Day Fifty Two: Circles and Navigation

Yea, you know what I did today? Orienteering. And it was just as awesome as this guy makes it look. Heh, I jest, there was significantly more running, me acting like a grumpy sack of potatoes and angry, spikey, vengeful little plants. But the up side is I did a bit of running. 

Fitness: Three hours of... not really running. There was definitely running at some points but a lot of fast tramping around Karekare. My calves / ankles are a bit irritated with me and I'm hoping like anything I stretched them out enough. My whiplash was fine, it spiked up every now and then (not sure if that was random or because of my backpack) but it's been doing that a bit. I slowed up in the last thirty / forty minutes as my ankles were fatigued to the point they weren't auto-correcting if I slipped in the mud/leaf litter. I became paranoid at that point (and justifiably so) as I need my ankles. I'm hoping it was excellent cross-training for Derby. Hopefully I can skate tomorrow. 

Aikido: No training today

Derby: No skating today 

Diet: It had been previously agreed there would be pies for breakfast, so I nicked the last steak & cheese pie. Then a couple of muesli bars, moro bar, hotdog, and some chips kept me going until I got back into town (wait, what? no wonder I ran out of gusto on the track... jebus I should have had some thicker liquid fuel than water at Orienteering) and a lamb roast dinner at the wife's house (courtesy of the wife's boyfriend...) 

Sleep: Foiled! I should have gone to bed earlier, yes, but I had enough time, honestly. Then the "Storm Bomb" rolled in at 6am and woke me up three hours ahead of schedule and rained very loudly on the roof until almost 8am. Not fair. Stupid tin roof. Anyway it's 1.15am now and I have another incredibly busy day tomorrow (I am in high demand at the moment!) and I wanna be on form for all the fun things lined up. 

Seriously. I could do with an extra 60 hours this week to spread across everything so I stand a chance of getting anything done. After checking my calender I can see I may have a spare hour or two in eight days time. 

Day Fifty One: Little Frustrations

And a little late in coming ...

Possibly one of the worst work days I've had in a long time. It's not often I want to stand up, smirk, and yell "This is why you're being made redundant!". It certainly wouldn't have been constructive but it would have made me feel better. For ten seconds. Before I was called in to see a manager.

Or "La la la la la, I can't hear you!" would have been another option.

Fitness: Skating for two hours. No, realistically only one hour. Laziest damn skate session ever. 

Aikido: No training today

Derby: Skateland public skate session. I think I threw a couple of hockey stops but I wasn't feeling it mentally so I didn't do anything else. Argh, stupid co-workers, if they just did their jobs they wouldn't have so many problems instead of bitching at my team who carried out their tasks above and beyond the call of duty.

Diet: Tea, biscuits, more muffins, left over butter chicken, mammoth sandwich, more biscuits, then noodles and dumplings for dinner again. Effort - minimal.

Sleep: I should have taken a nap at lunch, not for sleep purposes but to reset my emotions. It's hard as everyone in the office is on edge (thanks MUNZ) but I was well rested enough. I went to bed a little late but I figured I'd be able to sneak some extra hours in at the other end...



Have I properly insinuated today was crap on a stick? It was. Couldn't even shake it with some skating. That makes me sad.

Day Fifty: Surprise Nap!

I'm having an egotistical moment. Whether it's justified or not will be reflected in the months to come. Limey said I looked different on Tuesday night, now that I'd played my first game, much like after someone has had sex for the first time. I didn't really agree right in that moment as I was in quite a determined mind frame about training at the time. But now, I can feel it settling around me, like my mind has been opened to the possibilities of what I could do. Was I holding back before? Not really. I was limited by what I could imagine due to a lack of experience. I felt the impact of it but was struggling to quantify it (frustration!). Now I know what it is, and it seems surmountable. Hard to put into words - I don't want to be better just for my own sake any longer. I want to be better for the team.  

I feel like an after school special having said that.
Doesn't make it any less true.

Somethings I felt good about, others were a bit more disconcerting. The tendon along the top of my left foot was playing up and really did not want to play "frontal blocking" at all. Other than that, fortunately the whiplash doesn't really impact on Derby, I was concerned some of the drills would be uncomfortable, but they weren't any more painful than if I'd just been standing there.



Fitness: Hour of Aikido, two hours of skating. We discussed the differences in training, (for the sake of training/weight loss etc) and training for a sport when you need those same muscles at full capacity for games and the like. I feel a research day coming on.

Aikido: We had a lot of close focus on improving forward rolls, which I loved, because one of my goals for Aikido is to get my rolling to the point I can do it on hard surfaces without issue. The only thing was I can't roll over my left shoulder at the moment so my right got all the attention! Then we did a lot of one particular technique for the rest of the session, which is unusual but freed me to really get some core aspects of it.

Derby: I arrived at the court with a bucket load of determination and identified several areas where my feet or weight don't move the way I want. It's cool. Reminder to self that if we were all perfect we wouldn't go to training. Being able to concisely identify what I want/need to work, aimed at becoming more of a team asset, is a step up from just randomly picking individual skills to hone. My hockey stops are coming along nicely, the right is progressing to almost functional and the left is still in the beginning stages my right went through, so I assume that means it just needs a little more time (and effort) to catch up. Not a surprise, just something to note. They still remain at the top of the list of new skill to have nailed by Day Ninety. It will happen.

Diet: Weetbix, banana, two muffins (Thank you, Ports of Auckland!) some tea and biscuits for breakfast. And then I had a mad hankering for butter chicken and cheese naan... I hardly ever get cravings for Indian food. Anyway so I went and got that for lunch, forgot to secure any training snacks so only had water until I got home for dinner, when I had chicken wrapped in bacon. I was hugely disappointed we didn't have any brie, but this is my fault. So I ate two pieces of processed cheese instead. Not particularly healthy but necessary fuel replacement. Ah. And two blackberries.

Lunch time. I thought, "I'll just watch an episode of ponies..."
and I was asleep before the hydra tried to kill them all.

Sleep: I got up at 7ish after six hours sleep then coma'ed at work during my lunch break. It was strange, normally I feel tired and nap as a result, but I wasn't tired.. I was sleepy. This has only ever happened to me three times before. Being sleepy is weird to me.




That being said it's just gone 11.30pm so it's totally time to go to bed right now. Clean, fed, blogged, DONE. 

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.