Day Forty Nine: Tough Like a Tonka Truck

Wednesdays. My least favourite day of the week. More so than usual as my work amounted to data entry and cut & paste today.

Wow, and I am having a massive mind-blank. I've been trying to find Slayer or Slayer-in-Training guides online and no one has produced such a document (that I could find in under ten minutes) except for tidbits like, "slay with style" which followed "buy the right clothes"... sigh. I kind of get the feeling crossfit is similar but without the vampire killing focus. I have to ask, where's the fun in that?

Fuck Twilight. Let's go kill some vampires.
That's the right thing to do.

I'm feeling pretty good despite my damages - I went out to look at a place for rent but there was a lot of competition and I didn't feel like putting on half the show the gay guy did (seriously? Seriously) so I went and got some deepheat and watched cartoons.







Fitness: I feel a bit more driven after Tuesday, (or maybe after the weekend, I can't even remember anymore) it might have had something to do with Pixie laying with her head in the chillibin inbetween jams to throw up into, but when she was out on the track she was a force of nature. I'm passingly fit. Passingly. I want a lot more in my reserves than that. No one strives to be average (or if they do, jebus, I'm sorry, we should set up a charity). At the same time I know it's pointless driving myself into the ground every day. Every other day should be fine. So I took it easy today, I just played about on the stairs a little.

Aikido: No training today. The last two days I've been filled with a horror of considering putting Aikido on hold while I chase down my Derby high. I'm furtively trying to convince myself this is a terrible idea. Aside from my commitments I feel I take a lot from Aikido and use it constructively in a Derby sense.

Derby: No skating today. And it rained. I look out the window at QE 2 square and wonder how damp the ground is and think sad thoughts.

Diet: I skipped on breakfast as tea and biscuits don't count, but my late starts throw me a bit (Structure! I need structure!!) but I had left over parsnip/chicken/bacon/leek/can't even remember what else mix. Then another mammoth sandwich of hummus, brie, ham, red onion and love. For some reason I wanted something I could eat with chopsticks again tonight (next I'll be refusing to eat food that isn't a favourite colour or some similar garbage) so I made noodles with egg, dumplings and bok choy, plus a beer. It was totally a beer night.

Sleep: I lay in bed until about 9am then decided I should head into work. It's just gone 12.10am now, so I've been a bit of a slacker and need to hit the hay. I've been more or less resting all evening though so I feel fine... but then, that's just an excuse and we aren't down with those.

Day Forty Eight: Not Just Me

These people are making me bored
and it's all their fault.

All of yesterday I wanted to turn on everyone and yell abusively, "Why aren't you being more entertaining and engaging?" but this is generally considered highly unacceptable work behaviour and although my family would act like nothing unusual had happened, it's certainly not something I do with any regularity.



Fortunately I know it's not just me. After the high of a weekend like the one just past, getting back to the mundane is not an easy task. As an adult I'm aware that 'weekends away' are always going to be fantastic, because they'll never run long enough to get septic. Plus we all seem to get along like a house that's on fire, rolling down a hill into an orphanage, which helps.

My point is, if you're going to do something, do it well.
Or alternatively, whatever is happening in this image.

Fitness: So I moseyed about online and yes, it would appear I have text-book variety whiplash. For some inane reason I find this rather entertaining, partly because I keep reliving the brief instance when it happened. I did some shuffling in the elevators but other than that, an hour of Aikido (gentle on the left) and two hours of skating tonight.

Aikido: Sometimes I feel like every other time I turn up to the dojo that I have some inherent brokenness that compromises my training. I am aware I've been in fairly good condition for a few weeks running, so now I am a little bit damaged I can actually indulge it a bit. I always keep training through injury though to keep my muscles from atrophying. I just take it easy on the bit that's sore. Rolling on the right, thrown only on the right. I learnt a very important aspect of a basic move today that will also make it a lot easier.

During the game I felt a little bit like this baby elephant.
Bring on the lions, they're gonna get messed up. 

Derby: I felt really good about tonight. Fortunately the whiplash is all upstairs (shoulder/neck) so my legs are still feeling fine. I don't think I got quite as wrecked in the game as my teammates, but one thing bothered me. During a powerjam, I was knocked down, but Swamp City broke apart their wall and there was a massive gap toward the edge of the engagement zone. All I needed to do was get my toe stops under me and sprint/leap the five feet to clear the pack. But I couldn't. I got my feet under me and skated slowly off instead. I was lucky Swamp City disengaged early (and they looked how I felt at this point). All because my legs weren't strong enough - they were shattered. I pride myself a little on my speed, but I slowed down far too easily and struggled to step it up when I needed to. I know I'm fast, but I need it accessible for gameplay. So when we did pyramids tonight I put it down. Looking back, maybe I could have done even better but it was hard to judge - what I know though is that when it comes to the Endurance, explosive power, acceleration and speed I have a really good idea of what I want from my legs now. A whole lot more. The 'competition' is insane as well. Breaking even with the other jammers is going to take some time and doing, and that's just the first stop on the way up.

Diet: Weetbix and banana for breakfast, plus the sneaky uplifting of enough bananas for the week from the breakroom. I know I need to eat a banana a day otherwise I exhibit low potassium, so I think it's justified - I hardly ever eat the rest of the fruit. I ate a lot of crackers today. Cheesy, not particularly good crackers. Then a muesli bar and some brie before jumping ship to go to the supermarket as I didn't have any sandwichy items left. The new Metro was intriguing, although the deli section was a little upmarket for me. I just wanted some processed meats, I don't need to be highly distracted by grilled artichoke hearts. Don't get me wrong - I love 'em, but damn they were expensive. The eternal student in me goes, "How much per 100grams? And they look heavy! Seven dollars is a lot for a one food item snack." Anyway, so I made a sandwich with two different hummus varieties, high quality ham, brie, red onion on Ploughman's bread. I had a couple of muesli bars and some chocolate milk after Aikido/Derby, then when I came home I cooked together chicken, bacon, leek, carrot, parsnip, pepper and marinade sauce into some sort of... stirfry... thing... all I really wanted was something I could eat with chopsticks (for no apparent reason). It was different but kind of tasty. Nothing wrong with it but I would not cook it again. I need to find a girlfriend to stay at home and cook me food. I think that's probably one of the top things I miss most as a singleton.

Sleep: What the what? It's 1.20am and I just got out of the shower. I've asked for a standard late start on Wednesdays to cover this unavoidable lateness - (home at 11.30pm at the earliest, requiring at a minimum dinner, a shower and faffing about) totally bed time. Alarms off, sleep till I don't needs it no more.



Tonight really helped, getting a good skate on. It was a little subdued owing to various injuries and borderline sniffles but part of me still finds it a little incredible how much I enjoy all the aspects of Derby at the moment. Every corner I turn, every mile stone I reach, for some unfathomable reason I expect there to be a softening of Derby fever as I become more capable, more in control. The complete opposite is happening, the more involved I become, the more involved I want to be.

And I thought popcorn was moreish... 

Day Forty Seven: Awww, Snap, Reality?

Despite the fact I had a most amazing time on the weekend, it felt like a lot longer than three days. That amount of fun would normally be spread over maybe a week or so, and it's left me a little detached from my daily obligations. 

