Instant Classics

Today I'd like to review two movies which you should rush out immediately and buy on DVD even though they're not out yet. Make someone stand in line for you at your local DVD store while you finish reading this.

Baz Luhrmann's "Australia" is an epic love story, an Australian "Gone with the Wind" as it were, set in a harshly beautiful setting of desert, towering red rock, and HOLY SHIRTLESS HUGH JACKMAN, BATMAN! He kicks ass, he rides horses, he is rugged, dusty, sweaty and sunburned, and even spiffs up for your viewing pleasure (girl, he cleans up goooood). Sure, he probably smells like the New England Patriots' team laundry hamper caught in a stampede of terrified cattle evacuating their bowels, but it's not in smell-o-vision now is it? Oh and that skinny blond chickie who was married to that nutty guy was in it too....

"Quantum of Solace" stars Daniel Craig of the piercing blue eyes, craggy handsomeness, and tiny-waisted, fatless physique. I think he was playing a spy or something....

Holiday Recipes

Keeping with the red and green holiday theme, I thought I'd post some recipes I've been enjoying lately.

Granted, they look like something the bilge pump might barf up, but I am rather devoted to them both. I was reading an informal study where people raised their alkalinity just by drinking greens powder twice a day so I decided to do the same and suddenly I have a lot of extra energy. I don't crash in the afternoon and I never need naps anymore which is remarkable here at the nadir of the arctic winter.

I also "stopped" drinking coffee and diet Pepsi, meaning I still drink them, but I don't make them a regular necessary part of my day. Now I get sort of groggy if I have coffee in the morning so I'm not really sure if it's the lack of coffee or the sludge that gives me all this energy.

Anyway, the first is an oldie but goodie:

Otter's Famous Swamp Thing:

• 1 scoop greens powder
• 1t Frank's Red Hot hot pepper sauce
• 1t soy sauce
• 1T fresh lime juice
• 8oz water

Greens powder is slightly less disgusting tasting if treated as a savory flavor. Otherwise it's like putting sugar or chocolate on your broccoli, blech!

and the new recipe

Otter's Chunky-Style Swamp Thing:

• 1 scoop chia seeds (they're good for you!)
• 1T flax meal (lignans!)
  
• 1t kelp granules (superfood!)
  
• colloidal minerals (why not?)
  
• greens powder (alkalinizing!)
• reds powder (ORAC!)
• 8oz water

Stir, let set, stir, repeat until the chia seeds release their gelatinous goodness and everything stays in suspension. Enjoy!

See, now normal people would run screaming if I offered them a big ol' frosty glass of Chunky-Style, but you are tempted are you not? Mmmmmmm...

Current news

see now, leaving comments will just encourage me to post.
And I really have nothing to say...

Oh, except to the miscreant who stole my credit card number and bought $1 worth of stuff on Napster thereby precipitating the deactivation of my main source of credit JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS. To you I say: I hope K-Fed moves in upstairs from you, with the kids, and that he takes up clogging, and that he has the "band" over to "practice" a LOT 'cause you know they need it. Not that I wish someone ill in this time of good-will toward men. Nay, think of the delight that music, dance, and the pitter-patter of little feet will bring! I wish you all this joy, and I hope you work nights and that the E! media van parks in your space at inopportune times (no, wait, cancel that, good-will and crap, blah blah).

Workout and diet-wise, I enrolled in the Precision Nutrition Lean Eating program and it was ok, geared more toward abject beginners, but the basics are useful to us all. I kind of had a meltdown toward the end and derailed completely so that was a wash. I can't focus for 16 straight weeks, I mean, that's longer than a whole semester.

Plus I've developed an aversion to the gym. I couldn't figure out what it was until I went to the gym last Sunday. I strive to be loving and compassionate to everyone around me, but when I'm in the gym my brain runs this continuous stream of negative commentary like, "Why are you blocking the weight rack so you can stare at yourself in the mirror when your form sucks? If you're gonna do hamster cardio, at least break a sweat. Why are you telling men to squat with 10lb dumbells? You're doing it wrong! You're doing it stupid! Why are you here? Get out of my squat rack!"

Anyway, I found kettlebells at my local sporting goods store so I played with those for awhile. Then I broke my e-book ban and bought Red Carpet Ready because I wore bike shorts to cardio kickboxing last week and saw that my quads and calves are way overdeveloped. Including a 10 minute warmup (oh, I got Cressey's "Magnificent Mobility" also, oops), the workout is a solid 45 minutes of fairly challenging high-rep, continuous tension sorts of exercises. Looking back, I was at my leanest when I was doing just that (Joyce Vedral's "Definition"). That was a daily 40 minute workout with an alternating upper/lower split and no cardio. I think if I do RCR, it will bring down the bodyfat while reducing the legs and waist. I'll still work hard at TKD so I won't lose explosive power or rotational force, I just don't think my legs and waist need to be quite so hefty.

And then, I'm just going to set silly, shallow short term goals. Currently, they are to get below 120lb before the next testing date so I get easier breaks and look hot when I go to Texas in December =P.

