of emotions (no, I don't mean the mojito I had earlier....just emotions), but if I got into that, this would end up being a long soppy off-at-a-tangent essay.

So while clearing my rubble and putting things in boxes, I came across something I wrote a few years back after losing a friend to cancer....I guess I seeked solace in words. As short as it was, I let it bleed on paper as below (unedited):

Sometimes we don't truly understand the meaning of goodbye. We seem to think that life is endless - that, when we say goodbye, we'll automatically see that person again. We are mere mortals - it all ends. We make plans for tomorrow, for next week, for next month, for next year, and the years coming until we are 75 years young - and still have plans for after that....but we are mere mortals with no clue - even Albert Einstein, one of the most intelligent men in the world, had no idea that April 18, 1955 would be the day he took his last breath - no idea that he'd leave so many highschool students confused by his physics....hmmm, even I don't know my last moment - mere mortal. Lord, please help me:

• may I live my life to the fullest, understanding that each day could be my last.
• may my life make a difference, and have an impact on at least one person out there.
• may I be grateful for each breath I take, and never have regrets.
• may I appreciate all the people in my life.
• may I learn to smile and actually mean it.
• may I learn to say goodbye and realise that it could be the end....the last one...afterall
  I'm mere mortal man.

                                   (31/05/2007)

What's in a song....?

There is always that one song - the one which you sing in your x-factor voice and it damn near brings you to tears.....that song!

I spent last weekend road-tripping to places which I have been wanting to see -  places which were sitting on my imaginary bucket-list (I'll write one next year, I promise). It was a long and exhuasting day, but well worth it still. And in the evening, as I was in the shower (which also doubles as my recording studio) I sang a song which reminded me just how blessed I am. 2012 hasn't been the best for me - I have had many disappointments, lost loved ones, and been kicked by life a couple of times. But still, I'm standing! It hasn't been all bad...I have had many good days.I have seen growth, and coming more into myself. Making decisions, sticking to them. Knowing what I want, and going for it....not what others want for me. Doing what makes me happy.....knowing what makes me happy. Fun, flirtatious, frilly....emotional wreck at times - and just letting that be! Loud laughs, high heels, red wine....all in my 2012!

2013? Its only gonna be better - and guess what, I'm ready!! Cause I'm still standing! No matter what life throws, I'll take it in my stride, lift my head high and keep standing! 2013 is gonna be better....it has to be!

Now allow me to step into my recording studio, and sing the song that warms my heart:

"Something beautiful, something good,
All my confusion He understood,
All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife,
But he made something beautiful of my life."

Here's to 2012, soon to be gone, but surely wont be forgotten! And a to kickass 2013....I'm ready!!!

AU-GUST!!

I finally get it....now I know why it's called August......its because it's a windy month! August....gust...as in, wind...geddit? Don't ask about the 'Au' part - I don't have an explanation for it. Unless of course it's French for something.....okay, forget it! Either way, I find August kind of irritating...it's windy, it drags, and just all round lousy! Also, it's pre-September.....and September rocks! So it's just a useless stumbling block before we get to spring and my birthday month so full of awesomeness! The only good thing about this wretched month however is that it's Women's Month - a month to celebrate the strength of a Woman! I don't think I need to explain much.....a world without the strong, confident, bold, and beautiful woman would be just bleak!

So here's to all my Women........you are EVERYTHING and ALL!!

My type of L.O.V.E!

I'm a weakling for well written stuff....books, poetry, songs, even corny greeting cards....I'm a complete sucker for such! If it catches me from the first two sentences, then I'm hooked! When buying books, I have to read a little while in the shop before I head to the cashier - even if it's a well recommended book. The other day (by this I mean I cannot remember when) I came across this beautiful piece of spoken word on twitter.....well, it wasn't spoken on twitter, but after I interacted with my old friend google, I found it in the form of spoken word! A few more search pages down the line, and I got the full transcript.

It's a piece by Brent Rice called 'A Crucifixion Type Love'. What he does is describe love in it's purest form, from which it originally stems. It stole my heart completely.

A Crucifixion Type Love – Brent Rice

My biggest prayer is to love her right
I want to…
Love her like Christ loved the church
Love her like her Father in Heaven Loves HerLove her like the Holy Spirit loves her soul
And love her like she was created to be loved

But sometimes….
Sometimes my flesh tries to intimidate me with that kind of love
It’s like my spirit cries out from the depths of this corrupted prison
With the voice of Abel screaming that I have not loved her to the extent Christ loves the church
I want a crucifixion type love