How I feel about work / family

If you need to be told this is probably not good for you...
maybe you need more schooling as much as a new diet.

So I spent most of today re-learning what it's like to be a vaguely responsible member of society. I bought a grabone coupon for a sports massage (yuss please!) and laughed at the NEEDNT list (luncheon sausage? What, people over the age of eight still eat that?). I only really eat 13 out of 49 foods I'm not meant to and even then, they're treats, not dietary staples. 

That sounds a bit elitist. In all reality I care very little about my diet, which is the reasoning behind it being on the 'goal' list. Because I probably should care more. Let me just put that out there because I scoffed a bunch of chips today. 

Fitness: It's hard to even feel vaguely motivated about exercise when bits of you hurt to move through half a rotation. It's probably a good thing I don't use my left arm for much other than leaning on. I can't even play wii as the TV up and died. I have to wait until Friday before it's replaced. First World Problems.

Aikido: No training today.

Derby: No skating today. I looked out the window as I was leaving the house - and it was sunny. Part of me said, "C'mon, take ya skates in today. What else are you going to do?" the other part of me responded with, "Nurse my whiplash until I don't hurt so much, you can damn well wait until tomorrow." So I left my skate gear at home. Because I'm a little scared of myself when I get angry. 

Diet: Two weetbix with a banana - I've used light blue milk for over a year now, but thanks anyway NEEDNT - two cream biscuits and tea, sushi bowl for lunch as I caught up with the wife and exchanged weekend stories, and then for some unholy reason I came back upstairs and consumed vast amounts of peanuts and crisps. Dinner was pork, salad, cauliflower cheese, potato cheese (yes), and a fruit salad with yoghurt for dessert/starters. 

Sleep: I think I have developed possibly the worst sleep habit imaginable. I know my alarm still works, I've tested it. That being said, my alarm hasn't woken me up for the last couple of weeks. Instead, I have a sneaking suspicion that the below sequence of events occurs in the morning.

6.45am - alarm goes off

6.45am and 0.3 seconds - I turn my alarm off without coming completely awake

6.45am and 0.6 seconds - I am asleep without imprinting any memory of the last 0.6 seconds

7.15am - I wake up properly, confused and unsure as to why I slept through my alarm again

Considering I need to leave the house by 7am to be 'on time' for my daily schedule it's kind of annoying - fortunately Mondays don't matter so much. It's always the time spent at work that gets compromised rather than my after school activities, which is fine as "work" isn't on my goal list. Anyway, I got around seven hours last night, which is great because that's all I really needed.





It's actually insanely early for a Monday to be wrapping things up (only 9.30pm) but it feels like time for a shower followed by cartoons. I wanted to do some push ups but my neck/shoulder area is very against the idea. Maybe in a few days... for now, it's hot water and wheat bag time.

Day Forty Six: Wonderbolts Weekend Part 3

Despite another severe lack of sleep, Sunday started quite well, obligatory accommodation clean up, followed by meandering through Taranaki with a sneaky aside of some mildly illegal activities, product placement shots, a huge-az amount of ice cream, dogs and slight detours... I'm still pretty amped about today.

What else can I say? I think I mentioned it in Day Forty Five. Let me reinforce that

I am this happy.

Fitness: We spent most of the day in the car again. Aside from some very animated discussions at various points it was quite a subdued day. Probably unrelated to the lack of sleep or copious amounts of alcohol consumed. I didn't mind too much, I didn't have any plans to be particularly adventurous or active. Admittedly my left shoulder where my neck attaches is completely buggered from the mild whiplash I incurred by slamming into Hannah at speed yesterday (You're alright...). My right knee is sporting the worst bruise I've had in a while from tripping on the dance floor last night as well. I think I may hurt a bit more tomorrow... 

Aikido: No training today

Derby: No skating today. It was definitely a hot topic for discussion with all the curtain raisers yesterday and I do thoroughly enjoy learning some of the intricacies of the leagues and individuals throughout NZ. I'm looking forward to this year a lot, there is so much exciting stuff lined up it's hard to remember I have other priorities like work and family (side yawn).

Diet: I ate a plum, lots of chips and some chocolate milk and muesli bars for breakfast. I didn't really have a strong supply of breakfast stuffs at my disposal and wasn't about to cook anything while we were tidying up the accommodation to leave. We headed to the food court where I grabbed a Tank and finished Pixie's butter chicken (food Jew moment) . A couple of tomatoes, a precooked sausage, ice cream, and a plum got me up to Auckland, and after depositing everyone home I caved and got maccas when I headed back to my own house, deluding myself I'd make prawn fried rice later that evening. Instead I prepared some eggs on toast when I got hungry around 10.45pm. Classy. That rice is gonna have to wait until Wednesday. 

Sleep: I should be feeling significantly more tired than I am considering the level of damage and sleep I'm currently circling, but even at 11.30pm I feel alright. I can tell I'll crash soon and I'm sure my body will appreciate it. Alarm set. Seven hours keyed in. 

I can see I just threw most of the goals to the wind while I was away but I'm happy with the outcomes and had a fantastic time - I wouldn't have changed anything (aside from maybe running into Hannah, but if getting a faceful of chest hard enough to jar my senses is the worst thing that happened to me, the bar has been set pretty high). Half of me would be happy to set this P90x aside (Day Forty Six? I'm only half way and this feels like I've been doing this forever) as I can see looking ahead that more things are going to fall into place, leaving me even less choice about 'Doing The Right Thing'. I was offhandedly complaining about having a handful of spare moments a week (in which I generally chose the 'collapse on the bed and FB/watch Ponies' option) but I think I can pencil in those times with more constructive tasks and be done with it.  

Day Forty Five: Wonderbolts Weekend Part 2

The day is finally here, my first game. I'm a bit jittery but surprisingly focused - it helps we have a lot of things to do in preparation and once we're allowed out to test the track I can put some of my tension into the floor by pounding out a few laps, jumps and the like.

It occurred to me at some point when teams have a shoutout it's often hard to understand what they're yelling, especially up in the stands. I wondered briefly what "Focus" might sound like to the crowd. And then went back to focusing before losing myself in mirth

Maybe something like "Hocus Pocus"?
Nothing untoward crossed my mind instead, I can assure you.

Fitness: We spent most of the morning skating, warming up, playing and dancing. All and all, lots of movement today.

Aikido: Ah, no. WAIT. No. Attempting to use Cheng Hsin and my one and a half Judo moves in a light hearted but determined impromptu wrestling match doesn't count. We only played five rounds anyway.

Derby: Yes. All the ridiculous things my old league said to me were washed away in the clear light of the lineups and support from the Wonderbolts. I was in the first line up, and alternating line ups with occasional double outs and I had turns jamming. I had a run as jammer, a straight from the textbook power jam, and with some amazing support from the team I clocked up an easy 15 or 20 points. Honestly, I can't remember how many scoring passes I managed, I only checked the score intermittently as time wore on as I became more embroiled in each step as it came to pass. I happy with this - possibly the best way to play would be jam by jam. I don't even know what else to say. I'm thrilled, everything that happened today let me know I made the right choice. Playing a game has helped me identify focal areas for improvement, but overall, for a first game I think that's one I can be well proud of. I had so much fun.