Winter Adventure

I did not tell you about the winter death-march from a few weeks ago. I will not say anything except that if invited to go for "a 3-hour hike" by a bunch of marathon runners I will consider carefully... and dress for wind.

So when a bunch of marathon runners asked if I wanted to ski out to a cabin over the weekend, of course I said "yes" because if there's anything worse than feeling the surface of your eyeballs freezing, it's looking like a wimp in front of your boyfriend's friends, right?

So the next day I find myself cursing life, trying to navigate an icy lopsided trail that had been destroyed by four-wheelers and snowmachines with a top-heavy pack that kept yanking me into the bushes every time my balance wavered. Everyone else flitted effortlessly into the trees, or so I assume, because I pretty much didn't see them for the rest of the day. I caught up with the slower people at the end, and when we arrived at the cabin, they all shouted, "Where are your skiis?" for I had thrown them into the woods and walked the last mile or so.

The next morning, I said I would get a head start and go get my skiis. I figured they would catch up to me before I found them so I really hoofed it out. I fastened then antique wishbone bindings and waited for a bit, expecting to hear them right behind me. Nothing. I figured I needed all the head-start I could get so I took off.

Heading back, the trail was great. The second half of the trail didn't have snowmachine ruination so the tracks were my own. I cruised happily along.... and nobody had caught up. I stopped and waited a few times until I got cold. Finally, nearing the halfway point, I decided to just wait until someone showed up. After what felt like ages, the dogs came stampeding past followed by the first skier. "You're making good time," she said, "I wasn't worried because I could see your fresh ski tracks... Maybe I should've told the guys."

To cut short a short story turned long, after the first few miles, the guys became convinced I was wandering lost in the woods on my ancient skis, soon to become a small, fatty snack for the wolves who had left all the grisly bloodstains and moose parts and poo on the trail. So they had gone all the way back to the cabin, looked around, skied in circles, checked to see if I had fallen in the river, etc. Someone had to go back and get them. "Ha, ha," they said, "we should've had more faith in your skiing ability!", but then we got back onto the crappy, icy, rutted trail so I was still the last one back to the car.

My Big Fat ABBA Wedding

"If your bachelor party involves dancing shirtless to ABBA music, I don't think the marriage is going to work out..."
~ John Stewart

You'll either love or hate "Mamma Mia", there is no "meh" in between. Lovers will be those of us who might be classified as ABBA enthusiasts (e.g. sang along to Voulez-Vous 8 hours a day on a 3,000 mile roadtrip through Canada with her best friend when we were 11 years old). Haters are pretty much everybody else.

THIS IS NOT A DATE MOVIE! Unless A) it's your birthday and you want to torture your husband for making you see "The Hills Have Eyes" or B) you have some suspicions about your new handsome, fit, unusually cultured and well-dressed boyfriend.

For the Lovers, it is both the most hilarious yet most pathetic thing you will ever see. There's something disturbing about watching people burst into a song shoe-horned into some bizarre context. The director may wish to note that in transitioning from stage to screen you generally need to tone the energy down a little lest everyone appear like they've been mainlining Greek coffee and PCP to ABBA music. And WHAT HAPPENED TO REMINGTON STEELE? Did he have a mini-stroke and suddenly believe he can sing? And the costumes... granted I was only born in '69, but I don't remember the 70's being quite so extremely extreme. I mean, Figure A above is actually pretty extreme.... for ABBA, but the costumes in "Mamma Mia" would've made Parliament Funkadelic, Edwina Monsoon, and Christian Lacroix put their heads in their hands groaning "Oh, stop! Just stop!" Anyway, be sure to sit through the credits as the Greek wedding/Oompah version of "Does your mother know that you're out?" is not to be missed.

For the Haters, spare yourselves! Go see "Hancock" or something!

I hope you like PAIN!!

All you need

More Extremely Excellent Movie Reviews

Forbidden Kingdom: a very silly PG-13 premise, but EXCEPTIONAL fighting by Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Jackie Chan shows his true grace and skill without the usual grimacing and "making it look hard". Jet Li is finally filmed in a not-stupid way so you can really see him fight. Go see it just for that.

The Visitor: a modern tragedy with scenes and themes that could've easily been slapstick, maudlin, or angry, but are all handled with perfect balance and a kind of objectiveness you never see. Done by the same dude that did "The Station Agent".

Harold & Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay: yep. Pretty much what you expect, but not as genius as the first one.

The Incredible Hulk: I liked the Ang Lee one too. This one has lots of nerdy references, nerds!

Hellboy II: dammit! I really wanted to love this!! But they live in such a bizarre world you really NEED Meyers in order to relate. Had longer fight scenes, wicked CGI and monsters, botched all the undercurrents that made the first one awesome. A typical sequel.

Dark Knight: you prolly saw it already, but have you seen this poor dude?

I Blame Rob

Have you noticed that I haven't posted in ages?

I blame Rob.

