Day 11 - Party planning

Not much to report today. I'm waiting for some friends to show for a party planning meeting. I'm sure they will be late. It's how my friends roll. Should be fun, though...these meetings always tend to be as fun if not more fun than the actual parties. I'm hosting a Halloween party here in the country. I suspect my last big blowout. Band, DJ, black lights, bonfire, glow in the dark body paint, altar, sugar skull pinata filled with candy, condoms, liquor and perhaps other various naughty items. The theme is Dia de los Muertos.

Oh shit, somebody's here! Wow. Early.

....

Meeting went well. If there's one thing that I and my group have strong gongfu in, it's parties. We can throw down. The psychedelic sugar skull pic represents my future Halloween experience. You are all invited! And, imagine, I will do it all sober, sober, sober. Well, unless a certain special friend makes an appearance, highly unlikely.

Day 10B - Too many parts

Really, Patrick, you want to hear our words of wisdom? You ask and you shall receive.

Okay, well, today I would like to talk about the difficulty of paying attention to multiple body parts at once. Hence the title, TOO MANY PARTS moving at once. This applies both to my humiliatingly fun ballet class tonight and the agility movements for KFB.

Let's start with ballet. I'm getting better with the basics. This is good, but she's throwing in all kinds of crazy new stuff quickly. We did some crossing of the floor exercises tonight. Jump, right leg points back, comes forward, jump, left leg comes up next to right, points, start over. Ok, I know, you can't even picture it. There's french words for all these positions that I just don't have any real grasp of yet. The point is, it's hard enough to jump across the floor putting my legs in the correct position in time with the music without arms, but add the arms in, I'm like a deer in headlights. I pay attention to the position of my arms, my legs are flailing and vice versa. Trying to be aware of all the body parts and where they are at the same time. Holy moly! I comfort myself by looking in the mirror and knowing that I look awesome when I'm standing still. Ha!

This also applies to the agility exercises in KFB. I find when I'm really focusing on trying to get the legs right, the arms aren't positioned correctly. Or, I'll punch and realize that my guard arm is not anywhere close to my face. I thought I did better this morning, but still, I feel like everything's all everywhere all the time. Nothing is in the right place! I know, I know, practice makes perfect. As I practice, things will stay in place or go where they're supposed to naturally, but to get to that point, I have to be EXTRA mindful that I'm practicing correctly so I don't learn wrong. It's hard, frustrating and hilarious all the same time.

You know what, though? I'm really, really enjoying myself. I enjoy the hard work and then the sense of accomplishment when I reach a goal, hold a pose correctly or see myself do something in the mirror that actually looks graceful. Ballet, working out, I love it all! I feel like I've found these things in my life that I can't believe I did without before...

Also, I'd like y'all to meet my new buddy...it's got a leather, adjustable cord with smooth, fast jumping action. I love, love, love it! I won't even miss that old plastic one!

Day 10 - Nooooooooooo!

Rope down, rope down!!

Everlast my ass. 120 days last. I like this rope, too. Only $10 and fast. Looks like I'm going shopping at the local sports store today.

Day 9 - Year 32 begins and....

I scored a date today. Is it my PCP afterglow, KFB zen vibes or birthday magic? You choose.

Day 8 - Stretching

Since we got an email regarding stretching today, I thought I'd let everyone know this is my absolute favorite part of the workout. Ok,ok, yes, I love punching and kicking. Well, shit, and when you get down to it, I love all the strength work, too. I'm actually trying to decide if I miss pistol squats and floor jumps. Do they hurt so good or so bad? Blarg! Mind wandering...

Stretching. There's something so invigorating about a good, deep stretch. I find that the hardest part is having the patience to hold for minutes, but short stretches just don't provide the same kind of rush. Even after a week, I'm noticing myself drop into stretches a bit further and with more ease. I'm also seeing the benefit in my ballet. I mean, I still suck, bad, but I'm looking better. Tonight I could really see some improvement in the mirror.

And, randomly, for your viewing enjoyment. Here's a couple pictures, one from the picnic.

Wow, I really am one skinny ass bitch. I definitely don't look 32. The other is of the one piece of carrot cake that I saved to nom on with my birthday lunch tomorrow. Yum! Are you jealous, Ren?

Day 7 - Birthday Picnic

I dedicate this post to the woman that told me to eat a cheeseburger last night and to all the other people who will tell me to eat a cheeseburger in the future. Why is it that the cheeseburger is the standard weight gain option? Every time someone says that to me, I'm like, dude, I do eat cheeseburgers, just not the McDonald's kind. I buy the beef and make them on my own and I put some thin slices of seriously sharp Vermont white cheddar on them. They're excellent, and yes, when I eat them, I STILL stay this size. Anyway, she will be relieved to know that I nourished my body with a gigantic piece of carrot cake AND a sliver of apple tart at my birthday picnic today. I will not wither up and blow away now. I'm saved! Ha!

Yes, so I met some friends out at Cellon Oak Park to celebrate the beginning of year 32 of life. It's a park with a gigantic live oak as it's center piece. Some facts: it has a 30 ft circumference, 160 ft crown spread and is 85 ft tall. A perfect place to spread blankets and have a big picnic. We were the only ones there and the day was perfect. Started out sunny, turned a bit overcast by the end, but cooled off. The theme was relaxation. I didn't want any crazy late night parties this year. I wanted to chill and just be in a beautiful place with people I love. We had sandwiches, fruit salad, various veggie and pasta salad dishes, cake and apple tart. A good afternoon. Made me feel content. My actual birthday will be Tuesday, but this was enough celebration for me.

I enjoyed my 10 minute stretch this morning. I took my time getting out of it though, didn't want to upset anything in my legs. I practiced grabbing stuff in my shower, too. I'm actually not half bad. I think it's because I walk around in my house in the dark a lot. I get up and pee, go get water, etc. I don't like to turn lights on if I wake up in the middle of the night, makes it harder for me to go back to sleep so I practice at walking blind a lot.

Day 6 - Pants Dilemma

I woke up late this morning. Out until 2 AM channeling Axl Rose into the karaoke mic. I must say, I did a pretty awesome rendition of Welcome to the Jungle. Anyway, I was going to a memorial service this morning for a Gator Peace Corps volunteer that was shot in Lesotho. Armed robbery. He was stepping in front of the woman he was with to protect her and the dude thought he was getting aggressive, shot 'em, died instantly. Pretty tragic. I didn't know him but wanted to pay respects and support our recruiter who is very tightly connected with all her volunteers. She's having a difficult time with it. I won't get deep on you in regards to the service, instead I'm going to get a little shallow to lighten it up.

Running late. I go to get dressed and realize I have no dress pants that fit anymore. I hadn't even considered replacing them yet, and I had to wear pants because I was riding my bike. I put on the pair that was too tight on me before I started PCP, and they hung loosely off my ass. They buckled and stayed up fine though. I went with them. This is quite a dilemma for me! Nice dress pants aren't cheap, and I have 5 pair in my closet that don't even come close to fitting me anymore. I know, the thrift store. I checked one out on the way home. Most of the dress pants still too big, but scored 3 pairs of tight jeans for $15. I like jeans. Maybe I'll just invest in one pair of nice versatile dress pants. One will do for now.

Ok, off to do the workout. No time this morning, but I need to get it done. Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!