Diet: Some fruit for breakfast, a muesli bar and a helping of freaking out a bit. After the bout I ate several more muesli bars, a bite of subway, then we headed off to find some deep fried victory chips. Possibly a punnet of victory chips later, the evening disintegrates into beer, more chips, pre-packaged chicken meals, cocktails and something from a classy (and vaguely leaky) cask bag. Serious celebrationary energy reloading. Or something. Hell, we had one heck of a party. We'd earned it.

Sleep: We hit the sack around 3.30am, got up again at 6.30am - who needs sleep when you've had a can of victory instead? Actually, I was just having such a fantastic time all weekend that ran over my need to get any proper nap time.




What can I say?  Nothing seems to even begin to encompass the level of inclusion, fun, awesomeness and just... just... I don't know how to describe it. Ultimate warm fuzzies. This year is going to be amazing.

Even more fantastic than puppies playing grass hockey

Day Forty Four: Wonderbolts Weekend Part 1

Taranaki today for Carmageddon! Tonight we make the miles and tomorrow we play the bout. Be cool Dashie, be cool.

Fitness: Left packing to the last moment so I ran up/down the dual flight stairs several times as I was packing to get away. Plus I did three loads of washing in the morning which also involved more up/down the stairs- other than that we spent around six hours sitting in the van and only minimal running around in the intervening breaks.

Aikido: No training today

Derby: No skating today

Diet: I figure I'm not going to be able to eat much tonight or tomorrow. So, best to load as best as possible while I'm capable of still eating. Three weetbix for breakfast, a bacon/chicken/avocado sandwich for lunch and various fruits. We snacked on a little bit of everything from more fruit, rice crackers, lollies and chocolate milk in the car ride to Taranaki. Burger Fuel for dinner, just a basic chicken and cheese burger.

Sleep: What sleep? Aside from being in a strange house, in a strange bed, I was a box of nervous energy. It didn't help that I was more or less just waiting for Pow, Pixie, Special K and Peku to turn up, (which they did at 1.30am) I think I got to sleep some time around 3/30am but people started to get up at 6/6.30am. Ah well. Nervous energy will out.

Day Forty Three: Slow Systems

My mind is mush today. And by mush, I mean there appears to be almost no comedic value left. This is what happens when you spend months clearing invoices...

The excitement! It is... not noticeable.

Anyway there was some sort of catastrophic train malfunction so by the time I had gotten into Sandringham it was pretty late to be heading into Aikido. For an hour long class, I was going to be missing the first fifteen/twenty minutes. Other sports - you turn up, you make a blithe comment about the trains crashing into some cattle and you're away laughing. Protocol in the dojo is different though, and after a certain level of lateness I can't bring myself to attend. Sensei mentions punctuality a lot, and even though I don't control the trains I understand the example I set if I turn up half way through a class, especially to the beginners class. So I didn't go, and went straight to skate training instead.




Fitness: Skipped the Aikido, and had two hours on the track instead. Some of the drills we did the pack set what I thought was a slightly unreasonably fast pace. Looking back on it, if I'd been skating a bit lower it might not have seemed so fast (thoughts to myself for some minutes).

Aikido: oops.

Derby: It hasn't really sunk in that my first game is in... oh, one and a half days? Anyway, after the warm-up we went through more strategies - I love the heavy focus on strategy. Developing quick feet isn't going to help me a whit if I have an empty head. Plus, I skate. I skate as much as I can. My individual skills will develop without too much drive from the coaches, although they are very useful to have around to ask technical questions. We wrapped up gently to assist refocusing the team and had a bit of a positive projection for the game. I liked how it was all done - I admired the soft skills I saw tonight. They can push and be blunt when they need to, but when someone needed a hand reached out to them, it was already there. In case you can't tell, I got a case of the warm fuzzies. I'm really looking forward to Saturday - it'll be interesting to see how everyone comes together. I have to admit I kinda assume we'll win, I just wonder how much I'll contribute...?

Diet: I had a nectarine on the way out the door and then a stack of tea and biscuits for breakfast. I was quite late into work again and that sort of ruins me as I'll get stuck into a big pile of invoices and then it'll be lunch time before I think about stopping to get some fuel. I met with my brother at Food Alley and ordered some pho beef noodles from the Vietnamese place (not as good as the pho in northern Vietnam but still quite nice), then more tea and biscuits for afternoon tea. Chocolate milk after skate training - it wasn't too demanding as far as trainings go. Then I had some pre-cooked chicken when I got home. No need to go into why that filled me with rage. Hint: there was plenty of food in the freezer / fridge.

Sleep: I slept in, but only mildly (7.20ish) but that really ruined my get-to-work-on-time timetable. I forgot to reset my alarms because I turned on the later one on Wednesday - fail. It's just gone 11pm now, but I have the day off tomorrow and only a few things to do. I don't want to sleep in too late though as I'll need to still be in full sleep cycle to get up at 7.30am on Saturday...


Whoop! Taranaki tomorrow. My first real game on Saturday. Flying with the Wonderbolts. Did I mention I never expected it to happen so soon?

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee......... (girlish squeal)

Day Forty Two: Driftwood

God knows what happened. I've continued to drift into a holding pattern, and part of me finds it immensely lazy that I'm putting almost no effort into achieving any goals. Another part of me is fiercely vying for more rest time so my muscles are actually usable at some point rather than just being in a constant state of fettered exhaustion. It's probably not a good thing. 

Although it's as easy as falling in a hole.

If my legs do fail, it'll probably be when
I'm carrying important files.

It's difficult I guess because a lot of my time is already dedicated to 'training' of one form or another, then once you fluff out the week with sleep, work, social obligations, washing, crap like car maintenance and a little bit of 'me' time, I'm probably left with about seventeen seconds. I'm impatient as all hell though, and willing to put in the effort to start seeing results sooner. But when? When am I going to find time and space to fit it into my timetable? And if I did, would my legs just go on strike until I offered them more favourable work conditions? 

Quite possibly. Who knows. I'm just feeling the bite of time at the moment - I have a million things to do and I'm off to Taranaki with the Wonderbolts on Friday - I am actually just looking forward to some time away! 

Fitness: Nothing today. Probably a good thing as I believe my legs are still pretty miffed (I mean resting) from last night.

Aikido: No training

Derby: No skating. I idly thought that I should take my skates into work regularly and hit the streets at lunchtimes. But then it pissed with rain all day today anyway. But every flat surface inspires a piece of me to sit up and go, "Hmm, if I had my skates..." followed by "That security guard would attempt to chase me off..."

Diet: I was into work about midmorning, but I'd had a plum and some tea/biscuits for breakfast around 10.30am and then it was lunchtime quite quickly from that point so I didn't have any weetbix but made myself a mammoth sandwich instead (gasp, but I'm out of hummus!). I had a punnet of blueberries for afternoon tea to tide me over until dinner at Cassette 9, which consisted of pizza, garlic bread and beer. As much as I'm not exactly proud of such a dinner I also don't feel bad about it either. I feel sorry for people on diets who make themselves feel bad for enjoying a night out with friends because of things like this - either don't feel bad or don't have friends. 