It's not that nothing happens in my life, it's that I gave him this URL. But there is not enough going on in my life to both write it down here AND write letters that aren't complete reruns so I've been saving it for the letters.

but enough finger pointing. You may just have to read about what I eat and hear me whine about my workouts and read terrible reviews of great movies and I'll save all the interesting stuff with personal details for your letters.

I haven't even had time to watch my Netflix this month, but I did see "Everything is Illuminated" not only because someone recommended it and because that little Elijah Wood is cute as a hobbit button. Mostly because one of the main characters is played by the lead singer of gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello. And he does a fine job. I'm not going to tell you anything else except that you really have to see a movie when there is a dog in it named "Sammie Davis Jr. Jr." Quite frankly, I'm beside myself that the new "Hellboy" is out because it looks like the crack-baby of "Pan's Labyrinth" and the original "Hellboy" spawned deep in the twisted skull of Guillermo del Toro, but this has nothing to do with "Everything is Illuminated"... which you all must see.

Death on the Mukka Express

I thought I would be nice and make espresso instead of the usual freeze dried coffee since I have both an espresso maker and a cappuccino maker. These are not the nice, high tech, plug-in ones, but instead the old school Italian ones where the bottom and the top screw together and you put it on the burner.

The cappuccino maker has an additional piece that, should you wish it to, forces steaming coffee through milk. After a normal amount of time, the espresso maker had finished making espresso while the cappuccino maker had only dribbled out a trickle. So I turned up the heat. Then steam started coming out of the pressure release valve so I figured the little steamer thingy must be on wrong. Protected with a tea towel, I opened up the capp maker and tweaked the steamer thingy which popped off in my hand.

Did you know that contraption is under so much pressure it takes nearly 20 seconds for 6oz of espresso to blow out in a coffee-geiser that reaches the kitchen ceiling? I stood there for a moment pondering whether I should throw my tea towel over the steam and then decided that since the burner was still on, the towel would catch fire and just make matters worse. I skipped into the living room and hid behind a tallish Texan who was nonchalantly sipping espresso while watching the growing puddle of coffee form on the ceiling.

Then he said, “See why I don’t cook?”

Aspirations

Should we all aspire to be as strong as Arnold? Nah. How about King Kong? Ehn. How about a 75lb Mongolian contortionist? NOW you're talkin'!!

I think acrobats are the strongest freaks I have ever seen in my life. Here is my acrobat-inspired list of bodyweight (!!) variations I saw them do in Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy

Easy: partial one-legged squat
Medium: pistol one-legged squat
Acrobat: partial one-legged squat into a backflip

Easy: seal-hop pushup (all four appendages off the ground)
Medium: seal-hop over a jump rope
Acrobat: seal-hop over a jump rope with two other seal-hopping men on your back

Easy: iron cross
Acrobat: iron cross while being swung around the stage with a girl standing on your shoulders












Easy: overhand grip pullup
Medium: overhand grip pullup to tricep extension
Acrobat: overhand grip pullup to full handstand over 5 second count holding your brother's wrists instead of a pullup bar

Here it is on YouTube, it's the first move they do

Bite me, WeightWatchers

This is how much I get to eat following Precision Nutrition and doing Cosgrove workouts!

PWO: yukon gold potato, salmon, omega-3 egg, 1/2 avocado, salsa

AT: veggie stir fry and shrimp over spaghetti squash with peanut sauce

Why I did not take pictures this weekend.

I have come to the conclusion that I can't have any starchy stuff on sparring days and I need to put away massive amounts of protein and fat. I'm not sure about the actual science behind this....it seems that I preferentially run on carbos, but when doing something intensely anaerobic I will burn through them in about 15 minutes and then there's an bad energy dip for a few minutes until the system switches over to something else (protein, I think). But if I prime it with fat by eating fat and protein all day then I just don't run out of energy.

It's not a general 'tiredness' feeling when I run out of energy, more like I don't have enough for the explosive burst needed to pull the trigger on an attack. I'll get hit in the head and instead of a) blocking, b)countering c) bobbing/weaving I'll just drop my guard and laugh like an idiot. Or I'll go to do something energetic like a midair back kick and just end up walking in a circle.

When I lift, everything is 10lb lighter if I've had my waxy, but after an hour I tend to get that protein burning smell... I usually don't lift in the PM after eating all day so I don't know if that would help. I also found that avoiding starch, especially wheat, keeps my joints and muscles from flaming up afterward.

Anyway, I was really really careful to not eat anything off-menu all day Friday and Saturday morning and felt great. Then I freaked out after class, ate a huge (and delectable) sesame bagel with lox cream cheese and coffee, went out to see "There Will Be Blood" (and there was, in fact, blood. Maybe that dude should get a few cats and they can all be disgusted with humanity together) during which I drank a beer, then had a cheeseburger with fries and another beer, and then another beer. I was up to like 125.6lb on Sunday. And this is why I did not take pictures =D.

On this day...

I slept through my planned HIIT workout so I finished up early at school, took a nap and went to the gym in the afternoon.

APRIL FOOL!

Oh, wait, that really happened. No, seriously, I made up a missed workout in the AFTERNOON when there were other humans in the gym!