Sleep: I awoke at 7am despite having gone to sleep just past 1am and knowing I could sleep in as I had pre-arranged a late start. Guess my body knows when it's meant to be awake these days, which is a good thing... I rolled over and sort of managed a mix of resting and napping until 9.30am when I made a go for work, feeling pretty refreshed and ready to face the day. It's just gone 11.30pm now but I've been yawning since just before 9pm. I can't seem to get enough rest this week, which normally isn't an issue. I can only assume it's partly due to the mounting anticipation of this weekends' game, but I'm not consciously feeling the stress at the moment so it's hard to judge. Probably is though. Nothing else is really bothering me.

Posted this 'tomorrow' as internet failed - Steve Fry is right people - we put up with some atrocious service. 

Day Forty One: Still a Foal

Somedays I think I need to remind myself I'm still just a derby foal. Not even a yearling yet, I still have six months to go before I hit that mark. Rushing ahead to take the jumps all the big horses are leaping is... well admirable in a sort of suicidal way I guess. One of the girls pointed out that sometimes I reminded her of a pony that just hadn't quite found it's hooves yet. That would be about right.

Faster than your average bear... but not a bear
I don't really know where I was going with that.

Admittedly, I want to be the best damn yearling I can be, so that really means busting some walls and pushing all my limits as a foal so that I start off my second year rolling at full speed. I don't want "But I'm new" to be an excuse, but I am, so there's a whole bunch of things I still need to figure out. There are nine games and two boot camps inbetween now and my yearling status, on top of training, public sessions and outdoor skatepark adventure times. Oh, the insanity.... Who knows. Maybe all this mindless devotion will be worth it. Did I mention previously I was going to pour everything into Derby for the year, and see what happened then? Well, that's what's happening. My Wonderbolts will train me as hard as I can take it, I'm sure.



Fitness: Gotta love Tuesdays. Two and a half hours of Aikido and two hours of skating. I can't really fit much around this sort of schedule. I'm just lucky if I get anywhere on time.

Aikido: Beginners class is actually a nice warm up for the evening, and it's interesting to see how people progress and assess if they will stick with it. Martial arts are attractive in their own way, but ask for years of training in return to get anywhere substantial. Fortunately, I've shaken off my casual disregard for the traditional fantasy and remembered to be a bit more respectful and adhere to the protocol again. I'm stoked that derby ended up being at 9pm, it's a brutally long, hard day but it means I get to go to a regular Aikido class. We did some sword work (good, because I haven't swung a sword for a while) and then some work on mental focus. If you look/focus at the completion while you are still in the middle of the act, you're likely to fumble the act. All it takes is putting your mind in the right place and bam. It all just happened. This was just to help with our iriminage throws, which is great, because I used to suck at them and now I'm just middling. I can't wind/concuss people with them like Sensei can, but I can dump people on their arses quite uncomfortably. Also Sensei used me to guide the beginners in rolling sideways. I have always thought highly of my yoki-ukemi so having them acknowledged as text-book enough for the beginners to use as a visual was quite nice! Guess we all gotta be good at something, right?

Derby: By the time I hit the rink, I was still feeling an aftermath of the weekend (who knew one could exercise to excess...), dregs of a headache (seriously? more neurofen) and just general over use of my quads. But our strategists are back! So my body got to rest a little as I engaged my only slightly hurting head to absorb information like a sponge thrown in a bucket of water. Of course we had to get through the Endurance first (sprinting, then jumping? then more jumping? Oh... sorry legs, c'mon, one more leap...) but as much as I'm enjoying learning the strategy I have mild concerns I will mind blank on the track during my first few games. On the flip side my teammates are fairly relaxed and I am really looking forward to playing with them. With such strong pivots and support my maiden game is going to be a cake walk in comparison to what it might have been.

Diet: A plum before I leapt out the door, weetbix/banana breakfast at work, tea, half a biscuit, Renkon (whenever I end up in Parnell it's sort of a tradition) sauce-katsu on rice, chocolate milk (between/after training) and salmon for dinner. Oh, perfectly cooked salmon. I'm eating it right now and it's delicious. 

Sleep: Nothing like getting home at 11.30pm, needing a shower, dinner, and... I hate to say a 'rest' before going to sleep but you might know what I mean. Some "me" time. I told my manager I was coming in late tomorrow (Wednesday) because I'll be staying late (Bitchin' Bingo) to balance it out. No point rushing out the door when I need a bit more kip. It's 12.15am now, I still have some salmon to finish and maybe an episode of the Simpsons.



All and all, I thought my headache running over would just be a kicker but it's finally all cleared up and I feel great again. Woop! This week is going to go from strength to strength... Bring on Carmageddon and Swamp City!

Day Forty: Waiting To Catch Up

Whoa. Again with the auto-save failure, but aside from that I rounded off the day with a highly demotivating headache. Probably highly avoidable if I'd had more sleep on Sunday night and drank significantly more water on Monday, but neither of those things happened.

Computers. Sigh.

Yesterday was going to be low key anyway. I was still pretty shattered from the weekend, had cleared entirely too many invoices at work and if I was going to do anything when I got home, it was going to involve placing things in the bin. Nothing exciting.



A brief summary! If I can remember back that far...

Fitness: Rest day! I needed it too. Not surprised I had a headache frankly, it's just a pity they take such a heavy toll on me when I get them.

Aikido: No training

Derby: No skating

Diet: Weetbix/banana breakfast, three toffee pops, tea, mammoth sandwich for lunch (yes, they do look delicious, don't they?) lamb chops, mashed potatoes, omelette and salad for dinner, and fruit salad and yoghurt for dessert. I wanted to point out as well that I actually record 99% of what I eat, I'm not snacking on various things that I don't list. I used to snack considerably more but since I've made an effort to eat more meals (breakfast and lunch especially) I've found I don't so much any more. It never really looks like much looking back on it.

Sleep: I can't really remember, but likely, not enough given I crashed and burned like a champion on Monday night. Napped between 6 - 7.30pm, then went back to bed after family dinner night around 10 / 10.30ish. Slept terribly, but I got up around 7am still feeling like garbage. Normally I can sleep off a headache but they seem to be learning ways around that.



Good to get this rubbish sort of day out of the way. The days just keep stepping up this week so I need to be on top of everything - now I should be reasonably well rested, here's hoping everything comes together nicely.

Day Thirty Nine: And Then I Made Pancakes

Today was just all shades of summer, I wouldn't ask for more on a daily basis otherwise after three days I'd be all, "Nooo! It's just too much for one person to cope with."

Whenever I say "No" with more than one 'o', this is what I'm actually thinking.

Hmph, I've only just remembered we meant to tighten the suspension in my car this evening, but when I got home I desperately needed some food, which lead to needing a nap, which then meant it was sometime around 10pm and then I needed pancakes. This is why I couldn't cope with repeated instances - I'd just start to fall behind on essential tasks. I'll find some other time this week to look at the car. Maybe Friday.



Fitness: Today consisted of four hours of skating, then two hours of pooling. I can't say swimming really because I can't remember swimming any more than a few meters at most. Anyway we did 25 laps at the rink (untimed) but it would have been under five easily, but not too much else other than simply the extended period of time spent skating was too arduous, except for the jumping which my legs refused to play the game for as it was past the three hour mark and I was asking for them to power spring - they came back with a definitive, 'hell no.'. They weren't happy with the laps straight after that either but they held out. Then we had a short break before heading out to Westwave for hydra slides and water walking. Having never done water walking before it was highly entertaining and surprisingly demanding (compared to what it looks like) and then some spa and sauna time. It has been entirely too long since I last went swimming, but looks like it may become a more frequent occurrence.