The bonus is of course that I got to kick the heavy bag after my intervals. Alwyn Cosgrove says that good athletes spend time working on stuff they’re bad at so I worked on my mid-air 180 back kicks and feel like I made some progress. Head Instructor encouraged me to use those instead of my really bad, shut-eyed, flailing backfist, but I the kick never felt right. The key is that they take a lot more power than I was putting into them. I am totally using it on someone in Friday sparring class.

3:15 wake (meow meow!)
7:00 wake
7:30 pineapple/berry whey smoothie
Midmorning snack: missed
12:00 cauliflower, peas, tuna steak
3:00 otter soup
3:30 nap
4:00 HIIT, technique on heavy bag
5:30 powerade, WM
7:30 halibut Florentine, salad, golfball sized potato croquette

Helloooooo FALLUJAH!

Oh, well I guess Doc Doc Goose won't get this URL until he gets his mail in a couple of weeks, but HELLO anyway! Dusty enough for ya?

Saturday 3/29/08
4:30 wake (@#$@%!!!!)
9:30 salmon, avocado, coffee
1:30 salmon, avocado, omega egg, asparagus, cheddar, salsa omelet
4:00 orange, metabolic drive
5:30 (i can has!) cheeseburger, sweet potato fries, 2 bottles heineken

Belt test went fine, I broke my board on the first try which was a huge relief. We had to break with a 'turning kick', so the target is in front of you about 15 degrees to your right. You chamber up with the right knee pointing to the left and your whole leg horizontal to the ground, then snap at the knee and break the target with the ball of your foot. The trick is to get your toes pulled back so you break the board and not your toes. The right big toe is the one I wrecked last year and sometimes the joint flames up so I was a little worried, but it was good.

I was going to sleep in so I chilled, took ZMA, gave Catski a huge bowl of food…. And then I forgot to turn off the alarm clock. Once I was awake I was tired but couldn’t go back to sleep. Then I lay around feeling low-energy which is stupid because it would help if I got up and ate something.

Saw TWO movies last night: "Juno" and "Lost & Found". Really enjoyed "Juno", it doesn't qualify as a chick-flick, or if it does, it has enough going for it to keep anybody amused. Now, "Waitress" was a sticky sappy chick flick that could be vastly improved by the appearance of a shambling, rotting contingent of the undead ripping the heads off of all the boring townspeople and eating their limbs in gruesomely hilarious ways, especially Captain Malcolm for getting pudgy and tiresome, but I digress. "Juno" was in essence the story of how she finds what's really important, it was simple and sweet and I think the casting was super perfect which made it seem more effortless than it probably was. Granted, normal people don't all talk in a continuous stream of snappy one-liners, but they were clever and funny so the writers are forgiven. So if you're worried that the trailers contain the only funny lines in the movie, fear not! there are plenty more, and good ones too.

"Lost and Found" was a documentary about what I assume were professional skiers and snowboarders.... lots of slow motion footage of young people I've never heard of who inexplicably spend their entire winters heli-skiing, but it's always fun to watch amazing athletes do their thing. It was put together by the Teton Gravity Research Group... may I remind everyone that the Grande Tetons were named by lonely french trappers? and doesn't that change the whole meaning of "Teton Gravity Research"? hee hee hee

Apologies to the environment

4:30 wake
8:00 wake ($#%&!!!)
8:30 salmon, avocado
10:00 ….
11:00 huge coffee
12:00 salmon, asparagus, cashews
3:00 otter soup, rice, saltines
5:00 sausage/pepper spag sauce, rice
6:30 TKD 1h

I had to buy and use bleach! There were blood stains on my uniform (Juggernaut's Mom: "that blood looks pretty intimidating.", Me: "Yeah, but it'd be cooler if it weren't my OWN blood") so I thought I'd wash them properly in hot water and BIZ enzyme cleaner. Instead, I managed to turn them pink.... I have a belt test coming up!! I cannot test in a pink uniform! I tried washing them again in washing soda, but still pink. I finally removed the school patch and bleached the sucker. Sorry, fish!

After a week off

I took last week off because of all the sleep disturbance, somehow my nervous system gets really cranked up when I do a lot of heavy (for me) lifting and anaerobic work. I still went to class because there is another belt test coming up.

Am learning huge amounts in Instructor Foxy’s skills class even though he nearly killed us by letting a free-sparring round go for like five minutes. Eats were fine and even though I didn’t lift or fast I seem to have lost a pound! If anything I’ve increased the amount I eat because I added a half to whole avocado per day. Hooray for fat!

And now for a movie review!
“Doomsday” is an exciting stylish train wreck of the favorite Futuristic Dystopia movies of the last 30 years. We start out in “28 Days Later”, morphing into “Escape from New York”. After a little “Land of the Dead”, the situation rapidly degenerates into a Galliano fashion show and a scene from “Silent Hill”. Who needs "Soylent Green" when you can cut out the middleman? Here comes Sci-Fi Channel presents “Robin Hood”! Here comes "V for Vendetta!" Now let's top off this flaming wreck with a big chase scene a la Mad Max.