Aikido: No training today.

Derby: Four hours of skills, agility and a little endurance thrown in there to keep us lively. Finally! My legs and feet have come back to me (metaphorically...) actually I think I found them at the end of the public session yesterday when I started attacking the cones with no appreciation for my limits to see what I could do. I packed it in straight afterwards yesterday, so today was the first day of having shaken off my funk and just had a lot of fun when we went through all the transition drills. Thank you, feet! It's also good to have found how to reset them if they start to give out on me again.

Diet: One might think I could have laid out some more jumps if I'd had breakfast before heading into training. Then because we were going swimming I didn't want to eat something straight before hitting the water, but had a chocolate milk straight after training. Came home and had salmon and carrots, passed out temporarily, woke up and decided I had to have blueberry pancakes and yoghurt for dessert. In retrospect I should have taken some fruit with me when I left in the morning. I thought I'd have time to go to the supermarket instead, oops, not so.

Sleep: Woke up at 8ish, probably could have done with another thirty minutes or so. I had a power nap from 8.30pm till 9.10pm as I wanted to do a few more things before going to sleep but I couldn't even keep my eyes open. It's just 11.45pm now, I need to have a quick shower and then that'll give me just shy of seven hours, but after my nap earlier I think that'll all balance out. We'll see, I'm sure everything will all work out this week.



Argh. I meant to tidy my room this weekend. Place is still a damn tip. I've given myself three weeks to make this place less of a disaster zone and I have doubts it'll be enough (laziness and a severe lack of spare time in which to do so play equal parts)

Day Thirty Eight: Small Achievements

I felt a bit foolish on a number of occasions today. The first being that I left my car lights on last night so it was dead when I went to drive somewhere. So I hooked up the charger (and the lights came on) so I took dad's truck and did a few chores anyway. Three hours later... yea. Those lights? Meant the charger had power, not that it was charging. Sigh. So I turned the charger on to "charge" instead of "sit" but by then I didn't even need the car.

Could have been worse I guess.

Fitness: I had to haul over $300 of groceries up the stairs. That's a dual flight, and the food was heavy. That kinda of counts, right? I did also go skating.

Aikido: No training today. Feels like forever since I was last in the dojo. Funny that...

Derby: So I locked and loaded my new Jukes and headed down to Skateland. Wow. Narrow wheels - I didn't realise I was carting around all this 'extra' wheel before, and now it's gone. It was great, less surface area and less friction made turning and sliding my axles around was a lot easier. Stopping though? Haha, with less surface area it took a little while to get a good Stop going, but I already know I'm easy to hustle, just one more thing to throw in the pile of stuff that need a bit of work. Still, only seven months into quad skating, it's not too terrible... I did leave a little early (15 minutes) as my foot started to give me grief and I thought best not to push it for the sake of some lazy circles as I was fairly tired by then. 

Diet: I had some tea and then became horribly distracted with some bearing work and forgot about getting a proper breakfast. And lunch? Jesus. I can barely remember this morning but I have the sneaking suspicion I didn't really have anything other than chocolate milk after skating and then a dish consisting of four cloves of garlic, an onion, half a tin of tomatoes and six sausages. So it was a little late but I did eat some food. Then I had half a takeaway roast for dinner. I went shopping and bought everything though, so no excuses this week. I have all the things. I'm going to damn well start cooking again.

Sleep: I woke up at 8am, and even though I was only after another 30 minutes when I went back to sleep, I awoke again at 10am. Which was fine, and also had me out of bed like a shot to make the most of the day as I didn't need any more nap time. But now it's 1am and I have to get up around 8.30am tomorrow so, totally sleepy times. 

I do struggle on the weekends with the lack of structure, but let's just see how Sunday goes... 

Day Thirty Seven: Aches, Pains and Determination

Normally on my work days I make a rough draft of my blog and spend hours gazing out the window thinking of witty one liners, set ups or what images to make these pages more visually enticing - this is practical because then when I rock home at about 10pm in need of snacks, a shower and ten minutes to myself before I'm supposed to go to bed, I don't need to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to remember what I did that day. All I really do is edit some poorly constructed sentences and make sure I wrote an accurate prediction of that evenings activities.

But this evening I get home and.... the auto save function didn't work earlier today. I have to write this from scratch, it's 12.15am, I'm trying to eat a burger, drink a coke and for some reason I just don't like Win7 Paint. 

Oh come on. I'm blatantly insane at this point

Aside from being grumpy about autosaves failure to restore my almost finished blog from before, I made this image. 

My point is I feel a lot better about yesterday now that I pulled the reigns in, and as hard as I drive myself, it's okay because I'm the one reaping the benefits. Maybe I should take it easy on myself, but then I have to wait longer for the results because I'll slack off, I'm inherently lazy. So, I'm both the insane slave driver and the guy pulling three tonnes of limestone around. 

Moving on.

Fitness: What did I do today? Nothing that I can recall other than balancing on one leg a bit at the train station. I had hoped to get some skating in this evening but then just enough moisture fell from the sky to make that a silly thing to do when I actually like my bearings. 

Aikido: No training today.

Derby: No skating today. Damn leaky clouds. Seriously. Then I totally screwed the pooch on going to open skate but had great fun times instead. I have to let socialising trump over activities or I'll forget how to be friends with people who don't skate. Ya'll who don't skate are just fabulous, and the rink will still be there tomorrow.

Diet: Weetbix, banana, biscuits and tea for breakfast, mammoth sandwich for lunch, more biscuits and tea, multitude of bar chips and a couple of beers, then a chicken burger from Wisconsin and a can of coke when I got home, (yawn) which I'm trying to finish before going to sleeps. So close. Just three more big bites. 

Sleep: It's now 12.50am (it doesn't really take that long to write the blog but I am a girl, so easily distracted by shiny things, random thought processes that need googling, or generally faffing around on Facebook) so I'll post this and start the sleep process at 1am. I have a list of a few tasks for tomorrow to keep me on track, which will help me get out of bed at a reasonable hour having things I need to get stuck in to. 

It occurs to me this re-write has little to no connection back to the title any longer (as it was the only thing auto-saved), but I think we'll all just cope with that for now. 

Day Thirty Six: Am I Slipping?

I can justify it if I choose - nine days straight in the dojo, why shouldn't I be easing back into things? Maybe just go a bit easy on the goals for a few days? Unfortunately I see right through my excuse, and don't believe myself for a second. I've been lazy, and I know it. Whether I've been in a workshop or a holiday or at work doesn't make any difference - today is today. I'm emotionally sound (as I can be), I'm not physically incapacitated (not much, the tendon along the top of my left foot is tighter than emo pants. But everything else seems to be working) so why shouldn't I hit all my targets?

The blog really does help. It's really obvious when I'm slacking off, and believe me, it's tempting to lie some days to try and mitigate how little I achieved.

Add some onion and garlic, done.