And did I say, "gory"? Exploding bunnies! Flattened cows! Smooshed punk rockers! Apparently in the future our couture choices will be either punk-inspired or medieval. I guess it’s good this all went down in the UK, because if you did it in the States our choices would be Crips-inspired couture vs. the Pilgrims. “Run! It’s Cain’s Executioner!” would be a lot less impressive if he looked like the Quaker Oats guy. In short, the perfect date movie...um, for ME =P.

Tips for future dystopians:

• When building an impenetrable tank, go for the shatterproof windshield
  
• If someone on the roof of your car is trying to kill you, roll up the windows
• When you’re really really angry, take a deep breath and scream, “Blah!”

Happy Bruise Day

7:00 wake
8:45 whey + WM
9:00 NR4W.P2A (New Rules of Lifting for Women, Phase 2, workout A – this is my new notation, henceforth!), walk, stretch
10:30 pineapple, berry, lime, whey smoothie. Eyed the leftover cheese crackers, decided against having inflamed hips
11:30 avocado, green tea
12:00 tkd 1h
1:00 sparring skills 1.5h
2:30 3 cheese crackers, rice, salmon, asparagus/green beans
6:00 dinner at parents’ (there was cake!)

Today was a new low of 124.4lb. Which is down .6 from my previous low of 125.0 back in December, lol. But seriously, I haven’t seen this number in 2 years so it feels good. I tried to take progress pictures, but I looked either the same or thicker.

In the MIRROR, I have much more definition around my collar bone and the weird fat pad over my lats is definitely shrinking. Also I need new pants. Some day I will have real definition that you’ll be able to see in a picture taken with a flash even when I’m blindingly pale.

I lifted this AM and then went to class for 2.5 hours and felt fine, go me! We were practicing blocking turning kicks and I took some naaasty elbow strikes to the shins and ankles... just another good reason to aim for the head! I'm a little leery about flying kicks because I have gotten my foot caught on top of a 5' heavy bag and I tweak my hip whenever I fall. On the other hand, that means I really could kick some people in the head. There's also the possibility of taking a flying leap into a fist a KO-ing myself, stay tuned!

Tonight's monster movie was "John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars". From what I saw (whilst simultaneously playing Animal Crossing and checking my email with my back to the tv) Ice Cube and Jason Statham play space-marines who go to a Misfits concert. There was screaming. Catski stepped on the remote and turned off the tv.

Cheddar Bay Un-Biscuits

Since we were talking about Red Lobster cheddar bay biscuits (or the lack thereof),
here's a more PN Friendly Version!


Yes! all the goodness of Cheddar Cheese and Old Bay in...um... a mollusk!

Cheddar Bay Un-biscuits..."they're biscuit shaped!"
Sea scallops (the big-uns)
butter
cheddar cheese, grated
Old Bay seasoning
-Melt butter in large sautee pan and sear scallops on both sides
-sprinkle with Old Bay, remove to another dish
-sprinkle scallops with cheese and broil until cheese melts
--------------------------------------------------------

6:00 wake
8:00 lentil/bokchoy/mushroom/onion/bell pepper
10:00 orange, cashews
12:00 lentil/bokchoy/mushroom/onion/bell pepper
3:00 otter soup
6:30 tkd 1h
8:00 scallops, bok choy

Monday 3/10/08

4:30 wake

5:30 Syntrax & WM, NROL4W part 2 wo A, heavy bag

7:00 br rice farina, 2 omega eggs, swamp thing

10:00 stomach grumbly and upset, coffee place closed for spring break

12:00 salmon, green beans

3:00 stomach cramps

4:30 otter soup

5:30 tkd 1h

8:30 lo-carb ww tortilla w/avocado and beef

OK, I got bored with the break-in phase of NROL4W so I’m going on to the next phase! My weight was coming down, but since TOM stopped by I’m all the way back up to where I was 3 weeks ago. [update: TOM took her 3lbs with her, good riddance] My measurements haven’t changed, but my waist is up ¼” and my bust measurement is up .5”. I suspect that is because of my back which feels weirdly huge. Otherwise my clothes feel the same so I don’t think I accomplished anything.

More stomach problems today as well, greens powder? Salmon? I made up a big batch of lentils with mushrooms, peppers, bok choy, and onion to eat tomorrow. I’m also thinking I do better when I don’t eat beef which is sort of a drag because I bought a huge pack of steaks at Sam’s a few months ago. That’s alright. I’d rather eat wild caught seafood than something that spent its last days in a stinky feedlot.

Was reading some of the threads on ‘nutrigenomics’ and thinking that I was at my leanest when I wasn’t eating meat and yet everyone is telling me with my ‘type’ I should do well on fatty meats. I suspect a lot of being 10-14%bf had to do with being in my 20’s. I know I perform better without carbs (more explosive, less inflammation), so what am I supposed to live on? Fat? I think I’ll drop beef this month, work in some vegetable meals and see how things go. Part of me says “Carbs? Nooooo!”, the other part says, “if something isn’t working, then how is doing it really well going to help?”