Example: You don't need to know I sat at my desk and ate biscuits all morning, I could say I tracked down my own prey and cooked that instead (and although unlikely, there's no empirical evidence either way). But there's no point. This is my reality and if I write a fantasy down, it achieves nothing and I may as well make up something more interesting. 

So every day I recount events as they happened, some days make me feel proud, and others, not so much. Time to fill myself with some pride and self worth by really making a go of today.



Fitness: Who knows what the people at the train station thought but I went through some steps making sure my knees follow my feet when I bend / squat / walk. I need to take care of my knees a bit more than I have been so ensuring they don't flex incorrectly and stress themselves during movement is vital. I had a lot of personal tasks to complete at lunch so I couldn't fit in any other exercise than my Aikido and skating. Still managed to do some lateral jumps along the pedestrian walkways downtown. Screw you cars, I have the right of way, and I'll jump around like an idiot if I feel the need.

Aikido: Just the beginners class on Thursdays. It's a good opportunity to go through the techniques a little slowly, and a bit more concise, both for myself and the newbies. It's a compromise though, I'm not high enough to have the control I need to do the technique how I want to and not throw an unsuspecting new person into the floor. So I hold back a little so as not to break them before they've learnt to roll safely, but anyway. Mat time is still mat time. It lets me know what I need to work on.

Derby: Yay! Skating! It always feels longer between skates than it ever actually is. Also, gasp, new wheels have arrived. At first, I debated if I wanted to try them out at training. I decided to wait for public skate and find my feet in my own time. I get to training late on Thursdays so I didn't want to be fluffing around (or falling repeatedly) in the shorter time I have to practice. Admittedly I was not feeling it tonight... and honestly, I wasn't feeling it on Tuesday. There seems to be something funky going on with my feet. Hopefully they get out of their funk for tomorrow.

Diet: Breakfast success! Biscuits, weetbix with banana and some tea. Mammoth sandwich, snacked on blueberries, cheese and crackers during the making of said sandwich. Chocolate milk and then blueberries and corn for dinner (not together, but that's what I ate after getting home). So dinner was a bit light but I didn't have any meat good to go - will remember to grab something out of the freezer tomorrow morning.

Sleep: Started off poorly by continuing my short sleep cycle last night but it's 11.30pm now, and it's totally bed time. No Dune 2, no more cat memes, no more... whatever. Bring on six and a half hours of nap time.

Day Thirty Five: Up and Up

Emotionally feeling much better today, in fact, I feel well rested and engaged. I know my body's messing with me because I only got about five hours sleep last night so I have no right to feel so on top of things, but I can't complain.

Right back into it

Right. Nothing particularly exciting happened today. Wednesdays are my least favourite day of the week as they are unstructured and I have no set activities (I'm trying, every other Wednesday is Bitchin' Bingo...) and as a result I was generally unconstructive. Clocking Dune 2 with the Ordos isn't really an achievement.

Fitness: I was a lazy schmuck today. I considered venturing to the park but I became demotivated by the rain.

Aikdio: Day off today. I managed a half-awake daze for a couple of hours considering my body work though (contemplation of balance, connections, structure). It was extremely weird but possibly the closest to meditation I'll ever get. I've also forgotten most of it because I can't lay down memories when I'm half-awake (all those conversations I have before 10am? I never remember them)

Derby: No skating today. Basically I sat at my desk watching it rain outside thinking, "What am I supposed to do on days like today? Can't skate and offskates training would result in me getting cold and damp." It was around 1pm when it occurred to me I should probably do some work (joking for my work colleagues, I was actually surprised how much I attended to today).

Diet: I'm not sure why but breakfast fell apart and I had a selection of biscuits, a cupcake (thanks Gen-I), some cake (thanks Leoni) and several cups of tea. A poorly booked meeting pushed my lunch back till 2.30pm when I fixed myself a mammoth sandwich, then when I came home I had some garlic pitas, steak and a carrot for dinner. A pretty bloody poor attempt at trying to eat a reasonable amount let alone attempting to eat a well rounded diet. At least I nicked a lot of bananas from the breakroom so breakfast tomorrow shouldn't be an issue.

Sleep: I was a box of birds until I got home, when faced with the copious amounts of free time ahead this evening and the severe and constant mess my room is in I caved and had a semi-nap instead for 90 minutes (it was either that or tidy up). I didn't really sleep at all as I consciously directed my thoughts through motions, but it's probably as close to sleeping without sleeping as it gets. After the workshop I can see the benefit in contemplation and meditation - I think I may be able to do the contemplation but I have huge doubts about meditation. Aside from my mind noise I get a lot of constant feedback from my body as well so that's two things I'd need to silence effectively - it's hard getting 'out' of the clamour.


Plus because of my semi-nap it's now 1.30am - gonna hit the hay now and attempt to be more responsible tomorrow. I need to remember to plan my free evenings otherwise I let the lack of structure throw me off my game. Over all, a six out of a possible ten kind of day.

Day Thirty Four: Mindsets and Outlooks

Today, I feel like I can do anything. I feel like if I set my mind to a thing, and drill it, I will have it. I also have an understanding that I'm not a special snowflake in this way - it works for anyone. If you want a thing, you can work towards it and have it (as long as you're being realistic, I'd love to be able to defy gravity but not a lot of point dedicating my time and energy to that).

Not going to end well, regardless of how hard I concentrate

That being said you'd think I would be in a pretty upbeat mood, but no. I'm just frustrated with my inability to drag everyone along with me at the moment. I've read a lot of articles and spoken to a lot of people about similar fundamental issues lately. The only problem is, and the core issue of what I find frustrating, is that people point to their goals off in the distance. But even as they point at their goals, they focus on what's right in front of them (often, their failures or disappointments they haven't already achieved their goals). So often we maintain our status quo because we don't keep our eyes on the prize. Look at what you want, don't look away until it's in your hands, and drive.

Truth be told most people seem to be coping alright with this issue, but the reason it's pissing me off in people around me at the moment is because it's something I struggle with too. It's always our own faults that we find the most reprehensible when we see them in others.

Not their fault - just a bit of mental backwash and relearning my social skills after attempting to fight with people for over nine days straight.

Right. Rant over.



Fitness: Didn't have time to branch out and do anything constructive today. 7am till 12am day - that's whoa to go covered right there.

Aikido: Tuesdays have really taken off for me. I can attend both trainings, both the Beginner and the regular class. Trying to focus on remaining relaxed and incorporating my newly enlightened skill set into training. Actually had an awesome time, having fallen out of some of the Japanese dogma. Managed some quite successful throws without using my arms and I can "see" so much more. The connections, my intent, it's all good. Sensei Alan said the Cheng Hsin workshop would be very useful, and it has been. Big smiles all round, feeling really good about Aikido at the moment.

Derby: As mentioned my brain is a little shot but I think this is the best time to learn strategy, as long as you don't forget it instantly. If you can do it dog tired, you can do it when you're spritely (but no guarantee you can bust it out in the other direction...) my legs refused to play Stop/Start/Dance Sideways - my right foot tendons are still very, very angry with me. But really, everything came together nicely. Not amazing, not fantastic, but it's time to get stuck in and learn the guts of what I'm trying to achieve in this mad sport. Not every training came be glitter and sparkles, plus coming off the back of two and a half hours in the dojo doesn't do me many favours.