Oops, heh heh

Apologies to whoever has been faithfully checking my blog every other day all month. I totally thought it was sk. Did not realize anybody was reading.
Not much to report other than I tried to kill myself on Saturday. I was really determined to get in three weight workouts since I only did two last week so I went to the gym at when it opened at 9:00, came home, showered, ate breakfast. Went to tkd class at 12:00 and was dragging a bit. Then there was sparring skills class at 1:00 and I actually had to bow out 10 minutes early due to some embarassing issues. Went home, ate lunch, took a nap and woke up feeling like I wanted to barf and spent the rest of the day on the couch.

On the plus side, I got to watch 2 episodes of "Torchwood" playing all day long which meant I also got to watch the Sci-Fi Saturday Night monster movie (a.k.a. it's not like I'm dating or anything). This time it was "Ogre" (starring Bo Duke!) which was reminiscent of "The (Stupidest) Village (in the World)" except that it wasn't just a bunch of yuppies who decided to dress and talk like Nathaniel Hawthorne and the monster was real.

I was pleased that it was solidly upper-middle-of-the-pack. So far my favorite was "Dog Soldiers". I have no idea why they called it that, but the plot was better than expected, the acting was good, the gore had a refreshing ferocity about it without being sick or cruel. My least favorite is a toss-up between "SS Doomtrooper" which was written by a 5th grader and apparently animated by one too, OR, that one about the planet.... The previews looked really good: scientists develop a teleporter that takes them to a perfect uninhabited world except that it has the 'perfect predator' (rapid scenes of people screaming and being dragged into the underbrush). The away-team teleports and is attacked by Bear Footage! People would yell and run and fire weapons and then it would cut to a bear looking fierce. I don't know how many times they showed the same shot of a grizzly in a field standing and roaring. I don't think they've shown it since, so maybe Sci-Fi channel was mocked mercilessly for that one. They deserve it.

Hiatus?

Tuesday:
5:00 wake
6:00 Syntrax & WM, HIIT
7:00 cottage cheese, oatmeal, pineapple
9:30 ½ protein bar, orange (where is my orange?)
12:00 spaghetti squash, teriyaki pork
3:00 otter soup, orange (here it is)
6:00 grilled low carb wraps with steak, tomato and cheddar

I love price clubs because you can get individually wrapped wild Alaskan salmon for $5.50/lb. But what is it about seeing something you never eat packaged in bulk that makes it seem like a good idea? I escaped relatively unscathed, but for a 3.5lb package of Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips. A friend of mine sent me a Wii for my bday so I decided I would make a batch my favorite chocolate chip cookies for his. 3.5lb of chips makes a loooooottt of cookies….

Slacker!

Uuugh! I don't WANT to warm up the car for 20 minutes and schlep off to the gym! I know it will be over soon and probably be the only "cold" snap this winter, but I'm still whiny and slacking. At least it only feels like its -34... ha! what the heck is that supposed to mean anyway. Also, I suspect somebody's humidity monitor is wonky because the only water in the air is frozen solid and floating around as our famous "ice fog".

I'm reminding myself that "90% is diet and the other half is exercise" and trying to get back on track after the carbo-riffic vacation. Yesterday I braved the 6PM grocery crowd and spent the whole evening cooking. For some reason they didn't have ground turkey so I had to hack up turkey legs. Turkeys have tendons like skewers! That took forever. The cat who is ancient and usually asleep must've smelled blood because she was sitting in the kitchen purring and got a few chunks of turkey for her patience. In the end I made a new batch of Otter Soup, some stuffed peppers and had a salad with salmon for dinner. The peppers came out great! I have one for lunch:
Veggie Stuffed Peppers
2-3c finely chopped cabbage
2 portabello caps
1/2 lg onion
2 fresh mild turkey sausages squeezed out of casing
green peppers
coconut oil for cooking
spices (I used garam masala for an Indian vibe, mexican spices would be good too)
Finely chop all veg (except peppers) and squish the sausage into small bits. Cook slowly in skillet ~30m til soft. Add spices. The cabbage makes this rather sweet so taste and correct seasoning (i.e. salt!) before stuffing peppers. Stuff peppers. Bake at 350 until peppers are tender. You could also top them with cheese for the final bake if you are into that sort of thing.

Back in the ring

I have been slacking big time! I only went to one TKD class this week and avoided the gym altogether. My elbow is still sore and hasn't gotten any better over the past month. It hurts when I push or pull and when I wake up in the middle of the night it's very stiff. Then yesterday, I woke up, stretched and my old calf tear charley-horsed so badly I had to leap out of bed and hop around til it stopped, but it was sore and tight all day. So what does one do after two weeks of indolence with an injured elbow and reinjured calf? Go to sparring class!