Diet: Weetbix and banana for breakfast, tea, some more tea, a fun size moro bar, rice bowl (happy Valentines to you too, Sushi Girl!) 6" subway and two chocolate milks. Ah. I sort of missed dinner. I'd been so good about this (finishing training late and still eating) and tonight I dropped the ball. I was kinda over excited by the social interactions I had at training so I just forgot.

Sleep: Talk about forgetting things. Like it's 1.30am and I still need to shower and get some kip. It's not okay but I have fewer obligations tomorrow so I can either change my work hours or nap without issue. So it's manageable. Still - that'll mean five hours sleep tonight.


I think I'm back lashing after the workshop. A huge part of me just wants to throw down some good ol' 'Do whatever I damn-well want' for a few days - not so good because I do have work and trainings to attend...

Day Thirty Three: This Is the Life

I now have the skills to clean
the hover diamonds off the roof

What a wonderfully perfect day off. I loved the workshop (finished yesterday), there were so many fundamental concepts and principles I learnt that I can work on aside from the techniques. That said, I'm looking forward to my time opening up for everything else again. I am hopeful that I will bring a new awareness and level of competency to my Aikido and Derby training... I'll let you know how that goes.






Fitness: I wandered around the zoo today. Almost two complete circuits. It was pretty hot as well so I think that counts for double.

Aikido: I have this one day before heading back to the dojo... spent most of it talking about martial arts though.

Derby: No skating today.

Diet: I had part of a biscuit before heading over to Tessa's for a cup of tea, where she also made me an amazing smoothie that I wish I'd paid more attention to the making thereof, as I gathered it had fruit, linseeds, a variety of different milk type products, and some sort of powder. Anyway, it would have been ridiculously healthy and was a bit of an eye-opener as I've always gone for berry based smoothies previously, despite the fact that all the excess pips tend to build up unpleasantly. I will need to get that recipe... (subtle hint). We then ventured off to the zoo after this but I was starting to crave a solid eating snack so we shared a salami panini - I knew it was more about wanting something to sink my teeth into than being particularly hungry again so soon after breakfast. But you know, just off nine days solid training. I have some energy stores to rebuild (that's how it works, right?) We stopped for an icecream for lunch as we were predominantly wandering around in the sun - I wanted something energy packed and cold by that point. I snuck into the supermarket for a pizza bread square on the way home, then for dinner it was chicken and salad, followed by fruit salad, apple and blackberry pie and cream for dessert. Nothing particularly challenging. It's only just occurred to me now that we were at the zoo all day and didn't really have a proper lunch, which would explain why I was so hungry at 5 o'clock. Oops - was having too much fun...

Sleep: Went to sleep around 1am last night and woke up around 8.30am, so plenty of sleep. More bizarre, horrible dreams (they're normally pretty awesome but they've just been traumatising lately) but they don't seem to be impacting too badly on how rested I feel the next day. It's snuck into the 'almost overtime' portion of the night (12am) so I need to stop playing Dune 2 and get some kip. I can't believe I have to go back to work tomorrow - it seems like I should have some more time off already!



I really enjoy the zoo, but I really need to make an effort to go more often - I love animals and Auckland Zoo has done some nice habitat work so you don't have to feel too guilty about them being caged up for our amusement. 

Probably because it's made with extra love

Even more than the zoo though, spending time with quality friends. We all need to reset on the odd occasion and good friends are easily worth their weight in gold, or some other more precious commodity. Thanks heaps for the company today Tessa, you're one of the good ones. Plus, you still always make the best tea.

Day Thirty Two: Not Enough Down and Bounce

Okay! I get it! Karma has dealt me a mighty blow and I understand the significance of the fact that argh, my lower back is shot. Why? Because I need to get lower in my legs. And damn well bounce. I never claimed to be a good boxer (in fact, may have insinuated I'm pretty bad at it) and just about everything hurts at the moment. Don't get me wrong - my nose smarts a little but aside from that all the other pains are from bad form or using muscles that I don't normally use (I didn't know I had any of those left...)

I love that I found this image

I was thinking of taking up boxing casually. It's about timing, full contact awareness, responding over reaction, look at the action, completion and get lower. Strange that there would be so much cross over with Derby and boxing skills.

Aikido/Fitness: So much time spent on exercises and free play today - just slaughtering. Part of me is sad the workshop is over, another quite beleaguered part that is almost in tears over the prospect of not having to get up tomorrow morning. We worked a bit more on interpretation, dynamics and things like leading, cutting and body being. Peter really drove us into the ground today though, and good on him. Sweat flew in all directions whenever you connected a hit with anyone. It was gross. 

Derby: No skating today. This was a good choice! I don't normally support missing skate practice but damn... I would have ended up face first, drowning in green Thai curry earlier this evening in a fit of extreme exhaustion if I had. 

Diet: Passed on breakfast because I was late, forgot my mouth guard on the way to the dojo so had to backtrack. Fail. Tea and biscuits, a peach, mammoth sandwich (sans avocado as I was out) and so much delicious Thai food for dinner. It had a soporific effect and I was quite lucky not to drown in any of the remains (hence if I had been skating, this probably would have happened)

Similar, but with more drowning.

Sleep: Had some really interesting dreams - lots of weird, freaky stuff but my brain inserted some 'heroes' to help save me. I crossed paths with my three new coaches on the way through a barbed-wire forest of doom being chased by some of the most frightening nightmarish concoctions my brain has come up with for a long while. The coaches helped save me in turn, although I think Anna and I were about to be torn to bits at the last stage just before I woke up. This is actually really strange and says a lot about my stress levels (and possible expectations) because I have always been the lone saviour / hero in all my dream sequences previously. Anyway, I barely got six hours but it's still within the realms of acceptability. Should be able to get seven tonight, easily. I can't believe I can sleep in finally! (I expect to get up around 9am, if that's any indication of what I now consider 'late' to be getting up)

Day Thirty One: Why the Face?

It's like my face is a magnet for fists.
That doesn't sound right on multiple levels.

I have several super powers, some specialised to various activities I participate in, and others more generalised. Why, I have to ask, does one of the generalised ones have to be, "Getting punched in the face"?






That aside I had a huge amount of fun spending the day boxing. I had forgotten how much energy throwing a few hundred punches an hour takes out of you...

Aikido/Fitness: Amazing how much can be taught to the fightingly inept in just the space of a day. Learnt a lot about boxing, and improved remarkably throughout the day (amazing that having an awesome teacher can really accelerate your learning curve). Enjoyable but damn, throwing and taking punches all day really beats it outta ya....

Skating: No skating today. Still overly excited about Effortless Skating. Starting to wonder about it's practicality though, (maybe only for the jammer after passing through the pack..?) but any energy conservation is a good idea. If I can figure out how to use Effortless Braking (directing weight through points on the feet, like the sides...) this might all come together. Having mental issues trying to discern how to use the intrinsic power to stop once you're going at speed.