I was thinking of asking if we could spar using tournament rules (no hitting in the head for color belts), but Instructor Foxy started off with bob & weave hand drills and it was actually really helpful to get punched in the head under controlled conditions. My conditioning had slipped a little, but otherwise I was pretty loose. I felt a lot better with my hands and even got Juggernaut to scowl which means I landed a good head shot. I also have new (giant metallic purple) shin guards which made a huge difference in blocking kicks I think. Another dojang is holding a tournament next month and I have a feeling that everyone in the women's color belt 30+ division is coming from our school and that we're ALL going to get disqualified for hitting in the face. lol.

p.s.: my contribution to science!

and the weather report:

Tuesday..............

I had some funny stuff about Hawaii, but I haven’t felt like posting. We knew that my uncle had prostate cancer, but my Mom just got a letter from him and I think it’s much worse than he lets on. By the time he was diagnosed it had metastasized to the nearby bone. Anyway – his sisters convinced him to move in to his eldest sister’s house while he is receiving treatment.

I think I have a pretty solid view of life and death and our place in the universe. I don’t pity him, I know he’s very peaceful and enjoying the opportunity to spend time with family and attend to some hobbies, he won’t leave behind a wife and kids. I know he'd feel bad if he knew I were sad… and yet… I’m totally heartbroken. There are people I need to tell (V), but I can’t even talk about it.

He lived with us for a while when I was little. He immediately learned to swear and it amused me no end that he would flavor his stories with forbidden words like, “My friends call my car the ‘shit-vette’!” He was probably the first “grown-up” to converse with me like I was a normal human. Being the youngest in a large family he is just a little older than my oldest cousin so I was surprised to hear he is 60 because I’ll always see him as the young, handsome, laughing uncle.

And so
I am grateful I have the chance to let him know how much I love him and how important he is to me. We always have this chance with everyone we love, but we usually don’t realize it.
I am grateful he’ll never have to go through a long lingering twilight of old age, decrepitude, uncertainty and loneliness.
I am grateful he is my uncle and I got to know him enough to miss him, if he weren’t so important I wouldn’t be so heartbroken.

I know he loved it here and he wrote, “I don’t know if I’ll get to visit again and see those white mountains” so I will do it for him. I will watch the sun come up behind the icy peaks to infuse pale color into the sky, and I’ll turn my back to the road and look over a million acres of snow on black trees. In summer I’ll leave the car and climb into the fog of the mountain pass to photograph the tiny defiant flowers, I’ll take my fishing rod out like we did when midnight is purple twilight and I won’t feel sorry for the goddamn fish. When you’re better I’ll bring you your guitar waiting silently for you nearly 20 years now or else I’ll learn to play it myself. Right now I can do the changes for Buck Owens’ “Pfft! You were gone” on the uke which is a far cry from classical guitar…but I’m working on it!

Last time I saw you we said, "mata ai masho, neh", let's meet again, ok?

Let's meet again.

13 week wrap up

I wrapped up my accountability log on the Precision Nutrition forum today. Looking back I guess it was not too bad for the time, I had it in my brain that it was 20 weeks, but I lost some time after the calf tear.

I’m not going to bother with the bodyfat percentage because my Omron readings are so wack, I’ve been as low as 24% and yesterday I was 29% again, lol. I don’t think I was even that high to begin with.

Measure…..Starting……Current….Difference
Weight……132lb………125lb……-7lb
Bust……….36.5………..36.5…….0” (??)
Upper chest….35……….35.5…….+.5” (??)
Narrowest
waist………..30.75…….29.25……-1.5”
Widest
abdomen…..33.25……….31……-2.25”
Hips……….37………….36…….-1”

Remember the stupid bridesmaid picture where I'm the hugely fat one?
The dress is a little large on me now!
The plan for now is to do a lot of snorkelling and walking during vacation to let my elbow, glute, knee and back heal up. When I return I'm going to go back to sparring class! I'm going to stick with the two-day fast thing for a few more weeks, but bring some carbs back into my post workout meals and a piece of fruit during the day. If that doesn't bring my energy levels and strength back up I may drop it to one day per week.

Songs to eat brains by

I've had "Walk Among Us" by the Misfits in the car for weeks now. We were one of the last USA stops on their 30 year anniversary tour. I really really thought about going, but it was an all ages show and I figured there was an excellent chance I would be the oldest person there amidst a sea of children who were NOT BORN YET when Glenn Danzig left. Hello? When did oldies become cool? Then I found out tix were $40 and the ol' "I'm not paying that much to see someone who is washed up enough to play this town" attitude kicked in. Ronnie James Dio played here several years ago at a horrible dive. I totally would have gone just to have my picture taken with him! Ha! Dio! Poor dude, I believe his career has picked up since then.

I am not admitting to anything today because I'm totally off-base. First I was too sore to get up so I slept in. Then, having succeeded in my zeal to rid the fridge of perishables I had nothing to eat so I missed my morning snack and had a sandwich for lunch. I have to try and not be completely bloated by tomorrow afternoon because I should really take some pictures. I look ok. Have a lot of work to do, but definitely better than a year ago! I have shrunk a little this month because I can almost get my 'comfy jeans' off without undoing them, rather inconvenient.