Diet: So, yes, I'm still quite stressed (just go away already, everything's back to normal!) so breakfast was a bit of a failed attempt, I had a bumper bar. Biscuit, tea, mammoth sandwich for lunch, Emcee Donalds for dinner - now. I almost intended on just having more biscuits and tea for 'dinner' at the dojo and eating something better at home. Instead there is this rather irritating guy on the workshop and... I can't even begin to describe the social response he encourages. There's something about his bowls of tofu and mushrooms and demeanor that made me punch him repeatedly and then go get some big macs. I'll bet he doesn't take B12 supplements, (I can only hope) that would explain a lot and also make me feel better about things. I don't have anything against vegetarians or vegans (not that I understand their reasoning either, we have tiny dentition, a reduced gut and expensive brain - why disregard eight million years of fine tuning?) but his mannerism in regards to his lifestyle just... argh. Made me want to hunt down an animal of some description and butcher it for snacks.

Sleep: Ended up getting about five hours or so last night and still not feeling any worse for it, so it would appear that my body is happy for me to sleep a few shortened nights in there when it's important (and it was, thanks Chinky Minx and Starsong). It's just hitting midnight now, my bad, and we have an earlier start tomorrow at 8am. I should probably be out of here at 7.30 so I can get seven hours sleep without issue if I pass out now. Sadly, not quite how it works, but I've been pretty relaxed since 9.30pm so I assume that counts for something.

Day Thirty: Effortless Skating

Let's make this short. It's 3am and tomorrow is going to be interesting.

Aikido/Fitness: Lots of awesome things today. Ankles / foot tendons starting to give out - they did not expect to be running backwards in tight, alternating circles for days on end. These things happen. We were taught Effortless Running today... (Why today? I've been running all damn week...)

Derby: I was working on my hockey stops until I just couldn't get the traction I needed anymore. So, as I idly skate along, gutted beyond belief, I think... "Could the principles of Effortless Running be applied to skating?" So, I started to skate "Effortlessly".... and yes. These principles can be applied. The only thing is I can assume it will take more than two minutes of practice as I was going extremely fast, but my muscles weren't engaged as they were completely relaxed. After doing seven laps at top speed I went from being shattered to rested because of the lack of strength I had to use to put down the power. I did unfortunately crash like a champion a couple of times when some of the inline hockey players cut me off and I'll need to think about how to apply the principles to stopping... unfortunately we had the same issue in the dojo while running and Peter did point out once you were running it wasn't easy to stop.

This amount of effort is required to travel at top speed

Diet: I can not believe how stressed I was today. Could barely eat breakfast (weetbix/banana) had a mammoth sandwich for lunch, some biscuits and tea, then mostly bread with cheese for dinner. Couldn't rustle up an appetite for much else, I hope I feel better tomorrow.

Sleep: Around six hours last night, not going to be enough tonight. I forgot about getting some gloves earlier for the boxing section of my workshop so I'll need to arrange that first thing, just a general mess of things. I was going to go to skate training on Sunday but I think it's going to have to be a pass to get back into my workshop. If I manage to teach them effortless skating on Tuesday, maybe all will be forgiven...?



Bad feeling that I'm going to still be stressed tomorrow. I wish I could shake it off like water off a dog, hopefully some boxing will help with that.

Day Twenty Nine: Gotta Roll With It, Gotta Take My Time

Let's just gloss over some aspects of today. High points, weird points, some degree of perspective alteration. The choices I chose, so let's just roll with it.

Rollin', on Jukes
As soon as I get these they are being thrown in a bucket of dye.

Aikido/Fitness: Still as jumpy as a tigger. My body is in relentless top gear as a result of the long hours I'm putting in so even when I leave the dojo, I'm tired but restless. If I go out afterwards all I want to do is jump, spring and glide through rollbacks and pushes. Ridiculous. My feet ache something terrible (sigh, always the feet) as a result of the pressure from spending nearly all day in a squat, shifting weight and running backwards. Spending so much time running backwards. Aside from having busted a tendon (feels like the extensor hallucis brevis) I've developed callouses from the circles I've been running. 8.30am till 5.30pm tonight, had to attend some important social events.

Derby: Skills test for the PCR girls. I went along to support Starsong and Chinky Minx as I won't be skating with PCR. It's too much to get into as to why, but I've spent enough time considering what was on offer to regret my decision. See ya'll at Roller Con! (...and Blood & Thunder, Aotearumble, public sessions...)

Diet: Weetbix, tea, a bumper bar, mammoth sandwich, beer, chips, some sort of mince and vegetable mix, chocolate milk. I had a friends birthday drinks tonight before the skills test and I'm not the kind of prat to be socially annoying and not drink / eat at the bar because of some diet restrictions. My training is a priority, so these sorts of events are not every night. It also makes these occasions significantly more relaxed, enjoyable and fun. Still should have gotten something more substantial for dinner, but then I missed two hours in the dojo.

Sleep: Slept in a wee bit, but fortunately have found a quicker way to the dojo so was only three minutes late. It's hard with the long days of training - there's no opportunity to catch up but it's nine straight days of twelve hour training sessions.... I've had to sneak in social things in afterwards which makes the days longer but I didn't really want to leave some things for so long! The times, they are busy. Monday morning - I'm looking at you - it's gonna be bliss sleeping in till 8 or 9am.










I'm a ball of fluffies. Pheeeeeee. 

Day Twenty Eight: What the What?

Tonight gave me some interesting insights and some intriguing thoughts to play with. I should probably write them down because it's all Derby stuff but I am so immersed in my martial play time, and I can barely remember all the amazing things I want to without adding more to the pile. 

Anyway. Other things happened too. Things I should have manipulated better, but soft social skills are a little beyond my mastery. Instead, I might do some work on an off-skates training program instead.

Fitness/Aikido: Body throws! Body throws. I am (was?) so bad at body throws. Okay, yes, I've only ever done them about three or four times before today, and Sensei helped a lot after I continued to fail to 'load', then Brie and I used our free time to throw each other relentlessly around. Did not help when she said something to irritate me, so I went to drop her and dumped her on my own foot. Owch. Then we worked on using Effortless "Balance" - using the principles of Effortless Power to remain balanced (as often when pushing or being pushed the body braces/tenses itself which requires effort) - this was challenging to say the least. Not that any of the workshop has been easy, it's all insanely hard, but damn. It's frustrating knowing how long mastery will take, when the benefits of mastery are so apparent and great, yet at least this is now known to me. Just as Peter says, "Now, do that a few thousand times and you'll start to get it..." 

Derby: Caught the tail end of advanced freshmeat training so I could talk to a couple of the higher ups. Spent most of the time doing handstands, quick feet drills and a couple of rollbacks waiting for the final drill to wrap up. Get amped pretty easily around people on skates, my body gets springy and excited by the prospect of skating. Sorry feet, not tonight...

Diet: Weetbix and banana for breakfast, biscuit, mammoth sandwich, a few pieces of dark chocolate to keep me less moody, and Burger Fuel for dinner. Considering the length of time I spend rolling, jumping, lunging and running around at the moment I know the quantity of food I'm consuming is much more important than the calibre (although the calibre wasn't been too bad) - woop. Body says it's okay with it all at the moment. It's a good thing my internal feedback kicked back in, otherwise this workshop would be impossible!

Sleep: Fell asleep after midnight last night which wasn't great, but woke up at around 6am anyway and struggled to keep resting until 7am when I got up. I'm having sleepy patches between 7 - 9pm which I can't quite shake, and are really annoying, but again, feedback from my body says it's fine. Will try and get seven hours tonight but... we'll see how that goes.