Mayo-free chicken salad

4:30 wake
5:30 take friend to airport
6:30 g beef and peas, tea
9:00 boiled egg, carrots, huge Americano w/ cream and Splenda
12:00 “chicken salad”, romaine lettuce
1:00 still hungry – part of cottage/protein powder snack, carrots
4:00 the rest of the previous snack, diet Dr. Pepper
6:00 beef and spinach
8:00 viactiv (calcium chewy-chews) , potato wedges

A friend had to catch an early flight and I offered to take her since I’m normally up at that time anyway. For some reason I got really anxious about sleeping through the alarm (never happens) so I didn’t get any sleep. Then I had to sit in front of the computer all day which is my excuse for the coffee and diet.

No-Mayo Chicken Salad
The chicken teriyaki I made with chicken breast came out dry and icky, but there’s a lot of it. Today I cut it into tiny chunks, mixed it with a bit of feta cheese, a squidge of flaxseed oil, and fat free yogurt and it was really good! Who needs mayo?

I was fine all day, but then I crashed in the evening and lay on the sofa watching “The Specials” (worst movie evar). Then I had a freak-out and cooked and ate some potato wedges I found in the freezer. I was all guilty and feeling bad about having to report the freak-out, but not too long after it became apparent (I won’t go into detail) that I am not digesting my food. On top of that, dinner had a 2.5 hour transit time. I’m probably feeling malnourished and that’s why I’ve been so bad about sweets. I’ve been taking digestive enzymes sporadically, so I’m going to take HCl with my main meals again, that seems to help a lot.

My exciting Monday... and a recipe!

4:30 wake
5:30 whey + waxy maize, TT30DMFL w/oA and HIIT
7:00 white tea, g beef, ½ pepper, zucchini
9:30 egg, carrots
12:00 big salad, chicken breast, flaxseed dressing
3:00 ostrim and no veg @#$#@!
6:00 bay scallops, swiss chard
8:00 cottage & metabolic drive

I feel ok about how I look. Definitely look better than a year ago, but still squishy and fleshy when undressed *sighs*. If someone had told me 3 years ago it would come to this I wouldn’t have believed it. I never understood how you could get 30lb overweight. Oh well, all the trauma hasn’t been in vain because I did end up learning a LOT about nutrition and exercise so ultimately I’ll be healthier than if I never got sick and fat.

Got really tired this afternoon and ended up taking a nap instead of going to TKD, I think I didn’t get enough cals at lunch because I was hungry later on. I also ended up staying in the lab later than expected so I was unprepared and had to eat an Ostrim I had in my desk (no veg). So: bigger PM snack to keep energy levels up.

I have a new recipe for y’all, very tasty, healthy, and EASY:

Scallops and Swiss Chard
1 bunch swiss chard
4 oz bay scallops (the little ones)
Butter (yes!)
1 garlic clove
1/2c white wine or broth
Wash chard, cut the leafy parts from the stem and tear into pieces. Chop stems into 1” chunks. Melt butter, sautee scallops and garlic until scallops are nicely browned. Turn down heat to medium so the garlic doesn’t burn, add chard and stir it all until it starts to wilt. Cover and steam about one minute until chard is soft and stems are tender. Remove scallops and chard to serving dish, deglaze pan with wine or broth. When it’s reduced by about half, pour over scallops and chard. Yum!

Change is afoot

Heh heh heh. I got through to someone the other day. She is someone very important to me and quite a bit older who basically refuses to exercise. This year the doctor put her on statins because her cholesterol won’t go down despite dietary changes. So I told her that if she doesn’t take care of herself starting now, someone is going to have to take care of her when she’s elderly. She’s totally horrified at the idea of lying helpless in bed.

My take is that change is inevitable, but you have choices: you can drift along believing you are at the mercy of time or you can grab a paddle and steer yourself in the direction you want to go. Don’t you want to be able to hop a plane and go visit your grandchildren whenever you want or do you want to be the sick, long-distance grandma? My grandfather made the trip from Tokyo well into his mid-90’s. He turned 99 in 2001 and the last time I saw him was right after 9/11. He told me that if I’d gone missing (living in Boston at the time) he would’ve gone to New York to find me. He would’ve too! I want to be like that at 99.

In other news: I read “Eat-Stop-Eat” and I’m going to try that in combination with PN! Mostly because fasting appeals to me, but it’ll be a good incentive to keep the calories up on feeding days. First I thought that I’d just fast one day, but then I decided that I shouldn’t tweak so I’m going to give it a go for 8 weeks. I’m thinking Wednesdays and Sundays for fasting because I don’t lift on those days. For workouts I’m going to start with one of the turbulence training programs and do another one in four weeks.

5:00 wake
During day: water, green tea
5:30 TKD 1 hour (intermediate class, woo woo)
7:00 teriyaki chicken, brussel sprouts, carrots (started fasting yesterday evening)

Ooh, I ceremoniously dumped out all the chemical creamer this morning. No more creamer! Also, no more e-books (til March), e-book diet!

No Excuses